Sometims the Road Leads Through Dark Places

Photo & Text Copyright 2007 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.

. . .sometimes the darkness is your friend. ~Bruce Cockburn, Pacing the Cage

The entrance to an underground garage downtown made for an interesting abstraction. The average rate per hour for the 79,574 off-street parking spaces downtown last year was $6.50 USD. Unlike San Francisco where every square inch of curb space not painted red is fully utilized and double parking is an art form, here in Seattle one may not park within 5 feet of a driveway or within 30 feet of most corners with stop signs. Only delivery trucks presume to double park on the street, and the patience and politeness of Seattle drivers while waiting for someone to park at curbside is also decidedly unlike the short fuse of many a San Franciscan behind the wheel.

Wacky 8th

Photo & Text Copyright 2007 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.

Up very high I spied the street sign for 8th Ave. had been warped by something. Seattle mayor Greg Nickels announced on July 11 the city's plans for replacing all the city's street signs with new larger and readable signs. This is very welcome news to me, as especially at night I find the signs at most corners poorly situated and perfectly unreadable. I don't know how this sign became distorted, but it sits under the highly illuminated grand arch of the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. Even in all this light, can you make out the block numbers at the top of the sign? Even the "8th" appears gray and dingy and doesn't reflect brightly as intended. The illuminated arch was installed over Pike Street during the convention center's expansion in 2001. For a full view of the arch which spans the street and continues on for a block, please see my More Seattle Stuff page.

Fire Boat on Elliott Bay

Photo & Text Copyright 2007 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.

A fire boat was spouting on the bay, no doubt it must have to do with Seafair, Seattle's summer festival spanning several weeks and spawning many events all around the city. Seafair has hit a high note of activity this weekend, with the nighttime community Torchlight Parade down 4th Ave. (under a nearly full moon!), , the Torchlight Run, the crowning of miss Seafair last night and the Ballard Seafood Fest starting yesterday and ending today. In this shot you can see a ferry leaving and a ferry arriving, the grain elevator/loader, Quest Field, Safeco Field, and several container cranes. Hope you are enjoying a spectacularly beautiful Sunday!

That's LoVe

Photo & Text Copyright 2007 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.

Strolling past Louis Vuitton on a warm summer night, the gent spied a bag in the shopfront window that spelled out L-O-V-E, which in life, unlike tennis, means everything. When it is featured in this window, one needn't worry if it is the genuine article. Perhaps strolling past that window was just the sign he was waiting for. . . Vuitton kicked off the summer season with a Party of Love, featuring this bag, to benefit OXFAM America. OXFAM has recently sponsored consumer champaigns to lobby Target stores about marketing "dirty gold," and Starbucks regarding fair trade issues with Ethiopian farmers. Starbucks recently signed an historic agreement with the Ethiopian farmers as a result.

Closing Time Reading Harry Potter

Photo & Text Copyright 2007 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.

It was 9:30 PM. They were closed and in the middle of cleaning when they took a break to read Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. This photo, although taken in downtown Seattle, could have been taken anywhere in the world when you stop to think about it. Starbucks, Harry Potter, Paul McCartney. . .all of them world phenoms. And this just in: Joni Mitchell has signed with Hear Music/Starbucks. Looks like some world class artists have finally found a way around the troubled music business to get their work distributed to the people where they live. . .at the world-wide coffee dealer's. Bringing the world together one latte at a time! ;^)

Ballard 42nd Annual Sidewalk Sale Begins TODAY

Photo & Text Copyright 2007 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.

Starting today from 10 AM to 7 PM and going through Sunday, the 42nd Annual Ballard Sidewalk Sale will bring Ballard merchants' wares from the shops out into the the sunny daylight. Pictured is a beautiful hand made art glass salmon for sale in front of Art By Fire glass blowing studo and gallery. Seattle's oldest and biggest neighborhood sidewalk sale kicks off the Ballard Seafood Festival this weekend. Given the variety of shops participating in the sidewalk sale and the unique finds and bargains, visiting today and tomorrow when the festival crowds haven't arrived yet will make for uncrowded strolling.

Railroad Bridge at the Locks

Photo & Text Copyright 2007 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.

This railroad bridge is usually tilted up unless a train is using it. The train had just passed. Boats are coming in from the Sound to use the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks. I've been at a friends house up the embankment from here, and the train looks like it could be in a miniature train set.