Peninsula Gardens (3/24/07)

Peninsula Gardens was a pretty standard nursery. I'll show you just a few photos.

But first we need to drive west across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Looks like they're almost finished with the new one.



It's raining hard.



They just opened their espresso shop on Friday, and they have a $1 special on lattes all weekend. The biscotti was also $1.



Not really my thing, but these ceramic planters are pretty pretty.



This kind of looks like a jack.



Right now I'm liking spruces.



I like purple foliage next to yellow blossoms.

A Trip to West Seattle (3/24/07)

The grayest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle.



A cute front yard.



The view of Puget Sound from my friends' house.



The wallpaper in their basement.



Rebar as yard sculpture.

Beacon Hill Photos (3/24/07)

Galaxie's mural of buildings on Beacon Hill.



The TV repair shop sign.



My proscuitto / fig / goat cheese sandwich from Galaxie. Hallelujah.



The entrance to the Beacon Hill library.



The lovely 12th Ave. S. viewpoint.



I love this house that's being built near the 12th Ave. S. viewpoint. Very much.



Aluminum windows, natural wood siding.



Cement pavers in different sizes.



Tall ceilings, a view of Duwamish industry.



Wraparound deck.



Huge eaves.



Honestly, they ought to just give me this place. I can't imagine anyone else appreciating it half as much as I would.

A Couple Beacon Avenue Shots from 3/22/07

The lovely little Galaxie coffeehouse. Inside, the owner is painting a sky-view mural of all the property lines on Beacon Hill. I asked him if he'd get as far south as the haunted Comet Lodge Cemetery near my house, and he said yes (though that would probably be on the cabinet instead of the wall). I'll get an indoor shot sometime, promise. Maybe today--the prosciutto, fig, and goat cheese baguette sandwiches they recently added to their menu sound amazing.



And El Quetzal, the delicious little Mexican place. The owner's from Mexico City and makes really simple, tasty dishes. The only thing that place needs is a liquor license! The TV/VCR/etc. repair shops next door has my favorite sign in the whole neighborhood. It's lovingly hand-painted, and I believe all the words are spelled right.




OK, I'll throw in one more, although this one may not properly reflect this post's "appealing" tag. Here's a townhouse going up on 15th Avenue South, I think. Hopefully once 20 or so more of these go up, Beacon Hill will get the wine bar of my dreams. And that's a very appealing prospect, indeed.

This Morning's Walk from First Hill to Downtown

Let's start at the Frye, the free art museum that is supposed to be wonderful.



I am the vine, you are the branches. (Did Jesus really say that?)



Crisp and clean and no caffeine.



I'd hoped to get a better shot of this, but then I noticed the proprietor was standing just inside the door, waiting for me to finish so he could open the door. He asked me if I liked the mannequins and I said yes, very much.



Does anyone else hate brightly painted aggregate planters? Maybe I'll suggest a new slogan to the local governments: "Let stone be stone--just leave it alone." No worse than "Say WA" or "Metronatural," if you ask me.



Crossing the River 5.



The library.



Seattle's zillion new high-end condo developments all have these ridiculous taglines, like "Homes That Speak to Urban Living." Since when have construction projects had slogans, anyway?



You see these all over town now. I'm on the city's Planning and Development mailing list, but I can't keep up.



This old church is coming down. The developers are going to pay the Methodists big bucks to move elsewhere. Downtown Seattle may be unrecognizable soon.



Good question. Money?

Why I Love Spring

Plants grow noticeably in three days' time.

My Red Dragon on Sunday:



My Red Dragon today:

Is the Term "Dirty Limerick" Redundant?

At the gay St. Patrick's Day birthday party I went to on Saturday night, I placed second in the limerick contest. I wrote it over some drinks and a fine dinner and a bottle of Sancerre at Savoy.

Here's a photo I took out the door at Savoy:



Here's the drunken limerick (name has been changed):

Our friend Sonny's exceedingly hot
The boys they all like him a lot
And the girls, how they sigh
With a tear in their eye
When they find out he doesn't like twat