Better Seattle

Yes, she is giving you that look. Yes, that look.

And it's something to write home about, too. With an asking price of $17,000 Juli Adams' deeply quizzical artwork pierces the thin veneer of polite society and into your soul. You'd brush it off, if you could, but you can't. It's exceptional.

Piece by piece, Juli Adams delivers wrenching, penetrating images that both inspire and frighten you at the same time. You look. And you look again.

Jennifer Bowman changes the tempo with
works that my mother would swoon for.

Free-flowing, interpretive pieces of gardens and countrysides that you could come home to day after day, brilliant color in a creative "loosing of the tie".

Chardonnay, anyone?

Our quest for the striking would not be complete without a hefty appreciation for a bit of the modern, specifically bronze, stainless steel, and stone sculpture that belongs in the gardens and houses of those not merely content with magnificence on the wall.

James Kelsey's sculpture is an experience in scale,  playfulness, and  presence.

While a painting can sit amicably by itself, Kelsey's sculpture demands dialog. Its strong, clean lines belong on the edges of pools and lakes, gracing zen gardens, and in the recesses of your imagination.

Seattle's annual Fourth of July Firecracker 5000 was a supremely delightful run, with slightly over 700 particpants showing up to strut their stuff in the late wee hours.

About one mile in, as the course curved back around toward the stadium, my twin sister explained with glee, "We're almost there!!!"  She became less than exicted when I shared we had only run about one mile and that in fact the course would snake around Belltown for another two miles before heading back for the final dash.

Congratulations, Anne!!! She is now training for her first full marathon this fall!

Left picture: My sis is directly in front of me with the light pink shirt and hair up in a long pony tail. We're running up Denny with the Space Needle in the background.

Bottom picture: My sis on the right, her first race ever, post run.