Monthly Archives: May 2014

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Costco

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1175 N. 205th Street
Seattle, WA 98133
206.546.0480
www.costco.com

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It feels good to shop at Costco because you know that the woman checking your groceries and the man serving you hot buttered bread are making an average of $20+ per hour—a living wage—along with receiving health benefits, vacation time, and sick leave.  Thank you Jeffrey Brotman, founder and chairman of Costco and a generous Seattle philanthropist;  Jim Sinegal, founder; and  Craig Jelinek, current CEO, for your vision!

Thank you also for your fine wines, delicious cheeses, big screen TVs, organic produce, diamond bracelets, gigantic jugs of mayonnaise, enormous bags of potato chips, stacks of pants of every size and color, patio furniture, beach towels, pots and pans, and air conditioners.

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Thank you, also, for sometimes placing surprising things next to each other in the gigantic aisles—flags and electric toothbrushes, for example—and for the riot of color and texture that is your wonderful store.

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Costco is a joyful noise for those of us in battery- or pusher-powered wheelchairs.  For those who push their own wheelchairs, it may also be a delight.  One improvement for us:  lap-sized baskets that we can carry.

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Restaurants

Cafe Flora

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2901 E. Madison St.
Seattle, WA 98112
206.325.9100
www.cafeflora.com

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As a non-meat-eater for close to 30 years, I have loved dining at Café Flora during my life as a walker, a cane-user, a walker-user, and a wheelchair user.  I have made sure that all our out-of-town guests have sampled the amazing Cheesy Grits that accompany beautiful and delicious breakfast scrambles.  I have introduced lunch buddies

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to the addictive Portobello French Dip sandwich and perfectly crisped yam fries.  I have made a full dinner out of Café Flora’s wonderful coconut tofu appetizer, having to fight with daughters and sisters over that last cube of tofu.  I have felt lucky to be able to take my vegan and gluten-free friends to Café Flora for a meal that is creative, satisfying, and anxiety-free.

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Not only have I loved the food at Café Flora, but I have loved the space itself.  The garden room is a gorgeous place to dine whether in August with the sweet summer air wafting through the room’s open windows or in November with only the silvery Seattle light shining through.  I have also loved the staff.  They are attentive and interesting.  Such a frequent guest am I that once in a Thai restaurant a Café Flora waitress came up to me and said, “I know you from Café Flora.  Aren’t you the one who leaves the big tips?”

Because I love this place so much, it is very hard for me to give it only three and a half wheels, but in terms of access, there are some problems here.

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Museums

Seattle Asian Art Museum

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Volunteer Park
1400 East Prospect Street
Seattle, WA 98112
206.654.3100
http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/visit/asian-art-museum

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One lovely but watery Wednesday late in March, we took an Australian visitor to the museum, the wonderful father of our beloved son-in-law, who had put it on his list of places to visit in Seattle. The museum is small, which might be a good thing because almost every piece in it is emotionally moving.  Trust me, even if you grew up whiter than mayonnaise in the heart of the Midwest (as I did), you will feel deeply connected to the monk suddenly surprised by enlightenment.

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You will stand in front of the multiply-paneled moon reflecting itself on water and know that you have stood on that spot in your real life, both literally and figuratively.

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You will hear the loud yakking music of crows, the background song of so many of our days and early mornings, when you stand in front of the well-known panels of crows, scheduled to be taken down from the permanent exhibit, if what one of the guards told us is true.  If you get there before June 30 and walk through the sweet Hometown Boy exhibit, even though you are whiter than Wonderbread and grew up in the mitten-shaped chamber of the heartland, you will experience Liu Xiaodong’s hometown as your own–the one you remember walking through when you were 10.

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