Don't you love a good sign? I don't drink espresso, but this place is a stopper. We breezed into Sequim, pronounced Squim the day before yesterday, stopped at the Chamber of Commerce and the first Friday of each month is an art walk. We get downtown and enjoy a beer at the local VFW and it is hot here. Sequim sits on the other side of the rainforest. The storms hit the mountains and drop very little rain in Sequim. Much like California summer weather.
We walked around town a bit. This sign is posted in Field Notes.
This gorgeous gourd in the Blue Whole Gallery, the only gallery right there in the hub of town on Washington Street. She didn't have a map of the First Friday Art Walk but I got one from an art supply house near by.
Home made crafts are everywhere. The people running this store are super friendly. And, to jump ahead, I found that to be true everywhere in Sequim. We ate lunch, planning to come back for the art walk which is held from 5pm. to 8 pm. Our lunch at Sunshine Cafe had an interesting prayer on their menu: Thank You Lord For Granting Me This New Day In My Life, Especially Since I Loused Up Yesterday So Badly. Amen. Kids under 10 eat free.
When we got back to our camping place at the Elks CLub, we read through the Art Walk and realized the art is in each business, not 25 galleries. They stay open late, serve a little wine and cheese... We decided to stay in after our day of travel and settling in and attend the First Saturday of the month farmer's market and see the art work as we go. Above is a picture of one half of the market.
The first booth I stopped in was Connie Rodibaugh's sea glass jewelry. I've never seen sea glass as thick as these pieces.
She is a recycler as well. Her jewelry is often mounted on a found object, like a rusted drawer.
When I questioned the thickness of the glass she told me that people used to throw their garbage in the bay. Seagoing vessels carried huge vinegar jugs, and cider jugs of very thick glass. She has a collection of bottles with Vicks in a cone-shaped brown bottle, and early Vicks jugs for hospital use only and so on. I would liked to have photographer her collection and encouraged her to do so. She described rare and unusual bottles from a hospital, some blown glass, others in heavy stoppered bottles. She has a website at crwearables.com.
Nicole Brown uses recycled quality knit fabrics to make one of a kind sweaters and shawls. She has a local shop in Sequim cleverly named Out On A Whim.
Jim kept saying, where are the vegetables? It is true, vegetable vendors were the minority, but so what? These heirloom tomatoes, close to the size of his hand, all organic, cost $4 a pound. He gasped at the price.
I didn't buy fresh veggies because I overstocked before we went to Hoodsport, where shopping is limited. My cousin David had diet restrictions and couldn't eat raw vegetables. We got the name of an organic farm and will stop on our way out-of-town.
The Bag Lady makes her own designer bags.
This grand rooster is part of Over The Fence, garden and home store. The store parking lot hosts the Farmer's Market each Saturday through October.
They carry a brand of knitted socks that don't exactly match. Who cares?
Wonderful pots and dish gardens.
And, Over The Fence stays open on First Friday Art Walk because art work graces their walls some for sale, and some not.
The Artisanal Bread Store faces the parking lot. It was crowded with people in line out the door. They moved aside so I could take a picture of their one painting that is part of the Art Walk.
Three kiosks had potters. This is hand-built stoneware by Michel McCarter. He owns Madrona Ridge Pottery and all of his work has an oriental theme to it.
I love pottery and was tempted to buy, but I'm trying to downsize and de-collect, not to mention the lack of room in the motor home.
Everyone enjoys getting out to the farmer's market. They sell dog items I'd never seen nor heard of before. This is Baskin and Robin. Robin (white) is eleven years old.
This painting is at a nearby Mexican restaurant.
Like most farmer's markets, musicians entertain and you can buy ready made food. We ate Filipino lumpia, Yakatori (hope I have that spelled right) noodles and teriyaki chicken on a stick. It was very tasty.
This young man is a rambler. He hit the road with his car, ran out of money and had a hard time getting back to Sequim. This time, he has welded a cart to his heavy-duty bike. His best pal rides with him. No money for gas, just enough for food. He is setting out and hoping to make it to Montana and find work. He has a small one man tent folded into the bottom of the cart.
I don't know if you can read any of this great advice, all pretty humorous, like: Treat a woman like a racehorse and she'll never be a nag. Or MATH, mental abuse to humans. Never stand behind a sneezing cow. Pretty corney.
As we wandered town, we never skip a book store. This one was special, Hart's Fine Books, etc. Celeste Bennett showed us rare finds from the Hart Family collection. Both are deceased and their estate left many treasures. This rug is from France and dates from the 1600's.
I always find something I've never seen before, and this is it. A Punch and Judy Theatre. I would never have outfitted it with a television set, though.
Some of the original puppets.
A rare Beatrix Potter book.The story goes, Beatrix Potter's publisher wanted to produce this set of stories, which were sketches she had written simply for the joy of writing them after she had completed the Peter Rabbit series. B.P. objected because she knew the writing was too transparent; people in her community would recognize themselves in the animal characters. However, because it meant a lot to her publisher she agreed to allow 100 copies to be printed so long as distribution was solely in the United States -- never in Great Britain. Rare indeed.
She had a limited autographed set to present to friends and family members. This is number 78.
Many wonderful things besides books. They can be found on-line as well, hartsfinebooks.com or celeste@hartsfinebooks.com if you want to talk to her.
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