There are lots of leaves on the ground here in the city after a weekend of blustery and rainy weather.
Sunday/ at the bookstore 📖
I learned my lesson today: if you’re going to walk somewhere and want to make it home before dark, don’t wait until 3 o’clock!
Direct sunlight is now long gone by 5 (sunset is at 4.44 pm).
Saturday 🍂
It’s the end of Daylight Saving Time— we have to turn back all the clocks back by an hour.
Here I am back from a walk down to Capitol Hill train station for a jaunt I had intended to do, up to U-District, but it was not to be. We first waited for 10 minutes on the northbound train to depart, during which the lights went out, and the ‘NORTHGATE’ display as the final destination changed to an IP address (IP.80.0.0.80 or something).
Then an announcement came that there was mechanical trouble. The next northbound train will actually pick us up on the southbound track. The train that had a delayed departure had been full already, though. So when the next northbound train arrived (on the southbound track) also almost full of people, I decided the overcrowding wasn’t worth the trouble for me, and came back home. There is always tomorrow to try again.
Monday/ long live forests 🌳
Happy Monday.
It’s Seattle Forest Week— a yearly campaign by Seattle Parks to promote the city’s green spaces, healthy urban forests, and encourage the planting of native plants.
We don’t have these furry creatures here in the Pacific Northwest. I had to do a picture search to find out that they are tree-kangaroos, native to the Huon Peninsula of northeastern New Guinea island, in Papua New Guinea.
It is an endangered species with only an estimated 2,500 left in the wild.
[Picture posted by Woodland Park Zoo @woodlandparkzoo on X]
Tuesday/ rain ☔
There’s a steady rain here in the city tonight, and the first winter snow headed for the Cascades (more than a foot expected in some places).
I will grab my scarf from now on as I head out the door.
The daytime highs have dropped to 50 °F (10 °C) or so.
Monday/ surprise! flowers 🥀
Surely there can’t be flowers anymore in Thomas Street Gardens, I thought, as I made my way there yesterday.
I was wrong though, and there they were— outrageous splotches of color against the gray sky.
Monday/ a Cybertruck spotting ⚡️
A Tesla Cybertruck was spotted here in the city yesterday, at Pike Place Market.
It is not known if it will stick around for a while, or move on. This one was spotted in Northern California and in Oregon as well.
Wednesday/ rain ☔
Here is a ‘dash cam’ photo of Martin Luther King Jr Way South.
Thursday/ fall 🍂 pickle ball 🥒
We had lovely weather today (68 °F / 20 °C), and the amigos played a little pickle ball at Mount Baker Park.
Thursday/ friends 😚
Friends under a holly tree in Lake View Cemetery, in Capitol Hill just north of Volunteer Park.
Wednesday/ Pier 57 🛞
Here’s Pier 57 and the city skyline, seen from the Seattle Great Wheel on the waterfront.
Monday/ at the roastery ☕️
Here’s the scene at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery on Pike street.
We didn’t get to see the roasted coffee beans spill from the roasting barrel into the giant cooling pan, but the place was packed with tourists and locals (a guy wearing a shirt with an Amazon Web Services logo on, for example).
Coffees from Sumatra, Malawi and Viet Nam were being brewed, and we picked Malawi. (My friends that are visiting Seattle, are from South Africa).
Saturday/ setting sail 🛳️
Here’s the Norwegian Bliss just leaving the pier in Seattle and setting sail for Sitka, Alaska, shortly after 5 pm this afternoon.
She will go as far as Juneau and then to Icy Straight Point 30 miles across the Alaskan Inside Passage, before turning back to Seattle.
Wednesday/ Mowich Lake 🏞
This morning, I dropped off the hiking party of two (my friends visiting from South Africa) at the Mowich Lake campground on the slopes of Mount Rainier.
Mowich Lake is where they will start out on Thursday morning, on the Wonderland Trail/ Northern Loop Trail for an eight-day hike.
Monday/ ferries 🚢
Happy Labor Day.
My friends and I made a round trip across Puget Sound today:
crossing with the Seattle-Bainbridge Island ferry, driving to Silverdale REI* to pick up a tent, and returning on the Bremerton-Seattle ferry.
*Outdoor recreation gear and equipment store
Saturday/ gearing up 🧗♀️
My friends are gearing up for hiking on Mount Rainier’s Wonderland Trail— and so a visit the the flagship REI store in Seattle’s South Lake Union was in order for today.
Some of the purchases: water bag and microfilter system, powdered eggs, shredded beef with beef broth in a pouch, energy bars, Mount Rainier Wonderland Trail map, waterproof compression bag (keeps clothes dry), pressure-regulated pocket-sized gas stove, isobutane fuel cartridges.
Friday/ last gasp for summer travel 🛬
Happy Friday.
This weekend is the last hurrah of summer travel for many families.
Kids in California are back in school already, and kids in Washington State go back next Wednesday.
I am wedged in between a big old Dodge Ram Off Road truck and another truck to my right, waiting for my two friends from South Africa to call from the airport.
It took longer than an hour for their luggage to appear on the baggage claim carousel, and it was TWO hours after they had landed, when I finally picked them up at the curb outside the arrivals hall.
Sunday/ a reflection pool 🪞
Here is the reflection pool in the Bloedel Reserve forest garden on Bainbridge Island. (I took the photo on Saturday.)
Saturday/ smoky skies 😑
Here’s what the Seattle skyline looked like at around 8 AM on Saturday morning from the top deck of the MV Wenatchee.
The ferry is making its way to the Bainbridge Island Ferry Terminal.
Friday/ summer’s winding down ⛵️
Happy Friday.
The weather forecasters say this weekend will be the last of this summer’s warm weather— 88 °F/ 31 °C in Seattle on Sunday.
The Duck Dodge is a loosely organized regatta (held on Tuesdays in summer) where sailboats of every size, speed, and soundness gather to raise their sails, and a few adult beverages too. [Photo by Luke Johnson / The Seattle Times]