seattle pics

Friday, August 15, 2008

Alki Beach Flower Houses

West Seattle's northwest facing view properties along Alki Avenue used to be mostly one and two story single family cottage affairs with a lot of thrifty northwest beachcomber charm; but, in recent decades, a large section near Alki point has been developed into multistory condominium and apartment buildings. There are a few hold outs dwarfed between the larger structures. Here are two of them that you won't miss in the mix because their owner seems to have a love of bright color and a very green thumb. They are known locally as the Flower Houses and are enjoyed by all who pass by.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Alki Bakery This Morning

This was the high summer scene at Alki Bakery this morning, a favorite early morning haunt of ours in West Seattle. There are still two and a half weeks before school starts again, so this part of Alki Avenue and the path along the beach will become crowded later today with folks out enjoying the sunshine and looking for a bit of relief from the 90 F heat.

Let's all beat the heat and head down under to Auckland, New Zealand where it is winter and where Lachezar, a CDPB photographer I greatly admire, is celebrating the 2nd Blogoversary of Auckland Daily Photo. Big congratulations!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Time For Your Sunglasses

We noticed this huge advertising prop at dinner last night at Tacqueria Guaymas in Fremont. It reminded us of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg's billboard in the Great Gatsby, updated with a postmodern third eye, a clock. Also reminded us that the 5 day weather forecast predicts more sunny blue skies and temps in the 80s F. Yippee!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Getting Out on the Water

If you come to Seattle you will miss something essential about this city if you do not get out on the water during your stay. There are so many ways to enjoy the sights from Seattle's lakes and Puget Sound, from small paddle boats to large ferries and everything in between. If the thought of large bodies of water or bobbing about in small boats scares you or makes you feel queasy, trust me, just down a Dramamine 15 minutes before you board and pick a large sturdy vessel. You won't regret it. Dining near or on the water is no problem. You can tie up at a restaurant dock for brunch, grab a quick lunch aboard a ferry, or take an elegant dinner cruise like those offered during summer months aboard the Royal Argosy, seen in the foreground here. Just get out there!

Monday, August 11, 2008

How They Keep Their Shimmer

With so many of their facades made of glass and steel, someone has got to get up there to help those high rise buildings in yesterday's photo keep their shimmer. This is one job you will not find me applying for! I spotted these pros suspended high on the west face of WaMu Center, which I showed you awhile back, here, and which you can spot as the silvery building to the right in yesterday's photo, between the glass domed building shaped like R2D2 and the dark angular one dubbed "Darth Vader" by locals. Hope you are having a great start to the work week!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Sunset Skyline Shimmer

Even on a stormy summer day like yesterday the sun can come through at the end to throw a little shimmer on the downtown buildings. I was walking down a steep street on the southeast of Queen Anne looking southwest when I took in this view.

I want to thank regular visitors to SDP for their patience recently while we were away, and I will try to catch up on my visits to the other CDPBlogs. I had intermittent luck in finding internet cafes to upload posts and hadn't the time to mass upload scheduled ones. I couldn't pack the camera to take vacation shots for you either, so you'll have to take my word for it how I got a tan along the way. I dipped my toes in the ocean at Huntington Beach and fell asleep in the warm sun, rode one too many roller coasters with shrieking kids, enjoyed my mother-in-law's hospitality and toured her workplace in Irvine, visited good friends in San Diego and saw CCT's production of a new musical called "Alice" that I swear you will see on Broadway, it was THAT good. We took the trolley from Old Town SD to cross the border and eat tacos in Tijuana, drove to the furthest eastern point of California's Mojave Desert and floated my mother's ashes to rest in front of her home on the Colorado River, and enjoyed a lovely time of remembrance with her many friends before flying home. Many thanks to you all again for your kind expressions of sympathy!

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Summer Umbrellas

These colorful umbrellas at Sabra sandwich shop are meant to shield patrons from the summer sun, but serve double duty today as we have had a summer storm move in and showers will be coming. Would it surprise you to know that Seattle's annual rainfall is actually less than New York City's, Chicago's or Miami's? That's because, like Paris, when it rains here it's usually only intermittent showers. That's why many Seattlites forgo toting an umbrella, employing just a hood or hat in all but a downpour. Seattle does tend to have more cloudy days than most US cities, though; an average of 225 days a year. A lot of those are only partly cloudy days in which we enjoy sun breaks. Then there was last spring's lingering gray wintriness. . .which we completely forgot about during July's 20 straight days of beautiful blue skies!