Or - Hello, Seattle!!
We were off the the Laundromat again today. Yeah, it's Tuesday and that means laundry. Again, getting bored waiting for the clothes to dry, I wandered down to that little island between the streets to see what the flowers were up to that I photographed a while back.
We had a good rain last night and so things were a wee bit damp plus it was a cloudy, overcast morning. Ahhhh, it's good to have things back to normal. There were just too many hot days and blue skies. I wasn't used to it. Not at all.
The flowers were still there but you can tell they're folding up their tent and getting ready for Winter Camp. The last days are here.
You can still see the rain water on the flowers. You can see the pistil has started dying and the rest of the flower is trying to catch up. It's getting old.
These were about the size of a quarter all together. I thought this was an interesting arrangement...the living flowers encircling the dead one.
It was around 0845 so the flowers were still getting warm and working at opening up. Plus it was a cloudy and overcast Seattle Day...the kind I've been missing.
So these guys were still waking up.
And uncurling to get some rays when they could.
We think these petals look like ribbons. The kind you get when you drag the scissors over them.
This little thing would fit into a dime. It was also a wee bit windy, too, so this one is a bit out of focus. Gotta get my excuses in when I can, y'know.
It's an interesting composition, though.
And this one. It's been opening up for a while and now it's just about ready for the day. Look at the anthers around the pistil.
Neat.
Looking South on 42nd Street towards the Laundromat and the Somali Grocery Store.
So we got back and put all the clean clothes away, ate lunch and rested our backs and then headed off to downtown. Carol was in search of a Quick Reference guide for birding and I thought I had seen one at the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.
Whew!! That's a mouth full. It's a museum celebrating Seattle's part in the Gold Rush during the late 1890s. It also has a gift shop with lots of non-Klondike stuff...like bird books and guides.
So off we went and found this immature Sunflower on the way to the Link.
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| The State Flower of Kansas AND the National Flower of Russia. |
And, Kitty Cat. Every so often this Ol' Boy will be sitting in his second floor apartment window keeping an eye on what's happening in his 'Hood. He's been in my blog before. I imagine he's enjoying the fresh, clear and crisp Autumn air.
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| Hello, Kitty!! |
One of my favorites from today. I like the greens and the little flowers spotted around. About three or four of these little things would fit inside a dime.
So we made it past Boo Radley's house and were coming up along Othello Park when Carol spotted our White Pigeon sitting up high with his buds.
We've got several bird feeders out and when those little piggies get started the bird seeds fly left and right. The pigeons come in and peck around the grass cleaning up all the mess.
This White Pigeon has been visiting us for over a month now. He was one of the first to visit us and then he brought all his buds.
I'm amazed he's lasted this long. I would think being all white like he is would be like putting a target on his back for predators. But he's still going strong.
Fly on, Brave Fellow, fly on!!
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| One of these things is not like the other... |
And here's the park, Othello Park.
I've been in a mood to document, capture, get pictures of the neighborhood. I think it's because I know I won't be living here forever and so I'm thinking I'd like to have a kind of a album of what the Ol' 'Hood looked like.
Back in the day.
The Station at Othello Apartments. These were built shortly after I arrived here in Seattle. They're a bit pricey but they are pulling up the neighborhood. It's slowly...s-l-o-w-l-y...changing.
But all the following flower pictures came from alongside The Station at Othello.
Liking the clover...
Miniature flowers...I know I keep saying this but this bunch here would fit into a nickel.
Love using money for references, evidently.
Look close and you can see some spider web.
See how the leaves are ringed with a bronze color?
Reflected Window Selfie!!
Hahaha, I admit it!! It's a sickness!! But for some inexplicable reason, we like posing in front of windows.
Weird.
But fun.
(BTW - these windows are at Huarchito's Mexican Restaurant.)
Here's the view looking down 42nd street from the other end. On the right is the old bowling alley converted into a flea market. Oh, and a parking lot for the Link...$50 a month for parking.
The Laundromat is there on the left...about the third door down. Oh, such good times at the Laundromat.
Waiting to cross MLK to get to the Link. Across the street is the Ghetto Safeway.
'Nuff said.
A quick (about 18 minutes) and easy trip and we were at the International/China Town Link Station. Here's the view as you come up the escalator into the plaza by Union Station.
And as you look to the right, there's the pagoda covering over S. King Street.
As we turned to head towards the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park...whew!! We ran into this Bad Boy!! This is a Glaucous-Winged Gull, a juvenile based on his color.
Honestly, this was THE largest seagull we've seen. Course, he was only four or five feet away and that may account for our realizing how big this sucker was but...still...he was one big Gull!!
When he took off his wings had like a 4-5 foot wing span!!
HE WAS BIG!!!
We were heading over to the overpass when we saw this, artwork(?), at the south end of the plaza. Carol was thinking lighthouses but I was thinking those electric machines used to give life to Frankenstein.
Whadya think?
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| Zzzzzzzz - It's alive!! Alive, I tell you!! |
So we crossed over and got this view of the SafeCo and CenturyLink Fields.
Remember, I told you that I was into documenting my environment (Haha, that sounds so grown-up and liberal) and so you're going to see a lot more pictures of the city here.
A lot!!
One of my favorites, the Tower at the King Street Station.
This tower was modeled after Campanile di San Marco in Venice, Italy, making it, at 242-feet, the tallest building in Seattle at the time of its construction. The tower contains four huge mechanical clock faces built by E. Howard & Co. of Boston, MA, offering the time to each of the four cardinal directions. At the time of its installation it was said to be the second largest timepiece on the Pacific Coast, second only to the Ferry Building in San Francisco.
You'll see this again.
Guaranteed!!
And, since we're already at the train station, let's get a picture of the Mt. Olympus as it, literally, pulls into the station. Hahaha, we got to hear the whistle and then the train as it pulled into the station. How cool is that, eh?
Haha, I know I warned you that you'd see it again but I bet you weren't expecting to see it so doggone soon!!
Squint your eyes and you'd think you were back in Venice.
This is an apartment building...something like The Stadium Apartments. Regardless, it's got a lot of potential to this photographer.
Reflecting the cloudy skies.
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| Ohhhh, que bonito, y'all!! |
I know I've said this before but this city, aside from their obvious inability to adequately handle the Valued Homeless, does a good job of keeping the city looking good.
Like these hanging flower pots.
On 2nd Ave. S.
Hahahaha....
Here's the Klondike Gold Rush Historical National Park. It's housed in the old Cadillac Hotel.
This historic building was brought to life in 1889 and was one of the first hotels built after the city's famous Great Seattle fire earlier that year. It opened in 1890 as the Elliott House. From 1891 to 1904, it was known as the Derig Hotel and for a very short time as the Star Lodge. By 1906, under new ownership, it became the Cadillac Hotel with 59 rooms. The Hotel always catered to loggers, fishermen, railroad and shipyard workers employed within the area. In fact, during most of its long run, it served as a workmen's hotel offering cheap rooms at 25 to 50 cents a night.
Right now it houses...
...Seattle's National Park Store and the Klondike Gold Rush Historical National Park!!
And they didn't have that bird guide, BTW.
After that bust, we started wandering around as we made our way to the second stop of the day...The Salvation Army Thrift Store.
We go there to rummage through their books.
And hunt for treasures.
Then I spotted this great chess set in a Tattoo Parlor.
A TATTOO PARLOR!!
Fer cryin' out loud!!
A Tattoo Parlor!!
But, there it was. Don't know about the red lips thingie but other than that it was a cool set. The Knights are Sea Horses and the castles are Lighthouses.
Or is that a red mustache?
Here's the other guys...shooting over the plant in the Shop Window.
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| Ahoy? |
Still wandering around we saw this across the street.
It's been in the news lately...some guy found an Old Indian carving from the Northeast that they think may have been the inspiration for the Seahawks logo. So now I guess we'll be seeing a lot of these variations around the area.
Here's the Mask that allegedly inspired the Logo.
It's always been clear the logo was inspired by northern Northwest coastal native art forms, but researchers believe a picture of this mask in a book is where NFL graphic designers got the idea for the Seattle Seahawks logo back in 1975.
A couple of art history students at UW started digging around and found this mask on display at the Hudson Museum in Maine.
The Museum in Maine offered to loan the mask to the SAM and now they're trying to raise the $22,000 needed for transportation and insurance to move the mask here for display.
The way I see it, all they have to do is fine one of the Seahawks for excessive something or the other and the fine would be enough to pay all the costs and then some for moving the mask.
They can afford it.
The tree-lined streets of Seattle. 'Member what I said about the flower pots and how nice the city looked...these trees lining the streets are kick-butt!!
Artsy-Fartsy Alert!!
In B&W
And In Color!!
Hahaha, we were walking along and I saw these bottle caps neatly stacked up on top of a newspaper stand. Just sitting there as a reminder of last night's fun, someone had taken the time to collect them all up and the stack them before they left.
So, I took their picture. One in B&W just because and one in color.
Also just because.
Then, maybe five feet beyond that Carol let out a gasp and made me come back so I could see this. An interesting reflection in the window across the street.
Interesting texture.
Reflected Window Selfie!!
An Australian Aboriginal Reflected Window Selfie.
Not a very good one, though.
But this one was interesting.
Seattle Street Art.
They are poster mad here in Seattle. And some of them are, surprisingly, very good.
Here's a detail for Fuhiya & Miyagi with Magic Bunch. I think they do something with paint, or Chinese take-out food. I'm just guessing here.
It was part of a larger scene of posters. Every wood telephone pole, no, let me restate that, EVERY open piece of wood is plastered with posters in Seattle.
Then we stumbled onto Seattle's Historic Triangle Pub. Orginally a hotel and bar, this flatiron building was built at a cost of $22,000 in 1910. In the 1920s, the hotel closed as the city grew north. The bar closed during this time because of Prohibition
One look at it and I knew I wanted to go in there and get me a cold one. I mean, look at it!! It's got it all!!
So we headed across the street and saw the doors into one end of the bar. It's good to know they take BOTH Visa and MasterCard.
And they had this great transom over the door. And it tells me that this is a 'Flat Iron' building!!
How cool is that!?!
Reflected Window Selfie!!
Right below that vent, was this door just ripe for a Reflected Window Selfie. Now this one was good. I figure this door leads up to the 2d and 3rd floor apartments.
So we went on in. There was one guy in there. Sitting up front, by the windows nursing a beer. The seats had stuffing come out of them...the bartender, at the other end of the bar, was totally uninterested in our arrival and the bar looked...iffy.
We left.
In my defense, had I been alone I would have stayed and had that beer.
I would have.
What a great building!!
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| Way cool!! |
And in addition to the bar, there is a Hot Dog King down in the basement. He might not have Seattle's Tastiest Sausage but, by golly, he sure enough had Seattle's BIGGEST Sausage!!
And that's something to brag about, right!?!
Who wouldn't want to live there, eh? It has it all...Looks, Character, Bar and a Hot Dog King!!!
Hahaha, OK, and some danger, too.
From the bottom of the barrel, we now headed to the top of the line.
Because, right across the street was the Seattle E-Bike!!
Never saw this before and didn't even know something like this existed.
We looked inside the door and saw this.
I was hooked!! I mean, who wouldn't want a bike like this!?! Think of all the fun you could have with this thing.
Then I looked at this and...
my jaw fell down to the ground.
Intrigued, we continued bravely onward.
To this red archaic beauty!!
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| The electric motor is in the frame there. |
And reasonable, too!!
Wow!! All that and it can go for 15-25 miles per charge!!
What a deal!!
So evidently these little bikes cost as much as a brand-new Vespa…but a Vespa can get 80 mpg and can go over 70 mph!!
But I guess these have some eco-braggin' rights.
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| Uh, I'd rather get a Vespa. Get yer motor runnin' |
Evidently business is good.
Reflected Window Selfie!!
This is the only thing we could afford to do there.
So long trendy, eco-friendly, ultra-liberal, feel-good, touchy-feely and extremely expensive E-Bike Store.
Wall art. Near as we can figure out is they put up panels of plywood and then painted them rather than just let the walls stand by themselves.
And this might be why. One of the doorways into an old building.
Ah, the Glass House...and the Campanile at the King Street Station.
We walked up Occidental towards SafeCo and passed by this. We can't even get close to it on a game day. Here's the Big Seahawk Fan.
And me.
I'm not shooting gang signs here. No, I was showing my support for the Seahawks!!
See, the number One and the Number Two...
12
Twelve!!
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| Giant Seahawks Helmets...Always a winnah!! |
We were walking back to go on over to the Salvation Army and had to go by SafeCo. The season is over for the Mariners...another almost, shoulda been season.
Then we spotted this large crowd of girls in school uniforms posing in front of the main entrance. Intrigued, I took a picture...
...and then another.
Then we realized that they were posing and part of the pose was jumping up in the air together. We realized that when they all jumped into the air...together.
So, I got ready cuz I was gonna get them the next time they jumped.
And I did. And I was so surprised when they did that I, obviously, jerked the camera when I shot it.
Damn!!
SafeCo Field Selfie!!
There's the destination...just over the bridge and down the street.
But I was caught by the brilliant foliage along the street.
Meanwhile. to the South, the skies, they looked angry.
Rounding the ramp down to street level, we passed some...
Oh, you know the drill...
Just start scrolling real quick.
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| Can you see the buggie? |
Whoa!!!
Now this one is funny.
Hahahaha, that guy, Bob Ross, was something else with a paint brush.
Ah, here we are.
Big hopes!!
And busted.
This was the most interesting thing in the store.
They had about five shelves of books.
I've got more books in my tiny front room than they had in the entire store.
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| Merry Christmas...in September!! |
But they did have this.
It's a...well, I don't quite know how to explain this...it's a rubber ducky body with a Seattle SuperSonic player...on it.
On the bottom it said something about a collectible and...it was just...weird.
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| This is both weird and disturbing!! Seriously!! |
So we hit the road back home.
And the trees we saw earlier...here they are from the other side.
Way cool.
Artsy-Fartsy Alert!!
I'm gonna include this into the Artsy-Fartsy Category. That's what I was thinking when I shot it anyway. The sun was breaking out I thought it was illuminating the lettering more than it was. Still, it ain't that bad.
Street Scene by the stadiums. On game day crossing is strictly controlled by cops. Carol even got a warning because the light was blinking with the red hand when she went across.
Looking south down to the Stadium Link Station. Greyhound Bus Station on the left and the stadiums on the right.
Ah, finally, on the Magic Carpet...AKA The Link, heading back.
Here's some of the graffiti (?) I want to shoot some day.
That splotch in the window? We think somebody egged the Link.
At least I hope it was an egg.
Ugh.
One of the newer color patterns for the Link.
Riding the Link Selfie!!!
Occasionally, we have to stop so the drivers can change. It's by the maintenance station for the Link System. Here's the tracks where they move the trains off and on from the maintenance yards.
And, here's the maintenance yards.
BTW, those green poles? They're done up in those colors for...art. Yeah, that's right. They paid somebody Big Bucks to come up with that idea to 'beautify' the poles.
The Old Rainier Brewery. Tully Coffee took this over and painted all the buildings a different color. I don't know who occupies it now, but they kept the color and put the Old Rainier Logo, a giant "R" back up.
Ah, ridin' the rails.
Leaving the Link Station at Othello. There's The Station at Othello Apartments and MLK.
I am soooo happy to see the weather get back to normal. Cool, cloudy and overcast. With a chance of rain.
Hahahahaha....
And the Ol' Ghetto Safeway.
Walking back, we saw this formation!!
Lined up by color. Very coordinated.
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| Dress right, Dress!! Hooah!! |
And, finally (Yeah, I was beginning to think it would never end, too.), we were back.
I grabbed this shot before we went up the steps and disturbed them.
Always busy at the Cafe Jackie
Another good day. Salvation Army was a bust as far as books went. Lesson learned. Go to Vinnie de Paul for the books. And, tomorrow we'll head to the Audubon Store over at Seward Park. Maybe walk around the park a bit. You'll see in tomorrow's blog.
So, as it is right now,
Life is good.
Hooah!!
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