Category: Seattle

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Wednesday/ at the airport ✈️

I am at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, awaiting the departure of my flight to Tokyo’s Haneda airport on All Nippon Airlines.

The expansion of C Concourse here at Sea-Tac airport is complete, and I went up to the viewing deck to check out the action out on the runway.

Looking out towards the gates at Concourse D from the mezzanine at Concourse C.
The extension to Concourse C has several new eateries and stores.
Looking down from the new mezzanine level at Concourse C. These large wooden steps serve as a seating area.
The new view deck at Concourse C is another flight of stairs up from the mezzanine level. (There are elevators to it as well). The triangular space is not large, but offers views through large glass panes with an inch or two space to the outside air between them. To the south one can see the runway and gates at Concourse A, and looking north, one can see the departing aircraft as well.
Look for a Lufthansa bird that had just departed, to Frankfurt no doubt, in the distance just to the left of the lamp post in the middle of the picture.
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Sunday/ rain 🌧️

There was rain in the very early hours of the Sunday morning, and on and off during the day— about 0.3 inches here in the city.

By nightfall, the skies had cleared and there was soccer practice at Miller Playfield here in Capitol Hill.

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Friday/ need a little rain ☔

Happy Friday.
It’s been a dry October here in the city.
We have recorded only 0.47 in of rain so far.
By Oct. 22 each year, the average for the month of October for Seattle is 2.29 in.

Dry leaves and cloudless skies, from my walk here on Seattle’s Capitol Hill yesterday morning.
It should start raining on and off every day, starting on Sunday, and all through the last week of October.
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Thursday/ twilight 🌆

It’s either real or it’s a dream
There’s nothing that is in between
Twilight
I only meant to stay a while
Twilight
I gave you time to steal my mind
Away from me

Lyrics from the song Twilight, from the studio album Time (1981) by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)

This twilight photo is from last night.
Sunset is now at 6.08 pm.

Photo taken at 6.43 pm with iPhone 16 Pro telephoto lens and with Dramatic Cool filter added.
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Sunday/ my vote is in 🫏

I donned my woolen gloves and skull cap this morning as I went for a walk (45°F/ 7°C).
A thick fog bank obscured the Olympic Mountains.

By afternoon the mountains were out, in soft shades of blue.
I walked down to Capitol Hill’s Broadway to reach the graffitied ballot box at Seattle Central College to deposit my mail-in ballot.
We don’t have dramatic House or Senate races here in Washington State that feature on the national stage, such as the James Talarico (D) vs. Ken Paxton (R) showdown in Texas, or the Susan Collins (R) vs. Troy Jackson (D) race in Maine.

Our ballot does have an initiative (I-645) that seeks to repeal the so-called “Millionaires Tax”— a 9.9% flat state income tax on household earnings exceeding $1 million per year, which was signed into law by Governor Bob Ferguson in March.

Fogbank seen from Capitol Hill’s 13th Ave East, 9.03 am.
An updated view, 4.26pm.
The ballot box is in rough shape on the outside, but I like to drop it in here instead of putting it in the mail.

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Thursday/ the ‘747 sandwich’🥪

Here are up-to-date pictures of the ‘747 sandwich’ at 1200 Stewart Street in the Denny Triangle, courtesy of The Seattle Times.
The Boeing 747 is sandwiched between the podiums of the two residential towers there, and will contain a little bit of office space.

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Friday/ gray and cold ☁️

Happy Friday.

There was rain on and off today here in the city in Seattle, with a high 59°F (15°C). That is a far cry from the blazing sun and 100°F (38°C) highs we had in Palm Springs.

Fall colors and the evergreen artificial turf of Miller Playfield in Seattle’s Capitol Hill.
A soft drizzle was coming down and even the pickleball courts nearby were deserted at about 6 pm tonight.
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Thursday/ arrival home: day 3 of 3 🛣️

We started out in Bend, Oregon, a little after 8 am this morning.
We first stopped by the very last Blockbuster video rental store in all of the United States (and all of the world, in fact).  We made another stop at the spectacular Smith Rock State Park.
After that we made our way north and west to Ellensburg, and across Snoqualmie Pass to Seattle.

We took U.S. Route 97 (US 97) from Bend all the way to the Washington-Oregon state line (the Columbia River), and from there to Toppenish in Washington. From Toppenish we took Interstate 82 to Ellensburg, and then Interstate 90 that runs across Snoqualmie Pass to Seattle.
This is the the very last Blockbuster video rental store in the whole world (in Bend, Oregon). It was a Pacific Video store before converting to a Blockbuster franchise in June 2000. It became the last Blockbuster store in the U.S. in 2018 and the last Blockbuster store in the world in March 2019.
Smith Rock State Park is a state park located in central Oregon’s High Desert near the communities of Redmond and Terrebonne. The day-use area of the park is open daily from dawn to dusk.
The sheer cliffs are the result of a major volcanic eruption in the area millions of years ago. The stone material is called Smith Rock tuff.
This charging stop is in Madras, Oregon.
Here is Oregon’s Mount Hood, seen from U.S. Route 97.
Mt Hood is an active stratovolcano and the highest mountain in Oregon, standing at 11,249 feet (3,429 meters). It is located about 50 miles east of Portland.
Still in Oregon here, but now approaching the Columbia River Gorge and the Washington-Oregon state line.
Hello Washington State. We had just crossed the Columbia River. This is still U.S. Route 97.
Here is the Columbia River Gorge and the mighty Columbia River— the Washington-Oregon state line.
Look for the Stonehenge Memorial (round brown structure, middle of the picture) perched on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River Gorge.
It was built as a World War I memorial dedicated to soldiers from Klickitat County, Washington, who died in the war.
Wind turbines dotting the hills, very similar to the ones we had seen in California.
This Stars and Stripes flag on a tall pole is in Toppenish.
Here is the Yakima River, a stone’s throw from our charging station in Yakima.
Our last charging stop for the day was in Yakima.
On the way to Ellensburg. Light from the setting sun behind us is refracted on the car’s display screen.
Late afternoon in Snoqualmie Pass over the Cascade Mountain Range, on Interstate 90.
Crossing Lake Washington for the last few miles to Seattle. The light rail train on the left is still a new sight, in operation since late March 2026.
The end of our day’s journey on U.S. Route 97, Interstate 82 and Interstate 90 is coming up with the Rainier Avenue exit.
The lettering in the cement at the tunnel entrance says ‘Seattle — Portal to the Pacific’.
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Sunday/ dahlias 💐

Here is the last of today’s sunlight on the Volunteer Park Conservatory.
Nearby, the dahlia garden is still in peak bloom.
The flower beds have rounded pompon varieties and dramatic cactus dahlias, which stand out with their narrow, pointed petals.

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Monday/ feels like fall ☁️

The city of Seattle had half an inch of rain on Sunday, and the days are cooler now: a high 67°F (19 °C) today.

The first of the leaves have started to fall from the trees, but asters and daisies are still out— splotches of lavender, lilac and pinks.

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Friday/ a late bloomer 🪴

Happy Friday.
It is Labor Day Weekend here in the United States: the unofficial end of summer.
There was a little rain on Tuesday and Wednesday here in the city (0.2 in) and mild temperatures all week (high 60s, about 19 °C).
The hardy plumbago (leadwort) on my back porch has bloomed, the way it does every year, late summer and into fall.

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Sunday/ a trip to the library 📚

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’.

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Thursday/ a partial lunar eclipse 🌘

Here are my amateur photos of tonight’s partial lunar eclipse, taken at my house from an upstairs window.

Here in Seattle the eclipse was already underway by sunset.
The moon was low in the sky, looking east-southeast.
As darkness fell, the moon rose higher, and more of it was obscured by Earth’s shadow until it was 95% in the dark by 9.12 pm.

The last photo is a little overexposed, and the light speck below the moon is an airplane.

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Wednesday/ last 8 o’clock sundown 🌇

The days are getting shorter, and we today brought the last of the 8 o’clock sunsets (or later) for 2026, here in Seattle.

Looking out westward, from East Thomas St and 13th Avenue East on Seattle’s Capitol Hill at 8.08pm. (Sunset was at 8.01 pm.)
[Shot with iPhone 16 Pro 5x lens and Dramatic Warm filter]
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Saturday/ golden flowers 🏵️

It felt like fall this morning, with a few raindrops that came down.
Later on the sun came out and the high reached 74°F (23 °C) here in the city.

I found these chrysanthemums here on Capitol Hill today.
The name “chrysanthemum” is derived from the Ancient Greek: χρυσός chrysos (gold) and ἄνθεμον anthemon (flower).

These are garden mums (Chrysanthemum), one of the classic bicolor varieties that shift from yellow to deep bronze-red as the petals age — giving that layered, sunset-like look. They’re a fall staple, usually planted in September/October when they hit peak bloom.
[As reported by my AI chatbot Claude when I uploaded the picture]