Seattle Visit 2025
Brinner
When Solomon returns from his Mysore wineyards in his lorry and honks, Kaviyoor Ponnamma would turn the lights on and Lal would be served his dinner, albeit in the wee hours of the morning.
When our family and Cyril-Sheeja landed at Mahesh and Sindhu's home close to 4 AM with multiple flight delays, Sindhu served us with rice, dal, chicken etc - nice homely healthy food. That was how the trip started -- with a Brinner - breakfast time Dinner.
Morning tea
Inspite of having slept in the early hours of morning, I woke up relatively early. I had some work to catch up on, and I was doing that while enjoying the expansive puget sound view. Meanwhile, Sindhu woke up and offered morning tea. I had not expected that after the Brinner. Early morning teas had a nice feel to it - especially in the cold weather. This was the pattern for the three days we were at their house.
The house
The house had started to impress everyone with it's humongous, curved living area seating, overlooking the Puget Sound. Next day morning, when we could actually see the view in the morning, we chose our best viewing spot in the curved living space. The fascination for the view was most of the trip. We were mostly indoors, and during the day we went to the Christmas market, folks felt that enjoying the view from the house might have been a better option.
Mirrors
Small round mirrors have been cleverly placed inside and outside the house to take advantage of the breath taking view that the house offers. One gets the feeling that one is looking through a window, and not at a reflection.
Best architect award house
The house has won the best architect award. The view takes most of the attention. The curved structure of the house - outside, and how the walls are curved inside as well feels very calming. The other aspect I was impressed by was the curved sunroom which looks to have been prefabricated, again the curved outline makes it soft on the eyes, and loved the idea of prefabrication. The land is slopy, which was taken advantage of to construct a basement room - something that is not very common in bay area or Seattle.
The sunroom filters in light into the basement. So, it is not just a basement but a well lit basement. Mahesh had also mentioned how he could sit under the sun room and work without needing AC during warmer months like October.
Seattle Rain
Khushal, affectionately referred as Kukku was there to support Mahesh-Sindhu with the three guest families. Arun-Sajna and kids had come in a day after us. When we were driving to the Christmas market, he mentioned that a true Seattlite would not carry umbrellas - just blend in with the rain in a good jacket. That is the attitude I wore as I walked through the Christmas market. A german settlement near by - Leavenworth, Washington is apparently the driving force behind the Christmas market.
In every other city I have been to, coffees or chocolates are served with lids. But in Seattle, where it rains, the hot chocolate cups did not have lids. I could not make sense of that.
I love the rain and how the rain tends to make for more greenery and glisten the existing greenery. At the christmas market, there was a Handbell concert which I enjoyed for it's unique touch. Also, the food stalls and art stalls had a european touch to them. Kittu had asked me to get bottled water, and I ended up getting a bottle of water along with the German egg noodles - Käsespätzle. Google gemini refers to it as German mac and cheese. That is a pretty accurate description.
Walk
I recently had a health check up, and my cholestertol levels are high. So I have been recommended to walk by the doctor. So I walked targeting the bay - the Puget sound. I got pretty close to it. Saw a trail that was apparently forbidden per the iron chains. However, the chains are high enough to let someone go through if one feels like it. It was a nice solo walk, and I found the way back to Sindhu-Mahesh home using google maps.
Mahesh and Hover
After my walk was done, Mahesh took Cyril and myself for another trail near Mahesh's older house. Arun stayed back as he had some work. The trail was short but very impressive. I enjoy the unkempt raw nature and tall trees, and the water streams. That is when Mahesh took out his light weight drone that he had just got from Costco. He got it to follow us from front. There is no way another person could track us like that through the winding terrain walking backwards. The experience was so seamless and offers great potential. And since the drone is under 250 grams, there is no restriction on the drone usage wherever you need to.
The trek led to a railway track. We walked under it to reach the bay. The water was full which meant we could not get to see the beach. The nature and civilization blend had an ethereal artsy vibe to it. The kind of setting where one can reflect/write. We did not see anyone else.
Having multiple such trails private to the community residents is definitely a strong USP for the community. Innis Arden, Shoreline is the community.
The horse
Khushi and Mili are the kids of the family. And they have a toy horse that they ride around in their Rambler home. Between the children of the family, and the children of the guests, the horse hardly got rest time to think about what it needs to do with it's life. These kind of buys excite me. The ones that get used to bits. Typically, the fascination for the toys are lost between the time they are bought and the time they reach home. The horse was also sturdy enough to carry adults and adults stole some turns as well.
Christmas party
We had our Christmas party - we wore our Santa caps. The gifts had been nicely wrapped in boxes, and kept under the Christmas tree. Sindhu has a known penchant for selecting the right gifts for the person. I got a nice compact drill which I put to use right away to fix a sagging cabinet door at our home once I reached back. Divya got a cooling glass. Kukku was there as well. We did our Christmas photos.
I was sleeping in the basement room with the filtered in sunlight. I had retired to it to take care of some work, and out of politeness, I went upstairs to show my face. That is when I saw the wives clad in sarees and taking selfies. I knew then that this is the best opportunity to complete the training that was pending. So I went back and completed the training, and sure enough the photo session was still in progress. Mahesh has ordered food for the adults but had forgotten to order for the kids. So he placed a second order and came back with the food and asked - you guys are not done yet?
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