Your Sunday Squirrel

Well, it's been awhile, hasn't it?  I have no excuse, other than I had a gig (last week at Conor Byrne; it went great) and I'm writing music for two albums (to be recorded this spring, insh'Allah).  Besides that, things go well.  This is my favorite time of the year, by far, and I'm so happy that I get an occasional chance to go to Denny Park to visit the squirrels.  They're getting gradually less skittish.

Your Sunday Squirrel

Here's a nice little sun-squirrel at Denny Park yesterday morning.  I still can't tell whether this is in focus or not.  All I know is that I may or may not have gotten a calendar-worthy shot.  But like this one, I can't tell whether it's in focus or not.  Well, as calendar time draws nearer, I'll know for sure. 

Your Sunday Squirrel

There was a photo of this guy a few weeks ago.  This shot is way better.  It might even be calendar worthy.  It's that time again!  If the focus holds, he's a calendar squirrel.  If not, he's a very good Sunday Squirrel.  We shall see...

Closures

Well, two places closed recently.  Both were surprises.  Of course, I only noticed them very recently.  They are:

The Kushibar.  A very cool space with decent Asian fare and fairly terrible service.  It was never my neighborhood go-to place.  That would be Wann.  I've been to Kushibar maybe three or four times and I've been to Wann like three or four times in the last month. 

The Bear and the Bee.  It was a lunch place that I didn't get a solid chance to visit.  I did have a sandwich there once and it was good.  The sign said that it had been sold.  I believe it was also run by Marcus Johnson.  Dude, what is up??  Establish the empire already!  Yeah, so it's too bad.  I'm sorry that I'm not much of a lunch/sandwich person.

They Cut Down a Tree Across the Street

And it was unexpected.  I really wish they'd chop down the stupid cedar tree on my side of the street.  That's always my wish.  Every birthday.  Every Christmas.

Your Sunday Squirrel

Here's a nice fall squirrel taken just yesterday at Denny Park.  We were beset by many and this guy was particularly cooperative.  Thanks, squirrel!

Meanwhile, in Snohomish...

...geese really do fly in V-formation.  Unfortunately, they're flying east.  What does that mean? 

My Thoughts Exactly

I'm all for progress, but mowing down everything at once is slightly excessive.  At 7th & Bell.

Your Sunday Squirrel

I didn't get a chance to go to Denny Park this week, but this is a nice shot from a little while ago.  The light caught this fellow in a nice way for a fleeting moment.  He's not doing anything spectacular; he just looks kind of nice.  And that's why he's the Sunday Squirrel.

Meanwhile, in Snohomish...

The deer pretty much go up to the house.  This was one of three who made a visit.  There were also a few bunnies.  All very pastoral.

Your Sunday Squirrel

It's the squirrel's dilemma: he can stay where he is and get no peanut, but be safe from the scary predator.  OR, he can move a little closer to the scary predator for the peanut and possibly, cruel death.  What did he do?  Well, after a whole lot of advancing and retreating, he took the peanut.  And here's your proof:

Your Sunday Squirrel

I went to Denny Park yesterday and here's a squirrel:

 This little guy had his tongue hanging out the entire time.  He was very twitchy and rather frightened of peanuts.  I have a better shot of him, but I'll save that for later.

But the shot of the week is not mine.  Becko went to Denny Park this morning - without my permission - and snapped some wonderful shots, including this tough-looking customer.  Let's give her a round of applause!

It's Called the Vue Lounge

I hope to God that they know they spelled "view" wrong.  Can somebody tell them?  Anyhow, for several decades, this was Suyama Peterson Deguchi, a high-end design firm.  It also housed the legendary Suyama Space, which hosted many a stunning installation.  Well, SPD has relocated to South Park after selling the building.  I just figured that it was going to be demolished to make way for some tall, skinny condo-apartment-thing.  Apparently not so.  It's going to be the Vue Lounge, at least for the short term.  It's a great space and I wish them luck.  I hope their drinks aren't too expensive.  But hey, they can be the first spot in Belltown to charge $20 for a Martini.

Breaking News: There Was an Eclipse!

These are my best shots of it...

...and they suck, much like just about everybody else's photos.  I'll tell you what didn't suck - the eclipse!  OK, so 91% of the sun was covered by the moon.  Golly, that 9% was still super-bright.  Overall, it was a great experience.  And it would be great if it happened every week.

Your Sunday Squirrel

With all of the weekend's squirrel business, I haven't had any time to photograph squirrels.  Here's one from a few weeks ago.  I previously featured this guy looking down the other way, but now he's upside down!  See that??  Upside down!  I'm going out next weekend to take more pictures.

Squirrel Fest 2017!

Well, we got up very, very early yesterday so that we could attend Squirrel Fest in Longview, which is, incidentally, a very lovely place.  It has a lot of parks.  These parks contain many trees.  These trees host many squirrels.  The prime reason for celebrating Squirrel Fest (now in its fourth year) is not the squirrels themselves - they were largely uncooperative - but for the community to show off its squirrel bridges, which span over its rather un-busy streets.  Some of them are kind of neat.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of them.  But believe me, they're neat.

Here's the scene.  It's the center of town.  There are all kinds of booths selling crafts (some squirrel-related, some not) and food and whatnot.  That's the grand old library in the background.

There were lots of signs like this everywhere.

There was a parade.  It lasted less than ten minutes.  Those are two humans dressed as squirrels in the back.

 Here are some young nerds with their attempted robot.  Let's give 'em a hand, folks!  It's Longview.  The co-inventor of the Hula-Hoop was from here.

Here's the lovely Becko with pepper relish of some sort.  It was billed as very hot.  It was not, but it was still tasty.

Here's another grand old thing, the Monticello Hotel, which is still totally in operation.  If you really want a Longview getaway, this is the place to stay.

The squirrel statue.  Meanwhile people zip-lining and rock-wall-climbing and trampolining in the background.  The atmosphere was very festive.  And the squirrel was dressed for it.

We took a tour of the squirrel bridges in this contraption - it's actually a former San Francisco cable car made into a trolley.  I had envisioned that we would putter around in lazy circles, but no.  The driver was really showing us what this thing could do.  So yeah, it was fast and since we were in those outside seats, we were hanging on for dear life.  And that's why I didn't take any squirrel bridge pictures.  We actually did see two squirrels during the tour, but we could only shout at them to use the bridges.  I don't know whether they complied.

That was pretty much it.  While I was gassing up, I noticed that Longview has more than a few functioning phone booths like this one.  Very quaint!

So that's it from Squirrel Fest 2017.  I'm vowing to go again next year.

Oh, and there's an article about it here.  We get quoted and everything.

Your Sunday Squirrel

This fellow is from over a month ago at Denny Park.  Funny thing, I've seen way more Douglas squirrels since then.  Compared to them, gray squirrels are paragons of calm and logic.

Suddenly...

...sunflowers!  At my parents' house in Snohomish.

They Built This Across the Street

Well, the Whisky Bar has done it.  They've built this thing.  What do you call this?  An island?  I have no idea.  I imagine that they're going to populate the area with tables and chairs, thereby making everyone enclosed the target of semi-relentless panhandling.

If you've read any of my past experiences here, you'll know that the service is pretty lousy.  Based on that, then I predict that it will be even worse out here.

Shalom, Jewish Federation Building

Well, some bad stuff went down here a few years ago.  And now, the building's coming down.  There's no connection between the two events.  What we'll see here within the next year and a half is 38 stories of adult dorms.  There's a name for it. - maybe "live share" or something.  Any way you slice it, it sounds terrible.  As a person who treasures his solitude, this would drive me nuts.  To be funneled into clubs and activities in lieu of having any semblance of real life is a depressing prospect.  Since it's a Martin Selig building, you can count on big, ugly art in the lobby and common spaces.  In any case, this will be one of the tallest buildings in Belltown.  But not the tallest.  So there.

Your Sunday Squirrel

It's another Douglas squirrel!  Hooray!  You'll notice that the background is usually the same for these guys.  The only way to take pictures of them is to get catch them snacking.  I put out a lot of grub for them, the gray squirrels and the birds.  They hit the scene, each as much as they can hold, attack each other, chitter a ton and scurry to and fro.  This guy was uncharacteristically calm for a few seconds.  Then he turned into a maniac again.  

Your Sunday Squirrel

This fellow is also from a few weeks back.  He and the looking-down squirrel are one and the same.  He was really quite photogenic.  And quite handsome for a rodent.

Your Sunday Squirrel

This is from a few weeks ago, when we were surrounded by a whole gang of squirrels who were getting along really well.  There was none of the usual growling, nipping and chasing that plagues most squirrel gatherings.  Of course, at my parents' place, it's very common for the Douglas squirrels to fight constantly.  How do they have little Douglas squirrels if they're so belligerent?  Maybe they're delivered by the squirrel stork or some such, which takes the pressure off developing social skills.  Anyhow, gray squirrels can be pretty pleasant at times and this was one of them.

Your Sunday Squirrel

This week at Denny Park: a squirrel goes up in a tree and looks down at me for a really long time.  And...

I explore the use of negative space with this guy.

The Fourth

Well, once again I ventured up to Edmonds to take in all the Fourth of July pageantry.  It's a tradition, so I find myself traditionally disappointed by the end.  This year was no exception.  They did have a few people-dressed-as-animals.  Above is a panda...

This guy's a raccoon...

And then, there's a zebra.  And that's all you get.  But there were other features worthy of note.

Here are the Star Wars nerds.  Yoda voice: A lot of fat jedi, there were.  Vader also tubby, he was.

And there was also the Lynnwood band.  They play most every year and I always note that they are a band that absolutely doesn't march.  Well, times have changed.  They have outgrown their flatbed, so some of them must march.  It doesn't affect their sound.  They haven't gotten any better - or worse.  I guess it's only a matter of time till either they all march or somebody builds a second tier and the flatbed turns into a double-decker bandstand.  Anything is possible!

There was more stuff in the parade, but I've documented so much of it in the past.  As far as the quality, this year was quite average.  There's a new-ish parade announcer and he's pretty good.  So now I have no reason to go to Edmonds until next year.

Your Sunday Squirrel

 Here is another shot from my jaunt to Denny Park last weekend.  This guy really liked his tree!

And again, my parents have lots of Douglas squirrels hanging around their house.  This is one of them.  Last night, he was about two feet away, snacking on sunflower seeds for about 20 minutes.  Then he skittered away to do other squirrel things.

That's How It Feels Sometimes...

This was by 7th & Blanchard.  Yeah, as density increases, parking gets more scarce.  Me, I've got a car again, which means that I have to pay for parking.  When I first moved to Belltown, I managed to make do with street parking for years.  There were ways to game the system.  Now there aren't.  You'd go broke paying for parking tickets, so it's much cheaper to rent yourself a space in some garage.  Mine is a bit of a walk away from my place, but it's relatively cheap and it has 24-hr. access.  It's kind of weird being a more-frequent driver in this town.  If anything, Seattleites have become more timid drivers in the past few years.  Everyone seems very unsure of themselves.  And when that happens, they tend to hit the brakes.  Which is the root of all traffic problems - along with people on their phones or just plain not paying attention.  

Your Sunday Squirrel

Sorry for no recent posts.  Things have been happening and such.  That includes going out and taking pictures of squirrels.  The guys above are from Denny Park.  It's pretty rare to have two squirrels in close proximity without them attacking each other.  These guys were on pretty friendly terms.

I've been spending a fair amount of time up in Snohomish at my parents' place, and they have Douglas squirrels.  Three by my count.  OK, gray squirrels are wacky enough, but Douglas squirrels are really crazy.  They're really small and very territorial.  They fight all the time, even when food is abundant for all.  Yeah, they're crazy, but they're also very small and cute.  They're about half the size of a gray squirrel, about chipmunk-size, but they're not chipmunks.

Finally, this picture isn't mine; it's Beck's.  She likes squirrels, too.  She was in Denny Park recently and found this fellow wandering around.  It's a shot I wish I could have taken.