Sunny Afternoon in Columbia City

An Anchor porter at Lottie's Lounge.



Love the old license plate holders.



Ten years ago I hitched to work every day. I paid cash.







Smoked tukeys.



Gather has a beautiful neon art installation of found letters from signs. It's shocking how many brands you can recognize just from the font and color. Like the "a" from Radio Shack.



The "x" isn't really an "x." It's that Cingular character thing.



This target will one day grace the roof of artist Jeremy Bert's Boulevard Park home. If you don't see it at Gather, you should be able to see it from a nighttime flight in or out of SeaTac.



(I just now realized that I've admired Jeremy's work at McLeod Residence before.)

Then a trip to the last Columbia City Farmer's Market of the season.







This is what I bought.



I doubt there will be a day this nice again for the rest of the year.

Free Seattle: Volunteer Park Conservatory

My pal Chuck in San Francisco recently blogged about a free thing I should do with my free time here in Seattle: visit the Volunteer Park Conservatory. So I did.



It was nice and warm in there. I should go back in December.











































Then walked around Volunteer Park on this beautiful fall day.

More Cheap South End Fun: Western Bridge

Friday I finally checked out Western Bridge, a free art "venue" in Sodo.

I love their stealth front door -- clever!



The main exhibit right now is this huge white-on-white painting that stretches across the walls and onto the floor. It looks like shadows of trees coming in through big, high horizontal windows. Which confused me a little at first since the building does have big, high horizontal windows. Except it's on 4th Ave. South, so there are no trees around. (Also, a shadow would bend at the corner.) It's like a trompe l'oeil for the stupid and/or unobservant.



Another exhibit featured very dark photos of the banks of the Amazon. I didn't love the art, but I did love the building itself and decided that I wanted to live there.



This feeling got much stronger when I wandered into the living area upstairs.



The other two patrons were hesitant to enter this section, as it didn't seem like people were supposed to come in. But I told them they had to because it was the best part.

The tub is sunken into the cement.





This place belongs on the hipster street of dreams.









And it's just two blocks from Costco!

Western Bridge is open noon to six, Thursday - Saturday. It's located at 3412 Fourth Avenue South. 206-838-7444. Admission is free.

Cheap South End Fun: Museum of Communications

I'm in the middle of a five-month, mostly unpaid maternity leave, so I've been searching for cheap (or better yet, free) things to do nearby with the baby. Tuesday I went to the Museum of Communications in Georgetown.





Every Tuesday until 2 p.m., volunteers give free tours of this old telephone station.



I'd tell you what I learned, but most of it went over my head. But still I had fun looking at all the displays of cool old stuff.

Cordless phone circa 1964.





Remember this voice?



The Museum of Communications is located in Georgetown at 7000 East Marginal Way South (at Corson), telephone 206-767-3012. Museum hours are Tuesdays from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and by appointment. The museum is handicap accessible. There is no charge for admission, but donations are gratefully accepted.

Coyotes Kill Pets on Beacon Hill

A neighbor who lives near Beacon and Columbian says she saw a coyote kill a tortoise shell cat in her front yard in broad daylight. She sent this photo of her cat keeping an eye on the animal.



Anyway, she asked me to remind everyone to keep your cats indoors to keep them safe from the coyotes that roam our neighborhood. Her mail:

Yesterday a coyote came to my garden and roamed for about 2 hours (from 8 to 10 am), after killing a cat in my front lawn (had to call animal control to pick up the poor victim!). The cat was a tortoise shell cat, no collar, no microchip; never seen it before.

Animal control has not jurisdiction over wild animals, but they said that as long as the animal is not injured and representing a treat to the public, fish and wildlife just leave them alone. I took a picture of my cat looking at the coyote, picture is attached.

I wanted to post this message at the listserv, but the message gets rejected. Could you please post this for me, if it is not too much to ask?! I just want people to know so they do not leave their cats go outside and become a victim of the coyote. BTW, the coyote was gorgeous and skittish. Thanks!