a weblog of whereabouts & interests, since 2010
We ran out to the Sunny Dunes Antique Mall today.
By evening it was time to take the EV pony to the Tesla Supercharger station at The Downtown Park.
We took an evening stroll along Palm Canyon Drive while the car was charging.
We braved the blazing mid-day sun today for a walk along Palm Canyon Drive. This boulevard is the primary commercial, retail, and hospitality thoroughfare through the downtown area of Palm Springs.
I opted for the Seattle Public Library (instead of the bookstore) for my book fix today.
Notes for the pictures:
Black Tesla Model Y photobombs my picture of the William Kenzo Nakamura United States Courthouse on 6th Avenue.
The Courthouse is a federal courthouse and primarily used by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. It was completed in 1940.
I am not sure why the 13-star flag (for the original 13 colonies, used 1777-1795) is on the courthouse— possibly to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. (Any past official national flag can be legally flown or exhibited for historical and patriotic displays.)
Flags are flying at half-staff to honor the life and memory of country music legend and philanthropist Dolly Parton, who passed away Tuesday at the age of 80.
The yellow Lamborghini is a Lamborghini Huracán Spyder (the convertible Huracán, which is Spanish for hurricane).
Near the Hotel Sorrento off Madison Street is where I caught the G-line bus on the way back. The Hotel Sorrento was completed in 1909 and is Seattle’s longest-operating boutique hotel.
Gas prices are still high. The war with Iran is now 6 months old. The Strait of Hormuz is still closed, despite the insistence of the White House that it is ‘open’.
If you missed this summer’s eclipse, don’t worry.
There are still a handful of opportunities to catch the “eclipse of the century” next year.
Imagine standing beneath a blackened sun among the ancient Egyptian tombs in the Valley of the Kings or overlooking the Nile at the Hatshepsut Temple. The eerie darkness might fill you with a primeval mix of terror, awe and wonder. In other words, perfection.
In the midmorning and afternoon of Aug. 2, 2027, ten countries (and a few territories) on the Mediterranean Sea and in the Middle East and Africa will find themselves in the 160-mile-wide, nearly 9,500-mile-long zone.
In some places, darkness will last as long as an incredible six minutes and 23 seconds.
The construction of the twin apartment towers with the wavy outlines at 1200 Stewart St in the Denny Triangle neighborhood started in May 2018.
So it will be 9 years when the 45-story towers with 927 apartments finally open in 2027—six years later than the original timeline had called for.
That’s a decommissioned United Airlines Boeing 747-400 fuselage mounted 14 feet (4.3 m) above the walkway between the towers.
It will house a little office space for Westbank, the project’s developer.
The fuselage was purchased from a scrapyard in Victorville, California, cut into 39 sections, and trucked up to Seattle.
It’s Tesla-Tesla-Tesla in the sunset photo that I took from the Melrose Avenue overlook.
Happy Friday.
It is almost time for the World Cup.
The June 11 opener game will be Mexico 🇲🇽 vs. South Africa 🇿🇦 in Mexico City.
Seattle will host 6 games in total, and the first two are—
June 15: Belgium 🇧🇪 vs. Egypt 🇪🇬 (12:00 p.m. PT)
June 19: USA 🇺🇸 vs. Australia 🇦🇺 (12:00 p.m. PT)
The dome of the Space Needle has been painted in the white and black hexagons of a soccer ball. Fun fact: A standard, classic soccer ball has 20 hexagons.
I took the No 8 bus to Westlake Avenue and walked up along Lake Union, hoping to still catch Mark Zuckerberg’s megayacht there.
Alas, she was gone.
Someone there told me she was out in the open waters of Elliott Bay.
I had a blast at the stamp show but it’s great to have made it home.
Ar Boston Logan airport, my checked bag weighed in at 48.5 lbs, 1.5 lbs shy of the weight limit. The medium size suitcase was stuffed with packs of stamp album pages and a giant binder to put them in, along with brochures and other papers.
These pictures are from yesterday, taken in and around Boston Common— the oldest city park in all of the United States.
The building with the iconic gold dome overlooking the Boston Common is the Massachusetts State House.
The next world stamp exhibition is in Prague, in the Czech Republic in March 2028.
The site of the Boston Tea Party incident is a short walk from the Convention Center.
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest on December 16, 1773, where American colonists, frustrated by British “taxation without representation,” destroyed 342 chests of tea. Led by the Sons of Liberty and disguised as Mohawk warriors, the group dumped $1.7 million worth of British East India Company tea into Boston Harbor.
The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum had already closed for the day when I got there last night.
I took a few pictures and then walked to South Station at 700 Atlantic Avenue. It is a large train station that serves the MBTA Subway, bus lines and an Amtrak line.
Barnes & Noble is back in downtown Seattle with a new two-level, 18,000-square-foot store at 520 Pike Street. (The store in Pacific Place closed down during the pandemic in Jan. 2020).
I like their selection of books.
From there, I walked to the Seattle Public Library, taking a few pictures on the way. I usually don’t have to wait too long for a Tesla to appear in view, and then I take the picture 😁.
I walked down to the Capitol Hill light rail station this morning, and took the new 2 Line extension to Judkins Park station (it opened on Saturday March 28).
At Judkins Park station, my two amigos joined me, and we went on to Bellevue Downtown station to go to a movie theater there. (I will report about the movie later).
The map and the drone picture below it are from the Seattle Times.
The rest of the images are my snapshots from the roundtrip on the 2 Line from Capitol Hill Station to Bellevue Downtown, and back.
I spend a lot of time scrolling through the listings of stamps and postcards online.
Here is a postcard with a photo from Tel Aviv, Israel (circa 1942) that I find very interesting.
The sender was a Harold McMaster, on active duty in the British Army.
(The British Army controlled Palestine in 1942 as part of the British Mandate, which lasted from 1920 to 1948.)
It certainly seems that Mrs. McMaster that resided in Vereeniging, South Africa, was his mom, or at least a close family member.
At the time there were lots of South Africans of British descent, and of Jewish descent, residing in South Africa (and there still are, to this day).
I bought this set of stamps in Singapore.
It is a 2024 joint issue of stamps from ten ASEAN* countries. (Different stamps for each country but issued on the same day).
*Not, not Asian— ASEAN: the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
It is a regional intergovernmental organization established on August 8, 1967, to promote economic growth, social progress, cultural development, and regional peace. It comprises 11 member countries—Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Timor-Leste.
The theme for the joint issue is not super-exciting: general post office buildings.
Some of the stamps have cool security features, though.
And I was reminded where in the world the Brunei is.
Here are some night time pictures of the beautiful historical center of Mazatlán.
The Gran Acuario Mazatlán hosts over 250 species of fish. It is the is the largest aquarium in Latin America.
It contains a marine museum, the Gulf of Mexico Oceanic Fish Tank, a walk-through aviary, a boardwalk along the lagoon outside, crocodile exhibits, and a capybara petting area. The penguin area and flamingo area are currently closed.
Here is a sample of beautiful architecture that had caught my eye the last few days as I walked around Centro de Mazatlán (the old center of Mazatlán).
There was a marine layer out on the ocean this morning as we made our way to Cerro del Vigía (‘Lookout Hill’).
We took the short cable car trip up to the observatory: the touristic park named Observatorio 1873, after the year of its construction.
By the observatory there is a small agaviario (a dedicated agave garden) and steps down to a bird sanctuary called El Nido. A few steps further down the hill there is an enclosure with iguanas and tortoises.
The last stop is the new whale museum called Museo Nacional de la Ballena (National Whale Museum) that opened in August 2025.
(Thanks to Bryan for the picture of the toucan and of the green parrot).
Here is a closer look at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception of Mazatlán (La Catedral Basílica de la Inmaculada Concepción en Mazatlán).
It is a Roman Catholic Church that was built in the Baroque-Revival style from 1856 to 1899. Approximately 78% of Mexico’s population identifies as Catholic, according to the 2020 Mexican government census.
Based on available history for the city’s central public spaces, the notable iron gazebo located in the plaza directly in front of the Cathedral (Plaza República) was built around 1870.
It was another sunny and cloudless day here in Mazatlán (76°F /24°C ).
This morning, we went for a walk up the main lookout hill here on the shoreline (Cerro del Vigía).
This afternoon, we ran out to the local Sam’s Club (warehouse grocery store) for grocery shopping. We went there by bus and came back with a little Uber car with its trunk and back seat full of groceries.
