Snowy Walk to Graham Street Grocery

I wasn't sure how often the 36 would be running today so I decided to get food from the Graham Street Grocery instead of trekking to Red Apple.

Looking east from the parking lot of the Chinese Baptist Church.



And looking west.



The Orcas/Beacon intersection.



Juneau Street, I think.



Another church.



I did see several 36s.



The west side of Graham was clsed to traffic.



There's the Graham Street Grocery.



The folks at the store could not have been any nicer. I bought a whole bunch of stuff, and they gave me free coffee and a snowman pin.

I passed a P-patch on the way home.



Not much to see there today.

How to Complain About the #36 Passing You By

Aimee Curl at the Seattle Weekly complained today that the #36 has passed her by two weeks in a row, and this time she and the other passengers had to wait nearly half an hour in 20-degree weather.

One reader commented that she should file an online complaint about the service on the #36 route.

Since there's nothing I love as much as an online complaint form (except, perhaps, whining about the #36), I'll share the link with you all. Let's all file complaints when the #36 passes us by. Try to provide the stop location, time, direction, and bus unit # if you have it.

Metro online complaint form

I'm not sure it'll do any good, but they might at least be forced to keep track of all the complaints somewhere.

I haven't seen any mention of them in their ridiculous annual reports, none of which correlate any rider-focused metrics (such as number of skipped passengers, timeliness of service, number of assaults) to specific routes. But at least we'll know in our hearts that the data exists somewhere.

Snow on Beacon Avenue South

This Has Nothing to Do with Anything

But I am super-excited for my friend Will (below at left in a photo from Election Day), who will be one of three musicians from Washington state to march with the Gay and Lesbian Band Association in Barack Obama's inaugural parade.



It will be the first time a gay and lesbian band will march in a presidential inaugural parade.

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.