November Garden Bloom Day

Garden bloggers are supposed to take pictures of the blossoms in their yards on the 15th of each month. This isn't really a garden blog (and I prefer foliage to blooms), but I recently rewrote the explanation for this blog so it could cover anything:

"This is a personal neighborhood photo blog about the areas surrounding Mid Beacon Hill in South Seattle, and about other things I see, like, and do."

So here are photos of plants in my Mid Beacon Hill yard on Bloom Day.

Royal purple smoke tree, genus name Cotinus.



Viburnum, an evergreen. It would develop metallic blue berries if it ever got pollinated by a mate plant. I should get it one. I want everyone to be happy here.



I should bring these succulents in for the winter, but I doubt that I will. They'll probably come back anyway.





Raspberries in mid-November. I was surprised.



A couple of Ceanothus "Julia Phelps" blooms.



Ceanothus "Point Reyes."



Some beautiful little sedum.



Donkey tail Euphorbia.



"Angelina," the most thuggish of all the sedums.



Eucalyptus.



I haven't weeded in months, and it shows.



Beautyberry. (Callicarpia?)



Rosemary.



Speaking of plants, I went to a birthday party at a plant store last night.

First I drank aquavit at the Copper Gate in Ballard.



Arthur told us about a funny YouTube video that I still haven't looked up yet. He told us to search for "judas priest shreds." It must be this.





OK, anyway, the party was at the Palm Room on Ballard Avenue.





They had lots of gorgeous air plants.



And a big gray cat.



We got there early, before anyone else. Except the man of the hour.



We drank Sangiovese until midnight then went home.

Grown Folks Coffeehouse Menu

I've only visited Grown Folks once, for a decaf latte right after they opened. I don't think they were serving meals at the time.

But now that I've heard wonderful things about their salad, and I see they have two soups daily plus custom sandwiches, well, I better go there for food soon. You should too.

See their menus and other info at the Grown Folks website.

Another Reason to Hit Calamity Jane's Happy Hour

(Besides the great food and drink menu.)



The light in there is fantastic at that time of day at this time of year.





Calamity Jane's happy hour is Monday through Saturday, 3 to 6 p.m.

Erasing History in Georgetown

Some neighbors complained when the Korean Baptist Church in Georgetown started painting over a historical mural on their property this summer.



So they put up some butcher paper...



...so they could finish painting over the mural without community interference. It's all gone now.

Carleton Market

I checked out the open house at the new Carleton Market in Georgetown today.



If you like what you see here, pay them a visit on the corner of Carleton and Warsaw. Their for-sure hours are 4 to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, with possible additional hours to be announced later.

This liquor license belonged to the old Country Inn roadhouse, which occupied this building a hundred years ago.



The roadhouse became a grocery in 1911.



According to the Friends of Georgetown History, "Ghost hunters gave identified several spirits residing in this building, including a Mediterranean-looking man in a white apron who haunts the storefront, and a prostitute who leans out of a second-story window."

Not only does this place have a better story than the AM/PM, it has better food too.



I know an actual Swiss person who buys this brand of fondue. It's good.









I was a little disappointed that I didn't see any Cherry Garcia frozen yogurt.



So I added that request to their already varied list.



I'd go to Full Throttle Bottles for my bubbly, but they do have some champagne on hand if while shopping you suddenly decide you need to celebrate something.





They also have some wine and beer. (They don't carry malt liquor, but Duvel's a quick drunk with its 8.5% alcohol content.)





They also have some South Park beers.



Today they sampled some of their selection (not of alcohol, unfortunately) for the neighbors.













The Carleton Avenue Grocery is located on the corner of Carleton and
Warsaw, just south of the Hat & Boots (Oxbow) Park.

Cheap Seattle: Nordic Heritage Museum

This post has absolutely nothing to do with South Seattle. It's just a bunch of snapshots from Ballard's Nordic Heritage Museum, "the only museum in the United States to honor the legacy of immigrants from the five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden." I paid a visit on Friday because I'm still on maternity leave and have nothing better to do than to act like a tourist in my own city.

The museum is full of life-size dioramas depicting life in old Ballard and other Scandinavian immigrant communities.





























The sauna exhibit in the Finland room:



I inadvertently dressed on-brand for the trip, in a skirt from Finland. It's not Marimekko, but some other brand they sell at Tuuli downtown. I love this print and these colors.



While I did enjoy the dioramas and the current photography exhibit, I wished the museum devoted more space to showcase modern design in Scandinavia, which is home to some of the world's best printmakers, textile designers, glass artists, and furniture makers. (The seating area did have some pieces from Ikea, though.)

The Nordic Heritage Museum is located at 3014 NW 67th Street in Seattle. Museum hours are 10am - 4pm Tuesday-Saturday and 12pm - 4pm Sunday. Adult admission is $6.

Oh, hey, while I'm totally off the topic of South Seattle, I'll add these shots of the Rendezvous in Belltown, where I had a couple of my five (?) vodka sodas last night.

Election Day

Because Beacon Hill has no Starbucks, I went to my old neighborhood, Eastlake, to get my free cup of coffee.



On my way home, I saw Obama and Gregoire supporters waving their signs at Columbian and Beacon.





And enjoyed the colors of this beautiful November day.

"First Seattle Shooting Homicide Since April"?

A sloppy new P-I story dated November 2 says the county medical examiner stated that there were no shooting homicides in Seattle between April and October. It was sloppy of the reporters not to check the truth behind the statement (and sloppy of them and/or the editors to refer to October as "earlier this month"):

Seattle police also are searching for the person who killed Corey E. Trainer, a 22-year-old found shot to death earlier this month in North Seattle.

Trainer's death was the first Seattle shooting homicide since April, according to the medical examiner's office.

Hmm. The P-I itself ran this story on August 6: "Teen shot to death in Seattle."

And this one on September 11: "Homeless man found shot to death near I-5."

I'm not sure why the medical examiner would say that there haven't been any shooting homicides since April. And I really don't know why the reporters and editors would repeat that bullshit claim without checking their own recent papers first.

It's a good thing Amber Campbell at the Rainier Valley Post is keeping track of all the South End shootings for us. I'll be interested in seeing how her records match up with the police/mayor's numbers (which will just be lazily parroted without question by the mainstream media, who won't even bother checking their own archives) at the end of the year.

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Related Post:

* Seattle.gov's Neighborhood Crime Info: Totally Inaccurate

Viva Monstero!

Monstero! used to be one of Georgetown's most distinctive street characters. A photo from the art walk in July, the month before some asshole set the car on fire:



Last night Monstero!'s keepers, Willow and James Fulton, threw a Day of the Dead benefit party to help with car's recovery fund. They celebrated with alcohol and fire.











The eyes of Monstero!























The party was held in the Miller Building, also home to the lovely Georgetown Pharmacy.



I got my Halloween candy there this year. I chose the good stuff: Kit Kats, Whoppers, Reese's.



(Holy crap, we kept the baby out until 1 a.m.!)

Photos from Last Night's Haunted Brew House Tour

For the second weekend in a row, Theater Off Jackson is presenting haunted tours in the old Rainier Brew House. I took the 8 p.m. tour on Halloween night. (You still have a chance to go if you're free tonight!)



First I milled around and drank some Manny's while waiting for the tour to start.





TOJ and Friends of Georgetown History teamed up to create a presentation of old Comet Lodge Cemetery materials, including grave rubbings and photocopies of old articles.





Some of my neighbors live on ground that used to be the baby section of the cemetery.





This old photo shows how big the cemetery used to be. A bunch of houses stand there now.



They also posted a photo of the Brew House back in its glory days. It's worth the tour admission just to see the inside of this building -- the music and performances are bonus.





The performances were fun, though. This guy strung solid metal rings together with the help of some magical Rainier beer.









And up the stairs, Ensemble Sub Masa played spooky songs.





The accordionist (my pal and former Eastlake neighbor, the lovely Marchette!) wandered among the crowd like a ghost.



I spent the rest of the tour trying to stand as still as possible to get photos of the dark empty spaces.









Though some of them weren't as empty as they first seemed.







I was one of a couple tour stragglers, both us of fighting over who got to be last one so we could get good shots of all the creepy shadows. Sabey's Jim Harmon patiently waited for us to finally make our exit.















After I finally left, one of the TOJ folks directed my attention to this old poster that Sabey provided for the event. She even showed me how to use the flash on my camera (someday I will learn how to use that thing!) so I could get a picture of it.



"Malt Rainier -- The pure malt tonic for mothers who require additional nourishment and strength."

I hope the Manny's I drank last night has a similar effect. Because it's a heavy burden to be in charge of a baby who measures up in the 99th percentile of CUTENESS.



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Related Posts:

* Daytime photos of the Georgetown Brew House

* Last year's Georgetown Haunted Tour

* About the Comet Lodge Cemetery