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.

An Evening Walk from Downtown to Belltown

Photos from Thursday evening.

Developers are pouring a ton of money into the Arctic Building to make it an ultra-fancy hotel. I'm thrilled that this facade will be saved.



Seating outside the Federal Building. I don't particularly like the way this looks, but I like the feel of it. I would like an enclosed seating area like this in my front yard, except I would want the back of it to back up to the house, so you could look out onto the street. I think it's weird to have everyone oriented with their backs to a busy intersection like in this photo.



The Lusty Lady. The man at left is about to go inside.



Bread at Pike Place Market.



More shots from the Pike Place Market area. Dungeness crabs, yum.



Starbucks No. 1.





I'm tempted to try out this wine bar right now.



But I'm holding out for Campagne. My reservation's in half an hour.



Post Alley.



Coffee from the Greek place.



Looks like folks preferred the medium baklava to the small today.



I didn't mean to chop these girls' feet off, but I wanted to snap fast.



Look, there's the sweater guy again. At this point, a guy waiting to cross at First and Pike asked me where I was from. When I said Seattle, he laughed hard and long. Everyone is happy today because it is sunny. This winter and spring have been shit so far.



We get a nice view table at Campagne.



A few drinks and some moules frites later.



The car's parked far away in Belltown, past the Army Navy Surplus Store on First.





Goodnight!