Kruckeberg Garden

Yesterday I got to cross something off my Someday list, which is as great a pleasure as crossing an item off a To Do list, but fun.  A friend invited me to explore Kruckeberg Botanic Garden, a park I'd heard of but had never managed to get to.  It's both wild and well-tended, lots of trees, some water features, a plant nursery, a playground, winding paths.  It's a few acres in size, although it didn't seem that big while we were wandering through it.  I was happy to be there at last, and to share it with a friend.

However, that wasn't the best part of the day.  My friend and I went out to lunch after the garden to one of our favorite seafood restaurants.  We got a nice table looking out over the marina and Puget Sound, and the food was delicious.

But that also wasn't the best part of the day.  The best part came when I heard our jovial server talking with diners at a nearby table.  That very day the diners and the server had all closed escrow on the houses they were selling, so they were celebrating.

When the server came to our table, I congratulated her on closing escrow, and asked where she was going to live next.  We learned that she is two years a widow, and finally ready to start her life again.  She will be moving to a smaller house she and her husband had bought on the Olympic Peninsula.  She already has friends there, and is looking forward to this new beginning.  It was incredibly touching to hear her story.  She was not in any way mournful (publicly, at least) and seemed happy with the path she had chosen.

When the bill came, I left her a $40 tip on a $30 meal, with a note "To the future!".  And that was the best part of the day: hearing someone's story and being able to contribute, not in a meaningfully concrete way, but symbolically, out of friendliness and respect; to recognize that she has been through something terrible, awful, and to cheer her on as she moves ahead with her life.  I was sad for her loss, but glad to have met her when she is writing a new chapter for herself.

Illusions! Superman! Art! = Date Day

A couple of days ago Sweet Hubby and I dealt with a topic which required a lot of understanding from both of us.  We came through that discussion just fine, because always do, but somehow the tension from that made the next day all the sweeter.  Because the next day was Date Day.

Date Day is a rare event when both of us take a break from errands, chores, projects, gatherings, etc. and spend time together all day.  We are independently busy people and our orbits seldom intersect except at the end of the day. To have a whole day together is sweet and lovely, no matter what we choose to do.

Since I am the one who usually initiates Date Days, SH always lets me choose.  I didn't want to cram the day too tightly, so we made some tentative plans and set off.  First savory crepes for breakfast and then the train downtown to visit the Museum of Illusions, which both of us knew about but had never been to.  https://moiseattle.com/ 

This is a fun place, full of optical illusions, opportunities for trick photos, games and puzzles, and - my most favorite and SH's least - a path through a tunnel, the walls of which constantly rotate around the path such that it is absolutely impossible not to stagger and bounce off the walls.  A large gaggle of girls in pink t-shirts, clearly from a summer camp, arrived just after we had, which filled the place with noise and bodies, so we didn't always spend as much time at each station as we might have otherwise.  But it was fun and interesting and challenging and we both enjoyed our time there.

Then off to see the new Superman movie.  It was all right, but I have to admit that even though I am a big Avengers fan, I'm pretty well tired of CG superhero violence and magic and powers and aliens and a main villain who wants to destroy the Earth.  But this is certainly a movie which deserves to be seen on a big screen, so I'm glad enough that we made it part of the day.

I had somehow earned free tickets to a preview opening of the Seattle Arts Fair.  https://seattleartfair.com/  The train dropped us off within walking distance of the large  hall where the fair is being held.  We split up and wandered each at his/her own  pace, just taking in the rows and rows and aisles and aisles of art works.  So much to see and admire and wonder at, so many different  techniques and materials.  It was rather staggering.  We spent more than an hour and neither of us saw even half of what is on display.

I ended up buying a painting from a Korean artist.  I loved it as soon as I saw it and it stayed on my mind when I left it, so once SH and I reconnected, I took him to look at it, and he agreed that it is well suited to our tastes and our home, although we're going to have to do some rearranging in order to find  the right place for it amidst our other art works.  It was expensive, but I just couldn't leave without it.

The day ended with dinner out and then some animation before we trundled off to bed, both of us with more than 10Kstepson our Fitbits.  All in all, a most splendid day, and together, which was the best part.