photo by Ballard Avenue

She's gorgeous, she loves the piano, she likes to nuzzle your hand, and then she tries to rip it off your wrist. Life with her is a high stakes game.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Yes, there's little in this world quieter than a monastery and seminary during Christmas break, but had our timing been a little better, we might have heard these bells ring. Change ringing is pretty cool. These bells are driven by motors and chains, which is not quite proper, but nonetheless they must ring a glorious sound over the valley.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Sitting high above the valley is Mt Angel Abbey, founded in 1882 by Swiss German Benedictines. It's a pretty quiet place, as you would expect. About all we heard was the wind.

Sung by the choir and parishioners of Gloucester Cathedral.

photo by Ballard Avenue

A sunny winter day in the valley.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Elektra gets some solo lap time, never an easy thing to do with Elliott around. He gets jealous and this is what happens.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Green Lake Park. Why was the sky so blue? The arctic wind blew all the clouds away.

We're going away for a few days but will return with fabulous snapshots of Oregon's Willamette Valley. Stay tuned!

photo by Ballard Avenue

This cat was enjoying the warm sun at Ballard Baptist Church a few weeks ago. Remember the sun? Remember warm?

photo by Ballard Avenue

This is what lies at the bottom of the hole in the road you saw yesterday. I can't imagine what it was like for the occupants of this car as they discovered the hillside wasn't nearly as stable as they thought it was. Luckily, they weren't badly hurt, but that car's not coming out of there anytime soon.

photo by Ballard Avenue

The narrow road down to Golden Gardens Park is always a bit dicey, but after last week's heavy rains it's become downright nasty.

photo by Ballard Avenue

This photo of the lovely Mephista is provided as a community service to everyone overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Don't you feel yourself calming down already?

A little French waltz for your listening pleasure. The musicians are part of Rouge, a cabaret act in Seattle.

photo by Ballard Avenue

We saw a nurse log in West Seattle a while back, and it looks like we've got another up on 34th Avenue. I sure hope City Light does something with it before we get a row of little poles sprouting up in the spring.

photo by Ballard Avenue

At about 1/2 " a month, it took nearly two years to grow what you see here, and it's all now safely on its way to be made into wigs for chemotherapy patients. We'll be using a lot less shampoo around here now.

photo by Ballard Avenue

It's a sunny day, but much too cold to be losing your gloves. If you see someone with one hand jammed into a pocket, direct them over to NW 64th Street.

photo by Ballard Avenue

On this cold day, there's nothing nicer than having 30 lbs. of heater cats on your lap.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Looks like you can't drop off the brat here anymore. You have to take little Beelzebub to the Roadway Express depot yourself.

photo by Ballard Avenue

The weather turned really nasty today with a totally November display of rain, wind, and early darkness. So to warm Ballardonian hearts (and toes), here's a picture taken just a few days ago of some very late tomatoes. If they haven't been picked by now, they're compost.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Ballard's quirky Scandinavian character fades a little each year but you can still find signs of it around. This is the cornerstone of what is now Ballard Baptist Church. I guess at some point they decided to let the Norwegians in. By the back door, of course.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Someone uses the Botts' dots they find along the road to line their driveway over on 61st Street. Ballard's a recycling kind of town!

photo by Ballard Avenue

They're called Botts' dots, those little turtle-like bumps that mark the lanes on roads. The road crews glue them down with epoxy but they don't stay in place long. Where do they go?

photo by Ballard Avenue

Amber and Christine are away visiting family for Thanksgiving, so we stopped by and spent some time with the kids today. As you can see, all is well there, and we wish the same for you and yours this holiday.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Nuthin' but gray skies do I see.There's no Photoshop trickery here, folks. This is an authentic Sunday afternoon sky looking towards Blake and Bainbridge Islands. It's the sort of gray that drives the recently arrived here back to wherever they came from. But having lived under it all my life, I find its arrival each fall kind of comforting.

video by Ballard Avenue

The recent stormy weather grounded the gulls down at Golden Gardens. For some reason they like to stand in the empty parking lot facing the wind. The pigeon doing laps in the lower right hand corner is strangely charming.

photo by Ballard Avenue

After inflicting a duck butt on you yesterday, we try to make amends with another snap of the Most Charming Cat of 2007, His Highness ChooChoo II, Lord and Master of the Laupahoehoe Train Museum.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Now there's a title for a post: Duck butt. I'll check Google Analytics in a couple of days to see who finds their way to this blog whilst searching for "duck butt."

photo by Ballard Avenue

Red bean and barley soup. A perfect lunch on a windy and rainy day, especially when you're looking over Penn Cove from the Coupeville Coffeehouse.

photo by Ballard Avenue

The always rather mysterious Michael Maier Lodge of the Rosicrucians has closed. (It's seen here in better days). The building was old, leaky, and too big for them. It sits on some prime real estate a few blocks north of Market Street, so you have to think they got a nice price for it. The developer plans nine "cottage-style" houses on the property. Anything's fine as long as they're not those dreary townhouse piles that are popping up all over Ballard.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Well, it's a living...

Got PooP?

Relax! I'll take care of the messes in your yard so you don't have to.

Weekly visits, only $20
Biweekly visits just $12

Please call Jacki

Le Jardin du Luxembourg. Four girls from Osaka, four accordions, and "Sous le ciel de Paris." Life is good.

photo by Ballard Avenue

"Who me? I wasn't doin' nuthin'." She leapt for the bird, came up with nothing but air, and tried to put the best face on things as she came back around the garbage can.

photo by Ballard Avenue

No, she's not stalking the garbage can. There was a bird on the ground behind the stone wall. This cat likes her wings on the hoof.

photo by Ballard Avenue

The geese are heading south, but this cormorant plans to stick around town and show off a bit. He'll tell you he's just drying his wings but we know better...

photo by Ballard Avenue

"C'mon everyone! It's only 1838 miles to Cabo San Lucas! First round's on me!"

photo by Ballard Avenue

This gaggle of geese decided that a foggy day is a good day to start on their migration south.

photo by Ballard Avenue

How quiet was it at Matthews Beach Park this foggy morning? The "snap" of the camera startled the sea gulls milling around behind me.

photo by Ballard Avenue

It's out there. Elliott Bay, gateway to the other six continents and all seven seas, lies under that fog bank behind the woods. It could get dicey for ships out there in the fog, but thankfully the Coast Guard has a ship traffic control system that helps everyone stay out of each others' way.

video by Exit133.com
Orpheus in the Underworld is Jacques Offenbach's wacky take on the Orpheus myth. Written in 1858, he turns the tragedy into a comedy, and along the way skewers nearly everything about the Paris musical scene he found annoying. The libretto, regardless of how freely it may be translated from the French, is a scandal, and the music...well, imagine Rossini crashing into Gilbert and Sullivan.

Tacoma Opera puts on a big show on a small budget, and they make the long drive to the City of Destiny worthwhile.

More Discovery Park/Fort Lawton: This is part of what yesterday's house overlooks. Here we see the old parade ground, where soldiers would practice close order drill and march in review. The parks department has let the native vegetation re-grow (and worked to get rid of invasive plants like blackberries and English ivy). I wonder what all those soldiers who spent all those hours policing the grounds would think of what's happened to their old post today.

photo by Ballard Avenue

This autumnal scene isn't out in the country somewhere. It's actually in a Seattle park. Discovery Park is the old Fort Lawton, a US Army post overlooking Puget Sound. Some of the post buildings still stand. This house might have served as quarters for a senior officer as it sits by itself on a bluff overlooking much of the post.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Enough with the Hawaii pix (tho' we've a few more in the can to pull out on a slow news day). Upon arriving back from the islands, we found the city had started into autumn without us.

photo by Ballard Avenue

He gets no style points, but the water's fine on this fine day.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Ka`i hangs out at the Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden. Sadly, there's no shortage of abandoned and feral cats in Hawaii. The lucky ones, like Ka`i, find a way to adopt people. He earns his keep patrolling the garden and charming visitors.

video by Ballard Avenue

Stressed out? Come sit with us at Onomea Stream. Take a deep breath. Kick off your shoes. Swat mosquitoes. Ah, bliss.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Even paradise has its dangers.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Halema`uma`u Crater, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Perfect for orcs.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Surfers on Oahu's North Shore brag about the really big waves, but let's see them tackle the rock-strewn surf on the Big Island.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Back in '05 we met ChooChoo and Shy, the cats at the Laupahoehoe Train Museum. We stopped by to see how the kids were doing, but they weren't there! The museum volunteer said they'd been adopted by some neighbors. But every train station, even a retired station-now-museum, needs a cat and luckily ChooChoo II showed up a few weeks ago. What a doll!

We're off to the Sandwich Isles for a week. It's a family thing. Take my advice: Stash your favorite relatives in your favorite places.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Once again, it's to the vaults for our weekly cat. We had Fortitude a while back, now we must have Patience until I get out with the camera to meet more Ballard cats.

photo by Ballard Avenue

He was just hangin' around waiting for something to happen.

photo by Ballard Avenue

No fresh Ballard cat photos today, so we turn to the vaults for this snap from last spring's trip to New York. If you're living on the Upper West Side, Manhattan Cat Specialists looks like a pretty good place to get little Felix fixed.

She's from Belgium, he's from Catalunya, and they've got that French thing down pat. Please give it up for 21 BOuTONS!

photo by Ballard Avenue

We've seen the bridge down here and here; now someone wants to see the bridge up. Done.

photo by Ballard Avenue

It's time for another Ballard cat and, given the change of season, it should be a cat of fall colors.

photo by Ballard Avenue

The freighter Lietta, registered in the Marshall Islands, takes on a load of grain at Terminal 86 of the Port of Seattle. I don't imagine there are many ports where you can use a rose garden to frame your photo of port operations.

photo by Ballard Avenue

It's not easy being a salmon. Everyone wants a piece of you, as this fish found out. Was it a seal? A sea lion? A boat propeller? Who knows. It's hard to imagine carrying on with the migration home when you have a chunk taken out of your side, but remember there's some good fish lovin' waiting for you when you get there.

map from Google Analytics

At long last I decided to find out where you all come from. Of the first 24 visitors today, 18 came from the US, and there was one each from Canada, the UK, Portugal, Brazil, and Angola. Angola! How does someone in Angola end up on Ballard Avenue? World Wide Web, indeed!

Considering that half of the international readership comes from Portuguese-speaking countries, we'll get cracking on the Portuguese translation of Ballard Avenue muito rapidamente.