Seattle Daily Photo: November 2010

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Competition for Pumpkin Pie?

Well, probably not, but certainly great for the day before Thanksgiving, right? These autumn beauties were on display in Trophy Cupcakes' shop window. You might want to try their Candied Yam Cupcake today. Wishing all the Americans prepping for Thanksgiving a lot of fun whipping up their favorite recipes in the kitchen today for tomorrow's big gathering. Seattle's own amazing Gluten Free Girl has a dynamite vegan pie crust recipe and lots of other gluten-free Thanksgiving recipes that everyone at your table this year can enjoy. And check out this recipe for gluten-free pumpkin cupcakes she recommends! Ooo la la. Double lap around Greenlake.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

No Particular Place To Go

Here you are at the counter of a University Village diner with nostalgic decor that harks back to the 40s and 50s. Chuck Berry is on the juke box, American fare is on the grill, the shake machine is whizzing: what's YOUR order? What's YOUR song? :-)

Monday, November 22, 2010

And We Shall Have Snow

I was released from work a few hours early today due to the snow that started falling steadily at about 7 AM. I took this on my way home when it wasn't snowing. (A few more snow shots can be seen at my More Seattle Stuff page.) It commenced again mid-afternoon and a wind is up blowing the powder all about. I've heard we will get a few more inches overnight and a bit more tomorrow, then warming to the 40s F on Wednesday. So, it is likely there will be no snow left on the ground for the American Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. If a snow day is called tomorrow and I get part of the day off I'm wondering how long a line I might have to wait in to get my snow tires installed for the season :-).

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Yeah Luv

Some intermittent snow flakes started coming down at about 11 AM, but melted as soon as they hit the ground and were done within an hour. So, the cold is with us, but not the white stuff. Yet. I had an errand to run at the Apple Store in the University district and these gents greeted me as I went in. :-) As I imagine this display announcing The Beatles' entire catalog being added to iTunes is not unique to Seattle, you may find the lads similarly making an appearance in your city, too.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

The North Wind Doth Blow

This morning I attended a training for work and when I when I entered the building where it was being held the weather was cool but bright and sunny. I could see distant clouds ready with snow above the Cascades and had heard that we could have some snow by tomorrow. When I emerged from the training four hours later the temperature had dropped a lot, the skies were gray and the wind was up. That didn't deter a lot of Seattlites from getting in an autumn run or a walk around a very choppy and cold Greenlake.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Skywatch: Frat Crow Flying in a Blue Sky

Well, actually it's a cloudy sky :-). After eating a tasty morsel it found in the rain gutter of a fraternity house near the University of Washington campus, this crow took flight to perch in a nearby curbside tree. I caught it in flight backdropped by the clouds.

Let me pass on the ear worm I've had for awhile via the video below of the amazing cover Shemikia Copeland made of Joni Mitchell's "Black Crow" (Flying in a Blue Sky). I realized just now while listening to the lyrics that Ms. Mitchell's description of her travels, "took a ferry to the highway and I drove to a pontoon plane, took a plane to a taxi and a taxi to a train," probably describes a trip originating here in the Pacific Northwest up along the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia where I hear she has a second home. If so, I'm sure she had many an inspiration for the song, as crows are amazingly numerous throughout the region.

Whenever I hear the squawking of several gulls in the air along with the cawing of many crows I know if I look up I will see the two types of birds have joined forces en masse to chase away a bald eagle that's been eying their young or a prized feast. You never know the wonders you'll see when you look up into a Seattle sky :-). Check out Skywatch Friday to see some other skies around the world today.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Spring in Her Step

We are back to this footwear with a wet Seattle autumn storm having moved in. At least this woman is keeping spring alive, if only through the images on her rain boots. Do you brighten up the dreary days with a colorful umbrella or whimsical boot pattern, too?

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Treize, Douze, Onze

I thought you might enjoy the abstract this ship's hull and reflection make. I liked seeing the numbers descend into the water and the pattern the colors and stripe made. This is the vintage 1904 Swiftsure which has had a long and storied career on the west coast that you can read about here. It is part of the collection of historical water craft docked at Lake Union Park near the Center for Wooden Boats.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Custom Metalwork & Glass

The new QFC Market and condominium complex in Ballard features on its south side this huge botanical metalwork screen and gate by ornamental metal artist Anna Sher and glass designer Rodman Gilder Miller. I've featured another of their joint projects, the railing of the Fremont branch of Peet's Coffee, here. To give you some sense of scale, one of those glass flower centers in the bottom corner is about the span of one of my hands and the doorway is probably 7 feet tall.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Frye Art Museum Campus in Autumn

This is a view from above of the Frye Art Museum on First Hill. It opened in 1952 and I've always loved this distinctive design of modern architect Paul Thiry, one of the the area's most tasteful designers of public buildings in the 50s and 60s. I enjoy visiting the Frye in any season, as its exhibits are free and it offers valuable youth programs that encourage young artists and make a difference in the community.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

I Found the Bat Cave

It is apparently hidden somewhere on a hilly residential street in the Graham Hill area of Seward Park. It looked like the Bat Mobile had clipped the mailboxes on the way out of the Bat Cave though, as several of them gathered around a utility pole at the intersection were askew.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Autumn Ravenna View

The autumn colors and the Seattle skyline viewed from the Ravenna area. A house in the foreground is covered with a blue tarp, perhaps to keep the coming rain from an incomplete building project. You can see the top of the Space Needle on the right, about the size of a tree on the hill :-). Downtown's tallest buildings can be seen peeking up above the hill line on the left.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Seattle Central Library

This is an earlier set of photos I took in daylight of the same desk area of the Seattle Central Library that you see in Wednesday's photo. I was curious to see a vintage telephone on the librarian's desk in the midst of all that sleek contemporary architecture (it's not there anymore, BTW).

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Remembrance

A poppy from my summer garden to commemorate Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, and Veterans Day in those countries which pause today to honor those who served in the military and fell in World War I. That horrible war ended at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month. The last of five million American veterans from that war is 109 year old Frank Buckles of West Virginia. He has been lobbying for a permanent WWI memorial to be installed in Washington, DC. Seattle's WWI Memorial (photo and history here) is located in Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Evergreen Washelli, "The Arlington of the West".

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

You Are HERE #2

Just in case you didn't recognize the setting, the graphic on the desk leaves no doubt. You are HERE in the Emerald City, a community that loves its libraries and likes to hang out in them without being all stuffy and old-world about it :-). This is in the Seattle Central Library, designed by Rem Koolhaas and completed in 2004. Seattle supposedly has one of the most highly educated populations of any major city in the US, with 47% of adults possessing a bachelor's degree or higher as of 2006. And we use our public libraries. A lot. One in every eleven Seattlites visits the libraries in person, and the Seattle Times reported last November that library usage, both in person and on-line, has climbed from 4.5 million in 2000 to over 13.2 million in 2008. With November's chill and the shortening of daylight hours, we are a bit less in our kayaks, sailboats, and hiking boots and more likely in the midst of a good book or doing some research :-).

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Can you imagine being a busy student, preoccupied with assignments while navigating a large campus to get to your classes and looking up to see something like this? At the University of Washington several of the buildings along the Liberal Arts Quadrangle (the Quad) feature very intriguing lifelike or grotesque figures high above along the the third story stone cornices. I've shown you a few of Dudley Pratt's grotesques here and here, and I believe this to also be his work but could be wrong. If this guy were my prof, I'd be intimidated having him peer down at me from on high as I was heading into class. I'm sure this was modeled after a particular person, but could not find information on who it might be. Perhaps a geography professor: "You are HERE," or a physics prof, "At what velocity will this sphere fall on your head if I drop it from this height?" :-) Hope midterms went okay for all students out there!

Monday, November 08, 2010

NOAA Fleet Still in Seattle For Now

A controversial decision to relocate the longtime Seattle-based fleet of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from its Lake Union docks when the lease is up in 2011 to a new home port in ~~Newberg~~ Newport, Oregon has raised contention and close congressional scrutiny that has left things up in the air for now. Contributing to NOAA's decision to move was a dock fire that severely damaged its leased Lake Union facilities in 2009. NOAA has been a significant part of the maritime economy of Seattle for over 50 years. Only about 60 employees would move with the fleet, but the loss of business to local shipyards and suppliers is thought to be a particularly hard blow to hundreds of others who service and support NOAA. This photo is not of Lake Union, but of NOAA's Sand Point headquarters on Lake Washington which will remain and is not part of the controversy. It looks at present like the move will go forward, but not without a few more rounds in the ring.

The two ships you see were built in the 1960s and have long, adventure-filled histories. The one on the right is the David Starr Jordan and is heavily used in marine mammal research. It is named for the first president of Stanford University, a naturalist whose investigations and explorations of salmon migration and the Pacific seal fur trade led to saving these populations from near extinction. The ship on the left appears to me to be the Miller Freeman, one of the largest research trawlers in the world. It is dedicated to oceanographic and fisheries research. It accommodates 7 NOAA Corps officers, 27 crew, and up to 11 scientists and is capable of operating in any waters on earth. I would speculate that these two ships would have been docked at Lake Union pre-fire, but I don't know.

Sunday, November 07, 2010

Sunday Bridges # 16: Dr. Jose P. Rizal Bridge

Pedestrians and a car crossing the Dr. Jose P. Rizal Bridge which links the International District with north Beacon Hill. Usually you see a typical postcard shot of downtown Seattle at twilight with light trails snaking along I-5 taken by photographers who are standing at the south end of this bridge. Today, I show you the understructure :-). You can see beautiful bridges from around the world at Louis le Vache's Sunday Bridges portal.

Saturday, November 06, 2010

Lenticular Cloud

Autumn foliage frames the distant view of Mount Rainier. A lenticular cloud has formed a little cap over the peak as the cooler days of autumn arrive. The lake looks uninviting and cold, yet if I turned my camera left or right you'd see jet skies, wind surfers, and boaters enjoying the outdoors.

Friday, November 05, 2010

Seattle Coffee Works Sign

An admonition to blend? A statement of fact about what just happened in the nation-wide elections? Or simple phrases advertising Seattle Coffee Work's East African/Indonesian/Kona blend named in the President's honor? Well, I actually took this shot in September 2009, when it was still candidate Obama, but coming upon the shot again recently (I had featured a view of SCW's newly installed "Coffee Drinking Man" sign instead) I thought the phrases, seen in light of the recent election, took on a bit of humor.

Thursday, November 04, 2010

Viewridge Autumn

The east-facing neighborhood of Viewridge has wonderful vistas of Lake Washington and the Cascade Mountains, and at night is charmed by the lights from communities on the Eastside. I was charmed by the autumn colors as I was coming down this street and had to stop for a few minutes to take in the view myself. That's the beauty of walking the neighborhoods in spectacularly beautiful places like Seattle. You don't have to have a view home to enjoy views like this.

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Up Kite Hill @ Magnason Park

Embracing life, flying a kite together.

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

West Seattle Mail Box

A homeowner in West Seattle created this clever and whimsical ferry suround for their residential mailbox. It has seen a few seasons, like the Washington State Ferries themselves which travel back and forth in the distance in sight of this property.

Monday, November 01, 2010

Theme Day: Public Transportation

Washington State Ferries are part of a way of life around the Puget Sound. They are equipped with food and beverage service and WiFi to help frequent commuters capture some productive time during the passage. Viewed from the observation deck of Smith Tower, you can see the ferry terminal with cars in the queue about to load and another ferry coming in about to unload. Also visible toward the bottom left of the shot is the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Today City Daily Photo Bloggers from around the globe will show you some super photos of public transportation in their areas. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

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