Category: Seattle

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Thursday/ the year’s last supermoon 🌕

Tonight the last supermoon* of the year— and the third in a consecutive sequence— is out. (There will be a fourth supermoon in this same celestial series in January 2026).

We have cloud cover and lots of rain here in the city in Seattle tonight, so for now I can only look for pictures of the supermoon online.

*A supermoon is a full moon that occurs when the Moon is at or near its closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit, a point called perigee. This proximity makes the Moon appear slightly brighter and larger than an average full moon, although the difference may be difficult to notice with the naked eye. The term can also technically apply to a new moon, but it is typically associated with the visible full moon.
[Google AI Overview]

A supermoon, the last full moon of the year, rises behind the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in San Francisco. This one is called the Cold Moon.
[Associated Press Photo/ Godofredo A. Vásquez]
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Tuesday/ frosty mornings 🧣

I thought it too cold to go for a walk today—44°F (6°C)— then changed my mind at the last minute before dark.

It’s 4.00 pm on the nose, and I’m on 22nd Avenue East looking out towards the east. Sunset is 19 minutes away. There’s the moon in a bare sky, not quite full. (The full moon on Thursday will be the Cold Moon.) No cloud cover means temperatures will dip down close to 0°C in the early morning.
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Saturday/ cloudy and cold ☁️

The sun wasn’t out today, and it was a cold fall day here in the city.
The low this morning was 38°F (3°C) and the high 52°F (11 °C).

Here’s looking out to the Olympic Mountains at 3.26 pm today from my usual spot on the corner of 14th Ave East and East Thomas St on Capitol Hill.
It looks like the Christmas lights (cables with lights) are up, on top of the Space Needle.
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Wednesday/ leaving the California sun ☀

It was time to go home today, and I took a flight on Alaska Airlines from Palm Springs airport to Seattle.

Pictures:
The (somewhat unusual) courtyard inside the secure area at Palm Springs airport;
Allegiant Air getting ready to fly out to Bellingham airport in Washington State;
Stepping on board my own flight— a Boeing 737-900 (twin-jet) from Alaska Airlines;
The Flighty app replaced the airplane with a flying turkey— a nod to Thanksgiving, of course;
Arrived at Seattle, got my checked bag, walked the half-mile to the light rail station, and here comes the train (look for the Mountain that is out, through one of the glass panes);
Utility poles and power cables on the way;
Views of the stations called SODO, Pioneer Square, Symphony and Westlake.

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Sunday/ rainy weekend ☔

There was light rain on and off all weekend here in the city, and a little fog in the Seattle’s low-lying areas this morning. Some trees still have leaves on, but a lot have now shed it all.

Elsewhere in Washington State, in the Yakima River Basin, the severe drought conditions continue. Conrad Swanson writes for the Seattle Times ‘This might be the driest year in recent memory, fresh on the heels of severe droughts last year and the year before’.

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Tuesday/ Veterans Day 🇺🇸

Happy Veterans Day to all veterans of the United States Armed Forces.

Sunset tonight (now at 4.37 pm), from my vantage point on the Melrose Avenue overlook near Interstate 5. The Stars and Stripes (the American flag) flies from the Space Needles’s flagpole.
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Thursday/ more rain ☔

There was more rain today (another inch or so).
I ventured outside with my umbrella before the gray outside tuned into black.

Here’s Republican Street and 15th Avenue East on Capitol Hill. The holiday lights on the trees are on already, to bring a little cheer to the gray outside.
Looking down Thomas Street at 12th Avenue. The red beacon light is already blinking on the Space Needle’s flag post .. and is that an S on the flag? I wondered.
And here’s the answer: yes, it’s an S for Seattle Torrent, the name for Seattle’s new women’s ice hockey team. They will play in Climate Pledge Arena. The eight teams in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) are the Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montréal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge, Seattle Torrent, Toronto Sceptres, and Vancouver Goldeneyes.
[Picture posted on Space Needle’s Instagram, but without any names]
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A wet Wednesday ️🌧️

It rained on and off all day, and about 1.2 in (30 mm) was recorded here in the city the last 24 hours by late Wednesday night.

Here’s 2.45 in downtown/ South Lake Union.
I’m about to turn right onto Westlake Avenue to go to Wholefoods Market. Free parking in their garage when it rains outside is nice to have.
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Sunday/ along Columbia Street ️️🏙️

I took the G Line bus to the waterfront, and walked back up along Columbia Street in downtown Seattle to take a few pictures.
The tallest building in Seattle is on Columbia Street: the 76-story Columbia Center, which rises 937 feet (286 m) and was completed in 1985.

I went back to the waterfront to watch the sun set.
Sunset is now at 4.49 pm.

Blue skies and golden leaves on the way to the G Line bus stop on 17th Avenue E and Madison Street.
The view an hour or so before sunset from the Marion Street Ferry Walkway, looking north along Alaskan Way.
There’s the Columbia Center, reflected on the marble wall by First Avenue.
The Columbia Center (1985, 76 stories) is in the middle of the picture, with the Seattle Municipal Tower (1990, 57 stories). 
On the right is the Pacific Building (1971, 22 stories).
A closer look at the Columbia Center.
There goes the last of the leaves on the gingko tree at 215 Columbia Street.
This building was originally the Seattle Chamber of Commerce Building (1924), and is now the Northwest Title Insurance Company Building (since 2007).
The Net, formerly known as The Marion, is a planned high-rise office building. In its current design iteration, it is to be 36 stories tall.
Six skyscrapers in one picture.
Clockwise from the top right corner: the Columbia Center (1985), the Seattle Municipal Tower (1990), the F5 Tower (2017), 901 Fifth Avenue (1973), Fourth and Madison Building (2002), DocuSign Tower (1983).
Buildings close to Alaskan Way by the waterfront. I like the pastel colors reflected in the window panes facing the setting sun.
Sunset with the Seattle Ferry Terminal (Colman Dock, Pier 52) on the left.
The ferry is the Kaleetan, getting ready to depart for Bainbridge Island.
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Friday/ it’s Halloween 👻

Happy Friday and happy Halloween.
We have 50°F (10°C) and a steady rain here— early evening in Seattle’s Capitol Hill.
In spite of that, the trick-or-treaters (and their parents for the young ones) were out in full force at 5.30 pm, with umbrellas and rain coats.

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Sunday/ after the storm 🌬️

The heavy winds knocked the power out for tens of thousands of Seattle metro residents last night. The power was still getting restored across the city and Western Washington today.

There was a break in the rain this afternoon, and I walked down to Elliott Bay Bookstore on 10th Avenue.
The store was still without power, but customers were allowed in.
I looked like they used their phones to pay for their purchases through the store’s website.

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Saturday/ rain 🌧️

Laurin Girgis reporting for the Seattle Times:
Friday’s rain and gusty winds will continue through the weekend, with somewhere between half an inch to 1 ½ inches of precipitation accumulating in Seattle over Saturday and Sunday.
National Weather Service meteorologist Dev McMillian said Friday’s torrent of rain and wind came from an atmospheric river: a long band of moisture stretching across the Pacific Ocean and resulting in large amounts of precipitation. Saturday and Sunday, despite more precipitation coming in, will not be an atmospheric river, McMillian said. Rainfall rates Saturday through Monday are expected to be less than Friday.

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Thursday/ Halloween ghost 👻

The Halloween decoration in the window of the Pacific Supply hardware store on Capitol Hill’s 12th Avenue is nicely done.

Newspaper headlines of world news and the scandals and corruption of the Trump administration adorn the white folds of the mantle on the ghost’s arms.
Today’s corruption scandal (it seems there is one every day), as reported by Associate Press:
President Donald Trump has pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who created the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and served prison time for failing to stop criminals from using the platform to move money connected to child sex abuse, drug trafficking and terrorism.
The pardon caps a monthslong effort by Zhao, a billionaire commonly known as CZ in the crypto world and one of the biggest names in the industry. He and Binance have been key supporters of some of the Trump family’s crypto enterprises.
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Monday 🍂

It was not to be— the Seattle Mariners playing in the World Series.
They lost 3-4 in Game 7 tonight against the Blue Jays, in the deciding game in the American League Championship Series (ALCS).
The Toronto Blue Jays will now take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.

Beautiful fall foliage surrounds the playfields at Miller Community Center on 19th Avenue East on Capitol Hill.

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Saturday/ another No Kings march 👑 ❌

Four amigos attended the No Kings* march in Seattle today.
We walked alongside the monorail on Fifth Avenue, and the train would honk at us with a whoop! whoop! every time it passed overhead.

From local TV broadcaster King5 news:
Organizers with Seattle Indivisible reported preliminary counts of nearly 90,000 people taking part.
The demonstration began beneath the Space Needle and poured into downtown streets, part of what organizers call the largest coordinated protest in U.S. history.

*The No Kings protests is a series of demonstrations, largely in the United States, against what the organizers describe as authoritarian policies of Donald Trump and corruption in his administration.

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Friday/ at the new pickleball courts 🌊

Happy Friday.
The new pickleball court facility called Sideout Tsunami Center is open for business (but the official grand opening will be in November).
This weekend, the center is hosting the finals of the National Pickleball League team competition in the “Champions Pro” division for players aged 50 and above.
I stopped by this afternoon to check out the new courts and the action there.

P.S. A win for the Mariners in Game 5!
From the Seattle Times:
Cal Raleigh and Eugenio Suárez delivered eighth-inning homers to send the Mariners to within a win of the World Series, and send T-Mobile Park into a frenzy.

A little pro shop tucked into the corner by the entrance.
The facility is at 2300 26th Avenue S in Seattle, in a non-descript building (a former Pepsi bottling plant) with a large, newly-paved parking lot outside.
Twelve teams from all over the USA compete for gold, silver and bronze medals. Look for the logos of the Indy Drivers, the Austin Ignite, the Kansas City Stingers, the Boca Surge, the Naples JBB United, the Princeton Bruisers, the Denver Iconics, the Houston Hammers, the Seattle Tsunami, the Coachella Valley Scorpions, the Columbus Hotshots and the OKC Punishers.
A first look at the courts. There are no pavilions or bleacher seats in the spaces between the courts. Maybe some will be added later for one or two show courts.
Three mixed doubles pairs make up a team.
Here is the No 1 team for Austin Ignite (left) facing off against the No 1 team of Coachella Valley Scorpions. It’s best out of three sets, first to 11 by one point.
Coachella Valley Scorpions won this match.
Pickleball in the Pacific Northwest. (The whale is a humpback whale.)