Flamingo mating dance


photo by Ballard Avenue

The weather warms up and so do the plastic flamingos.

Mr Bill's


photo by Ballard Avenue

Serving southeast Ballard for at least 30 years, Mr Bill's has all kinds of beers, most of your major brands of cigarettes, a full selection of salty snack treats, and milk.

The Southeast Corner of Ballard


photo by Ballard Avenue

Beyond this sign lies The Outside.

Good Thing It's Not Raining Today


photo by Ballard Avenue

We were walking over near the southeast corner of Ballard when we heard a strange sawing sound. Turns out it was a guy putting skylights in his house. He had an audience of a half-dozen neighbors and we all cheered when the chunk of roof disappeared from view.

Yellow Roses


photo by Ballard Avenue

These lovely roses bring to mind the Mitch Miller Singers c. 1958 singing "Yellow Rose of Texas," and that's a shame. Whatever nobility and honor the name "Texas" used to suggest has been replaced in our Bush-DeLay world by stupidity and thuggery.

Friday Cats: You Are Getting Sleepy


photo by Ballard Avenue

Getting? Looks like he's already there.

Syttendae mai: Unicycle Drill Team


photo by Ballard Avenue

Not to be outdone by the SPD, the Wildcats from Whittier Elementary put on quite a show with their unicycle drill team.

Syttendae mai: Your Tax Dollars At Work


photo by Ballard Avenue

Leading off the parade every year is the motorcycle drill team from the Seattle Police Department. Now, to some of us Ballardites, the SPD is something of an occupation force, the long arm of the hegemonists who robbed Ballard of its independence long ago. That said, it's still pretty neat to watch them throw those Harleys around.

They weave in and out, back and forth, up and down, with maximum spit and polish and pearl-handled revolvers. For one day a year they're cool. The rest of the year they're just writin' you up for nothin'.

Syttendae mai: Child Care


photo by Ballard Avenue

Even Viking warriors sometimes get stuck with the child care and have to bring the the tykes along when plundering and pillaging.

Syttendae mai: Spongebob Furthers the Agenda


photo by Ballard Avenue

Unlike a few years ago, when a local fundamentalist church sponsored a Passion of the Christ-type exhibition to the shocked horror of all, this year's parade saw Spongebob Squarepants Furthering the Homosexual Agenda. Oh, that Spongebob! What a card!

Syttendae mai: Let's Monorail


photo by Ballard Avenue

The Monorail is supposed to come to Ballard so the Monorail agency sent the interns over with their parade train. We at Ballard Avenue love the Monorail but are dismayed at the glacial pace of the project. I fear this is the only monorail we're likely to see for awhile.

Syttendae mai: Sailors on Shore Leave


photo by Ballard Avenue

These young sailors enjoyed the Syttendae mai parade with Grandpa.

Friday Cats: Poof


photo by Ballard Avenue

She wasn't impressed with the idea that she would soon be world famous.

Syttendae mai: Bunader


photo by Ballard Avenue

It was another great Syttendae mai parade. We'll post some pictures of it over the next few days. Here you see a group of Norwegian women wearing their bunader, the national dress of Norway. Different regions of Norway have different styles of bunader, rather like different clans in Scotland have different tartans. I don't know what region this group represents but they look pretty good doing it.

Syttende mai


photo by Ballard Avenue

It's Norwegian Constitution Day, the day Norway got its independence from Sweden. And this year it's even bigger for this is the centennial of that great day.

Ballard always does Sytennde mai right. We have a parade, music, food, and dancing at the Leif Erikson lodge. All the Norwegians take the day off and that sort of thing is contagious, you know.

Click this link for a recording of the Norwegian national anthem.
Here is a translation of the words:

Yes, we love with fond devotion
T
his our land that looms
Rugged, storm-scarred o'er the ocean,
With her thousand homes.
Love her, in our love recalling
Those who gave us birth.
And old tales which night, in falling,
Brings as dreams to earth

Norseman, whatsoe'er thy station,

Thank thy God, Whose power
Willed and wrought the land's salvation
In her darkest hour.
All our mothers sought with weeping
And our sires in fight,
God has fashioned, in His keeping,
Till we gained our right.

Yes,we love with fond devotion

This our land that looms
Rugged, storm-scarred o'er the ocean,
With her thousand homes.
And, as warrior sires have made her
Wealth and fame increase,
At the call we too will aid her,
Armed to guard her peace.

Two Red Tulips


photo by Ballard Avenue

The tulips are long gone but here's a reminder of just how cool they can be.

Criminal Trespass Prohibited


photo by Ballard Avenue

Now and again I'll run into an obstacle on the walk-every-street-in-Ballard project. This one bothered me for a moment but then I realized it didn't apply to me. I wasn't intending anything criminal. I just needed to get across the schoolyard.

Friday Cats: Big Hair


photo by Ballard Avenue

She was a tiny thing, really, but all that hair made her look practically Amazonian.

I Don't Know Much About Art But I Know What I Like


photo by Ballard Avenue

This kinetic sculpture graces a Ballard front yard. The "blades" clank slightly as it rotates in the breeze.

G. I. Joe Buys a House


photo by Ballard Avenue

There are hundreds of little houses like this all over Ballard. Built in the heady days after World War 2, they were snapped up by veterans using VA loans. They might have gone to school on the GI Bill. Now they were working and starting families. Some simple and enlightened government policies were helping millions to get a good start on their lives.

They're pretty much gone now, those veterans. But the little homes they bought and loved and kept up are helping today's Ballardonians get a good start on their lives. It's a pity the policies of the current government make that harder.

Across the Border


photo by Ballard Avenue

The other day we were patrolling the border between Ballard and The Outside. This picture looks across the DMZ towards Phinney Ridge. The Ridge isn't a bad place (and we once lived there way back in the day), but it's become a bit twee over the years. A little too precious, a little too neat, a little too obsessed with their rising real estate values. Well, Ballard's are rising very well themselves, thank you, yet we don't go all ga-ga over the latest yoo-hoo from the real estate Authorities. Living on the Ridge is all about having the latest, the most tasteful, the must-have thing you read about in Sunset or Metropolitan Home last month. It's all about insecurity and collecting stuff to assuage it. By contrast, living in Ballard is simply about being right with the world.

Sidewalk Closed


photo by Ballard Avenue

Every now and then you run into obstacles when you try to walk every street in Ballard. I think this was a new sewer line project. Luckily there were no cars near so we just walked down the middle of the street. Don't tell Mom!

Saturday Cats: Standoffish


photo by Ballard Avenue

Not every cat wants its picture taken, I guess.

Sailboats in the harbor


photo by Ballard Avenue

It was a very nice sunset down at the marina.

Ichiro


photo by Ballard Avenue

Continuing this little baseball theme, we see Ichiro at rest while there's a pitching change. There's nobody like him in baseball and we're lucky to have him here.

Home Plate


photo by Ballard Avenue

You guessed it--there's a pitching stripe 50 feet down the sidewalk. Looks like there's an aspiring fast-pitch softball pitcher living nearby.

Long Haul with the Groceries


photo by Ballard Avenue

It better be a good party, for that's a long way to carry a couple cases of beer.

Green Ivy


photo by Ballard Avenue

Remember the Red Ivy over at the other site? Here it is six months later all fresh and green.

Lick Your Plate Clean


photo by Ballard Avenue

Oh boy, last night's tartar sauce!