Our first day of school is approaching, and with it all the responsibility they’ve been telling us about. So I’ve been using my relatively un-stressful time to wander around my neighborhood. I haven’t made bread yet like I planned, I still need to go and pick up the various flours that I need (my recipe is pretty easy, but calls for a couple different kinds of flours), but I did go and get some fresh vegetables and spices so I could make curry. There’s a supermarket pretty close to my house (definitely within walking distance) that I can go to, but even better there’s a really big farmer’s market scene in Seattle. There are markets once a week in almost every neighborhood, and several big ones (like Pike Place) that happen daily. Not only is the food really fresh and local it’s also fairly inexpensive since it comes straight from farms in towns nearby! And they have different breeds of different crops, like yellow carrots or loganberry jam. With all the farmer’s markets and used bookstores in the area it’s a bit tough to keep my spending down!
I’ve also discovered that the nearby University of Washington campus is beautiful. They’ve got acres of herb and rose gardens as well as lots of soaring Gothic architecture. It’s been around a bit longer than the U of A and it definitely shows. Apparently the large fountain and thoroughfare were designed for one of the big world expos. It’s gorgeous and the library is amazing. I wonder if I can fanangle a library card? Maybe if I go in all teary eyed in my bright red jacket.
But I think I’ve found the coolest place ever in the history of mankind. It’s a little south of us and is called Gasworks park because of the old style gasworks plant that is there. When the city found out that it was the last one in the country they cleaned it up and made it a park, turning tons of old style-machinery into brightly-colored playground equipment perfect for climbing and running all over! Me and another girl went on Saturday to track down a clothing optional bike ride (there seems to be a theme of nudity in Seattle) that was going to urban gardens in the area but got lost and instead stumbled upon a parkour (free running) convention down there. They were awesome people and showed us how to do some simple vaults even though we weren’t registered for the convention and were just rubbernecking. But the park has a beautiful view, great trails paths, and is only a little ways away via bike.
So far the weather has been holding out (sunny and clear with just a bit of cold to even it out) but the dreary days I was expecting when I moved up here are starting to rear their ugly gray heads and a cold front is coming in that is chilling my poor desert rat bones. I’m going to head out again while the sun is out and soak it in, I likely won’t see it again until I go home for Christmas!