Half Dozen of Leonard’s Malasadas
I definitely had to hunt around to come up with something I wanted to use for half. This is a half dozen Malasadas. Malasadas are yeast donuts that are either rolled in sugar or filled with a custard. These are from the Leonard’s truck on Oahu Hawaii. They are a Portuguese tradition and very popular on the Hawaiian Islands. The minimum amount sold is a half-dozen. They are very rich but we had no problems eating the half-dozen!
The Olympic Sculpture Park opened in the Winter of 2007. I was very excited when it opened. The area where it is located is one of my favorite vistas in Seattle. Located at the end of the waterfront near Pier 70 and at the beginning of Myrtle Edwards Park, it has always been an outstanding location for views of the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound.
I arrived in Seattle in the mid-70’s and my first job was working in a pathology lab in the Denny Regrade area just up from where the garden is located today. Our building had stunning vistas out over Elliott Bay. Ferries seem to glide across the water. On blustery days, the wind would whip up white caps while we were secure in our offices. Myrtle Edwards Park was located just about 4 blocks down from work. Later, when I worked on Elliott Way, I would walk from the Magnolia Bridge to Pier 70. It was a contrast of the working soul from the grain elevators which shipped out the wheat from Eastern Washington to Asia to the sea of Japanese import cars waiting to be transported down the West Coast.
Several Microsoft and other software professionals had a vision. A sculpture garden to rival the view. They banded together and slowly created this extension of the Seattle Art Museum devoted to sculpture and native plants.
I had visited the garden right after it opened and loved the mixture of art and native plants. I made one more visit the following year. I had intended to return but through layoffs and changes, I never made it back.
I had a chance to return last Friday on a beautiful sunny May day. How it has grown! I parked nearby on Western Avenue and entered the garden through the Aspen Grove. The leaves were quivering in the gentle wind. The white bark provided a contrast to the stark black sculptures scattered through the grove.
I exited the grove and walked over the Seattle Cloud Cover Glass Bridge down to the waterfront. The bridge to the water passes by Schubert Sonata by Mark di Suvero and Love & Loss by Roy McMakin. I continued into Myrtle Edwards Park pathway. I sat among the daisies and let the air gently blow through my hair. The Olympics were in the distance, the PI globe turned behind me while joggers ran by.
I returned to the park and the Z path. The orange steel “Eagle” sculpture by Calder towered above the rail tracks and meadows. The path curved back to the skyline of Seattle. I took one of the side paths through the dogwoods covered with ivory colored blossoms to the rusty undulating steel sculptures of “Wake” by Richard Serra . I love walking through the steel canyons with the “Eagle” and Space Needle peeking above.
The park is free and open to the public. On the warm day, joggers, school children, sun lovers, mothers and senior all enjoyed the art, native plants and gorgeous sea views. Highly recommended.
“Stinger” by Tony Smith
“Typewriter Eraser” by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
Waterfront by park
Myrtle Edwards Park
Seattle Skyline and Olympic Sculpture Park Shoreline Park
PI Globe from Myrtle Edwards Park
“The Wake” by Richard Serra
Prairie is not a place you imagine of when you think of Washington state or the Puget Sound area. But prairie grasslands were an intrinsic part of native American food sources. These rolling grasslands were scattered throughout the sound and can still be found south of Olympia. The grassy areas may originally have been created by the glaciers that covered the area and left open rocky meadows. Native Americans maintained these grasslands by burning them to restore the plants and keep the larger invasive plants at bay. The predominant plant they harvested was blue camas – Camassia quamash. These plants in the Agavaceae family have starchy bulbs that they harvested in the early fall, roasted and dried for food throughout the year. They also harvested other bulbs and berries that grew well in these savannah grasslands.
Today, the prairies are an endangered land. Only about 2% of the grasslands still survive. Much of it was used as farmland and later housing. Once a year, the Glacial Heritage Preserve is open to the public on Prairie Appreciation Day which was last Saturday. This prairie is managed by Thurston County Parks, the Washington department of Fish and Wildlife and restored by the Nature Conservancy of Washington and Friends of Puget Prairies. They have done a tremendous amount of work to clear the invasive non-native plants such as scotch broom from the fields.
Early May is prime time for the blooms. The roads in the area are lined with blue camas. Last Saturday was sunny with lots of fluffy white clouds. The blue blossoms created a blue haze over the grassland. I took the longer self-guided trail along the edge of the prairie and was amazed at the fields.
Near by is the more well known prairie – Mima Mounds. It is a lovely place to walk through these strange mounds that no one really understands. Was it a glacier? An earthquake? Gophers? May is a wonderful time to visit since the mounds are tinged in blue with camas and violets but anytime is a good time to visit and contemplate the mystery.
Camas and Lomatium
Chocolate lily – Fritillaria affinis
Sea thrift – Armeria maritima
Mother’s Day. It has been 9 years since my mother died. April 2001. She was almost 85. I came late in her life and a second marriage. I can not say it was ‘strange’ growing up with a Mother who was in her 50’s. That was all I knew. We had wonderful times in the late ’60s – going out to dinner, driving around the Haight in San Francisco, going to junk stores looking for antiques, teaching me to sew.
I married and left. We grew apart. The last years were tough as she slipped into dementia from a stroke. The picture above was from one of the few times she visited me in Seattle in 1983.
Here’s a link to a previous post I wrote about my mother and pictures. I also posted a picture of her when I wrote about dragonfruit.
Take time this weekend to celebrate your mother.
What a difference a couple of days make. Today was gorgeous. I had lunch with my good friend E in Fremont. We ate at Homegrown Sandwich Shop which focuses on local sustainable products for their sandwiches. We ordered a roast turkey and a roast pork and split them so we could each try the sandwiches. They were so yummy. I liked the roast turkey better although the pickled red onion was a nice touch on the roast pork. We went for a short walk along the canal before she had to return to work.
I had originally planned on walking around Green Lake when I realized that it would be a great day to go to the Olympic Sculpture Garden at Pier 70 in Seattle. It has always been overcast and cold on my previous two visits. Today was wonderful.
The hillsides were covered with lupine and wildflowers. The dogwoods were in bloom. The sun and sea perfectly complemented the garden and sculptures. I’ll post more next week on the garden.
I decided to stay a while more and walked down the waterfront to Pier 66. It is one of the best places to view the Seattle skyline. The picture above is from the roof top at Pier 66. I also discovered the wonderful Belltown P-Patch on my walk back to the car. I’ll tell more next week also.
The temperatures are in the mid 60’s – sky blue – scented breeze – lovely day in the city.
Where has Spring gone? It has turned cold. It is only 47 degrees and dropping. The normal for this time of the year around 60 degrees. We were planning on going over to Eastern Washington again today to see the desert wildflowers but there was a winter storm watch for the passes. A foot of snow fell over night and looking at the DOT cams – it looked nasty.
We’re hunkering down. I think we’ll stream “Sherlock Holmes” from Netflix tonight. And turn up the heater!
This week’s Photohunt theme is black. It was kinda a challenge. The photo above was taken on a late evening hike to Burroughs Mountain at Mount Rainier. Our tradition is to hike up late in the afternoon on our anniversary and watch the sun set. We hike back as the day ‘fades to black’. This shot was taken shortly after we were leaving of the moon rising over Little Tahoma on the eastern slope of Mt. Rainier.
Digging around I found a few photos in the black of the night with the moon. The first one is of the eclipse of the moon in February 2008. The following two are of a winter bonfire at Richmond Beach.
Fire and moon glow on Richmond Beach statue
December bonfire lightens the winter blackness
I came across this video today from the Portland Oregonian on the lilac garden I mentioned earlier. Take a video tour of the garden and some tips on growing lilacs.
| A video visit to Hulda Klager Lilac Garden plus tips for revitalizing lilac trees |
This is the 30th year anniversary of the eruption of Mt St Helens. Here is a picture from 2003. I hope to make a trip to the same area this year to see how it has changed.
To me, lilacs are a true harbinger that spring has arrived. We have an old scraggly bush just on the side of our deck. Throughout March and April, I watch the leaves slowly emerge and buds swell. I will get whiff of their sweet scent even before they bloom. They have waiting to burst open the past week but the off and on weather has kept them tightly budded.
The days are long and slowly warming. The sun has been out but covered hazily with high clouds. But the sun has been strong enough the past to days to push them open.
Lilacs are very fascinating. Driving through the country side it is common to see them planted near old homesteads. One of the reasons is they were planted were to remind the Northern European settlers of their home country. Another reason is they are an indicator plant. The plant is sensitive to the temperature and not length of daylight. The changes in the lilac, when it leaved out were used by people to know when to plant crops. Here in the Northwest, when the lilac leaves are the size of mouse ears, you know the ground is warm enough to plant peas. Phenology is the science of studying natural changes or phenophases to chart the seasonal calendar. Lilacs are one of the plants that have been studied and tracked over the years. Scientists are now using records to also track climate changes. Project Budburst is a great site for finding out more about this science and getting involved.
Mothers Day has always been lilac time here in the Northwest. I’ve notice more and more that they are finished by Mothers Day and the mid to end of April is the time when they are at their peak. There is a wonderful garden devoted to lilacs in Southern Washington – Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens. We stopped one year on a trip to Portland but we were too late for the blooms.
We planted our lilac about 20 years ago. It has been battered over the years by the wind and has grown tall and scraggly. We may replace it soon but until that time, I’ll continue to enjoy it every Spring.
Camas – Camassia quamash