photoillustration by Ballard Avenue

Someone around this blog is turning 50 and could think of no better way to mark that than to visit New York. Come back in 10 days for pictures and stories...

photo by Ballard Avenue

"Who's that sitting in our chair?"

photo by Ballard Avenue

Some of the azaleas are downright dangerous these days. Look at these. They're so bright they overload the camera's exposure control. And this was on a cloudy day! You better stand back 25' when the sun is out or you'll get burned.

photo by Ballard Avenue

A new car needs a day out, so I chose to visit my college in Bellingham. I hadn't been there in 20 years. It always seemed a dangerous thing to do. My college years were not easy years. What sort of memories would be disinterred? What regrets for paths not chosen?

Perhaps it was the sunny day. Perhaps it was the sunny Beetle I was driving. Or perhaps it was because everywhere I looked I recalled a good memory of friends, adventures, and love. My years at college were full of the usual anxieties and then some, to be sure. As I said, they were not easy years. But it was there that I learned how to live this life, to enjoy its good moments while working through the rest, and it was on this sunny day that I finally realized that. Thanks, Western. Thanks, Bellingham. I owe you one.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Come summer, the poolside scene at the Lock Vista apartments is hoppin'. Babes. Hunks. The clink of ice cubes in drinks. Laughter. Looks. And who knows what from there?

Well, that's what I heard. At any rate, it's apparent this duck is a little early for all the fun. Sorry, Mr. Duck. It's 52° today. All the babes, hunks, and fun are indoors.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Wow. Can you believe it? This little corner of webspace got a mention in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. It's all well and good to be mentioned elsewhere on the web, but for we ink-stained wretches who trained on manual Underwoods, being mentioned in newsprint is everything. Wrap fish in it, clean up after the puppy with it, I don't care. Ballard Avenue is in the P-I!

photo by Ballard Avenue

Karen is in India doing good things, so we present this picture of her cats, Elektra and Elliott, as they go about their business at the dinner table. Elektra, you better get busy there because you know Elliott's going to get busy with your dinner if you don't.

photo by Ballard Avenue

There's a new boulevardier on Ballard Avenue these days. I traded in the ancient Mitsubishi for the cutest little silver Beetle. OK, it looks much like all the other silver Beetles but this one's mine and that makes it cuter. And the little VW flower is the cherry on top of the sundae, that's for sure.

photo by Ballard Avenue

If you got hula hoops you don't need walkers.

photo by Ballard Avenue

She's a flighty one to be sure, but in time, Emma will find a lap and settle down.

There are Ballard pictures in the camera but no time to do anything with them, so we dig deep into the vaults and retrieve this short clip of Brooklyn's Jeanette Lewicki singing Piaf.