...and oh, how productive we'll be. There might even be more posts here!

photo by Ballard Avenue

Sadly, we have no pictures of educated fleas doing it.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Last spring a pair of osprey built a nest on the south tower of the Salmon Bay railroad bridge. They didn't seem to mind the noisy trains and appreciated the salmon run in the Ship Canal below. We watched to see if there would be little bundles of osprey joy in the summer, but no such luck. They flew off elsewhere in the fall.

A friend who knows about such things thinks our osprey were adolescent birds who weren't quite ready for parenthood. But since osprey tend to mate for life and return to the same nest year after year, perhaps we'll have wee little ospreys dive bombing the sockeye next summer. Perhaps we'll then have a better camera to get some pix of them, too.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Ashton is a big boy and loves his dinner.

Please stay tuned.

You want some a capella harmony? Well, you can't go wrong with three Welshmen.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Back from the beach, Carkeek Park is the Land of the Bigleaf Maple. How big is that leaf? That's a size 6 shoe.

photo by Ballard Avenue

We caught these fellows trying to catch a salmon or two the same day we saw the kayakers. Maybe we should add four more cold feet to the day's total.

The barbershop quartet Premiere hung up their tight chords in 2006, but got back together in 2008 for a tribute to their mentor, Freddie King. They said goodbye with this very nice performance of Auld Lang Syne.

Happy New Year to you all.

photo by Ballard Avenue

We saw these kayakers off Carkeek Park in early December. Sea kayakers are pretty hardcore. These must be the fourteen coldest feet south of Nome.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Remember the house where the Fiats used to rust? The remodeling has come along nicely. At first, the small scale of the remodel was a little surprising. Over the past few years, similar remodels around here have been gargantuan in ambition, cost, and size. Given that the country is now making a rough transition to a reality-based economy, this modest remodel probably makes much more sense.

After more than a week of winter wonderland, this was something good to see.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Classicists that we are, we like a proper three-snowball snowman with carrot nose. But, alas, his eyes didn't survive the warming temperatures.

photo by Ballard Avenue

There's Chicago-style pizza, Chicago-style politics, and Chicago-style sidewalk shoveling. Lookit dose square corners and dey's no snow 'r ice anywherez. Dissis duh bes'!

If you'll indulge us in one more bit of Christmas music, here's six hands performing a four hands arrangement of "Sleigh Ride."

In the Bleak Midwinter
arr. Harold Darke

The choir of Hereford Cathedral

Here you will find a lovely performance of the more well-known arrangement by Gustav Holst.

Judy Garland
Meet Me in St Louis

photo by Ballard Avenue

"If it snows the shop will be closed. I can't get up the hill.
Thanks, Gene"

Gene's got the barber shop next to Walter's Cafe and he's been keeping much of Sunset Hill well-groomed for a long time, but unless the snow melts, there'll be some shaggy-looking fellows at Christmas dinners this year.

The accordionists name is Lillo, and he seems to be the nicest guy.

photo by Ballard Avenue

Continuing our efforts to be the news source you trust for lost-clothing-in-Ballard stories, we're proud to run this exclusive on the lost sockies of 32nd Avenue. If they're yours, you better get over there before the next snowfall buries them.