Week in Washington

It’s a week since we flew into the Pacific Northwest state of Washington. It has been an eventful week during spring, a time when there is rain, a nip in the air and promise of summer warmth ahead. What have we done here?

Walking – The blessing of being “carless” has been the necessity of walking everywhere, or rather, wherever possible. We walk to school to drop Shashank, my nephew. His school is located uphill, an eight minute walk at best. It’s fun to see children excitedly running into school in their colorful clothes and jackets (no uniforms for public schools), carrying their backpacks. Last week was staff appreciation week and on Tuesday, every child had to bring flowers for the teachers. Bunches of tulips, irises, sunflowers, carnations and roses could be seen in each tiny hand as the kids ran towards their classrooms.

Watching – A rare sight in these places at this time of the year is a clear, cloudless sky. Most often there is a gorgeous artwork displayed on the canvas above, clouds – some pristine white and fluffy like the whipped cream on your hot chocolate at Starbucks, others like streamers on a kite, some grey, some ominously black with a hint of gold, pink, violets and magenta strokes on the long evenings where the sun sets after 8 p.m.

Wandering – Meandering aimlessly along unknown streets is a luxury only a tourist can enjoy and that is what we have done plenty of. Browsing at Borders bookstore in Seattle, exploring the tiny shops at Pike Place, taking photographs of the window-washer hovering near the seventh floor windows of Four Seasons Hotel, petting dogs of exotic breeds like Portuguese water dog (only Aparna does the petting), observing the creepers stretching along the walls at the Issaquah park and ride…..
Of course, we have been eating a variety of cuisines including Italian pasta, Mexican quesadillas, American doughnuts and an indeterminate amount of packaged snacks (which I would classify as universal junk food).

The only “W” which is missing from the list is “working out”. Hope to get to that soon.