photo by Ballard Avenue
One of the lanterns at the Chinese Garden shines onto a very wet bench. Don't sit down!
Happy New Year to you all. May 2006 be prosperous and happy and see the restoration of the rule of law in the United States.
Canadian Interlude: Fish Lantern
photo by Ballard Avenue
Canadian Interlude: Secret Lantern Procession
photo by Ballard Avenue
One of the many neat things about Vancouver is the Secret Lantern Festival. On the longest night of the year, people carrying lanterns form processions and walk through the city to various gathering points. We stumbled upon the Chinatown gathering last year and made it a point to see the whole thing this time.
Our group gathered in the rain at the Science World museum. Some had drums, others had lanterns, and we all walked to the Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden. We even had a police escort!
Friday Cat: Frida
photo by Ballard Avenue
While we're sure there are cats in Canada, we didn't get any pictures of them on this last trip. So, to fulfill the contractual obligation of a cat every Friday, we return to Ballard for this picture of Frida. She's never entirely comfortable outdoors.
Canadian Interlude: Brünnhilde
photo by Ballard Avenue
Continuing the theme of girls doing odd things to inanimate objects, we see here a statue honoring the employees of the Canadian Pacific Railway that were killed in both world wars. We were transfixed by the Brünnhilde-carrying-the-fallen-warriors-to-Valhalla image when this girl and her photographer showed up for a photo shoot that had nothing to do with Wagner or the CPR.
Canadian Interlude: Gingerbread Man
photo by Ballard Avenue
The downtown Hyatt Hotel sponsored a gingerbread house display featuring the World's Largest Gingerbread Man, as certified the Guiness Book of World Records. You see here 168 kg of gingerbread man and two girls planning something best not pictured in this family publication.
Canadian Interlude: A Scowling Heron
photo by Ballard Avenue
We visited the Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden and saw this heron channeling his inner Nixon atop the pagoda.
Canadian Interlude: CN train
photo by Ballard Avenue
We decided to leave Ballard last week and head north to visit our Canadian friends. We rode the excellent Amtrak Cascades service. All was well until we were done wrong by the railroad dispatcher. At Bellingham we found ourselves stuck behind a slow-moving freight train. We trundled north at a mere 20 mph. To add insult to injury, we had to stop as we approached the junction with the Canadian National Railway line south of Vancouver, BC. We watched Canada's longest freight train pass before us. To add more insult to injury, we had to wait even longer as a Canadian Pacific Railway train then passed by. Normally we don't mind watching trains go by but this was a little much.
Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year!
Good tidings we bring
to you and your kin
We wish you a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year!
Santas on Parade
The other day a hundred or so Santas were parading down Market Street. One was carrying a bottle of Santa's Little Helper.
Friday Cat: Emma Inside
Emma's favorite window overlooks the front door of her house, so she likes to sit there and watch everyone come and go.
She's internationally famous now, as you can see from visiting this site: Endless Good Time.
Four Dishes
Four apartments, four satellite dishes. There must be over 400 channels of TV in that building and still, there's nothing on worth watching.
Fennel seed
Fennel. A controversial plant around here. We used to get a box of organic produce each week. The farmer liked her fennel a bit too much for us. So, how many fennel bulbs can you eat in a week? Well, around here it's not many, as in none. Nada. No mas, señora, por favor.
We agree that the bulbs should be left in the ground as compost, but the seeds are another matter. Some of us here like fennel seed. It adds a certain something to tomato sauce. Some call it substance. Others call it skank. There will be peace in the Middle East before this dispute is resolved.
Skandia Kapell
photo by Ballard Avenue
The Nordic Heritage Museum, sponsor of Jülfest, is located in the old Daniel Webster elementary school. It's not an ideal space for a museum but it's certainly set up well for the language classes. Here the Norwegian classroom serves as the beer garden. Note the native costume on the fellow in the audience: cap, vest, and beer-in-hand.
The band, Skandia Kapell, plays around town for Scandinavian dances and events. You can hear them here.
Jülfest Duo
Remember this couple? We last saw them at Tivoli in July. Here they're playing at the Kaffestua at the Jülfest held at the Nordic Heritage Museum. Proving that we're no more competent reporters now than then, we still don't know who they are. We just like their music.
Locate Cannon
You better move those cars. The Ballard Regiment is thinking about putting some artillery on the corner of Ballard Avenue and Vernon Place.
Hawaiian Reprise: Pu'u 'O'o Venting into Ocean
The cupboard is bare, folks; there are no new pictures of Ballard to put here, so we return to Hawaii for a picture of the Pu'u 'O'o lava vent on the Big Island. The Park Service doesn't let you get very close to the action. They're worried about noxious fumes asphyxiating what's left of your lungs after microscopic shards of airborne volcanic glass cut them to shreds. It's not all tropical paradise over there in Hawaii.
Friday Cat: Thanksgiving
photo by Ballard Avenue
The mat's kind of scratchy but it's warmer than the concrete porch. For that we give thanks, Lord. Amen.
Mike's Chili Parlor
Located at the northeast end of the Ballard Bridge, Mike's Chili Parlor has served as the Gateway To Ballard for decades. Mike's is definitely Old Ballard. It's not trendy, it's not a hipster hangout. It's just a chili joint. And the beer is cold, too.
Friday Cat: It's Dangerous on 34th
photo by Ballard Avenue
It's tough being a cat on 34th Avenue NW. All day long people walk their dogs up 34th to go to the park. A cat just can't relax.
Self Portrait
E-mails pour in asking, "So what do you look like?" Well, if you ever see this foot around Ballard next summer, you'll know who puts this site together.
Dead End (Or Is It?)
A philosophical quandry to start your week with. There are some deep thinkers on NW 69th Street.
Ballard Bros. Burgers
Another business with "Ballard" in its name. The Ballard Bros. have been slinging burgers at community festivals for years. Recently they decided to settle down at this space along 15th Avenue NW. And after your burger (or perhaps a cajun blackened salmon fillet sandwich) you can get your nails done at Jenny's.
'Tis the Last Daisy of Summer
'Tis the last daisy of summer
and since we're not Sir John
this will be all the sappy rhyme you get
before we're up and gone...
'Tis the Last Rose of Summer
'Tis the last rose of summer,
Left blooming all alone,
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone.
No flower of her kindred,
No rose bud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,
Or give sigh for sigh.
I'll not leave thee, thou lone one,
To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go sleep thou with them;
'Thus kindly I scatter
Thy leaves o'er the bed
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead.
So soon may I follow
When friendships decay,
And from love's shining circle
The gems drop away!
When true hearts lie withered
And fond ones are flown
Oh! who would inhabit
This bleak world alone?
--Sir John Stevenson, 1761-1833
Auto Show: Lego Volvo
Not being cursed with penile inadequacy compensation needs, we find the Lego Volvo to be more our type of car. More precisely, we think it a Volvo covered with Legos, but as you can see, they didn't let us get too close to it.
Auto Show: PICD
You don't have to be a Freudian to know that a Hummer is just another Penile Inadequacy Compensation Device.
Auto Show
photo by Ballard Avenue
We loves us some auto show around here. There's nothing better than kicking a bunch of tires, slamming a bunch of doors, and smelling all those free hydrocarbons floating around the interior of all those shiny new cars. So we went to the auto show where you can do all that without the loving attention of a salesperson.
The cars are grouped by maker and it's interesting to see who's hot and who's not. This year hybrids are hot. Trucks are not. High-fiving white guys from downtown accounting firms all gather around the BMWs. 20-something Asian kids go straight for the Hondas and Acuras. Computer geeky types were hanging around the Volvos and Saabs. There were always lots of people in the Buick area but it was in the center of the hall. They were all going somewhere else.
Volkswagen was hot. Mercury, believe it or not, was hot. Mitsubishi and Kia were not. There was a lonely Kia Optima sedan over in the far corner of the hall. It's a nice but plain little sedan. It seemed so sad and lonely that we went over, sat in it and beeped the horn. The horn didn't work. The battery cable must have been removed. But we tried.
Sunset
photo by Ballard Avenue
This isn't today's sunset. Today's sunset was gray from horizon to horizon. During this sunset, a couple weeks ago, low-flying clouds were racing under the high clouds. The sun was just setting behind the Olympic Mountains, which explains why the low clouds are dark while the high clouds still reflect the sunlight.
Barrels
Back to Ballard with a picture of barrels. We think the idea was to keep dogs away from the trees. No one was home so we couldn't ask how they work. Or not.
Colorado Interlude: Stormy Monday
At last we come to the end of our Colorado Interlude. It was a rather drawn-out end: We spent six hours at the Denver airport watching departure signs change from "On Time" to "Delayed" to "Cancelled." It was the first snowstorm of the season and everything was a mess.
But Coloradoans are used to this sort of thing. They bore down and, despite it all, did their work. The fellow in the little guard shack at the rental car check-in was miserable in the 30mph winds. How would you like to be a $10 an hour baggage handler out in that slop? Almost heroic were the people running the aircraft de-icing equipment all night long. A tip of Ballard Avenue's cap to you all.
Thankfully our flight was only delayed, not cancelled, and we got out later that evening. Thanks, Colorado. Nice job!
Friday Cat: Looks Like Prince Tom
We turn away from Colorado for today's Friday Cat, a friendly Ballard feline who looks a lot like my grandmother's cat, Prince Tom. The original Prince Tom was a stray who wandered into her gravitational field in Payson, Arizona, in 1986. No cat (or person) caught up in her orbit ever escaped. From that moment on your life would be a great dinner party with all the good food and social intrigue you could ever want.
Colorado Interlude: Denver's La Boheme
Please tell me that Rodolfo and Marcello do not live upstairs in the Bradshaw Hotel.
Colorado Interlude: It Rains
Denver likes to talk about its 300 sunny days a year. We were there on one of the other 65.
Colorado Interlude: Black Diamonds
Large swaths of eastern Wyoming are being dug up for the coal underneath. The coal is loaded into mile-long trains and sent to powerplants in the East and South to feed the air conditioners. It's steady business for the railroad.
Colorado Interlude: 35P80
The sign tells us this is a crop of 35P80, a variety of corn developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a division of DuPont Chemical. 35P80 is a "Roundup Ready Hybrid", meaning you can douse the field in Roundup herbicide and it won't kill the corn. To do this, 35P80 contains genetic traits that have not been approved for planting in or export to the European Union.
Colorado Interlude: Haxtun
Family business took us to Haxtun, a tiny town on the high plains of northeastern Colorado. Haxtun is a grain elevator, a school, a hospital, and 750 of the nicest people you'll ever meet.
Colorado Interlude: Flyover Country
Looks like a lot of people were flying over Sterling, Colorado, earlier this month. Too bad they couldn't stop to enjoy this lovely day along the South Platte River.
Friday Cats: Shy
photo by Ballard Avenue
It's hard to believe they're brothers. Choo Choo is out front and in your face while Shy is quiet and watchful. Happily, both seem to have found a home at Laupahoehoe. Some cats have all the luck.
Ballard Pool
We return to our occasional series of Businesses With Ballard In Their Names. This is the Capt. Wm. R. Ballard Pool. I believe it is the only Ballard landmark that actually refers to Captain Ballard himself by name. I know it is the only Ballard landmark that thoroughly reeks of chlorine.
Jeanne's Sunflowers
Jeanne's sunflowers, aided by all that fabulous compost, grew so high they darn near got in the way of the seaplanes flying in and out of Lake Union.
Jeanne's Compost Redux
Hawaiian Interlude over, we're back in Ballard. Here we see Jeanne's compost pile. Faithful readers will remember that it used to be much bigger. Less-than-faithful readers can see what it looked like here. Jeanne did marvelous things with the compost and we'll show you a couple pictures later this week. Then we're going to have another Interlude...
Hawaiian Interlude: Scandinavian Shaved Ice
"Hey, where's the Ballard content? Or are you going to re-name this 'Hawaiian Avenue'?"
Point taken. Here's the last of our Hawaiian Interlude. Shaved ice is a big deal in Hawaii. It's just that—iced shaved into a cup with sweet fruit flavored syrup drizzled on top. The shop was closed so I can't be sure, but you'd have to think they offer lingonberry and cloudberry flavors.
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