Hard to imagine it's been a year since we attended the last Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament, but here we were again, on the train to Seattle, 6 a.m., arrived King Street station about 12:15, walked to F.X.McRory's for their oyster sample platter in the bar, a whiskey lover's dream,
then a taxi ride to the Mediterranean Inn in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood to meet with other Beavers.
Breakfast next morning was at Lowell's in Pike Place Market, always a joy, corn beef hash, eggs, and coffee with a fine view of Elliot Bay.
The most interesting sight was a lone monk fish; flowers, food, antiques, crafts, tourists, smells and sounds could keep one there all day.
Instead, we walked to the Seattle Art Museum where we found the same introductory installation as last year--not sure what to think of a series of hanging cars pierced with flashing Christmas lights.
We went, however, to see the featured exhibit of Joan Miró from the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid: 50 paintings, drawings, and sculptures created between 1963 and 1981.
Miró takes a little getting used to, but I believe I would be less likely to grow bored with his work than with much representational material, especially his women.
We also revisited the extensive ethnographic collection: African, Pacific lands, and Northwest Native material.
The first evening, we ate at Elliot Bay Oyster house, starting, of course, with a dozen Olympias, then moving to other scrumptious sea food.
Yum.
We attended Key Arena,
where OSU women dominated--until the championship game.
Sadness.
We saw on the news that a construction crew had dug a mastodon tusk which was displayed at the Burke but when we got there it had already been removed for conservation. The Burke claims to have the fifth largest collection in the U.S. of Northwest Native art but you couldn't prove it by us. Striking, however, was a roof decoration from the turn of the 19th century--gathered along with other artifacts by a group of Seattle businessmen when the village men were gone on a summer hunt: a century later it is "on loan" with permission of the village, to be returned some time soon.
Most surprising was the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit in Seattle Center, practically under the Space Needle. Dale Chihuly (born 1941, Tacoma, Washington) has glass sculpture in more than 200 museums and has been awarded eleven honorary doctorates and two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.
We walked through the entire display, then walked through it a second time. Each installation invited viewing from all around. I think my favorite was the Northwest room with Edward S. Curtis photogravures, Northwest Coast Indian baskets, and American Indian trade blankets as counterpoint to his glass creations. The explanatory text stated that Chihuly's discovery of the natural slumping over time of old baskets freed him from symmetrical dictates.
Another favorite was the Macchia Forest exhibit, a collection of multi-colored bowls up to four feet in diameter.
The exhibit continued through several rooms, all filled with fascinating multi-colored collections,
and then extended into a green house filled with giant glass flowers and thence outdoors where glass constructs vied with real flowers and the winter rain.
Then Monday to the King Street Station, the Amtrak Cascade, and a pleasant ride home.
A memorable visit.
Breakfast next morning was at Lowell's in Pike Place Market, always a joy, corn beef hash, eggs, and coffee with a fine view of Elliot Bay.
