Trip to Yakima

Friday we went to Yakima to see our friends' bands Trentalange and Head Like a Kite play at the Sports Center. No plant photos here, but there are some museum shots.

First we stopped at the Yakima Valley Museum, which has a small collection of neon signs and a large collection of horse-drawn carriages.



Coincidentally, I was wearing a T-shirt that depicts a horse-drawn carriage.





Kitty!





Old apple crate labels.



A Depression-era dress made of flour sacks.





People used to hunt mammoth around here.





A prehistoric cat.



A stuffed cougar.



A few of local businessman Joseph Klingele's collection of 3,000 pencils.



Then we went to a junk shop, where I spent $20 on old postcards. I did not buy this.



Or this.



I don't like most Chinese food, but I enjoy a seedy Chinese lounge.



This one's called the Lotus Room. "Cast Away" was playing. I started drinking liquor, after having already had beer and wine.



Trentalange was already playing when we get back to the Sports Center.



The rest of the night is sort of a blur.



Barb showed off her biceps.



Dave showed off his horns.



Bye-bye, Sports Center.



Hello, Mel's Diner!

Does Your Day Need Brightening?

Visit the Hel Looks wesbite. A couple of Finns take photos of weirdly dressed people on the streets of Helsinki, ask them about their clothes, and upload the pictures and quotes to the website. Finnish teens are very brave, creative, and cute. Here's what a 20-year-old girl recently said about her outfit:

"I made this dress today, because I didn't know what to wear at tonight's Fag You club! It is made out of an old dog's blanket."

Here's a picture of her later on at the club (she's in the top one).

Apparently Club Fag You's motto is "Nice boys don't wear cha cha heels!"

Now I want to be young and Finnish.

Mid Beacon Hill

OK, finally, here are some shots of the houses around my neighborhood, Mid Beacon Hill. They're mostly modest older homes, some of which have been well-maintained but have fallen victim to questionable aesthetic decisions by different homeowners over the years. And there's too much chain-link fence (which I sometimes refer to as "CLF") for my taste. But there are some well-kept yards, so that's nice. Anyway, you're about to see for yourself.

FYI -- My own house isn't included because we're actively trying (weeds were pulled and ancient concrete was sledgehammered this weekend). We've planted lots and lots of things, and now we need to plan out some hardscaping. We're working on the front of our house this year, I promise.

Lots of photos and a few comments follow.



The lovely woman who lives here does a lovely job keeping up her flowers.



Here's a vertigo-inducing shot of her planting bed.



I like the way these trees are sculpted.











This house almost burned down last August. Nine fire trucks came.



Looks like the remodel/rebuild is almost done.



I love the huge flat-topped boulders in this yard.



What a coincidence that so many VW bus owners park on this street!





I like that pine.









They have one of those garden-hose-coiler-uppers. We need to figure out what to do with our garden hose.



















I have more pictures, but they all look like what you've just seen. This is my little neighborhood. It's not very exciting, and there are too few eccentrics. Next time I'll walk down toward the supposedly haunted old Comet Lodge Cemetery.

Boat Ride from Downtown to Laurelhurst

Space Needle and Olympic Sculpture Park.



Hello, sea lion.



Someone mentions that this is the rowboat that made the first unassisted trip from mainland U.S. to mainland U.K. and won a transatlantic rowboat race last year. I assume these are a couple of the four guys who made the trip, but who knows.



Nice houseboat.



Gas Works Park on Lake Union.



I've never seen a Ride the Ducks in the water before.



A cool modern houseboat.



A less fancy houseboat.



A pretty nice little garden for someone who literally has no land.



Our destination is the cute green house at right, not the faux Italian monstrosity at left. What do they do in that circle of columns, sacrifice virgins?



The houses in Laurelhurst have cute and tidy entrances.





I suspect that no one in the neighborhood has a car on blocks in their yard.



I think this used to be an entrance to a house that was later annexed onto the house next door.



This yard, with the beautifully lush planting strip, has more character than the rest.



This one's more typical.



OK, there you go. I've photoblogged just about every residential neighborhood in Seattle except mid Beacon Hill.