After Hours

The Kinks. Victoria

Because, well, why not? OK, so Ray Davies' long hair didn't look so good, but that is counterbalanced by the addition of a horn section, so it all works out. Hooray! But seriously, it's one of the best songs ever.

Your Sunday Squirrel

I really, genuinely went to Denny Park today, but due to the aforementioned breeziness, there were no squirrels in sight. They tend to hunker down in their trees when the wind starts to blow. That's probably not very pleasant, what with the tree swaying and shaking and whatnot. Once again, we visit the archives. Enjoy!

Breezy!

You know, it's with a certain amount of sadness that I bid goodbye to summer. True, it got off to a lousy start. June was depressing and most of July was a complete write-off. For once, August was the star of the summer show. That doesn't happen very often. But now, it seems that it's just about time to bid farewell to my shorts. Don't worry, I'll be wearing pants. That's still a few days away, though. Although the semi-sweltering weather is over, I hope we can look forward to more blustery days like today. If I recall correctly, last November was storm-city. It was as close as this lousy town gets to real weather. I hope that's the case this year, too. I much prefer heavier weather to gray and drizzle.

Anyhow, I was strolling by the McGuire today and notice that some of their netting had come loose and was flapping in the breeze. This was the scene:

OK, I'm not the most observant person in the world, but I swear to God that the place has gotten shorter by about two stories. Well, so much for my picture-a-day of the McGuire shrinking down to nothingness.

Your Sunday Squirrel

I worked last week, so I only had one chance to visit the squirrels at Denny Park and they weren't being too sociable. So once again, we dip into the archives. Please enjoy this darling tree rodent and his seeming concern for something off in the distance.

Here's Something That Isn't Completely Stupid

Not long ago, I discovered quite by accident that if you show up at the south end of Lake Union at a certain time, you'll see a whole flock of sea planes land one after the other. It's really quite a sight. I guessing that the planes spend the night up in Kenmore. But with the beginning of the day, they're needed on Lake Union, so five or so of them swoop in, land and moor up at Kenmore Air's dock. They usually land anywhere from 8:30-45. I've only seen them on Saturdays, so their weekday schedule might be different. Here's what one of those planes looked like yesterday:
It's tough filming them land because they put down right in the middle of the lake. But it's a reason to walk to Lake Union fairly early in the morning. Speaking of Lake Union, a week ago I was just sitting around waiting for the planes to show when I saw something in the water. At first, I thought it was a log, but it was swimming. It turned out to be - get this - a beaver. OK, so there are beavers in Lake Union. That's kind of cool.

I Survived the Stranger Genius Awards!

OK, I'm not important enough to get an invite, but my friend Jim is, so we showed up to witness the carnage. The Moore was smelling fairly old last night, in case you're interested. This was the scene on the stage when I arrived:

The reason for the crowd was that the food and booze were up there. Here's a better shot of where they were giving out free drinks:

I went last year, but that was a lot different. For one thing, there were a lot more people. And there seemed to be much more enthusiasm. Last night was sedate by comparison. After a fashion, they got down to handing out the awards. Here's D.K. Pan holding perfectly still for about a minute:

It was a little bit awkward, a guy not moving or talking or anything, but it eventually ended. It was just a prologue to what turned out to be quite a short ceremony. Here's a bad picture of my favorite Stranger writer, Paul Constant:

And here's a slightly better shot of Jen Graves:

And those are all of my photos. Like I said, the whole ceremony was notably brief. Last year, one recipient in particular, Jim Woodring, gave a wonderful, funny and rather lengthy acceptance speech. This year, there was none of that. Everyone pretty much collected the loot ($5,000 and some kind of trophy-thing) and waltzed off.

You know, for the last two months, I've been trying to get someone - anyone - on the Stranger staff to listen to my album and write about it. So far, my efforts and repeated follow-ups have come to nothing. Although there were plenty of Stranger-folk milling around last night, I figured that wasn't the time or place to flog my disc to them. I think I was wrong. After all, it's a worthy effort. People seem to dig it quite a bit. I should have probably cornered somebody about it. But I didn't. Oh well, another opportunity squandered. At least they had free booze. That was worth something.

Your Sunday Squirrel

Here's a variation on a photo from a few weeks ago. It's really neat how the squirrel blends in with the pavement. Enjoy!

I Did an Art-Thing

This is a photo from the beginning of the NEPO (open spelled backwards) 5k Non-Run in Occidental Square. These guys are on this large contraption that was supposed to be a mobile finish line that was supposed to meet us at the end on Beacon Hill. Well, the sign was there, but the contraption apparently didn't make it. The design seemed cool; there were all these people pedaling it, but it was very slow and terrible on hills. Anyhow, that was the beginning of the event at around 2:30. Three hours later, we were done. What this turned out to be was a combination art/performance walk. I walked with my friend Jim and his brother Andy. It was really quite excellent. Some of the performances weren't that great, but it was a beautiful day and everyone was in a good mood, so gripping performances didn't really matter. I forgot my camera and only ended up taking two pictures with my phone. There was simply too much to document. This is the other picture I took:

I'm pretty sure this wasn't part of the art, but maybe it was. I didn't ask, because who the heck loses an iguana? Anyhow, I walked through parts of Seattle that I seldom encounter. We ended up on Beacon Hill shortly before 6:00, rather weary, but with a feeling that Seattle isn't completely boring. This was really a great event. My praise to all those who organized this.

Your Sunday Squirrel

Why, it's a chubby little squirrel in a tree eating a peanut! Once again, this is a visit to the archives. I'm truly sorry, but the present cast of characters at Denny Park now is still too twitchy, therefore, not particularly photogenic. This fellow may still be around, but my bet is that he's on vacation. My best guess is that he's visiting a national park, perhaps Yellowstone or Yosemite. There you can find many a good tree to climb.

Hot Crane-on-Crane Action!

Did you know that it takes a crane to make a crane? Well, it does. And sometimes it takes two cranes to un-make a crane. Yesterday was a prime example of that. I went out for a walk in the morning and when I hit 3rd & Cedar, this was the scene:

As you can see, a very large crane is taking down an even larger crane. I believe the building's name is the Alto. It's a popular size of saxophone, so why not? The building itself is quite unattractive; it looks like some kind of expensive Scandinavian air conditioner. But the de-craning was quite dramatic. Here it is from another angle:

I think that this was all taking place more than 200 feet above the ground. Once, however, the various pieces and components were removed, they were deposited on Cedar St. where they were loaded onto a flatbed by a second crane. Observe:

It's a little tough to see there, but that's the other crane in the foreground. I saw some of the action and then I left. All in all, yesterday was a fine day for cranes in Belltown.

The Sign Is Up!

OK, so if you've been anywhere near 2nd & Blanchard, you know that Zoe is long gone. They've moved up to Capitol Hill and good luck to them. What we're getting in their place is from the minds that brought us Spur. This is not a bad thing. I've only been to Spur for drinks and they're consistently delicious. I highly recommend the Martinez with a twist. Anyhow, they're doing some intensive work on that space, so I'm expecting great things. Zoe was simple and functional; I have no idea what this will be. I only know that they start work shortly after six every morning. It's not a problem, as I'm already up and thinking of the pros and cons of going to the gym. (The pros usually win.) They should be open in just a few more short weeks. Let's all wish them the best and patronize them whenever we're rich enough.

I've been dying to saying this: The reason why I'm cold is because I left my coterie on my boaterie. What sparkling wit!