5/12 Home

 Monday morning I just got up and took the train to the airport.  It is really convenient and since it takes about an hour, MUCH cheaper than a cab or Uber.

I really had a great time with Branwen.  It was a treat to be able to spend time with her and see where she lives.  I think she really enjoys it here.

Seattle really likes my esthetic!  2 people told me how much they liked my raincoat and 4 people actually stopped me on the street to ask about my shoulder cozy. One person wrote down the pattern name and the designer so that she could find it on Ravelry.

Alec picked me up.  We checked out my house because a new neighbor had been kidnapped during the weekend.  (Case of mistaken identify. Everyone is fine, but shaken.)

That's it for this adventure! 

5/11 Mother's Day with Branwen (Afternoon)

 We took the train back to my hotel and had a little nap.  Then we walked through the campus again.  Branwen wanted to show me the inside of the cathedral library which was open on Sunday and closed on Saturday.  It is beautiful.

We continued across the campus, which is huge!

There is a lot of space between buildings and a lot of really open space.  At one point it was like walking through a forest.

The rhododendrons were in bloom.

The forest part was down about 1000 steps.  B says that this is where the gym is and sometimes she does the stair master and then goes up these steps, so she gets two exercises.

We had enough time before dinner to stop in at Acorn Yarns.  I think that google maps should warn you about hills.  The map said that this was 15 minutes from the restaurant.  It didn't say it was up a steep hill.  This was a better store, but I still refrained.  They had an Emotional Support Chicken on display.  Kits for these are sold at my local shop The Knitting Tree.

We scurried downhill dodging raindrops to Piatti for dinner.

I had the spinach, lemon ravioli and B had the ragu pasta.  We shared the burrata and focaccia.

 

After dinner we stopped at the supermarket and then took the bus home.  (Branwen knew that this was all up hill.)  Branwen got off at the stop near here dorm and I continued to the hotel.

 

5/11 Mother's Day with Branwen (Morning)

 Branwen picked me up and we took the train to Can Can for brunch.  This place does shows.

We both had the avocado toast.  I had a belini, B had OJ and  we shared beignets.  I ate the leftover beignets in the airport for breakfast.

 

The inside was very ornate and extremely quiet.  This is the first restaurant in forever that I have been able to hear my tablemate.  Thanks for all the soft surfaces.

After brunch we stopped in at the So MuchYarn store next door.  I refrained from buying.  Partially because there is no room in my carry-on.

Next we wandered through the Pike Market which was just down the hill.  It was a lovely day, so the market was really crowded.  Since it was Mother's Day, many people were buying the really beautiful flowers.

Behind the market is the waterfront area.  We didn't walk allllll the way down because we didn't know if there was an elevator to get back up.

 

5/10 University of Washington visit with Branwen

 Branwen and I went out for brunch.  She brought me an early Mother’s Day gift to brighten my room.  Then

she showed me all around the school.  We started at the bookstore where I bought a purple jacket.  This is a beautiful campus and as Southern Californians always say, “Sooooo Green!”

The church is really a library.  Behind the fountain are mountains on a clear day.  UW,s are Huskies.

And of course the bride.

We visited B’s dorm 

And the Kappa Delta sorority house

After a rest in my room, we went to Shuckers for dinner.  We shared 3 kinds of cold oysters, warm oysters 3 different ways, crab gratin and lobster Mac’n cheese.  

Took the train home, stopped for ice cream and B picked up her cookies and snacks from her mom.  She went home to finish an assignment and I read until bedtimes.

5/9 Seattle with Branwen

 Spending the weekend with Branwen.  Arrived in Seattle and took the train to the U District and then walked to The Graduate Hotel. I won’t be seeing B until tomorrow because her sorority is having their formal. Some pictures:

Dinner was clam chowder and cast iron berry buckle in the rooftop restaurant:

5/4 Huntington Library

 After another continental breakfast and registration we had 2 more speakers.

Devoney Looser told us about Jane and all the plays and movies and TV shows that have used her works. Some of them were never made for various reasons, but I would have loved to see the one that was talked about -  a musical Pride and Prejudice with Judy Garland and the lead!!  Devoney is doing research in the Huntington Library right now because it has copious amounts of material on this subject.  She is always very informative and lots of fun.

Kristi Brown-Montesano is a musicologist.  Her talk was about how the music of the time was and was not incorporated in various JA productions.  Another wonderful talk.  

We did not stay for the screening of Miss Austen, since we had both set it to record that night.  It is a 4 part adaptation of the book Miss Austen by Gill Hornby.  Miss Austen is Cassandra.  The book is very good and I liked part one of the show also.

Since it was raining (I know - RAIN in May in SoCAL!!!) we did not take the opportunity to stroll around the gardens.

A few more pictures:

This is a Charades fan from the Huntington collection.  Charades were a party game in JA's time, but different from ours.  These were little riddles, often in verse.  People tried to guess the answer.  This fan had several riddles on the front and then the answers on the back.  

I took a class about this where we made our own charades and pasted them and other decorations on a fan.  Afterwards we showed our work and everyone in the group tried to guess the answers.  

 

The End

5/3 Even more pictures

 

5/3 Many more pictures