Seattle is so beautiful

Living in blah Florida, visiting states with lush green mountains and valleys and attractive topography is like a deep breath of fresh air, even when you are exposed to only a tiny taste.

Posing with my friends Marcia and Millie

Before my brief visit to Seattle, Washington, all I knew about the area was that it had great bicycle paths and it rains a lot. 

Well from the lushness of the place, I am sure it does rain a lot, but thank heavens it didn't when I was there. In fact, if it rained at all during my week's stay, it was before I surfaced, so once or twice I did notice only a little water on the grass, so it was pure joy and warm, weather, without the stifling humidity. 

As to bicycles, they are parked everywhere as riders need only a credit card to get access to one and once done, they can park them

anywhere, and they do.

Once done, these bikes are left anywhere which means everywhere!

I was a bit curious though,  about how come in a city where it is mandatory to use a helmet when riding, where these rental cycles are concerned, that rule did to seem to apply! 

But I stray.

I had hopped over to Seattle by train in what was a very scenic ride, after the end of a cruise which terminated in nearby Vancouver, Canada. So I couldn't avoid going there after being so close!

The trip was to visit a very close friend Millie, who lives there as well as cousins who I had recently met who live in the Emerald City. (So called as it is lush and green year-round).

Incidentally, Millie lives a few doors from the woman recently arrested for hacking into Amazon and stealing information on over 100 million accounts. Worse, when they raided her house, they found a man there who had an arsenal of guns, ammunition and even grenades so thankfully, took him into custody too!

The spectacular view of Lake Washington from my hosts home

My initial very pleasant surprise was that my friend Millie had arranged for me to stay in a very lavish suite in the home of a close relative. This location gave me a wonderful view of  the beautiful

Washington Lake and Mercer island in King County.

The walkway circles the lake

This venue also gave me quick access to the well equipped, pedestrian-friendly Seaward Park, located on.

300 acres of beautiful forest land, with a well marked  2.4 mile bike and walking path, plus miles of hiking trails, shoreline, beaches and more. I was quite intrigued by the number of persons I saw bathing in the lake with its under 50% temperature in summer, but I guess they don't know better!

With only limited time to see as much as I could of Seattle, I resorted to my favorite Hop on Hop- Off tour bus, which you find in every major city of the world.

 I consider  this means of sightseeing the best value for money, since it usually gives you an extensive guided tour of the host city plus a guided waterfront tour by boat, for your money. Really good value and the operator in Seattle did not disappoint.

Of course, the tour started at the well known "space needle" which boasts a revolving restaurant on top. This monument was built for the Worlds Fair in 1962, and was the tallest building at that time, but has been dwarfed many times since then.

It has, what I hear is a great revolving restaurant on top, but  being allergic to heights I passed up on a visit there,

Beside it is the museum of pop culture called MoPop and while some people find the design unattractive, I found it quite beautiful. I only passed up visiting it as I heard it was an all day affair.

That area is really full of tourists  though, bumping against each other all day. 

MoPop

A favorite stop of mine was at Pikes Market, which sits on  eleven acres of land in the midst of town.

 It has on display just about everything, from the literal pin to anchor, but my favorite and that of a horde of visitors to the area, is their very delicious clam chowder.  

I  however found the smell of fish and other sea foods a bit overwhelming. 

I guess I should have  expected that such a market in Seattle with its numerous lakes, the Sound and ocean would be a fishy!

According to our tour guide, Washington has the highest, per capita, number of boat owners and whereas I had always felt Florida would hold that distinction, considering how many commercial fishermen there are in Washington plus the fun lovers, he could very well be right.

Lovers were all over Pikes market though,  selecting from the picturesque array of fresh flowers on display there, for sale.

We also visited Freeman Hill where Kerry Park was constructed on property that once housed a polluting coal plant. and from there, you really get a comprehensive view of the city below. (Washington is a very ecologically friendly state)

Their waterfront and pier is extremely busy with thousands of shore visitors who had arrived on one of the many cruise ships  and even naval vessels that dock there. 

From the boat touring the waterfront, you got not only a really great view of the well-designed city, but also some of the huge sculptors adorning the sculpture park. 

The one that stood out for me was this below!

 had been told about the numerous outlying islands, a few of which are densely populated accessible by ferry and I did make an attempt to visit Bainbridge island, but just my luck, the engine of the ferry gave out on that trip!

However, the day before I had to leave, Millie and her daughter Christine, did take Marcia who was visiting from Jamaica and I, on a driving tour of that island, then circling over to Tacoma.

From Brainbridge, you get a wonderful view of a section of the Olympic Mountain Range where global warming is stark, as huge sections of mountains which are normally covered with snow, were clearly melting. 

A view of the waterfront from the sea

I was a bit disappointed that I did not have the opportunity to see mount St. Helens up close. This is an eight thousand foot high active volcano, which last erupted in 2008, but it is some 96 miles south of the Seattle. I have to visit it one day as I am fascinated with volcanoes, since visiting  four in Costa Rica.

What I got in early August 2019 was definitely just a small taste of the beautiful state of Washington, which only inspires me to place another visit high on my bucket list.

OTHER SCENES FROM SEATTLE

A section of the University of Washington where some 54,000 study, most from out of state or country

These three are sculptors and murals at Pikes Market

The tallest Ferris wheel on the west coast

Finding family

It is quite simple to find your family these days, as all it requires is a DNA swab!
However I am getting a lot of pleasure finding mine the good old fashioned way, ie. word of mouth and direct connections.

Some of my cousins residing in Seattle

What is interesting, is that for decades I was under the impression that I had a very small family and even envied my ex-husband at times, as his family was so large and together. It is only over the last decade that I have discovered that I too have quite a big family, from my father's side too. 

Big sister Flo

Interestingly, that is where the deficiency always was, I thought, for I only met my paternal grandfather once and that occasion was terrifying to me. As I recall, he wore dark glasses and had a long white beard and at about four years old, I had never seen anyone else with these attributes, so I was  deathly scared of him.

He died shortly after that frightening encounter, so that could be the reason why over all these decades, I showed no interest in his side of the family. That is, until my brother who lives in Canada informed me that our paternal grandfather was one of fourteen siblings, scattered all over the world including Cuba.

I was especially thrilled to hear I had relatives in Cuba, for that neighboring island is to me, one of the most beautiful places on earth (natural beauty but spoilt in part by terrible government) and I had already visited it three times, without realizing the family connections.

 So in 2014, off I went to the island just 90 miles away from my home in  Jamaica, to meet those relatives and was thrilled to meet 17 cousins living there. 

The matriarch had quite a bit of information about our family, informing me that,at the turn of the 20th century, two sisters travelled from Jamaica to Cuba to take advantage of job opportunities in the neighboring island. However, one sister later moved on to the United States (USA) but her mom remained on the island, hence my 17 cousins from three generations.

Posing with Judy and Cheryl

On another occasion, while visiting my cousin Sheila who also resides between Canada and Jamaica, I had the pleasure of meeting two cousins who live in Seattle, USA and were searching for their Jamaican roots. 

Well my latest trek was partly to see them in Seattle and meet the rest of their family, as I was in nearby Vancouver , Canada and was going across to stay with a long-time Jamaican friend who lives there and has not been in the best of health.

My instincts were on target, for the sisters Judy and Cheryl welcomed me with open arms and gave me the opportunity to meet so many more wonderful relatives, including their step-mother Mrs. Braxton, their big  sister Flo, her grandson Jacob and brothers Jerry and Trevor. Interestingly, that side of the family is intermarried with Japanese, Aleut Indian from Alaska and Jews.

We all had such a pleasant lunch together at a Jamaican restaurant which was not short of photos of our well known celebrities including the one above of the fastest man in the world, standing on a globe. I had seen many posters of Bolt all over, but the one of him posing on top of a globe which is most appropriate, was new to me.


Before the luncheon, we had visited UMOJA FEST 2019, an annual event which celebrates the almost 140 years that the Black community of Seattle has called the Central District their home.

 Naturally, Jamaica featured big there too,  as a stall operated by Lorna, a Rastafari from  the parish St. Thomas, was prominent there, offering Jamaican food which was  bubbling when we arrived.

A political booth at the festival

I was thrilled to see politics playing a part there too!

I had long heard of the TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL who claim to be original Jews,  so was curious to learn more about them. They also had a stall at the fair and some members were there, decked out in their uniforms.

They quote extensively from Deuteronomy and their message is totally crazy, as set out in pamphlet entitled; "The truth about slavery."  

It declared in part that "Ham, the youngest son of Noah, born probably 96 years before the flood, he became the progenitor of the dark races NOT THE NEGROES, but of the Egyptians, Ethiopians, Libyans and Canaanites." Africans " (Ham  is the father of all African nations NOT HE NEGROES!!!)

They further added to my confusion with the claim "AFRICANS SOLD THE NEGROES FOR GUNS."!!!

Buffalo soldiers

They totally lost me although I found their uniforms very attractive.

Also in the parade was a band representing the Buffalo soldiers. 

The crowing glory of my time with cousins Judy, Cheryl and Jerry was when they took me to the fabulous concert at Jazz Alley, downtown Seattle, featuring award winning saxophonist Kirk Whalum whose band traveled the world  for seven years, while backing the late, great Whitney Houston .

I was totally enthralled by the performance, though it was interspersed with the Christian messages, as Mr. Whalum is a  minister of religion I understand.  But I did  not find his message offensive, as I usually do!

With the great Kirk Whalum

In fact his rendition of some well known gospel songs was really thrilling.

He also interspersed his performance with social commentary, calling on the audience to go out and vote to get rid of the millstone around the neck of the American nation.

 I was honored to meet him after the concert and get a gift of a copy of his CD, from Jerry. 

The pianist John

That was when I learnt that his pianist John, who sings like the late Marvin Gaye, has Jamaican roots, in St. Catherine to be exact, through his father.

 He tells me he has a family reunion there every other year.

It was an absolutely wonderful day with my relatives in Seattle who I have to keep in touch with for years to come.

Another birthday

Living in Florida now, the highlight of my life now is returning to Jamaica every year to celebrate my birthday.

A section of Silver Sands Beach

I started to have a party to celebrate my birthday at my home in Kingston every single year, when I turned fifty. It is just my way of letting my friends and family how much I love them and cherish their company.

My brother, who lives abroad, attended one of the parties and came up with the brilliant suggestion that I have the annual event at his vacation house at Silver Sands, at Duncans in Trelawny.

Silver Sands has one of the nicest white sand beaches in the beautiful island of Jamaica, and better yet, there are two helpers at the house all the times, so that solved my problem of getting people cook and clean up after the party.

So now its Silver Sands every year.

There are five of us Taureans who usually celebrate every year, but this year only two of us attended.

 My friend Michael was doing repairs on his home in Black River and could not come over, Hector another friend, was in Canada at a graduation and poor Kim, my best friends' daughter,  was travelling from Spanish Town with her parents, but they had an accident. 

Luckily no one was hurt but the car was a wreck. 

Without the other three to help cut the cake, we asked if there were any other Taureans there and  two other guests joined Delroy and myself in the ceremony. 

It was  great party, lots of food, booze and great company. 

Some people complained that we didn't have the usual vigorous dancing this year, but the vibrant music was there as usual. It just appears that only a few people were in a dancing mood this year. Moat seemed to prefer to just catch up on the happenings but they did enjoy themselves.

Family was well represented

I missed my cousin/niece Coretta from Toronto. She couldn't make this year but her dad and step-mother did come down. This year there was also another cousin, Sheila from Canada as well as another cousin Dor from Kingston, so the family reunion part was in place as usual. 

Evidence!

As always at Silver Sands, we went fishing and caught enough delicious butter fish for lunch one day.

I really enjoy going out to the reef to fish and as the beach there is incomparable in terms of purity, peace tranquility, that's where you find me most days 

So I spent the week really

basking and couldn't care less if I never see another beach until I return next year, as that  really is the best.

When I went over to Kingston, it was great getting together with friends, especially Kim's family, for she is an entertainer and performed at Bob Marley Museum one night so we all went there to cheer her on and lyme.

Kim wows the crowd

Yup my annual vacation/birthday bash at home is such a wonderful way to recharge my batteries and get ready to take on another year.

Life and death

I really don't often reflect on this topic much, but today is my birthday and I have been thinking since yesterday, about why some people die so easily while others like myself seem to cheat death so regularly.

With my friend and scrabble partner Camille

This birthday takes me well beyond the proverbial three score years and ten, so it left me wondering why I am alive still!

After all, I have been thrown from a moving car, been shot at, teargassed several times and even emerged unscathed after my ex-husband and an intruder fought beside me on my bed for possession of  gun, which fired several shots around me as I lay sleeping peacefully!

Sunshine, my best friend and other scrabble partner

On the other hand, my only son was shot at only once in his short life, yet  the bullet found its mark in his heart.

 Dead at age 24. Yet here I am still alive!

Will we ever know why some die so young yet others go through the proverbial wringer for decades and are still around?

I suspect these answers will never be revealed.

The best we can do therefore is accept whatever time we are allowed on this earth and do the best we can to retain good health while trying as much as we can, to make life better for the others.

 It doesn't sound like much, but as Mother Teresa said, we can't help the whole world but each one should try to help at least one.

In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy myself, my wonderful family and my friends, like those who had an early celebration for me yesterday.

La lucha continua.