Seattle September
.. and other words beginning with the letter S. The word striking comes to mind, since I have been looking at views that would fit the description. Today the dog and I were up early so that I could ride in to the city with Esther. I was glad for the chance to see where she spent her working hours so she gave me a short tour of the building. Striking.
The Russell Investment Center is a multi-story office complex on Union and 2nd. Her company has several floors of office space there for her division. We started way underground with her space in the parking garage. The whole building is fairly new and has won awards for LEED and energy efficiency so it is immaculately clean and smartly furnished. It has several elevator bays (I counted 16 elevators in the two I saw). I’m not from a place with big buildings so elevators impress me.

lounge corner 17th floor

One floor I had access to was a lounge/restaurant area with an outdoor patio and garden. Trees and large stone features made it hard to believe I was 17 stories up in the air. Such an expansive area with no one there to appreciate it except me – an odd feeling. It was early.
I am now writing at Lowell’s Restaurant at Pikes Place. My Seattle family is not big on breakfast, not even small on breakfast actually, so I am enjoying sitting here having a classic meal and several cups of $2 coffee (free refills), which I’m finding satisfies almost as well as the $4 kind. I’m sure if I lived here I would become more of a coffee connoisseur, but thankfully that hasn’t happened yet. There are beautiful views of the harbor and ships coming and going here. I have sat by the windows on other visits but today I am tucked back in a corner with plenty of room to get the computer out. I can still see the water.

The market is brimming with fantastic bundles of flowers and produce of all kinds. I will go back to the shop where they are saving the lighthouse painting for me. I will meet Esther at noon for a while. I might ride the big Ferris wheel on the waterfront. I will take the water taxi back to West Seattle today because I haven’t done that before. Long rows of grey clouds line the sky. I see islands and mountains through the wet haze. People everywhere – the city is waking up. I saw a girl and her dog sitting on the sidewalk at the traffic light. She held a sign “my dog and I, just getting by. God bless.” I’m just sayin’, this is Seattle.