Thinking of fountains 09-30-09

Sitting at Corner Bakery on Monday started me thinking about fountains, seems to me that a lot of really great ones are located in the West. Mary and I went to Seattle for the Assoc. of Pacific Northwest Quilt show in August 2004. When we drove north from Mary's house we stopped at all the quilt/fabric shops we could find - we seemed to have a gluttonous need for fabric. We soon discovered that we couldn't handle more than three shops in a day! And by the time we headed south for home we were surfeit and didn't stop at a single one south of Portland! I have never done that again and have no desire to, but it was sure fun while we were doing it. I don't think Mary ever wants to do that kind of trip again either - actually, she doesn't really enjoy Road Trips anymore. Anyway.....

.....the show was at the Seattle Center where the Space Needle is located. Whenever I am at a large quilt show I need to get away sometimes to sit and contemplate things and watch people. Near the center of the complex I discovered this fountain in a sort of bowl with green grass covering the berms around it. The kids were having a great time getting wet and cooling off in the water, I wished I could go in because it was very hot.

The water 'plays' to music - squirts up and falls back, does alternate squirts and then consecutively around - like a sprinkler for a lawn, but on a massive scale. The girls and boys would go up to the dome and lean against it, running wildly out of the spray when it 'shot' them in the back or buns. I wonder what was more fun, the running or the screaming!

Here the fountain is resting, or rewinding, or something while more and more children gathered. When the music and the water started it was like a damaged anthill with all the ants running out in every direction. Of course, the ants would have been quieter.

I suppose the fountain is turned off and drained in the winter, but imagine (if you will) what it would look like with undisturbed snow all around and suddenly the fountain comes on at its fullest. Magnificent.