Music and Cats

I don’t often make it to the Ballard Farmers’ Market until early afternoon. Today I arrived at 10 a.m., and was rewarded with a marvelous feast for the senses. I walked along the market stalls, enjoying the kaleidoscope of vibrant fresh produce and colorful summer clothing. A light breeze carried the scents of flowers and […]

A couple of years ago, I sat with my father and 3300 other architects in a convention hall in San Diego, listening to Daniel Libeskind speak about his winning design for the World Trade Center site. While discussing the inspirations for his design concepts for the site, Libeskind asked, “What is more optimistic than […]

The McKitten brothers take turns in front of our old, very heavy bevelled glass mirror. Lyra doesn’t bother, as she firmly believes that she is the fairest.
(This mirror was originally installed on the back of a closet door, probably when our house was built in 1908. When we remodelled our bedroom 92 years later, […]

What are the colors of a Seattle summer sunset? Apricot, peach, salmon, raspberry, rhubarb, strawberry, plum, cherry (Ranier and a touch of bing), fading to dusky blueberry and, finally, blackberry.
As I drove home from the grocery store this evening, luscious sunset colors winked at me from every west-facing window on my street. Pulling into our […]

An article in Sunday’s New York Times travel section begins:
When summer comes to Seattle, blinking residents emerge from bookstores and coffeehouses, shrug off their rubberized rain jackets, chrysalis-like, and change into cycling shorts, then rock-climbing shoes, and finally strappy sandals for a night on the town. (Call it the Seattle triathlon.) From July through […]