West Seattle, Washington
04 Saturday
Thanks to Brady for pointing this out last night via Twitter, and Creighton for sending a photo this afternoon: The Marines are at Jefferson Square, moving into the storefront immediately southeast of Bartell Drugs, next to GNC. We didn’t have time to stop in but it looks like set-up work is being done inside, so the office isn’t open yet.
In the fog and mist, Creighton was wowed by the white stuff in his yard – not frost, certainly not snow – and wondered:
Ever see anything like this? My wife and I walked out into our back yard this morning and found the fog deposited dew on what appears to be spider webs covering our entire back yard. I’m impressed at the industriousness of a spider that could do all this overnight. Aside from being a wonderfully spooky Halloween yard is this common around here?
Closer look:
Random street musicians aren’t that common a sight in The Junction, so when co-publisher Patrick happened onto this one a little while ago, he snapped a photo. He tried to talk with the guy but reports, “He wouldn’t stop singing!” (’70s and ’60s oldies, at least at the time.) Meantime, Gary J shares this offshore sight, photographed from Alki:
(No need to call about offshore seals, but remember that if you spot one on the beach, Seal Sitters wants to hear from you – contact info at sealsitters.org.) Thanks as always to everyone who shares photos!
Saw this a short time ago in front of Easy Street while running an errand in The Junction.
Spotted pecking and scratching in the shrubbery outside High Point Library right after mayoral candidate Mike McGinn‘s town hall (covered here) – that chicken.
Spotted by Walking On Logs at the Fauntleroy end of The Bridge – decorations we assume have to do with the last two nights’ big concerts:
And thanks to Jackie (plus an unidentified cell-phone-photo sender) for noting the Ivar’s “undersea billboard” pulled from the water off Alki last month is now ashore and above lower Spokane Street just west of 4th:
Ivar’s has added more videos to its ongoing saga of the purported billboard discovery.
Thanks to everybody who e-mailed us about that startling sight at the easternmost Admiral Way bridge late this afternoon – particularly Mike Russell, who not only took photos, but also went over and asked the crew what was going on. Answer: Training. Or, as Mike put it more vividly:
I heard some noises coming from outside, and looked out the window to see this. At first my heart just sank, thinking someone had jumped. But looking closer, I realized (and hoped) that the one being rescued was also wearing a uniform. My suspicions were confirmed when I heard someone ask them if they were just training, and they said yes. Phew!
(One way for a quick check, by the way, is that if you see a fire crew but you do not see the location listed on the live 911 fire/aid/medic log, 99.9% likelihood it’s NOT breaking news.)
Click ahead for three Thursday night scenes:Read More
Just in from Gary Jones – some love and care for a West Seattle icon!
As noted yesterday, we’ve received several more great West Seattle aerial photos from Gatewood pilot – and photographer – Long Nguyen. This one looks at almost the entirety of the peninsula, looking northeast from the Vashon Island vicinity. You can see a larger version on his gallery website here. (P.S.: Thanks to commenter ZippyPinhead for pointing out after yesterday’s photo that Long was featured last month in the Seattle Times [WSB partner] because of his Civil Air Patrol work.)
Just happened onto this project along the south side of the Super 24 convenience store at Delridge/Findlay (map) – the mural mentioned during the Community Safety Coalition meeting Thursday night is being painted right now. First the young painters are putting up a coat of primer (as seen above) over the store’s pre-existing peach-colored paint; next, artist Jonathan will paint the mural, and Maria from Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association tells us the whole thing should be done by day’s end, so we’ll check back later to see the finished product! (Other beautification work on Delridge today – the North Delridge Neighborhood Council‘s quarterly Adopt-A-Street cleanup was this morning – we passed by some of the bright yellow bags of trash getting loaded up to be taken away.)
“Ca” sent that photo, describing this house only as being on Admiral Way, and noting it’s not a prank, but rather a celebration:
Everyone keeps asking us why our house was TPed the other day. My son qualified for All City Swim with Arbor Heights pool.
And here’s the proud qualifier himself:
Congratulations! We drove past a TP’ed house in the early moments of Night Out on Tuesday but seem to recall it was in a neighborhood south of Admiral; funny, hadn’t seen that phenomenon in years. Speaking of Night Out:
P and C McCormick shared photos of the Ocean View neighborhood Night Out party, pointing out it’s sponsored by Dot Beard (right, by the sign):
Over forty neighbors showed up to enjoy refreshments and the summer evening. A long-time activist and member of the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council, Dot has kept all of us neighbors in line for years. Just in case, Capt Joe Kessler and Lt. Steve Paulsen from the SW Precinct came by to make sure our new Block Watch signs were installed to specifications (!) and to schmooze Ocean View Community Beach Club presidential candidate “Murphy” (in the striped red sweater). Our quiet neighborhood, bound by Marine View Drive, 35th Ave SW and SW 112th St [map], has annual events including an Easter Egg Hunt, Summer Picnic and Christmas Caroling/Hot Buttered Rum parties.
Here’s Capt. Kessler with Murphy.
(We published three previous photo reports on Night Out block parties around West Seattle – see them here, here and here.) Last but by no means least, Chas Redmond caught the early-evening sun in all its glory, shining on the Sound off Alki last night:
Thanks as always to everyone who shares photos and info with their West Seattle neighbors via WSB – e-mail editor@westseattleblog.com – or share your photos with the West Seattle Blog Flickr group (where we just noticed some great recent additions, including this spectacular Lincoln Park sunset).
Bill Bacon caught that reading at the First Mutual Bank sign north of The Junction this afternoon. Meantime, Minette sent a beautiful shot of last night’s moonset behind Vashon, seen from Lowman Beach. She says it’s looked like this the last three nights and you might see something similar if you look that way around 10:30 tonight:
We’re mulling a ferry ride as a late-night cooldown measure. Meantime, the temperatures are slithering downward .. but still in the 90s as of the official 9 pm readings at Sea-Tac and Boeing Field (closest “official” to us).
WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli reports Junction streets (and sidewalk-cafe setups) are still bustling, late into the night after West Seattle Summer Fest‘s first day.
And Alki photographer David Hutchinson shares a view of that vivid pink Friday night sunset, over Alki’s Statue of Liberty:
Not far from Lady Liberty, the Seafair Pirates will come ashore in their traditional summer spectacle today; they say somewhere around noon, but activities before and after the landing go on for hours (more here).
Alki photographer Pete Rowen sent photos of our majestic national emblem, seen not only on the near-eve of our national celebration, but with a double shot of symbolism since July 20th is coming up. He writes “… the moon shot took me forever to line up; the upper eagle’s beak is pointing to the location on the moon where the Eagle landed, 40 years ago this month.”
Thanks to everyone who shares photos and info – editor@westseattleblog.com (or if you have a news tip or question to call about, 206-293-6302) any time!
Just spotted while driving through The Junction.
West Seattle photojournalist Matt Durham from mattdurhamphotography.com shares this scene, describing it only as follows: “A monster emerged … out of a downed tree’s root ball at a West Seattle park. The location will remain a mystery.” Hmmm.
Thanks for all the photos sent while we were away from the keyboard for a while doing a political interview for our ongoing election coverage! Don’t know who to credit for the low-tide cameraphone photo above – but, as mentioned in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup, today kicks off a run of minus tides, which “peak” with -3.6 on Sunday and Monday (in comparison, the low tide this morning was -1.1). Next – Charley Biggs sent a photo of this morning’s sunrise:
And from Marco – the city’s “Pothole Rangers” in action – not technically West Seattle, but see his explanation after the photo:
Not West Seattle, but a lot of us ride that way on our bikes: The Pothole Rangers are currently repairing the many potholes on the bike lane of E Marginal Way S.
So I just wanted to shout out a huge thank you to them (I did, when I rode past them, but I’m not sure they could hear me over their machines ;)
So together with the beautiful weather, this makes Bike Month an even bigger success!
Got pix to share? editor@westseattleblog.com any time – whether it’s a spectacular sunrise, a breaking-news story, a cool event at your child’s school … thanks!
Thanks to Ian McKay for sharing that photo of the Denny Middle School Marching Band in the Syttende Mai parade in Ballard today (full coverage of the parade at MyBallard.com)! Back on this side of the bay, thanks to JayDee for sharing a shot from the King County Water Taxi – just can’t get enough of The Mountain when it’s “out”:
And thanks to Jason for a cameraphone pic from the puppet show that delighted dozens of kids and parents at Alki Bathhouse on Saturday, the Zambini Brothers‘ “The Fattest Kitty on Earth“:
That was just one of the dozens of West Seattle events on our Weekend Lineup, published Fridays; between weekends, you can find highlights for any day of the week, stretching months into the summer and beyond, on the WSB West Seattle Events calendar page.
SIGN: Amy reports a sign sighting on the Fauntleroy “overpass,” which would be the first one in a long time, since extra DON’T YOU DARE DO THAT-type signs went up … Unfortunately, she says the sign bears an unfriendly message we won’t repeat. Off to check it out as soon as we hit “publish” on this item. (Added later – Nope, it was gone.)
LINK #1: Remember the Cat’s Eye Cafe’ on Fauntleroy north of Lincoln Park, closed after a car hit it three years ago, now the Four Aims Center? Its former owner Julie Malcolm is in the street-food business up north, according to this Edmonds article about Here and There. Sounds a little bit like the Snohomish County version of Skillet
LINK #2: Husky football players visit Roxhill Elementary, and gohuskies.com tells the tale.
We know we’ve shown you the Harbor Ave Canada geese over and over again … but this afternoon, we just happened to be working in the car at Don Armeni for a short time, and there they were, and we were powerless to resist the desire to pull the camera out of the laptop bag, and … Besides the two little guys shown with the adults here, there were also two — elder siblings? — in the group (and note the aft end of the Magnolia-docked cruise ship at left):
ADDED 11:28 PM: David Hutchinson, who has shared excellent photos of the Harbor Ave goose families, says he and wife Eilene have been observing them all and he happens to have a lot of backstory:
The 2 older goslings were hatched on one of the pilings near Salty’s the thirdweek of April. Their father is the larger adult with the large indentation in his feathers on the right side of his chest. Based on our observations, he is the “alpha male” goose along Harbor Avenue. When he and his family approach, everyone else leaves very quickly – even the 4 adults with the 19 goslings.
We have observed him and his mate since last year when they had 4 goslings. Only 1 lived to adulthood – 2 disappeared and we took the 3rd to PAWS with a badly injured leg (it later had to be euthanized because the injury led to a severe infection). This year there were originally 4 again but 2 of those disappeared. The 2 smaller goslings you photographed were “adopted” by this family on Mother’s Day, May 10th. That morning they showed up at Don Armeni with a different family and by afternoon, they had joined their adoptive family and their parents had left. From what we have read, very young goslings have not “imprinted” on their biological parents and will go off with other goslings of similar size. Once this happens, the adoptive parents will not allow the biological parents near.
Alki photographer David Hutchinson has shared several great shots of the Canada goose families many West Seattleites (and visitors) have been watching – and in the final moments of Mother’s Day 2009, he shared this comparison, explaining:
My wife and I have enjoyed following the development of the large family of Canada Geese goslings this past month during our walks along the Harbor Ave waterfront. This large combination of families is being watched over by 2 pairs of adults. Their number seems to have stabilized at 20 down from the 24 we had counted a couple weeks ago. This is a much higher survival rate than another family of 5 goslings, all of which have now disappeared. The photos are of the same group of goslings and were taken about 1 month apart.
Thanks to the Junction-area resident who sent that photo taken within the past half-hour or so – more traces of the WaMu/Chase bank change, in this case, outside the 44th/Edmunds drive-thru. Some signage has changed inside local branches, but till now, exterior signage hasn’t. Also happening tonight – three meetings we’re covering around West Seattle, including the Parks Levy presentation/discussion at the West Seattle Golf Course:
Good turnout, as you can see; thanks to Sharonn Meeks for sending the photo – reporter Jonathan Stumpf is there for WSB and we’ll have his full report later.
Eric Shalit sent us this photo late last night; things were a little busy then but we want to share it now. It’s his son Max Shalitmontagne and date Fiona, “heading off to the Garfield High School Senior Prom … on a tandem bike (courtesy of Aaron¹s Bike Repair).” They rode from West Seattle to Pacific Science Center for the occasion. Eric adds, “Max is 100% car-free by choice. He rides about 200 miles a week, commuting and having fun. Max loves cycling!”
| 47 COMMENTS