Wednesday/ landfall 🌀

Landfall was to the south of Tampa and St. Petersburg, sparing those areas a large storm surge out of Tampa Bay.
That is not to say there is not a lot of water there. Some areas around St. Petersburg received more than 16″ of rain in the last 24 hours. 😱

Tweeted by National Hurricane Center @NHC_Atlantic on X: 830pm EDT Oct 9th:
Doppler radar data indicates that the eye of #Hurricane #Milton has made landfall near Siesta Key in Sarasota County on the west coast of Florida.
Doppler radar image tweeted by National Hurricane Center @NHC_Atlantic on X

Tuesday/ on hurricane Milton watch 🌀

Tensions are running high in Florida. Emergencies have been declared, with evacuation orders, in dozens of Florida counties.

There are reports of clogged highways and interstates, and many gas stations running out of gas, as  drivers make their way out of the storm’s path.

Jason Samenow of the Washington Post explains below why it matters exactly where near Tampa, the hurricane makes landfall (projected to be very late on Wednesday night, or early Thursday morning).

Monday/ here comes Milton 🌀

Milton was a Category 5 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico late Monday Eastern time.
Right now the models predict that it will make landfall near Saint Petersburg and Tampa, Florida, on Wednesday night.

From the New York Times:
Milton is the 13th named storm to form in the Atlantic in 2024. In late May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted that there would be 17 to 25 named storms this year, an above-normal amount. This season follows an overly active year, with 20 named storms — including an early storm later given the official name of “Unnamed.” It was the eighth year in a row to surpass the average of 14 named storms. Only one hurricane, Idalia, made landfall in the United States. Typically, the El Niño pattern that was in force last season would have suppressed hurricanes and reduced the number of storms in a season. But in 2023, the warm ocean temperatures in the Atlantic blunted El Niño’s usual effect of thwarting storms.
[Map by the New York Times]

Sunday 🍂

The leaves are turning, and the days are getting shorter.

On 17th Avenue here on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.

Saturday/ a new waterfront park 🏙️

The new elevated Waterfront Park here in the city opened yesterday.
The park is on the central waterfront by downtown Seattle and connects Pike Place Market and  downtown neighborhoods with the waterfront.
A few public art installations and a concessions area are still to be added, by early 2025.

This picture is from Friday, and from the Seattle Times. People wait to take to the Overlook Walk before the grand opening on the Seattle waterfront.
[Photograph by Kevin Clark / The Seattle Times]
The view from the uppermost deck across from Pike Place Market today, and I am looking more or less south to the Seattle Ferry Terminal in the distance, on the left and behind the Ferris wheel.
There are several winding staircases down to the lowest level where the piers are. The blue building is the old part of the Seattle Aquarium, and the structure clad with the wooden slats outside is the new extension of the Aquarium.
Looking up from one the decks halfway down. The newly routed Alaskan Way and Elliot Way meet here. The elevated Alaskan Way viaduct that used to run along here is now long gone (demolished in 2019).
Looking north towards the Port of Seattle Cruise Terminal (Pier 66). The Norwegian Bliss is about to depart for Alaska.
In the foreground Palestinian flags are being waved by anti-war protesters. Some signs read ‘No War in Iran’, as well.
This structure houses the new pavilion of the Seattle Aquarium. The wood-clad outside is meant to weather to a gray color, I believe.
At the entrance to the aquarium, prospective visitors get a glimpse into one of the large tanks.

Thursday/ on the RapidRide G Line 🚌

It was a spectacular fall day here in the city (a high of 65°F /18°C).
I made a quick stop at the dentist’s office on Olive Way, and then walked along Fifth Avenue to the Seattle Public Library.

The No 12 bus no longer runs along its old route up to Capitol Hill, and I hopped on the new RapidRide G Line stop by the library to get me to 17th Avenue and Madison.

Zooming in on a the upper section of the Seattle Public Library (on the right), using the 5x telephoto lens on my new phone.
This map posted by the bus stop at Fifth Avenue and Madison Street by the library shows thee ways to get Capitol Hill from downtown:
1. Maroon: the RapidRide G Line bus;
2. Green: the Link light Rail train;
3. Orange: Seattle Streetcar, First Hill Line.
Here comes the RapidRide G Line. The stop here has a side platform. Other stops are at a center platform. That’s why the buses for the G line have doors on both sides. I had a freebie ride: the Orca card reader at the front was out of service and the driver waved me to the back.
The stop at 12th Ave/ 13th Ave/ Union Street has a center platform.
‘Don’t run for buses, another will be here soon!’ says the electronic sign.
Down below the sandwich board says ‘Project Funded by President Joe Biden’s American Recovery Plan’.
The stop at 17th Avenue and Madison St by Trader Joe’s grocery store. Here comes a bus with another one on its heels, headed for the city.

Wednesday/ US stamps 🇺🇸

These stamps from the USA landed in my mailbox (on an envelope from an Ebay seller that I had bought stamps from).

200th Anniversary of the US Constitution
Issued Aug. 28, 1987
Perf. 10 hor. on 1 or 2 sides Photogravure
Booklet with 4 panes of 5 stamps printed in cylinders of 120
2355 A1720 22c |Multi-colored |Preamble to the US Constitution
2355 A1721 22c |Multi-colored |Preamble to the US Constitution
2355 A1722 22c |Multi-colored |Preamble to the US Constitution
2355 A1723 22c |Multi-colored |Preamble to the US Constitution
[Source: 2003 Scott Stamp Catalogue Vol. 1]
Classic Books
Issued Oct. 23, 1993
Perf. 11 Litho. & Engr.
Booklet with 4 panes of 5 stamps printed in cylinders of 120
2787 A2126 29c |Multi-colored |The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn*
2785 A2124 29c |Multi-colored |Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm**
[Source: 2003 Scott Stamp Catalogue Vol. 1]

*The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by American author Mark Twain that was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. [From Wikipedia]
**Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a classic American 1903 children’s novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin that tells the story of Rebecca Rowena Randall and her aunts, one stern and one kind, in the fictional village of Riverboro, Maine. {From Wikipedia]

Tuesday/ sunset 🌇

I have a lot to learn when it comes to using my phone’s camera.
There is a plenitude of settings and defaults to choose from, and once the picture is taken, all kinds of adjustments can be made to the image that was captured.

Sunset was at 7.47 pm tonight.
I captured this image in Apple’s RAW format, which saves it as a .DNG (digital negative) image, size ’48 MP’ or 6048×8064 ‘pixels’. 
(Note: These are quad-pixels, really the equivalent of 12 MP when compared to my Canon digital camera).
I cropped the image to 9:16 in Adobe Photoshop, and reduced the pixel count to 1350×2400 to upload it to this blog.
It’s a perennial dilemma: how much processing to allow the camera (photo app software) to do by default, and how much to leave standard (‘RAW’) to keep all options open for manual adjustments before the picture is sent or posted somewhere?

Monday/ a new phone 📱

My new iPhone landed today, and it was a lot easier (than three years ago) to transfer everything over from my old phone to the new phone.

The iPhone 16 Pro in black titanium.
I picked the Pro because I wanted the nicer camera, and I always go with black phone, black case. No bling for me. I’m not even going to try to write a review (since there are already so many on YouTube, and I am no expert).
My new iPhone 16 Pro is on the left, with the iPhone 13 Pro on the right.
The 16 is a smidge larger, and the display bezel is thinner, adding up to a slightly larger screen. I’m using Apple’s silicone case since the leather cases are no longer available.
The silicone case feels nice enough, and hey- no animals were harmed in the process of making it, right?
I used the direct phone-to-phone wireless transfer that is available nowadays (the other method is to use Apple’s iCloud). The transfer took a while, because I moved over some 400Gb of data 😱, mostly photos and videos.  (I’m a trigger happy photographer, and what about it? And yes, I do store my pictures on the cloud as well).
At the outset the estimated time was 17 hours, but as the hours went by, the transfer time estimate shrunk as well.
In the end, it took just under 8 hours to transfer everything.
The little island at the top of the screen (where the camera lenses are) is new for me (my old phone had a notch, not an island). If you play music, a tiny little album icon and sound bars appear there. (That’s Jennifer Rush, singing Ring of Ice).

Sunday/ my cleanest dirty shirt 👕

R.I.P. Kris Kristofferson (1936-2024).

 

Well, I woke up Sunday mornin’
With no way to hold my head it didn’t hurt
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad
So I had one more for dessert
Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes
And found my cleanest dirty shirt
And I shaved my face and combed my hair
And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day

I’d smoked my brain the night before
On cigarettes and songs that I’d been picking
But I lit my first and watched a small kid
Cussin’ at a can that he was kicking
Then I crossed the empty street
Caught the Sunday smell of someone fryin’ chicken
And it took me back to something that I’d lost
Somehow, somewhere along the way

Refrain
On the Sunday morning sidewalk
Wishin’, Lord, that I were stoned
‘Cause there’s something in a Sunday
Makes a body feel alone
And there’s nothing short of dying
Half as lonesome as the sound
On the sleeping city sidewalk
Sunday mornin’ comin’ down

In the park I saw a daddy
With a laughing little girl that he was swinging
And I stopped beside a Sunday school
And listened to the songs that they were singing
Then I headed back for home
And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringing
And it echoed through the canyons
Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday

Refrain
On the Sunday mornin’ sidewalk
Wishin’, Lord, that I were stoned
‘Cause there’s something in a Sunday
Makes a body feel alone
And there’s nothing short of dying
Half as lonesome as the sound
On the sleeping city sidewalk
Sunday mornin’ comin’ down

– Lyrics from “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” (1970)

“Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” was written by Kris Kristofferson, and first recorded in 1969 by Ray Stevens before becoming a No. 1 hit on the Billboard US Country chart for Johnny Cash.
Kristofferson himself recorded and released the song on his album ”Kristofferson” in 1970.

Saturday night/ the cold open 🌃

The fiftieth season of the American sketch comedy late night television program Saturday Night Live premiered tonight.

‘Vice President’ Kamala Harris (portrayed by Maya Rudolph) and ‘Second Gentleman’ Doug Emhoff (portrayed by Andy Samberg) doing a skit during the cold open* tonight.
Nothing about the future is certain, but let me be optimistic.
The American people will confirm in 38 days that the real VP Harris will become President Harris, and that her husband Doug Emhoff will become the first First Gentleman on Jan 20, 2025. 
*Cold open: jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown.
[Screen shot from Saturday Night Live on NBC broadcast television].

Friday/ beers at Chuck’s 🍻

Happy Friday.
The five amigos got together at Chuck’s Hop Shop in Central District for a beer and a bite to eat from the food truck outside.

I’m in line inside to procure a beverage from the 50 or so listed on the screens by the counter. The non-alcohol Bitburger pilsner they had last time was not listed tonight, and I got the ‘Ladd & Lass : *Fresh Hop* West Coast IPA’ instead, even though it has 6.5% alc/vol.
It was Friday night after all, so why not have a *real* beer? 

Thursday/ Helene is here 🌀

Hurricane Helene is one of the biggest storms on record to strike the Gulf Coast. A few hours before making landfall, Helene had winds of at least tropical storm force, a sustained 39 mph or greater, across some 420 miles.

According to an analysis by Colorado State University hurricane scientist Phil Klotzbach, Helene is larger than all but two gulf storms since 1988: Opal, a Category 3 storm that made landfall on the Florida Panhandle in October 1995, and Irma, a Category 4 storm that struck South Florida in September 2017.

When a storm is so large, it means more people are exposed to its hazards, which extend hundreds of miles away from the point of landfall.
– From reporting by Scott Dance, Simon Ducroquet and John Muyskens in The Washington Post

Hurricane Helene made landfall tonight into Florida’s Big Bend region as a catastrophic Category 4 storm. There may be winds with speeds over 130 mph, and more than 10 inches of rain in some places.

Tuesday/ Oktoberfest has started 🍻

Even at Oktoberfest— arguably the world’s most famous ode to alcohol— alcohol-free beer is on the menu. All but two of the 18 large tents at the festival offer the drink through the celebration’s 16 days.
The sober drink will cost drinkers the same as an alcoholic beer- between 13.60 and 15.30 euros ($15.12 and $17.01) for a 1-liter mug (33 fluid ounces) – but save them from a hangover.
– Stefanie Dazio writing for The Associated Press


Oktoberfest started on Saturday in Munich, Bavaria’s capital.

Here come the beers!
Seven of those giant 1-liter mugs in each hand, if I count them correctly.
[Photo by Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa, from Süddeutsche Zeitung online]

Monday/ Wenatchee and Leavenworth 🌄

We clambered up the steep 2.6-mile loop trail called Saddle Rock Trail this morning (it is just outside of Wenatchee), and then spent some time in Leavenworth before driving home.

We took this route back, along I-90 and over Snoqualmie Pass. Without stops, it comes to a 3 hour-trip from Wenatchee to Seattle.
Here we go. The Saddle Rock Trail winds along the contours to the top— for the most part; some parts are steep.  And yes, we made it all the way up, to those rhyolite (igneous rock) outcroppings at the summit.
Our smart watches showed an elevation of 846 ft (257 m) at the summit, relative to the trailhead at the bottom.
The Chelan-Douglas Land Trust has worked to protect the foothills around Wenatchee through trail building, land acquisition, and partnerships with the community.
A lot of the vegetation around the trail is tinder dry, but still beautiful to look at from up close.
Beautiful sage green and lime green rock lichens. A lichen is a fungus plus one or more types of algae or blue-green bacteria that perform photosynthesis. I could not track down what these ones are called specifically, though.
Some of the sage brush is still flowering.
Throughout the Columbia Basin, Big Sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata) is the dominant species of sagebrush.
Woo hoo! At the summit, and looking southeast with the Columbia River on the left.
Turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) overhead, circling the summit of Saddle Rock Trail.
I found this little lizard it at the base of the rocky summit of Saddle Rock Trail.
It is a Northern sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus graciosus).  This one was 5 or 6 inches long head to tail. They have lost more than 70% of their habitat since the 1970s in Washington State, and the status of this species is of concern to Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife.
Looking more or less towards the north from the summit of Saddle Rock Trail, across West Wenatchee on the banks of the Columbia River. The Wenatchee River is not really visible in the picture, but its confluence with the Columbia River is south of Highway 2, the concrete bridge structure over the Columbia River in the middle of the picture.
Here’s a panorama picture of Wenatchee, situated in a fertile valley in Central Washington at the confluence of the Wenatchee and Columbia Rivers. A sign at the entrance to the the city says ‘Welcome to the Apple Capital of the World’.
The city of Wenatchee is the second most populous city in the central part of the state and serves as the Chelan County seat. To the south and west, mountains provide a dramatic backdrop for the city.
All right. We had a rest at the top, and enjoyed the spectacular views, and are now making our way down. It’s steep down here as well, and the gravel can be treacherous. Better to stick to the bare part of the trail that does not have gravel.
Here’s Leavenworth where the buildings along the central part of the town comply with Bavarian village architecture, with just about zero exceptions.
This is a beer hall (festhalle).
Balconies, hanging flowers and flags of the USA, Bavaria and Germany, of course. Lots of souvenir shops, but also clothing, sporting goods, stores for Christmas decorations, candy and chocolate stores, restaurants and coffee shops.
This cider house sign pays homage to the mountains and the apple orchards around Leavenworth. The summer crowds are now gone, of course, but the ‘Bavarian village’ will soon brighten itself up with Christmas lights and decorations to attract visitors during the holiday season. How did Leavenworth get to model its downtown after a Bavarian village? Two of the leaders instrumental in this effort were Pauline and Owen Watson, longtime residents of Leavenworth who owned and operated Alpine Electric out of one of the buildings on Front Street. In 1965 the decision was made by key business owners to adopt the Bavarian theme and remodel their buildings.
It does not matter if you are a Subway sandwich shop, or a 76 gas station. Thou shalt dress up as quaint Bavarian village businesses.
Cloppety-clop, cloppety-clop. This was the only horse-drawn carriage doing the rounds that we saw, though.

Sunday/ a little road trip 🚗

Three amigos and I went on a quick road trip to Leavenworth and Wenatchee on Sunday.  We overnighted in Wenatchee.

Three amigos picked up the fourth at the Edmonds train station, and from there we drove along Highway 2 (the Stevens Pass Highway) to Monroe, Gold Bar and Leavenworth to reach Wenatchee in Chelan County.
We crossed a number of truss bridges on Highway 2. This one is just outside Sultan in Snohomish County, crossing the Skykomish River.
It was constructed in 1932. Washington DOT categorizes it as Functionally Obsolete.
(Functionally Obsolete: Bridges in this category are typically too narrow, has inadequate under-clearances, has insufficient load-carrying capacity, is poorly aligned with the roadway, and can no longer adequately service today’s traffic).
Here is the Wenatchee River seen from Highway 2 as we were approaching Leavenworth from the west.
The welcome sign to the Leavenworth Bavarian Village.
Charging our Tesla Model Y a little at the supercharger by Dan’s Food Market in Leavenworth. There are16 Superchargers, available 24/7, charge rate up to 150kW.

Saturday/ a spectacular night sky 🔭

Summer is officially over.
The fall equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere is at Sun, Sep 22, 2024, 5:43 AM Pacific Time.

Here’s a gorgeous aurora borealis picture taken near Near Magnuson Park, Seattle around midnight or in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.
[Posted by NWS Seattle @NWSSeattle at 1.35 am on Tuesday. I reduced the pixel size of the original picture]

Friday/ a widget in my beer 🍻

Happy Friday.
I cracked open one of my Guinness beers tonight.
I knew, more or less, what the little ball inside my can of Guinness beer was for, but thought I’d ask Chat GPT anyway. 

Hmm .. ChatGPT Is very enthusiastic about the widget (‘a brilliant solution’), making me suspect that it had lifted this answer in its entirety from the Guinness website.
That’s all right, though— at least I learned that the little ball is called a ‘widget’, and that it has nitrogen in.