Smoky in Seattle, but fun
There was a lot happening in Seattle for the few days we were there recently.
The skies were ash-filled and the air burned my eyes but I carried on and found solace at Nordstrom’s.
I have heard that shopping is the No. 1 tourist attraction and now, in my dotage, I am a believer. A store like Nordstrom’s personifies the spending experience.
You can find everything you need to wear or decorate your home and meet your friends for lunch.
The selection of materials, the service of the staff, such artful displays (plus a plethora of shoes in size 10) add up to an almost religious occurrence.
The Mariners lost to the Astros in a 10-7 defeat after a 9-1 deficit in the early innings of the game. Safeco Field (a premier baseball facility) was so smoky I could hardly see the pitcher, let alone the ball. The play was exciting, but as manager Scott Servais said after, “We got behind the eight ball early.”
No kidding: the Mariners fell, they rallied, they lost to rival Houston, and now first place in the American League West is anybody’s guess.
We love Pier 54 and Elliott Bay from the waterfront. Ivar’s Acres of Clams has been newly remodelled and is more airy and expansive than ever.
I always order clam cakes and gobble up the sour cream and green onion mashed red potatoes as well.
We drank a Washington State Riesling from Charles Smith Wineries, Kung Fu Girl. The smoothest sip of wine I have ever put in my mouth; highly recommended.
We always cruise the harbour to see the city skyline and gasp yet again at the natural beauty of the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges even though they were shrouded in hazy smoke. To say the shipyards there are busy is an understatement.
We counted hundreds, maybe thousands, of container stacks and saw overhead cranes that looked like giant sculptures of surreal storks about to deliver the goods.
Mike loved the Chihuly Garden and Glass. He was wowed by the size and shapes of the Glasshouse contents. You have to see Dale Chihuly’s innovations to believe what the artist has accomplished by blowing glass.
“Avengers fans can get up close to memorable artifacts like the Black Panther costume worn by Chadwik Boseman.”
The Super Heroes have landed at MoPOP and I got to visit this unique museum founded in 2000 by Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen.
The original Experience Music Project title was what got my attention years ago and I was not disappointed at my recent time there. I went directly to level 2 and the Wild Blue angel: Hendrix Abroad, 1966-1970.
You know Jimi Hendrix was born and raised in Seattle and given a guitar as a teenager by his father.
He is consistently called the greatest guitar player of all time, and seniors first heard Purple Haze blaring through their youngsters’ bedroom walls.
Hendrix has been dead 43 years but a new posthumous release, People, Hell and Angels, is at the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
His small, personal diary was on display and I was moved to read lines he had written describing the beauty of Joni Mitchell and her music. I will remember the handwritten lines describing kissing her.
There was a huge presentation by the Doors of Light My Fire at MoPOP and Seattle music icons like Nirvana were featured.
Seniors will find this gallery a bit overwhelming (I know I did, so much music, film, interactives and Wolfgang Puck in the cafe and bar in the lobby.) but don’t miss the Roots and Branches sculpture composed of more than 700 instruments, and costumes and props from television shows our kids grew up with and loved.
The buzz word at intermission of the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess at the Seattle Opera was “extraordinary.”
And so it was. Like nearly all operas coming after Mozart and before Richard Strauss the basic story is of a male protagonist who falls obsessively in love with a forbidden woman who returns his love.
The fated couple encounter inflamed opposition and a clash of male claimants ends badly for the lovers. In my modest experience there is no operatic performance to top Elizabeth Llewellyn as Bess and Kevin Short as Porgy singing Bess You Is My Woman Now.
With the Seattle Symphony Orchestra in the pit and hundreds on stage or behind the scenes the production left the audience stunned in emotional surrender.
Don’t you love an experience that leaves you breathless, without words to describe it? I can’t begin to put into words what Porgy and Bess gave to me, the music! the lyrics! the voices!
In my dreams, now back in my own bed, I dream of auditions for Bess. I wear a cheap, synthetic wig and a red, satin bustier bodycon dress and after I nail the high C, I get the part.
Jeanette Dunagan has lived in Kelowna for more than 40 years. Email her at jd2399@telus.net.