February inspiration

Showy blooms at the garden show

February can seem dreary, especially here in the Pacific Northwest. Yet there is beauty everywhere, and a promise of more to come.

February is also brings the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. After two days of show bliss, all I can say is, "Wow!" Floral displays, uniquely designed gardens, seminars, and a marketplace of plants and all things garden. I was in heaven.

I was especially drawn to all the garden ornaments. Here are some of my favs.

Glass blooms

Hanging ornaments

A sleeping giant in the grass

I found the succulent displays particular inspiring. (If you hadn't noticed, succulents are very de moda these days.)

A vertical display

The show inspired me to create my own little landscape. It's made from an old soup terrine I haven't used in years.

My succulent landscape

What inspiration will March bring?

The Incomplete List

I've caught the virus, the one that's been going around.

One of my favorite blogs, Houzz.com recommends you make lists when you're sick, something to pass the time on the couch, between raspy coughs and itchy sneezes.

My list will be visual, I thought. I can post a listing of my favorite photos from 2013. You know the photos I'm talking about, the ones that capture that moment, that special line or color that catches your eye, that shadow, that reflection, that singular texture.

Starting with my most recent photos, I worked my way backwards through time, skimming all the days past, the people and places I had encountered.

It wasn't long before I had exhausted myself. I've taken over four thousand photos in 2013! I had barely reached my way back to August when I had to give up.

So here is my visual list, which begins in August in Vienna, Austria...

A last visit to The Leopold

Then moves to London, England in September...

A London bus in Kensington

The Underground at Notting Hill Gate

Then to days at sea and arrival in New York...

On board the QM2

And to a visit to the California coast...

Moss Landing and the Salinas Valley

And finally to discoveries in Seattle in October...

Products of the Northwest

This is a recent photo, taken on one of many sunset walks this fall...

The Sound at sunset

Pretty amazing life, this.

I'd better get myself well soon. I hate missing out. :)

A walk in Queen Anne

I took a walk in the morning. It had rained and droplets decorated bare tree limbs along the way. Can you see what's hiding under the bushes?

I found an old Ford truck. It reminded me of an old family photo taken before I was born. My dad is sitting on the hood...

 Fall still burns in the neighborhood.

I love the moss-covered paths best.

That's all.

Hello Fall

Here I am, once again waiting for my soul to catch up. The past months have been a blur of movement. We crossed two continents by air, an ocean by sea, and three states by land. Whew!

We arrived in Seattle, where fall is on full flame. It is beautiful, but promises the bareness of winter.

This week I went out to discover a new park, the Washington Park Arboretum. If you have not visited the gardens here, I encourage you to explore its expansive collections of maples, birches, poplars, and mountain ash.

These exquisite gardens remind me of Turkenschanz in Vienna.

I hear the Arboretum azaleas and rhododendrons are amazing in early May. You can bet I'll be back around Mother's day.

Until then, I will embrace fall and wait...

Hello Fall!

Notes from a Seattle coffee shop

View of downtown from Queen Anne

Today I went to a coffee shop in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle. I had work to do and wanted a place with no distractions. It sounds counterintuitive, going to a noisy cafe, but there is something about being away from home. I find it easier to focus.

I worked, but I also listened. I know I am not supposed to eavesdrop, but I am new here, and I am curious.

El Diablo Coffee Co. on Queen Anne Ave.

I heard a lot in the space of an hour and a half - a conversation among three restauranteurs starting a new venture, an exchange between two gamers developing characters for a story, two men talking about a dance show they were producing, and software developers discussing an app they were designing for a staycations. So much creative energy in such a small space!

As I left the shop later that afternoon, I felt a mix of accomplishment and excitement.  Not only had I finished a big chunk of work; I had been part of something else.  It's hard to describe.  For lack of a better term, I'll call it creative flow.

Welcome to Seattle!

Finding Home

View from Kerry Park

Moving is tiresome… boxes, movers, memories long packed away. They all want answers. Where does this go? What should be discarded? It is easy to get lost in the minutia of moving, and miss the bigger picture.

So I went out into my new city this morning, away from the boxes and piles, and scattered bits that may make up a home (should I find creativity in the chaos). I walked down my street, passed old craftsman homes, and headed west a few blocks.

Along Galer

The world opened up before me.

View from Queen Anne Hill

Across the sound

The Mountain

This is why I am here.