Seattle Square

So today Jenny and I decided to attend the first Seattle Square craft and antique fair.

It was pretty fun -- good venue (Occidental Park), some good vendors, beautiful weather -- although Jenny and I noticed it does run the slight risk of turning into a fancy-pants garage sale. If they're still accepting vendors, I might sign up for a Saturday or two.

Now THAT is an ice cream truck.

We both had scoops of Decadent Chocolate and Butter Toffee Crunch. They were divine, especially the Butter Toffee Crunch (and this is coming from an ardent chocoholic). If you should happen to track down the Parfait truck this summer, don't miss your chance to have some real ice cream.

Among our scores today were many beautiful letterpress cards made by Ilee Papergoods. They are even more impressive in person and were being sold for a song.

After perusing the vendors we continued on our walk down Occidental.

We came to a glassmaking studio that had all sorts of interesting objects for sale. Some sea life sculptures...

...a plate reminiscent of a mollusk shell...

...and glass bugs.

Lots and lots of glass bugs.

Jenny reminiscing about the time when her apartment was full of cockroaches.

Down on 1st Avenue, we came across a shop called "Interesting Stuff." So of course we went in; how could you not, with a name like that?

They had all sorts of wonders, including this Indonesian shadow puppet.

Interesting Stuff is run by a retired professor of epidemiology, who is very helpful and personable. When I mentioned that I was fascinated with the sad story of Pripyat, one of the Chernobyl ghost towns, he lit up. He had lived in Kyiv for some time and had a great deal of information on Ukraine, including several books. Perhaps the store should be called "Interesting Proprietor."

Nearly everything in the store was 25% off today, including the magic carpets for sale upstairs.

The considerable numbers of postcards were not part of the 25% off sale, but they were nonetheless awesome. Here's a batch of vintage Soviet-era postcards I bought from the shop. I also got a series of Ukrainian recipes and some images from the inside of the Kremlin.

After our adventures in Pioneer Square we went to Uwajimaya, had a Hawaiian plate lunch and bought various Asian goodies. But as so often happens to me on these trips, I forgot I was carrying a camera, so I have no further foties to share today. Sorry.