Tim Booth, Seattle Times staff reporter, concludes his analysis
“ALCS: Three impressions as Mariners take 2-0 lead vs. Blue Jays” as follows (this series is best of 7 games): .. but general playoff history, momentum, belief, maybe a weird witch-induced aura are all on the side of the Mariners. The opportunity is there for Wednesday night to be one of the most important games in the history of T-Mobile Park.
Win and put a stranglehold on the series.
Lose and the Blue Jays are right back in it.
A guy takes his dog for a walk on Capitol Hill’s East Republican Street (dog jacket with a Halloween pumpkin design 🎃 ). It was clear and felt downright cold to me here— 6.00 pm (and 53°F/ 12°C) with 24 mins to go to sunset. It will be clear and cold here in the city through Thursday (‘cold’, because I’m not yet used to October’s normal highs of only 58°F/ 14°C or so).
Whoah! was my reaction as I rounded the corner and came up against this giant Halloween skeleton with blinking eyes. It made me think of the Terminator*— even though the terminator had red eyes, and a metal skeleton.
*From the 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron. It starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cybernetic assassin sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to assassinate Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whose unborn son will one day save mankind from extinction by Skynet, a hostile artificial intelligence, in a post-apocalyptic future.
[From Wikipedia]
The entrance of The Maryland condominiums on 13th Avenue East on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.
The Mariners crashed to a 3-9 defeat in Game 4 today in Detroit.
Game 5— the deciding game— will start at 5:08 p.m. Pacific Time on Friday night in Seattle.
A picture is from yesterday. The leaves have turned golden on the trees lining Martin Luther King Jr Way in Central District.
There was a rain delay to the start of the game in Detroit.
Once the game started, though, the Mariners were the first to put several runs on the board. They held off a late attempt by the Tigers to come back in the 9th inning.
A summary of the match generated by Chat GPT.Seattle Mariners’ Randy Arozarena is tagged out at first in Game 3 of the ALDS Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025 in Detroit. [Photo by Dean Rutz / The Seattle Times, caption from The Seattle Times]
Just a small town girl Livin’ in a lonely world She took the midnight train going anywhere Just a city boy Born and raised in South Detroit He took the midnight train going anywhere
A singer in a smokey room A smell of wine and cheap perfume For a smile they can share the night It goes on and on and on and on
Strangers waitin’ Up and down the boulevard Their shadows searchin’ in the night Streetlights, people
Livin’ just to find emotion Hidin’ somewhere in the night Workin’ hard to get my fill Everybody wants a thrill Payin’ anything to roll the dice Just one more time
Some’ll win, some will lose Some are born to sing the blues Whoa, the movie never ends It goes on and on and on and on
Strangers waiting Up and down the boulevard Their shadows searching in the night Streetlights, people Livin’ just to find emotion Hidin’, somewhere in the night
Don’t stop believin’ Hold on to that feeling Streetlights, people
Don’t stop believin’ Hold on Streetlights, people
Don’t stop believin’ Hold on to that feeling Streetlights, people
– Lyrics from Don’t Stop Believin’, a song by Journey from their album Escape (1981)
Go Mariners!
The Mariners* are in Detroit for the third and fourth games (Tuesday night & Wednesday night) in the playoff series against the Detroit Tigers.
The Mariners and Tigers are drawn 1-1 in the series.
*Baseball team from Seattle that competes in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) West Division.
“The M’s,” named for Seattle’s nautical heritage, have never won a World Series. They have won the AL West Division four times and appeared in the playoffs in 2000, 2022, and now this year, 2025.
A sunset picture from last night (sunset now at 6.40 pm), from where I was standing at East Mercer St & 13th Ave East. That’s the Mariners flag on the Space Needle. The graffiti on the ‘Stop Sign Ahead’ sign reads “Don’t Stop Believin’ “, likely a reference to the 1981 classic pop song with the same title, from Journey.
Three of us ran out to the Ballard locks* this morning.
Even though the salmon runs for the season are over (there were none to be seen in the windows by the fish ladder), there was still a lot of activity to look at.
*The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, or Ballard Locks, is a complex of locks at the west end of Salmon Bay in Seattle, Washington’s Lake Washington Ship Canal, between the neighborhoods of Ballard to the north and Magnolia to the south.
[Source: Wikipedia]
Here’s looking towards the waters of Puget Sound. It looks like the Salmon Bay bridge (drawbridge) had to be opened just for the little sailboat with its tall mast! (in the middle of the picture). There are seagulls in the sky above the sailboat, and a speck that is a seaplane, as well.This is the smaller of the two side-by-side locks. The gates are just closing behind the two vessels. We chatted briefly with the owners (an elderly couple) of the larger vessel at the back that goes by De Anza III. She was built in 1958, and this was the first summer they owned her.A closet look at the woodwork on De Anza III, as she is lifted up by the water being pumped into the lock. The new owners have done some work this summer to sand the woodwork and give it a new coat of varnish, but they still have a lot to do.This is the larger of the two locks, with two commercial vessels about to leave the lock and go on to Lake Union.Hey! There’s a harbor seal that had just caught a salmon. So even though the salmon runs for the season are over and done with, there are still a few of them in the water. I wonder if the fish are fatigued (from their swim upstream), and easy to catch.A great blue heron (Ardea herodias) on the edge of the canal’s water is patiently waiting its turn for an opportunity to pounce.The O-fish-al count (get it? official count) for 2025. So there are distinct times for the peaks of the runs of the different species of salmon. Q. And how do they count the fish? A. Fish are counted at the Ballard Locks through daily visual counts by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and Muckleshoot Indian Tribe staff using the fish ladder itself. Fish are observed passing through the ladder during specific periods, and these visual counts are converted into daily and weekly totals to estimate the overall fish run for the year. [Google AI Overview]
Happy Friday.
It was a beautiful fall day here in Seattle (the high 70°F/ 21°C).
I walked to Volunteer Park late in the afternoon, and took a few pictures of the Black Sun.
Black Sun is a work of art by Isamu Noguchi (1969) made of Brazilian granite and 9 ft in diameter.
September is a wrap.
We had rain yesterday and today here in the city of Seattle.
The Republican Party is shutting down the United States government at midnight.
This afternoon I opened my remaining Takara Tomy animal figures that I bought at Yodobashi Camera’s toy department in Tokyo.
Gorilla (model AS-36) with movable arms There are actually two species of gorillas: the eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei) and the western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla). And yes, wild gorillas eat pineapples, skin and all.Nile crocodile (model AS-08) with movable jaw The Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) is native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries (including South Africa and Botswana).Chameleon (model AS-28) with pliable tongue😝 Chameleons (or chamaeleons) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade* of Old World lizards with 200 species described as of June 2015. The members of this family are best known for their distinct range of colors, being capable of color-shifting camouflage. *Clade: a group of organisms believed to have evolved from a common ancestor [Source: Wikipedia]
Lion (model AS-01) with movable head, and meerkat The lion (Panthera leo) is a large cat native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the tip of its tail. Adult male lions are larger than females and have a prominent mane. The meerkat (Suricata suricatta) or suricate is a small mongoose found in southern Africa. It is characterised by a broad head, large eyes, a pointed snout, long legs, a thin tapering tail, and a brindled coat pattern. [Source: Wikipedia]Cheetah (model AS-13) with movable head and legs The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is a large cat and the fastest land animal. It has a tawny to creamy white or pale buff fur that is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots. The head is small and rounded, with a short snout and black tear-like facial streaks. [Source: Wikipedia]
Golds, silvers and grays in Elliott Bay in Puget Sound at 5.56 pm tonight— an hour before sunset (at 6.54 pm).
This is a view from the top of the pedestrian bridge in Myrtle Edwards Park, near the Queen Anne beer hall.
Sony a7CR w. Tamron E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071 lens at f/5.6 | 1/1250 sec. | ISO-160 | 96 mm
Here is the city of Seattle skyline, as seen from the Kaleetan at 7.37 pm tonight.
(The Kaleetan is the ferry from Bainbridge Island to the Seattle Ferry Terminal.)
Sony a7CR w. Tamron E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071 lens at f/2.8 | 1/8 sec. | ISO-8000 | 28 mm
That was it .. the last day of the summer of 2025, here in the North.
There was rain last night here in the city, and into the morning— about a half inch.
The sun came out this afternoon, and I put my new Sony Sonnar T* FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA Lens on my camera and took the first pictures with it. I bought the lens at Yodobashi Camera in Tokyo.
Here is what the Space Needle looked like at about 6 pm, looking through the 55m lens from Thomas St & 13th Avenue E. Out-of-camera .jpg downscaled to 2400×1800 pixels. I used Adobe Photoshop Express to bump up the exposure of the shadows by 40% and to decreased the exposure of the highlights by 20%.If you can walk right up to your subject, you have control of what goes into the frame, of course. Out-of-camera .jpg downscaled to 2400×1800 pixels.
It’s Friday night in Seattle.
The flight on All Nippon Airlines out to Seattle went without incident (8h 33m total travel time).
In Seattle I picked up my checked bag, and made a quick stop at the Global Entry kiosks for a facial recognition check. (The check takes 5 seconds flat.)
I even told the immigration officer I had brought back items to declare in my bags, but he waved me through.
Looking out the window as we are getting pushed back from the gate at Terminal 3 at Tokyo’s Haneda International airport. I am sitting in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner like the one in the picture.About two hours to go here, flying east across the Pacific Ocean and the International Dateline. I left Tokyo at 9 pm on Friday night, and arrived in Seattle at 2 pm on Friday afternoon ☺️ (Pacific Time Friday afternoon, of course).A clear day, albeit with wildfire smoke hanging in the still air. Majestic Mt Rainier seems to float above it all.
Seoul Tower is not far from my hotel.
I opted for the cable car to get me to the summit.
A parking lot at the summit can also be reached by bus or by car— or even by walking up all the way with a stairway called the Sam-soon Steps.
Looking towards Seoul Tower from the grounds of City Hall near my hotel. This is a 5x telephoto lens picture, so the picture makes it appear closer than it really is.Myeongdong Station on Line 4 of the subway gets one close to the cable car station, but there is still a steep 1/4 mile walk up the hillside, from the train station to the cable car station.Here we go! In the cable car, and looking back at the cable car station.Look for Lotte World Tower in this panorama picture. Lotte World Tower is located to the southeast of Seoul Tower. Seoul Tower is on Namsan Mountain, which is north of the Han River (in the picture), while Lotte World Tower is in Jamsil, which is on the south side of the river.A closer look at the bridges over the Han River, and Lotte World Tower.There is another smaller, independent lattice tower nearby Seoul Tower. This a communications tower (can send and receive signals). The antenna on top of Seoul Tower is a broadcast antenna for TV and radio (transmission tower). Look for the cable car stations at the bottom and at the summit, on the right side of the picture.I like the markers in the windows with cities and distances. The border with North Korea is just some 30 miles from Seoul, and the capital Pyongyang only 153 miles as the crow flies.And Seattle is 5,227 miles away to the east, and on the other side of the Earth (kind of), in the Western Hemisphere. Flying to the “other side of the world” is a theoretical concept, but a direct, non-stop flight across the Earth’s circumference would take approximately 20 hours in a commercial jet, though no such flight is possible with current commercial airliners. [Source: Google AI]Now making our way back to the base station. I bought a commemorative coin at the top of the tower (because I like coins), and put a postcard with my name and address on, in the mailbox there. I will post a picture of it if it makes it to Seattle.
There goes August.
I walked down to the Melrose Avenue overlook at sunset to take a few photos of the sun setting behind the Olympic Mountains in the hazy sky.
The high was 76°F (24°C) here in the city today, air quality Moderate.
P.S. This is the last of the sunset photos for now!
I will soon travel to the Far East— and take all kinds of pictures with my new camera.
Since it is Sun-day, I guess I am permitted to post more sunset pictures.
And it was too warm to go out in the middle of the day!
This is tonight’s sunset over Seattle’s Queen Anne Hill, that I took from a spot on Bellevue Ave East that overlooks the south end of Lake Union.
Shot with Sony α7CR w. Tamron 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 lens f-stop: f/5.6 |Exposure time: 1/200 s |ISO speed: ISO-200 |Focal length: 85 mm | Max aperture: 4.3359375 |Metering mode: Spot Out-of-camera .jpg (9,504 x 6,336 pixels) reduced to 2,400 x 1,600 pixels.One more picture, this one taken with the exposure dialed down to make the image ‘black and light’. Shot with Sony α7CR w. Tamron 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 lens f-stop: f/5.6 |Exposure time: 1/2000 s |ISO speed: ISO-200 |Focal length: 85 mm | Max aperture: 4.3359375 |Metering mode: Spot Out-of-camera .jpg (9,504 x 6,336 pixels) reduced to 2,400 x 1,600 pixels.This is a 1,656 x 2,944-pixel crop from the above image (but from the full-frame image captured by the sensor). It reveals that the little gnat above the setting sun is actually a helicopter.
Happy Friday.
We are into another stretch of warm and sunny days.
The high today was 86°F (30°C).
I went down to the Seattle waterfront for sunset— now at 8.08 pm.
Looking out over Elliott Bay from Pier 56 on the Seattle waterfront, right after the sun disappeared behind the Olympic Mountains (to the right, out of the picture’s frame). Shot with Sony α7CR w. Tamron 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 lens f-stop: f/5.6 |Exposure time: 1/125 s |ISO speed: ISO-200 |Focal length: 200 mm | Max aperture: 4.96875 |Metering mode: Spot Out-of-camera .jpg cropped and reduced to 30% of original size.
Here’s a bird’s-eye view picture of Seattle’s waterfront, that appeared in today’s Wall Street Journal.
Laura Landro writes: Seattle has largely completed a more than $1 billion redevelopment of the 26-block stretch along Puget Sound’s sweeping Elliott Bay, which includes the replacement of a 100-year-old sea wall that had been badly damaged by an earthquake and erosion. Waterfront redevelopment projects are in various stages of planning, design and construction in large metropolitan areas including New York, Boston, Chicago and Washington, D.C., as well as midsize and smaller cities like Norfolk, Va., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Cleveland and Kansas City, Mo.
I take my new camera with me now, every time I go for a walk.
I’m still learning to adjust the exposure and the auto-focus mode.
I also paired the camera with my iPhone (via Bluetooth) so that that the GPS coordinates of my location for each picture can be recorded in the camera on the metadata for the image.
There is a drawback, though: the camera’s battery runs down much more rapidly if it is connected to the phone all the time.
The camera actually has an airplane mode, but it’s a pain to switch it on and off multiple times while walking around.
Better to carry one or two spare batteries to pop into it when one runs out.
I took this picture on Sunday. It is of The Emerald, a 40-story residential skyscraper located at 121 Stewart Street. Its distinctive glass façade and slightly twisting design makes it stand out in the Seattle skyline. It was completed in 2020. (This picture is a downsized version, 25% of the size of the out-of-camera picture). Shot with Sony α7CR w. Tamron 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 lens f-stop: f/5.6 |Exposure time: 1/2000 s |ISO speed: ISO-250 |Focal length: 73 mm | Max aperture: 4 |Metering mode: PatternAnd what airline might the airplane belong to? A 600×400 pixel crop of the airplane from the 6,336 x9,504 out-of-camera image reveals that it belongs to Iceland Air.
India’s flag was hoisted up on top of the Space Needle for the first time on Friday.
It is a nod to India’s Independence Day, celebrated annually on August 15 as a public holiday.
The day commemorates the nation’s independence from the United Kingdom on August 15, 1947.
Approximately 83,000 King County residents were born in India, constituting 14% of the foreign-born population. China closely follows at approximately 80,000 residents, and the list continues with Vietnam securing the fourth position, the Philippines at fifth, South Korea at sixth, and Taiwan ranking ninth. [Northwest Asian Weekly, Dec. 11, 2023][Stills from a video posted @IndiainSeattle on X]
