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Last year I noticed that the Ballard sea serpent sculpture was missing from the Shilshole Bay Marina jetty. The kind folks at My Ballard inquired and found out it was just removed for maintenance. It's back, and if you look closely you'll see it is following a skeleton holding a sword, a sea gull perched on its skull. Tales of sea serpent sightings in Puget Sound and Lake Washington reportedly go back to native tales from the 1700s. In the early days of Ballard as a seafaring community stories of a serpent spawned a fun carved log sculpture version of the beast's lengthy body being held on the beach (better photo of it here thanks to Anon) and shows the good humor of Ballardites from earliest days.
12 comments:
What a beauty, Kim! Those horizontal layers, the dark outline of the sea serpent, the reflections ... gorgeous.
Oh, yes! I see the Viking. Thanks for pointing it out. I would have missed it. Beautiful shot. BTW, we have a sea serpent in Vermont, too. Champ. In Lake Champlain. ( :
I'm such a sucker for myths, legends and fantasies that I absolutely love this! Magnificent landscape too!
Neat!! I am glad the serpent is back.. It seems everyplace with a body of water has a wonderful serpent myth. MB
That's just great. I do see the skeleton now. I'll bet all the kids love this one. What fun for them.
V
As a Viking I guess I will have to approve this.
Here's a better photo of the "vintage" serpent:
http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm-desmo/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/imlsmohai&CISOPTR=2366&CISOBOX=1&REC=1
Beautiful shot!
Gorgeous, with the mountains practically floating in the sky, making it even more mythical. And a good laugh from Steffe!
Oh yes, Petrea - mountains floating in the sky - aren't they?!
Gorgeous! I love when the Olympics make a rare winter appearance!
Beautiful! I like it very much!
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