Category: Seattle

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Wednesday/ it’s still summer

We only got  72 °F (22 °C)  here in the city today, but it looks like Sunday will be warm: 90 °F (32 °C).

Here’s a set of whimsical forest fairytale items that I found next to the sidewalk in a garden here on Capitol Hill. 
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Friday/ more protesting, peacefully

There was a little crowd tonight in front of Uncle Ike’s on 15th Ave, chanting ‘Black Lives Matter!’ and ‘Defund the Police!’.
There was no visible police presence, but it seemed the organizers of the gathering designated a handful of ‘marshals’ that kept an eye out for vandals and troublemakers.

There’s Uncle Ike’s in the distance (purveyor of marijuana products). I was not about to wade into the crowd, but it did seem that just about everyone was wearing a mask.
The intersection of Republican & 15th Ave was blocked for a good 30 or 40 minutes, and I don’t know what the buses on No 10 route did to get through or around the crowd.
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Thursday/ a little welcome rain

There was a little welcome rain this morning, with mild highs later on (70 °F/ 21 °C).

Pinks in the sky tonight, and in this hollyhock flower (genus Alcea). Alcea is a genus of about 60 species of flowering plants in the mallow family Malvaceae. This one is about 6 ft tall.
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Wednesday/ rain on the way

There is rain on the way for Thursday, says the meteorologists.
Yes! I need it to dissolve and disperse the dry moss treatment that the gutter cleaners had left on my roof.

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Sunday/ wild blackberries

These wild blackberries (Rubus fruticosus) are by the Amy Yee tennis courts where I played a little social-distance tennis today. The plant is a prickly, scrambling, woody shrub, and is actually considered an invasive species in many areas.

The dry summer weather continues here in the city (79 °F/ 26 °C today).
There were clouds and a chance of drizzle on Saturday morning, but it stayed dry.

The average number of rainfall days in July is 5, and for August it is even lower at 4.8.
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Monday/ toasty

There was nary a cloud in the blue sky today, and at Seattle-Tacoma Airport a high of 94°F (34.5 °C) was recorded.

My asters (genus: Kalimeris) don’t seem to mind the heat.
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Sunday/ waiting for a little rain

The white stuff on my garage roof will kill the moss that had taken hold on it, but it needs a little rain to dissolve in.
The crew that had put it on (it’s environmentally friendly, they assured me), will be back in 4 to 6 weeks to brush off the moss and clean out the gutters.
I will have to be patient: July and August are the driest months in Seattle, each with about 1 in. of total rainfall, on average.

This picture is from Wednesday. We have had clear blue skies the last few days, and that will continue for a few more. Monday’s high will reach 86°F (30 °C) here in the city.
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Saturday/ more rioting & vandalism

Some 45 people were arrested here in Seattle today, and several police officers were injured in scuffles with the protestors.
We could hear the helicopters hovering, sirens that were wailing at times, and loud flash-bang explosions, a dozen times or so.

A handful of people vandalized a Starbucks on 12th Ave and set fire to construction trailers at the site of the new juvenile detention center nearby. It seems to me that the vandals are doing serious damage to the Black Lives Matter message of the peaceful protestors, as well.

Major damage at the 12th Ave & Columbia Street Starbucks. Starbucks does not deserve this and I’m not sure why they were targeted. When there was an incident at ONE of the thousands of Starbuckses a year or two ago (two African-American customers asked to leave unless they buy something), the entire company shut was down for a half-day to train baristas and managers to be more aware of their biases, and to treat everyone with respect.
One of the construction trailers at the new juvenile detention center site were still smoldering as we walked by tonight. Someone there told us that the fire brigade was on the way to come and squelch it. King County Executive Dow Constantine has committed to get all incarcerated youth out of the city’s youth jails by 2025.
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Thursday/ it’s the Seattle Kraken

It’s offical: the name for Seattle’s National Hockey League team is The Kraken (rumors had been swirling for months). The kraken is a legendary cephalopod-like sea monster of gigantic proportions in Scandinavian folklore (per Wikipedia).

The official Seattle Kraken sweater looks great (it’s not for sale just yet). The website says there is deep sea blue, boundless blue, shadow blue and ice blue in it, with ‘red alert’ for the accent lines and angry Kraken eye.

Fans will have to wait until next year’s NHL season to cheer for the team in the remade Key Arena, which will be called the Climate Pledge Arena (the world’s first certified net-zero carbon arena).

An artist’s rendering of the completed new Climate Pledge Arena (Amazon secured the naming rights to the stadium). The roof structure and supporting pillars from the old Key Arena will be kept intact.
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Tuesday/ my primary vote is in

I added my avatar, and a few annotations to the digital sticker from King County Elections that says ‘I voted’.

I mailed in my ballot for the Washington State primary election today. Washington uses a top-two primary system, in which all candidates appear on the same ballot, for congressional and state-level elections.

So the top two vote-getters move on to the general election in November, regardless of their party affiliation.

To any candidate that dares having ‘Prefers Republican Party’ behind his or her your name on my ballot: You are automatically disqualified.
Your party is a disgrace — as is that ‘President’ that you had foisted on us in 2016.

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Friday night stroll

I walked down 19th Ave after dinner.
A few people were lined up, socially distant, for ice cream at Hello Robin.
Zeeks Pizza had a smattering of diners inside, as did Monsoon, the Vietnamese restaurant.
No Friday night music and dance at the Russian Community Center; its doors were shut.
The No 12 bus rolled by. Its scrolling letters now say ‘Masks Required’— an upgrade from ‘Essential Trips Only’, I guess.

The gladiolus (sometimes called ‘sword lily’) by the little preschool on 19th & Republican. The pandemic is roiling the ability of school districts to open their doors to students. Everyone agrees kids need to go back to school for all the benefits it will bring them and their parents. That will not be possible in many school districts in states such as Florida, Texas, California, Alabama and Georgia with spiking infection numbers.
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Monday/ bare face? please leave

Businesses in Washington State are required to turn bare-faced customers away from tomorrow, Tuesday.
No mask, no service.

‘You can’t have it both ways’. Posted by TheBrownOneInMT@TheBigDad3 on Twitter. This is in Missoula, Montana.
Detailed instructions from the Red Chair Salon (hairdresser) here on 15th Ave. That’s Christopher Walken*’s mug that is used to demonstrate different face coverings. Schedule your appointment online – and no ‘dirty’ dollar bills for payment, please: debit or credit cards only.
*American actor (77). Walken won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Michael Cimino’s 1978 film The Deer Hunter, a movie about three steelworkers whose lives were forever changed after fighting in the Vietnam War.
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Sunday/ a sunny day

It was a sunny day (70 °F/ 21 °C) and I walked down to the erstwhile CHOP (Capital Hill Organized Protest) zone.
The streets are cleaned up, but there is graffiti everywhere, that will have to be cleaned up at some point. There are still a few police cars parked on street corners to keep an eye on things.

Humm .. one of my favorite record stores (for second-hand CDs) is located right there in the CHOP zone and is still completely boarded up. It might already be out of business, of course.
P.S. Crude language explainer for the picture. ‘ACAB’  stands for All Cops Are Bastards. The acronym goes back all the way to the 1940s, referring to run-ins with the British police.
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Wednesday/ CHOP gets the chop

Early this morning, the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP, formerly called CHAZ) people were forced out of their turf that they had occupied for 23 days. A total of 44 people were arrested.

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan had no choice. Two teenagers were killed in the last few days. and three other people were injured in shootings in or near the CHOP, since the protest began on June 8. Businesses and residents had long vented their frustration at the chaos and the noise in the area.

What had been a peaceful protest and street fair of sorts, had turned violent and unsustainable. City workers made quick work of it, removing concrete barriers with front loaders, picking up the ‘Honey bucket’ toilets and dismantling other structures. There is extensive graffiti on the structures in neighboring Cal Anderson Park, and some on the streets and buildings in the area as well. [Post from @jospehsuttner on Twitter]
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Monday/ street work

There was an asphalt truck on busy on the corner this morning, and I went to check out its handywork tonight : two new speed bumps and bicyclist sign on the road surface.

One of the two speed bumps, this one on Republican St. The bump could have been made much worse, so it’s just a gentle reminder to slow down. (The problem with big bumps is that they slow down ambulances & fire trucks as well).
Whoah! Watch out for all the bicycles. Electric-assist bicycles can go at a good clip, so it’s a good reminder for cyclists to keep right around the island. I hope those rough hand-drawn lines will fade quickly.
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Sunday/ a rainbow bus

I didn’t make it to the Space Needle today to get a picture of the rainbow flag on it, but here is a rainbow bus.

King County Metro’s 2020 Pride bus makes its outdoor debut at Ryerson base. With social distancing, this year’s Pride may look and feel different compared to the past. But as Metro employee Jennifer Mayer recently said, “We’re out, even though we’re staying in!” [Source: King County Metro blog]
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Saturday/ Gay Pride – sans parades

Happy Pride!  It’s Gay Pride weekend, and (as far as I know) there is no parade held anywhere this June, in the Northern hemisphere. These pictures are all from around Broadway here on Capitol Hill.

Julia’s on Broadway early on Friday night. (By the way, the light blue-pink-white-pink-light blue flag is the transgender flag).
The old Broadway Grill location had been closed for many years, so it’s great to see it being reincarnated into its newest restaurant, Olmstead. The rainbow unicorn hanging from the roof is a nice touch.
Yes, the famous mid-20th century classic kitsch pink flamingo ornaments are still around. They were originally created by artist Don Featherstone in 1957. When their popularity started to fade, John Waters’ 1972 film “Pink Flamingos” (a movie about bad taste!) put them back into the public consciousness.
It’s nice to see that the rainbow crosswalks around Broadway get a new coat of paint now and again from the city.

 

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Thursday/ a beautiful day

It was a beautiful day here in the city of Seattle — sunny, 75°F /24°C.

Late afternoon, with sunlight still striking the peak of Mt Rainier in the distance. [Source: Space Needle @space_needle on Twitter]
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Sunday/ Denny Way construction

Here are pictures of the construction projects that line Denny Way just west of Interstate 5, that I had taken on Friday at dusk.
Presumably, work on these projects have started up again (while meeting the Covid-19 guidelines published by Washington State).

These are the two towers of the massive 1120 Denny Way apartment building (1,179 apartments), seen from Melrose Ave looking west.
The 40-story, 440-ft Nexus Tower on the left, with its 389 condominiums, is now complete. A handful of units are still available, including 8 penthouses (1,400 sq ft), says the website. My guess is that the asking price for each is around $2.5 million. The big expensive penthouses of 3,000 sq ft were rumored to have sold for some $5 million. On the right is the Kinects Tower apartment complex with its wedge profile (constructed in 2017).
Panning a little to the left with Denny Way crossing I-5, shows the construction of mixed-use buildings on the south of Denny Way, across from the Seattle City Light Denny Substation. I’ll make my way down there soon for a closer look. When it’s all done, there will be a pair of 44-story apartment buildings, and yet another, a 41-story apartment building.
Here is a picture similar to the one I had taken in December, from higher up on Denny Way, showing that the Space Needle is getting obscured. A few more floors on the 1120 Denny Way apartment have gotten their glass skins, but progress has been slow.