We stayed in the Panama Hotel in Seattle’s International District which was built in 1910. The hotel contains the last remaining Japanese bathhouse (sento), in its original site, in the United States. The image above is of the hotel’s cafe situated directly over the bath house.
We took a ferry to Bainbridge Island from where the first Japanese in the USA were interned in 1942.
The killing of nine people in an Oregon college is the 294th “mass shooting” in the US this year, according to one definition of such tragedies. Many flags are at half mast and families are concerned for their children and wondering ‘where next?’
Obama immediately demanded tighter gun laws, saying prayers are “no longer enough…We are not the only country on Earth that has people with mental illnesses or want to do harm to other people but we are the only advanced country on Earth that sees these mass shootings.”
Our hearts go out to everyone involved.
Nearby the Space Needle a young boy was driving his remote controlled truck along the path of the labyrinth. A first for me!
(parental permission granted for this photograph)
The Yorkshire in me would not allow the purchase of $300 + tickets. So we watched the game in a Sports Bar in downtown Seattle instead.
This time the name of a fabulous blue hot air balloon.
We went up early this morning with five other balloons and flew silently over the Willamette River nearly touching down in a winding creek before lifting over the towering pines.
One of the great things about travel is tasting new food and drink. We love the smell and taste of Huckleberry jam. Just smelling the jar this morning took me back to Beckie’s, a rustic restaurant in Union Creek where we ate their famous Huckleberry pie.
Fold your wings, my soul,
those wings you had spread wide
to soar to the terrestrial peaks
where the light is most ardent:
it is for you simply to wait
the descent of the Fire – supposing it to be willing
to take possession of you.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
I met with two labyrinth friends from the Portland area who took me to walk a most beautiful classical labyrinth. It had been lovingly created by planting shrubs and flowers in troughs of stone and soil. These planted areas acted as boundaries to the winding path.
In the centre was a fountain of water gently spilling out of a boulder and into the surrounding pool which had sitting stones nearby on which to rest a while.
The labyrinth created a place of reflection, peace and refreshment. A welcome gift.
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