Saturday afternoon I attended the Lunar New Year Celebration at Union Station which would have been a lot more fun if it were possible to walk through the crowd without feeling as if one were wearing an excessively tight corset. Does no one who plans events in Seattle understand the concept of traffic flow? There were a lot of great performers but it was frustrating trying to see them.

A similar problem occurred at the Evergreen Cat Fanciers Cat Show on Sunday afternoon but seeing all the cats made it all worthwhile.

In between those events, I attended what has become one of my annual highlights–the Northwest Flower and Garden show. I live in an apartment and have a “black thumb” anyway, but I am fascinated by the idea of lawns and gardens, quite possibly because while just about everyone in the ‘burbs has one, having a lawn bigger than a postage stamp is a sign of true wealth in the city. (Also, I’m a painter whose favorite subject is flowers and floral designs and one visit to the show gives me an entire year’s worth of inspiration.) The best part of the show every year are the sample gardens designed by local landscape artists and put together so well that these temporary installations look as if they’ve been there for years.

Water was a big theme this year–many of the installations featured ponds, fountains, and even waterfalls–but the most striking of designs was entitled “Form and Function. I’m not sure that anyone is both eccentic and wealthy enough to actually want a backyard featuring a path comprised of glassine rocks and imposing metal statuary with backlighting seemingly designed to mimic the lighting in old fashioned horror movies, but it was a lovely work.