Bouquet of Sweet Peas, Gardens in Seattle

Pike Place Market is the starting point for a trip to Seattle, Washington.  It’s the hub of fresh flowers, bouquets of them – from $5 for a big bunch of sweet peas, to a whopping $20 for a hand-held arrangement.  The first thing someone asks if you’ve been to Pike Place Market is, “Is that where they throw the fish?”  The caught fish and seafood gleam with their silvers, yellows, reds and whites, and yes they do smell good in a fishy kind of way.  But can you take fish home and glory in their shape, their composition, their fragrance, the garden memories that flowers evoke.

Lavender Fields in Seattle

Day One was adjusting to the time zone and going back again to the Pike Market and its flowers.  We met a lavender lady, from the fields of lavender, selling creams, soaps and sachets of long-lasting, dried lavender. She let us crush the French lavender leaves so we could smell how much stronger their smell than their English counterpart.  Our eyes opened to lavender, to the visions of fields of lavender, and with each visit we made to the Gardens in Seattle, we looked for the billows, the clouds of lavender tilting toward the sun.