Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

This post is especially for the LeRoy Book Club, but all are welcome.

This winter our book club read "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jamie Ford. It takes place mostly in Seattle in 1942 and 1986. I would describe it as a coming of age/first love story with family opposition due to race with the backdrop of WWII and interment camps.

I loved the book for many reasons, but one was that I recognized many of the place names from my previous visits to Seattle. As I said good-bye to my book club friends, I was reminded to go find the Panama Hotel, an important place in the book. Well, today was the day!

I found this tea shop and museum. What a find!

 Every kind of tea imaginable and pastries as well!

I had a wonderful Oolong tea with coconut and a small quiche. Yum!

And the museum...

Those who have read the book will understand the significance of these next two pictures. This first one is a shot into the basement of the hotel.

 It was like reading the book all over again...and I just might!

Katelyn Days

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were the days I got to be the responsible adult for Katelyn since she didn't have school.

On Monday, we started out with a little art at home... Katelyn's plans for a bunk bed. I wonder who will build this, Papa?

 An origami box.

Then a bus trip to downtown to the Seattle Main Library.

Later we came home for rest time (because GraMary needed it, not Katelyn.) Then a trip to soccer, again on the bus.

Tuesday: Katelyn's Eighth birthday! We started again on the bus, but this time with Travis to take him to school so Mom and Dad could go to work early for meetings.

Once home, we got back into some fun art...

Shelby the Turtle

Caramel Bear

Then we played with Karen and Joe's old Crayola Design kits making rockets and trucks.

Lunch then outside to ride bikes and sweep the garage. Inside to play balancing games on the Wii and vacuum the stairs. Then rest time for GraMary.

Then a gift for Katelyn...Lego Women of NASA! We spent a couple of hours building this and watching YouTube videos about these women.

Next thing we knew, Mom and Travis were arriving home. Dad had school. A quick dinner, a little more art and reading, and bedtime. Definitely a full day even without straying far from home.

Katelyn requested another "rest at home day" for Wednesday. Today Travis went with Mom and Dad, and Katelyn and I started in on art right away! Travis requested that I make another truck that he could color when he came home from school. Katelyn worked on a Super Transport Plane.

We made a list of the many things we wanted and/or needed to do today, and we did them all!

Vacuum maintenance school: level one, two, three, and four!

Level 1: How to change the bag.
Level 2: How to remove the roller brush and clean the bottom of the vacuum.
Level 3: How to put it all back together and make sure it still works.
Level 4: How to clean up the work station and ourselves!

All clean!

Katelyn passed all 4 levels and received her certificate. 😀

And if that wasn't enough, we biked around the block, played on the wobble board, played a weird soccer game, and Katelyn pogo-sticked!

Then dinner and reading and bedtime for Katelyn and Travis. Tomorrow Katelyn goes to school for an outing, but she and I will get there by BUS! Then I will head to Seattle Free Museum Day. Yeay!

April in Seattle

Celebrating Katelyn's 8th birthday is a multi-day event with Easter and Spring Break all thrown in.

Gelato! (This is her "best 8 year old smile!" or so she says...)

We also enjoyed butterflies at the Pacific Science Center...

and time at the beach.

Easter egg searches Sunday morning.

We built some new Lego sets, too.

Off to the Ballard Farmers' Market!

Yummy Farmers' Market lunch. It was so cold!

And some playtime at the new playground at Discovery Park after our naps.

And finally, birthday dinner; lasagna, as ordered by Katelyn!

Happy Birthday, Katelyn!

Back to Seattle

Well, it's time for my trip to Seattle for this year. Leaving Michigan...

The view over Denver. Still plenty of snow.

And here we are...Seattle and Spring! Yeay!

In fact, many of the blooming trees are already past prime and dropping petals. But not these!

Here is the best part, of course!

And while everyone was at work and school, I had breakfast at my favorite vegetarian restaurant,

checked out the new Car2Go cars,

visited some of the local senior housing apartments (just doing some info gathering)

and enjoyed the heron rookery at the locks.

A jam packed week considering that I only arrived late Tuesday afternoon!