Category: Seattle

Bryan and I went out to Hansville on the Kitsap peninsula for Saturday. It’s a combination drive-ferry across the water-drive trip to get there. Either of the Edmonds-Kingston or Seattle-Bainbridge Island crossings can be used, and this time we used the one to Bainbridge Island on the way in.

On the way back we took the Kingston-Edmonds ferry.

A parfait food truck was out on 15th Avenue tonight, and I stopped by. Parfait is a French frozen dessert made of sugar syrup, egg, and cream.  American parfait is the one with layers of ice cream, cream and colored gelatins. 

I went for a walk again later to wait for my house to cool down.  (Many houses in Seattle – including mine – have no air conditioning .. but opening the windows wide for a bit in the evening is usually good enough).

I had to report back at the Superior Court today for jury duty, but spent all morning in the jury pool without getting selected to actually serve on a jury.  We were dismissed early afternoon.  ‘Just don’t knock me down and run me over!’ joked the bailiff as she announced that we were free to go.

So since I was just a block away from Smith Tower, with another beautiful blue sky summer day here in the city, I decided to go up to the observation deck.  The elevator on the 33rd floor opens into the Chinese Room, a large room decorated with Chinese artwork, wall and ceiling paneling and furniture.  Legend has it that the room was furnished by the last Empress of China as a gift to Mr. Smith.  (New York tycoon Lyman Cornelius Smith).

I reported for my summons to do jury duty today here in Seattle today, at the King County Superior Court in downtown.  The Superior Court is where criminal cases* are brought by the State of Washington against defendants.

*[From www.findlaw.com] The American legal system is comprised of two very different types of cases, criminal and civil. Crimes are generally offenses against the state and society (murder, violent crimes), and are accordingly prosecuted by the State.  Civil cases on the other hand, are typically disputes between individuals regarding the legal duties and responsibilities they owe one another. Criminal cases can result in jail time; in civil cases monetary damages are awarded.  A defendant in a criminal case is entitled to an attorney, and if he or she can’t afford one, the State must provide an attorney. A defendant in a civil case is not given an attorney and must pay for one, or else defend him or herself.

Here are some King County Superior Court statistics –
> Serves the 14th most populous county in the nation
> Handled a caseload of almost 53,000 new cases in 2013
> Has 53 judges and 12 commissioners
> Supported by 520 staff in Superior Court and the Dept of Judicial Administration

So did I get to sit in on a court case as a juror? No, but I might tomorrow – on a short case. One of the cases is expected to go for 6 or 7 weeks, but enough jurors were found by the time my badge number was called. (Whew).

I made it out to the Pride Parade on Sunday. The weather was very pleasant, and the rain held off – always good since rain on a parade makes for a lot of trouble!   I had to leave a little early to go to the airport and fly out to Denver.   This is a short work week for me with the Fourth of July coming up.

It is gay Pride week in Seattle (and several other cities in the USA, notably San Francisco and New York City as well).  The first parade – more a protest march, in those days! – was held in 1974.  The parade in downtown Seattle is tomorrow, but the festivities has been on-going throughout the weekend and especially on Capitol Hill here in Seattle.  Bryan, Gary and I took a walk around Pike-Pine Streets and down to Broadway to check out the revelry (after which we called it a night and went home!).

The Seattle area’s mild and sunny weather has continued into the weekend .. and so Bryan and I went with Paul to his cabin in Hansville on Saturday for the day, and came back on Sunday morning.   (Hansville is an unincorporated community on the Kitsap peninsula in Puget Sound west of the city).   

We are into a long stretch of sunny and mild weather days here in Seattle, and Saturday was beautiful outside.  We will still have to see what the summer weather brings, though.  I read on Cliff Mass’s weather blog that we have had the wettest spring and early summer on record here in the Seattle area.  We have now broken the previous rainfall record total for 1972.  It didn’t feel that ‘wet’ to me, but I suppose with all the travel I do away from Seattle, that my perceptions of the local weather are skewed.

It is a long weekend here in the USA with Memorial Day on Monday .. so I could relax and not start preparing for my weekly trip to Denver.  We spent time on the Seattle Waterfront today, even though there was a steady drizzle all afternoon.

 

My new fence is up! Yay!  So this on the north side of my property.  It’s a little higher than the old fence.  And I have finally run out of excuses – like not enough sun – to put some ground cover thingies and other green in at the back, so I will have to get to that.  The green bush was a lot bigger prior to the work on the fence, and will grow back to fill up some of the space as well.

 

I ran some errands Friday morning, but then had I to go home and answer a dozen e-mails that came in from the Denver project.  Technology brings the work e-mails to my smart phone, but I cannot pull up full screen work sheets and applications on a tiny phone screen!

I made it in to my Seattle home at around 2 pm this afternoon.  The flight went well; Lufthansa took good care of us and I managed to sleep a little bit.   It’s just all those time zones we crossed to get here : my body clock has a lot of adjustment to do.

 

 

It rained on and off all day here in Seattle, and so when the sun came out and struck the new green leaves on the tree in the street, I went to the upstairs window to take a look. That’s when I noticed the rainbow. I ran downstairs and took a picture.  All rainbows appear opposite of where the sun is (so I am looking east), and they are actually are full circles! – but most observers just see what is to them, the upper half of the arc.

In the news from the home front this week for me: what started as a blockage in a downstairs toilet, turned out to have been caused by a serious blockage in the sewer line going from my house to the street (it was plugged up with several feet of a fine network of plant roots).

In the news for the USA this week : 1. Obamacare enrollment for its inaugural year ended Monday. The new law is a success: 7.1 million people signed up, exceeding the target despite the glitches in the healthcare.gov website all October of last year.   2. An Iraq vet being treated for mental health issues killed thee people on the Ft Hood base in Texas before killing himself.   3. The March jobs number is 192k, falling short of the 200k expected. Unemployment unchanged at 6.7%.    4.  Will the searchers ever find that lost Malaysian Airlines jet?

 

The Emerald City Comicon (‘comic convention’) is held this weekend here at the Washington State Convention Center.  It is billed as the premier comic book and pop culture event in the Pacific Northwest.  As I walked by there this morning (on the way for a quick stop at the office), I thought for a moment I should go – but later found out all three days are sold out.

It must have been a very tough day in the Oso and Darrington area in Washington State with 14 people now confirmed dead, and many, many more still reported as missing. Hopes that anyone may still be pulled out of the debris are fading.

Here is a before-and-after slider photo of the massive landslide.  The area received double the amount of the normal rainfall this season.

I walked down to Madison Park and the Japanese Garden here this afternoon.  It was a beautiful day with sunshine and blue sky, but it is still not short sleeve weather (got up to 53°F/ 12°C).  I was hoping to find cherry blossoms on the cherry tree from Mt Fuji in the garden, but it’s too early for that.  Washington DC is famous for its cherry blossoms as well, and I see the ‘peak bloom’ there is forecast for between April 7 and April 11.

Saturday brought news of a deadly landslide that happened east of the town of Oso here in Washington state.  Three people have been killed, more in critical condition in the hospital; 6 houses destroyed and 16 others damaged.  As of Saturday night a rescue effort was still underway to find more people trapped in the debris.  The mud and debris also blocks the Stillaguamish river, and people are warned to stay out of the downstream area.  The blocked body of water is increasing in size, and can break through at any time.

I ran out today for lunch with an old friend. He and his partner have a condo on the 28th floor in downtown Seattle, so of course I had to take a picture of the city from there.  I also took care of many little outstanding and annoying errands : new printer cartridge for my home office, new C-size battery for the alarm clock in the bathroom (yes, bathroom : so that I am not late for the cab at 4 am on Monday mornings! hurry up sleepy head!), food for the weekend, cash withdrawal from the bank, changed into some $5 bills ($20s are no good for cab fares* and tipping in Denver).

*I should try the cash-free slick Uber car service some time soon, and ditch the taxis that still want cash.