I was pretty delighted to hear there is a Hobbit Hole in Port Orchard and I finally got to see it at the Brother’s Greenhouse. It is really well made and I actually got into it. The rest of the nursery was pretty great too, plenty of stock and helpful employees. They even had free cookies! We picked up some charming plants for the front porch.
And oh my gosh, I can’t believe I’ve been working on this one time impulsive blog project for going on seven years now! It began in 2010.
I found that on the whole, DFW Airport (Dallas Fort Worth) has less public art than SeaTac Airport (Seattle Tacoma), though maybe I was just in the wrong terminal. I did find these great manikins though and thought I would share them here.  As you can see the Texas longhorn know how to dress in style 🙂
The brightly colored Cabrillo Amarillo by Paul Kuniholm Pauper is part of the Percival Landing Plinth Project, an initiative involving 15 pieces of art. The public is invited to visit Percival Landing, view all of the pieces and then vote for their favorite. The winning art piece is then purchased by the City of Olympia and the are available for sale.  More information about the project can be found here and more information about the artist is here.
The Lake Granbury Master Gardeners Demonstration Garden is a lovely blooming oasis even though the Texas heat wasn’t offering the most hospital environment. Those clever gardeners are well aware of their climate and have adapted to it. I was greeted by a cheerful volunteer who let me know that there was beauty to be had, even though the sun was drying everything up. And I did find beauty. There were some huge red flowers, a hobbit hole, a water feature, butterfly bushes with butterflies, a very wonderful arbor with squash (I guess it was squash) hanging from the top, plenty of honeybees, a cardinal, lots of art and darling walking paths. The Lake Granbury Master Gardeners work with  the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. I’d like to go back for a springtime visit!
In an attempt to avoid the Texas heat, today I went to the Dora Lee Langdon Cultural & Educational Center is located at 308 East Pearl Street, Granbury, TX 76048 in the AP Gordon House. The art exhibit that brought me in was a solo exhibit of Gene Gregory and I enjoyed his vibrant paintings. The property was constructed as the Gordon house in 1882 and is actually smaller than it had originally been since the owners “downsized” by removing some of the back of the building in 1956.
A list of all the historic Granbury properties can be found here.
Stopped by the Tacoma Art Museum today to catch the Edvard Munch and the Sea exhibit before it slipped away on 7/17/16. While that was terrific and I learned a bunch about Munch, what I really loved was the Northwest Art Now Exhibit. There are some excellent, thought provoking pieces in that exhibit, included one of my favorites “Just be your selfie” by Dylan Neuwirth. I was at TAM on a brilliantly sunny day and this outside piece was difficult to see, so I did highlight it in blue in the photo (look at me learning Photoshop!) I need to go back in the evening to capture it glowing. More information on the Seattle based artist can be found here.
Below is the photo without my added blue box, Richard Rhodes’ untitled “stone wave” sculpture and a shot of the gallery (again playing with Photoshop).
The World’s Longest Floating Boardwalk is located in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. It was completed in 1985 and extends 3,300 feet including a bridge with a spectacular view of the lake on this unusually warm spring day. There were a handful of love locks on the bridge itself. Along our walk dear daughter made a ladybug friend.
Our visit to Coeur d’Alene also included a stroll through downtown with associated shopping and snacks. My favorite piece of art was the huge dandelion sculpture.
The Guardian Stone is Poulsbo’s newest public art installation and it is really lovely. My first thought was “oh, look, a sword in the stone! King Arthur!”, but no. It being Poulsbo, the piece is reflective of Norwegian history. The rock, steel and glass sculpture by Lisa Stirrett was installed in February 2016 at the Muriel Iverson Williams Waterfront Park. The nine foot tall piece is a nod to Swords of the Rock in Norway, though that piece is much larger (see a photo of that too). Really, it is captivating. You should go see it!
The past six Tuesday evenings, I’ve been taking a photography class to become more familiar with my camera. Really it has been great and I have learned a bunch. Now I just need to practice! Anyway today was our end of the class photo shoot. We met outside of Freighthouse Square and took the “Trolley Tour” (the Tacoma Link), stopping along the way to capture some moments. We strolled through the University of Washington Tacoma, crossed the Bridge of Glass and toured the theater district.
Dolce Si Bakery and Gelateria in the Point Ruston Complex opened in November 2015 and I’ve been itching to go visit. I finally got there and altogether it was a good experience. The space is charming and the counter person was delightful. I got my pastries to go and enjoyed them at home. It was very busy while I was there and good for them! My only tiny wondering is why they didn’t have a pitcher of 1/2 and 1/2 for customers to doctor their to-go coffee. Instead they had flavored coffee creamers, which to me didn’t fit with the otherwise classy feeling of the place. I’m sure Ill be back to checkout additional pastries and some of the house made Gelato. The local newspaper, the News Tribune recently said that Dolce Si was one of the best restaurants to open in 2015.
More information can be found here.
Right near by Dolce Si I would some darling otter sculptures. The single one is right outside the cafe and the mother/child is in the traffic circle.