Weekend in Seattle, March 14-16

We drove to Seattle late Thursday afternoon, joining Vivian and Stephen for dinner at an Italian establishment once their evening Spanish class concluded.  The next morning, we joined Bill and Alyssa for a tour of El Centro de la Raza (The Centre for People of All Races), where Stephen is Development Officer (you can read about it by clicking on the link).  In 1972, an enterprising and energetic group took over an abandoned public school before it could be sold to a developer, saying it should be saved for the community and be made available to needy people, not just the wealthy.  The occupiers eventually purchased it for $1, subsequently transforming it into Seattle's most important centre for Spanish-speaking people, many of whom were at the lower end of the economic spectrum.  Over the decades, their well-educated leaders obtained grants and raised money to upgrade the building, bringing it up to current building code standards.  The large former school now has programmes for several hundred pre-gradeschoolers (day care and many programmes of various kinds).  I hope to write more about El Centro later, but these photos show a bit of the project in its present form.

A recent grant enabled El Centro to erect garden boxes for the community.  The stone pathways were beautifully constructed.

Another grant brought in excellent playground equipment suitable for Seattle's varying weather conditions.

I was impressed by the way these little children were organized, each holding onto some sort of rope (?) which kept their attention on where they were to go.  The Centre's programmes utilize many volunteers.

Stephen's office has been newly painted by S&V and a friend.  The large thermos of decaf is omnipresent.

The hallways have painted murals which I want to photograph later.  I was impressed by the cleanliness of everything and by the careful organization seen at every turn.

This basement hallway has been transformed into a mini theatre with a floor depicting the earth's continents.

One class of preschoolers sang a song for us before returning to complete their crafts for the morning.

Only now do I realize that I neglected to take photos of Paul's traditional pizza dinner for everybody Friday evening.  This gave us another chance to be with his grandchildren.

Stephen spent Saturday in Olympia visiting his very good long-time friend, Steve, who is in his final weeks (brain tumor).  Vivian and Janice bought plants and seeds for the garden, and I enjoyed Paul's traditional breakfast of fresh oatmeal with maple syrup, toasted homemade bread and excellent coffee.  Alyssa and boys joined us.  I believe we walked to the bottom of Fremont to get some groceries.  Let me tell you, that is one long hill for groceries.  These folks are in great shape.

My highlight for Saturday was joining Paul and friends at one of Seattle's public libraries for an afternoon of reading Shakespeare.  Since it was the Ides of March, the play obviously had to be Julius Caesar.  The first 30 minutes were devoted to assigning readers to the some 2,500 lines of text, with three people taking turns being Anthony, two being Brutus, etc.  I felt like being Seneca (old, tired, with a jaded view of politics--some might call it type-casting).  We took a brief break for cookies and crackers after Act III, so it was an intense session.  One man stood for the duration, pacing the room.  Brian was the most accomplished reader, being a former professional actor (these photos show only 9 of the 21 participants).

Sunday, well, it rained and rained and rained.  About all we could do was sit around and read the Sunday New York Times.

Finally Vivian and Janice decided "it's now or never" (they are off to Lisbon in several weeks), so they went out to plant more seeds.  The garden holds promise.  The garlic plants are quite tall (and numerous). Kale and arugula have wintered over. The tiny lettuce plants are new transplants. The small triangular bed is for edible pod peas.

Bill and Alyssa stopped by early Sunday afternoon with children for a brief snack after visiting nearby Seward Park.

Stephen had been cooking quite a bit of the day, and had a 6-qt crock pot going all day Saturday, getting ready for a family meal remembering Kay on the eve of the anniversary of her death (March 17). 

We actually used a table cloth (!) and "Grandma's china and silverware" for the occasion.

One centerpiece was the Memorial Candle the family had lit at each of the memorial gatherings in Ohio and Indiana last year. Alyssa also brought some tulips.

It was nice to have Paul's 86-yr-old Shakespeare-reading friend Brian join us (he lost his wife about 6 years ago after being married 60 years).  During the meal, Paul answered our questions at leisure, telling how he and Kay met, their dating at Goshen College, their early years in New York City, the big trip to Europe in the VW super beetle which they picked up at the factory in Germany, etc.  We also invited Brian to share a few memories of his wife.

Meanwhile, Stephen served us family style:  polenta with a rich Bolognese sauce and a rich vegan sauce, sautéed mushrooms, "bangers" (Brian's term, he lived in Liverpool, among other places) and Italian sausages, kale from the front garden, stir-fried fennel, various cheeses and dips, mixed fruit and cakes from Columbia City Bakery (our favourite, fast becoming a pilgrimage destination for Kreiders and Sunderlands).  It was a wonderful evening meal.

After packaging some food for folks to take home, and after we provided token assistance at cleaning up, we left V&S with the remaining dishes and headed north for home.  Some likely reached home in 20 minutes, we in under 3 hours, driving through torrential rain part of the way.  But it was worth it.