a weblog of whereabouts & interests, since 2010
The blossoms are out here on Capitol Hill’s 16th Avenue— but the weather is still on the chilly side. We only had 52 °F (11 °C) here in the city today.
(We’re on track to experience the first recorded April without a single 60-degree day, according to forecasters, reports the Seattle Times).
Here’s 6 o’clock tonight here on Capitol Hill.
Sunset is now at 7.13 pm.
One hour of sun from the morning is now showing up at the end of the day.
Here are a few pictures from along Westlake Avenue and Lenora Street.
We still don’t know what will happen to the Cinerama movie theater, even though it’s been more than three years since Paul Allen had passed away.
The swank new apartment building on Lenora Street is The Modern.
Sample rents:
1 bed, 1 bath, 499 sq ft: $2,791 – $2,986.
3 beds, 2 baths, 1,666 sq ft – $8,830.
I tagged along with Bryan and Gary to Hansville on Kitsap Peninsula today.
We did the usual drive-around south of Puget Sound across the Tacoma-Narrows Bridge by Gig Harbor, and then came back across the Sound on the Kingston ferry.
The Space Needle picture was a telephoto lens shot (on my big camera, not the phone) from I-5 South, looking across Lake Union.
I took the No 10 bus to downtown, and here are a few pictures.
Rivian has delivered some 1,000 electric delivery vehicles (EDVs) to Amazon since July of last year— for deliveries in cities such as Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Nashville, San Diego and here in Seattle.
This is only the start: the goal is for Rivian to deliver 100,000 of the EDVs to Amazon.
There was an inch or so of snow on the ground this morning, but most of it had melted by the afternoon (42 °F /6 °C).
I ventured out of the house to get a little sun today, even though the high was barely above freezing (34°F/ 1°C).
These pictures are from Volunteer Park.
My neighborhood woke up to an inch of snow on the ground this morning.
Later on, it warmed up just enough (38°F/ 3°C) for the snow to melt.
Here’s a gorgeous sunset picture from photographer Mike Reid. (Sunset is now at 5.28 pm).
Those are the peaks of the Olympic Mountains, peeking out above the clouds.
The groundhog from Pennsylvania says there will be 6 more weeks of winter. (Of course there will be, looking at the weather map).
The 51 °F (11 °C ) and calm weather we had here in the city today felt almost balmy, though. I walked back to Capitol Hill from downtown, after taking the No 10 bus to get there.
It was warm enough (48 °F / 9 °C) for the amigos to play a little pickleball this afternoon.
The last assembled Boeing 747 had left the Boeing’s widebody factory in Everett, Washington, on December 6, 2022.
It was delivered to Atlas Air today: a 747-8F (Freighter) with plane number #1,574 and registered as N863GT.
Pan-American Airways was the launch customer for the first 747 passenger jet created, the 747-100. The airline ordered 25 of the exciting new ‘jumbo’ jets, and the first one was delivered in January 1970, and christened by First Lady Pat Nixon.
The amigos toured the new $2 billion Seattle Convention Center extension today. (Construction had started in August 2018).
The existing Convention Center is now named Arch, and this extension is called Summit.
There is a large below-ground space, and five sprawling floors stacked on top of it, with a ballroom the size of a football field at the top. (The height of the Center is the equivalent of 14 regular floors).
The planks of wood suspended from the ceiling in the ballroom, and used for paneling at the ballroom entrance doors are called ‘wormwood’.
The wood comes from salvaged, decommissioned log-booms (floating barriers in waterways to collect logs that had been cut nearby).
After some time in the water, larvae of marine clams (sp. Bankia setacea) attach themselves to the logs, and start drilling into the log’s interior, creating a network of tunnels.
‘Seattle faces a moment of truth to save downtown’ wrote the Seattle Times today, pointing a report from Downtown Seattle Association that had estimated in October 2021 that 500 street-level businesses had closed since 2019. Only 300 new street-level businesses had opened. The hope is that the Convention Center extension can serve as a catalyst to bring people back and fill the empty spaces of commercial real estate.
Here’s a dead-of-winter photo of 19th Avenue’s bare trees.
I am looking south, with Stevens Elementary School on my right.
I checked into the central library in downtown for the first time since the start of the pandemic today, and did very well. 😁
I bought two books for $1 each (so: free) at the little store at the entrance, and
checked out two Der Spiegel magazines and The Case of The Shoplifter’s Shoe. (A Perry Mason detective mystery. He is a lawyer and his secretary’s name is Della, and his private detective is Paul Drake. It’s easy reading and for old times’ sake. I had read them all a long time ago).
It’s a challenge to go for a run outside, or to play sport outdoors in the Pacific Northwest winter.
When it’s clear and dry, it may be too cold.
When it’s cloudy and milder, it may be raining.
There’s always skiing and snowboarding in the mountains, of course.
No sun at sunset over the Olympic Mountains today— only blue mountains and pastel colors.
Here are a few pictures that I took on my walk around downtown Seattle today.
