Special Tuesday cat: Paw jive


photo by Ballard Avenue

He's got that Pips thing going with his paws.

West Point


photo by Ballard Avenue

Ah, Seattle. Such a beautiful city. It's physical location unparalled. Water, mountains, and forests everywhere. Perhaps it's spoiled by it all. How else could you explain the civic complacency that would allow for the construction of this sewage treatment plant on a quarter mile of the best beach on Puget Sound.

Flying free


photo by Ballard Avenue

Would you restrain this aerial artist with a leash?

"We don' need no stinkin' leash law"


photo by Ballard Avenue

She's running free and you'll see why tomorrow...

Syttendae mai: Norwegians loose on the streets


photo by Ballard Avenue

In today's climate of hyped-up immigration hysteria, we await the outraged e-mails: "Damned furriners ain't got no 'Murikan flags!"

Syttendae mai: Librarian Drill Team


photo by Ballard Avenue

Without a doubt, the hit of the parade. They can weave those book carts back and forth with such precision, they overshadowed even the Seattle Police Department motorcycles.

Syttendae mai: Hey! What's goin' on there?


photo by Ballard Avenue

What's going on behind those Norwegian flags?

Friday cats: Getting down to business


photo by Ballard Avenue

While they miss Karen, Elektra and Elliott haven't let that get in the way of a good meal.

Syttendae mai: Whittier unicyclists


photo by Ballard Avenue

You have to love the Syttendae mai parade and you have to love the freewheeling anarchy of the Whittier Elementary School unicyclists.

Syttendae mai: Norwegian Comet


photo by Ballard Avenue

Hurra for Syttendae mai! Yes, it's Norwegian Independence Day, and that's a Big Deal in Ballard, you betcha. How big? Big enough that someone went to all the trouble to put a Norwegian flag on their '75 Mercury Comet. Now that's patriotism! Hurra!

Cherries under construction, part 4


photo by Ballard Avenue

The blossoms are all gone, but as you can see from this squirrel's-eye view, the trees are looking pretty good right now.

Robin Redbreast


photo by Ballard Avenue

He was so proud of himself sitting on that wire of a fine Sunday morning that you could have heard him over in Seattle.

Mt Rainier


photo by Ballard Avenue

It looms over Ballard and we await its next eruption...

Friday cat: Elektra


photo by Ballard Avenue

Like Elliot last week, Elektra's missin' Mom. The orange fluffy toy-on-a-string simply doesn't have the same pizazz when there's a stranger at the other end.

Chalk girl's balloon


photo by Ballard Avenue

At last, the money shot.

Chalk girl's string


photo by Ballard Avenue

Patience, dears...

Chalk girl


photo by Ballard Avenue

It's going to take three days to finish this story.

What is wrong with this picture?


photo by Ballard Avenue

Where are the dandelions? Who has a yard without dandelions? Someone you don't really want to know, that's for sure.

Friday cat: Elliott


photo by Ballard Avenue

Karen is working in Tanzania for a few weeks so we're looking after her cats. After a few days of our care, Elliott looks out the door wondering when the hell is Mom coming home.

The patient didn't survive the operation


photo by Ballard Avenue

It started out as a minor pruning but they went a bit overboard trying to achieve perfect symmetry.

Bob's Ballard TV


photo by Ballard Avenue

Ballard watched Ed Sullivan on Bob's TVs, and when the tubes overheated and smoked out the house, Bob would get in his truck and race to the rescue. After all, you didn't want to miss the guy with the spinning plates who came on after Vic Damone.

Tacoma interlude: Chihuly's grocery bags


photo by Ballard Avenue

Our self-imposed 65-word limit renders a full discussion of glass artist Dale Chihuly's essential lameness impossible, but you would be excused if you thought this work on his "Bridge of Glass" in Tacoma was actually a collection of grocery bags nailed to a lamppost. Thankfully Tacoma's lovely old Union Station, now a US Courthouse, offers up a little creative legitimacy to the picture.