Seattle's Best: Storytellers

When my husband and I made plans with my brother and his wife to visit Seattle together, I had no idea how much our little vacation would be shaped by stories and storytellers!  Every place we visited had a unique tale to be told...

Storyteller #1:  A Monk on Vashon Island

I could hardly wait to see Abbot Tryphon again.

Just a few months ago, he had visited our parish to give a lecture series. He looked like a cross between Gandalf and Dumbledore, and his lecture series turned out to be more a "Treasury of Modern Parables"!

Stories.

Like Christ told.

About real people who are hurting and healing. And the love, hope, and forgiveness we can offer them.

Fr. Tryphon had lovingly talked about Vashon Island and his Monastery in many of his stories, which inspired us to visit the All-Merciful Saviour Monastery during our trip to Seattle.  As we ferried across Puget Sound, it was barely 20 minutes until we could see the trees on the steep shore of Vashon Island.

The drive across the whole length of the small forested island to reach the Monastery was around 15 minutes.  After driving through the gate, we encountered several deer along the roadway into the beautiful wooded grounds.

As we visited with Fr. Tryphon and Fr. Paul in the library, they related that the monks first came to Vashon Island in 1988 and instantly felt at peace about calling it their home.

During the Vespers service later that evening in the candle-lit chapel, we couldn't help but note how the monks' solemn chanting and the beauty of the icons mirrored the beauty and reverent stillness of the monastery's wooded surroundings.

The All-Merciful Saviour Monastery sits on eleven acres, and is a lovely place for families to visit. But you must make an appointment.  The property is made up of woods, a large garden with chickens, and several Scandinavian looking buildings - including the monks' cabins, a small chapel, a library, a building that houses the kitchen and dining area, a bookstore, and Abbot Tryphon's beautiful study full of many of his Norwegian treasures.

We enjoyed buying gifts from the gift shop and bookstore, where I picked up a lovely picture book that I'll be reviewing in my next post.

You can read Abbot Tryphon's reflections on contemporary life in his book The Morning Offering, or on his blog of the same title.  (You can also listen - here - to his daily podcasts).

Storyteller #2: A Seattle Glass Blower

At the base of Seattle's famed Space Needle (built for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair), is one of the most unique museums I have ever seen.  I wish we had visited the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum when my kids were young.  They would have loved it!

Dale Chihuly has perfected storytelling in glass.  His collection represents about 50 years of work. The glass sculptures are so breathtaking, it almost hurts to look at them.  We saw fragile blown glass cylinders fashioned after ancient Indian woven baskets, a brightly colored ceiling gallery of glass, a garden exploding with stunning glass creations, and my favorite: a rowboat full of glass sea life! (More info, events, and purchase opportunities here.)

Storyteller #3: Seattle's Underground Passageways

If you happen to visit Seattle, please don't miss the Underground Tour!  It's a fascinating way to learn about the city's past, as you go beneath the streets to roam the subterranean tunnels that were once the main roads and first-floor storefronts of old downtown Seattle.  (The city had to re-think its engineering and architecture after a destructive 1889 fire that burned 31 city blocks!)

At first (because of cost), just the streets were raised, but not the sidewalks, so the citizens had to climb ladders to get up to the new street-level businesses.

At first, merchants carried on business in the lowest floors of buildings that survived the fire, and pedestrians continued to use the underground sidewalks lit by thick chinks of glass embedded in the new grade-level sidewalks above (still seen there today).

Storyteller #4: Seattle's Public Library

The Seattle Public Library has stories to be found on the inside and outside of its windowed walls. Starting on the ground floor, you can find plenty of kids' books inside the children's library; and high on the 10th floor Reading Room, in between reading chapters of your book, you can gaze out at the stories going on below, as you people watch from the walls made of windows!

Storyteller #5: A Seattle Coffee Roaster

What goes better with books than coffee?  Especially in Seattle!  After we left the library, we were eager to see what other freshly roasted beans Seattle could offer besides Starbucks.

A few blocks away, my brother and I found the perfect spot: Storyville Coffee!

Besides the amazing aroma coming from our french pressed pot of coffee, I was immediately taken by the Storyville logo: a little boy playing with a toy airplane.  I asked the Barista what inspired the image and name, and he told me that the owner really likes planes, and also how children create stories and adventures with toys.

Upon further investigation for this post, I learned a little bit more of the backstory of this company - involving the owner's son, who has Down's Syndrome.  You can read about it here.  And you can order coffee and brewing "hardware" here, from their website.

Storyteller #6: The Chittenden Locks

Did you know that salmon can climb ladders?  Well, they do exactly that at the fish ladders in Ballard, WA.  Thanks to Hiram Chittenden, the journeying salmon are not endangered by the locks he was named for.

Salmon have always been vital to the Pacific Northwest’s ecosystem. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District Engineer Maj. Hiram M. Chittenden, for whom the locks are now named, understood this and planned on incorporating a fish ladder in the designs when he proposed building them in the early 1900s.

Go here to see more photos. We enjoyed watching a small sail boat go through the locks, but if you want to watch the salmon migrate up the fish ladder, you have to go in mid-June through October.  The Visitor Center has a great selection of children's books!

Storyteller #7: Last, but not least, our Hotel had a Story to Tell

Seems that another - more famous - Foursome stayed at the Edgewater Hotel overlooking Elliott Bay back in the '60's.  Their picture was one of many hanging in the cute rustic lobby...

THE FAB(ulous) FOUR(some).

Yes, that's a framed photo taken of the Beatles while they were fishing from the window of their hotel suite at the Edgewater in 1964.  You can read about it and see more photos here.

Now go make some stories of your own!
Other fun family things to do in Seattle:
Seattle Aquarium
Seattle Children's Museum
Seattle Space Needle (make sure to look down at the giant spiders! Here)
Museum of Flight
EMP Museum of Music - Sci-Fi - Pop Culture
Pacific Science Center
Pike Place Market

New York Wanderings Part II: Ferdinand in the Big Apple

Today's entry is a guest post by my daughter, Mary...

Hello Good Books for Young Souls readers!  We'll get to Ferdinand in a minute, but first I want to share a little bit about my love of New York City with you.

I remember so well my first visit to The Big Apple. I was 17, and it was November of my Senior year of high school when I embarked on a tri-generational visit to NYC with my dearest Mama and her mother, my Grandma . I loved the city that I had come to know through books, TV, and film. Experiencing New York first hand was intriguing. I embraced the energy of this "city that never sleeps."

Fast forward to now - as a mom of two young kids, I find that the city, though ever-diverting, can become exhausting and overwhelming rather quickly with my little family in tow. The constant barrage of sensory stimulation suddenly seemed way beyond just an energetic "city vibe" when my husband and I went on our first NYC excursion with our two young sons for a stroll from Grand Central station to meet a friend in SoHo, nearly two miles of city blocks south.

Since that initial and somewhat overwhelming family visit, I've tried to relax my standards a bit and focus on helping my family enjoy New York City, rather than becoming distracted by my "to do" list or trying to do too much in one day.

With the help of Mommy Poppins (an indispensable website for families), we tend to choose one neighborhood or destination to explore, bring lots of snacks to enjoy when our excursion is finished, and then find ourselves a special and renowned treat before we head back home.

So our visit with my mommy dearest, Good Books Grandma, followed much the same format. We decided to go to the Upper West Side (which we love, especially because of its prominence in Nora Ephron's You've Got Mail)...

Upper West Side

...and planned to spend the day trying new things like Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard's characters in Breakfast at Tiffany's, another of my favorite New York City flicks!

After enjoying a leisurely drive past snow-covered Central Park and a delicious lunch at a cute and kid-friendly eatery that we stumbled upon, we headed to the New York Historical Society.  (It's right next to the American Museum of Natural History - another favorite spot that my mom blogged about here.)

This was a first visit for both of us, and seemed like a great spot to soak up some local history and art, while also finding some fun for my boys. A big draw was the NYHS's Holiday Train Exhibit, which my three-year-old loved!

source

But what I had really been wanting to check out was the "Little New Yorkers" program in the NYHS's DiMenna Children's Museum. It turned out to be fantastic, and just the sort of "New York moment" that I had been looking for for my oldest son.

We arrived at the colorful and interactive Children's Museum (in the downstairs of the NYHS) a few minutes before their Friday 3:30 program began. My three-year-old had fun exploring the train table and making new friends...

...while my little guy helped grandma as she perused the wall of books in the Children's History Library. There were lots of great titles we found to read during our visit, many of them about New York and US History. (I loved the NY skyline mural which made this feel like a rooftop library!)

Soon it was time to begin the program, and after a fun sing-along song and short introduction to today's book with our wonderful educator, our group took a short field trip up the elevator to find a more fitting setting in which to read Munro Leaf's Ferdinand, which was the book selection for the day...

How perfect! While we listened to Spanish classical tunes softly playing throughout the gallery, our educator talked with the children about Picasso's "Le Tricorne" which is newly on exhibit at the NYHS. (Note the PICASSO signature in the photo below.)

Measuring roughly 20 square feet, this HUGE curtain (once meant to be a backdrop for a ballet, and believed to be Picasso's largest painting) really brought the bullfighting story to life for me. I can only imagine how much more so for the tiny people who were enjoying the story so intently!!

After finishing the story and discussing Picasso's painting, we took the elevator back downstairs to work on this week's "Little New Yorker's" craft: a bull mask, complete with a flower crown.

Because as we all know...

"he liked to sit just quietly and smell the flowers"

Now, my oldest son has loved Ferdinand since he was about 20 months old. "Except I don't like when he sits on that lil' bee," he'll tell you.
Fair enough, my son.
Regardless to say, he took the task at hand very seriously...

"...there was a little bull and his name was Ferdinand."

"All the other little bulls he lived with would run and jump and butt their
heads together...but not Ferdinand."

"He liked to sit just quietly and smell the flowers."

He wore his mask all day, and enjoyed wearing it all around the DiMenna Children's Museum while he explored the exhibits. (See that little bull horn peeking out from between the windows?)

And for all I know, he is sitting there still, wearing his bull mask, smelling the flowers just quietly.

He is very happy.

We really loved our visit to the New York Historical Society! We ended the day by finding some macarons from the whimsical and decadent Sugar and Plumm - Purveyors of Yumm for the trip back home.

But of course, what we enjoyed most was our visit with Grandma! I'll never forget how we found a quiet but engaging spot in the midst of the Big Apple, with a little help from Ferdinand!

More New York: Face to Face with a T-Rex and "T.R"!

One place I really looked forward to visiting during our recent trip to New York was the American Museum of Natural History.  I totally anticipated the "wow" factor of seeing giant dinosaur bones mounted and looming above my head (and I wanted to preview this museum for a future visit with my grandson!)

I walked in and my jaw dropped!  Talk about dinosaur bones!  We came face to face with a dramatic representation of an imagined prehistoric encounter: a Barosaurus rearing up to protect its young from an attacking Allosaurus.

The amazing fossil collections that are open to public view occupy the entire fourth floor of the Museum as well as a separate exhibit that is on permanent display in the Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda and Memorial Hall, which is known as the Museum's "grand entrance" (lobby).

Why Theodore Roosevelt?  I found out during our visit that Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., the father of our 26th U.S. President, was one of the founders of the Museum!  Before becoming President, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. was New York City's Police Commissioner and also Governor of the state of New York.  

Adorning the walls of the great entry hall that surround these huge dinos were several inspiring quotes from Teddy Roosevelt, carved into the walls. I especially liked his quote about YOUTH:

Born into a wealthy family in New York City, Roosevelt was a sickly child who suffered from asthma. To overcome his physical weakness, he embraced a strenuous life. He was home-schooled and became an eager student of nature.
  

In an exhibit about his life I read:

Like many children, young Theodore collected bird nests and eggs, seashells, insects and minerals.  But Roosevelt, a precocious boy, measured and described his specimens.  He took notes as he observed living animals and birds.

As Theodore's interests matured, he visited the American Museum of Natural History often - both the exhibitions and the collections behind the scenes.  At age 19 he published his first scientific work, a list of the birds he and a friend identified on summer in New York's Adirondack Mountains.

Check out all the Theodore Roosevelt memorabilia I saw (along with lots of science books!) in the Museum's gift shop for kids...

Moving up to the fourth floor, we hurried to see more bones (there was also a "Dino Store" on this floor)...

Mammuthus - Mammoths were widespread during the Ice Ages.
Some had woolly fur to keep them warm.  This "nonwoolly" mammoth lived in southern
parts of the U.S., which were not covered by glaciers.

Well, hello!
Makes me think of Molly Idle's cute book, Tea-Rex!
Go here for my past post.

Eventually, our fun Night at the Museum was over, and we said a sad farewell to the Christmas Dino out on the front steps. If you haven't been to this Natural History Museum, I really hope you can make it someday - we had a blast!