little fart car

Look at how this little fart parked. I had a difficult time finding a parking spot when I was waiting for Inday today, and I ended up hugging the back of a large Bakery truck. I took this photo from my driver's side window.
And with a nice little Smart car like that, what was he doing coming back from the free food line at the nearby church? Oh well...

"Winter is like a snow man..."

from the author Nathan, in the second grade:

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"Taking the measure of a life", by Jerry Large of the Seattle Times:
"Someone shot and killed Tanaya Gilbert last week. The first question is: Why? No reason would be a good one, but surely something powerfully moved whoever held the gun."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/jerrylarge/2015644214_jdl18.html

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Owls
I like this photo, from this morning's Times:

"Raptor, wildlife center preps eight owls for release"
http://www.sequimgazette.com/news/article.exm/2011-07-14_raptor__wildlife_center_preps_eight_owls_for_release

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Bunny
I just remembered taking a photo of this cute little guy back in June. It wasn't much larger than a big softball. He just froze, and I clicked away:

one jogger and five bunnies...

The following was my FB entry just now: "I even like riding my bicycle in the rain! Got out early today, and encountered only one jogger and five bunnies...seriously. When I'm walking, I just stop and take pictures, but flying along on my bike, I have to be careful of the little critters..."

I'm going to look into some rain gear before Winter. Maybe even sooner. My jeans were soaked against my thighs before I was a third into my ride. I might have to consider some of those cute little bicycle shorts, even with my 'chicken legs'. I like riding right from my house, and being on the Green River Trail in less than 5 minutes! Today was a round-trip between here and the Ft Dent soccer fields. And I won't be limping around most of the day with my bad left heel. I'm giving in and going to a Podiatrist this week.

I haven't been taking many photos lately, but I got a few good photobook deals with Groupon recently, and I'm hoping to put something together asap.

"Seriousness is an accident of time."

"It consists in putting too high a value on time. In eternity there is no time. Eternity is a mere moment, just long enough for a joke."
HERMANN HESSE

good read

I'm being surprised by how much I'm enjoying "Cybill Disobedience", the autobiography of Cybill Shepard. Really good. I got it when it was one of the Kindle 'Free Book' offerings quite awhile back but held off reading it because I thought it wouldn't be any good. Definitely a good read for movie buffs.
cr

"5 roads to nowhere"

I posted the Walking article (bottom of this post) on FB just now, and I'm adding the "5 roads to nowhere" here. It ties together two of my favorite things right now, time allowing... Good reads both.
riding and/or walking
"Outdoors writer Mike McQuaide (Special to The Seattle Times), fresh from penning a Mountaineers guidebook to Washington cycling routes, offers his five favorite roads to the middle of nowhere — suitable for riding or driving."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/outdoors/2015595986_nwwnowhere14.html

walking
"Rediscover the world while walking — around Alki, or anywhere...
Connie McDougall (Special to The Seattle Times) got hard-wired for walking during a stint on Spain's Camino de Santiago. She set out to find inspiration from an urban walk around the complete outer rim of the Alki Point peninsula."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/outdoors/2015602156_nwwalkiwalk14.html

This morning's Seattle Times had several stories I liked/found interesting...

1. Advocate for disabled feted; she never let others sell her son short...
Margaret Lee Thompson, 66, one of the state's leading advocates for the rights of the developmentally disabled, stepped down last month after 21 years as parent coalition coordinator for The Arc of King County, a 75-year-old organization that promotes the rights of the developmentally disabled.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2015590508_thompson13m.html

2. Culture, hard lessons drive GOP's anti-tax stand
The Republican Party's anti-tax stand is aided by a public with conflicting wishes. Voters generally oppose large deficits, higher taxes and cuts in programs that benefit them, a painless but impossible combination.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2015589080_taxes13.html

3. Big pimpin' at Village Voice Media | Lynne Varner / Times editorial columnist
Village Voice Media's focus on the accuracy of a study about the number of sex-trafficking victims is a distraction from the fact that the company's personal and escort-services ads have created a profit center built on prostitution and sexual exploitation.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2015588895_lynne13.html

One thing I've missed with my different morning routine is the photo editing when I return home. With my bicycling, I haven't been taking photos. I made myself stop and take some shots today, of the sand bars on the other side of the river. A little blah, but the lighting was nice.

Also, I uploaded some photos from Bob's and my trip to the Museum of Flight last Thursday. I call them
a Nose for planes

I have been enjoying my new bike so much! I'm not taking as many photos right now, but I'm thinking my morning ritual will evolve into 'bike rides with photo op destinations'

this morning along Airport Way, on the way back from taking Inday into work, before my bike ride

the only time I stopped during my bicycling this morning:
some river patterns near the Communtity Center

playing with the color

Chuckie LOVES his new bicycle!

http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Product_10052_10551_1083427_-1___

The photo below shows one of my favorite times of the day. This is where I usually check my email, etc, and maybe read the paper before my morning walk (or bicycle ride now...) Notice the heater between the coffee table and the sofa? I optimistically turned down the thermostat on the fireplace last week. After all, it's already a week into July! right?
I like the sunlight coming in through the shutters, and the patterns created on the walls, the reflections on the coffee table, etc. Life is good.

back on the bicycle again...

If huffing and puffing is any indication, bicycling can be a good form of exercise. I took my first bike ride in ions this morning, and it felt so damn good! I left right from my house (no car trip to a walking trail...), and I covered three of my walking options in one excursion. Having injured my left foot awhile back, I haven't been walking as much lately, and I've missed being out there a lot!
Riding along my favorite river trails today, I recalled my days in Ube Japan, Boulder Colorado, and Bellingham (after my beloved 'Grindybolts' died - my old Ford Econoline Van) - a bicycle was my primary mode of transportation...

a few more shots from this past weekend...

Busy busy the fast several days. A few random shots...

I like these variations on the fireworks, especially the last squiggly one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenang/5854234648/

Looking at the group of three big buildings to the left, our condo is in the middle building. The "Edgecoaster" and "Skywalk" are on top of the Crown Regency Hotel, the tallest one, and they now have some zip lines going from the top of the hotel to the top of our Condo. If I wanted, I could walk out of our condo, take the skybridge to Club Ultima or over to the Hotel, go up to the top floor, and take a zip line back home.
The building on the right is actually on a different site further back. If you zoom in a little, you can make out the Club Ultima building, which is a smaller building just in front of Fuente Residences (about half the height). Club Ultima was the first building put up at that site, the one we visited originally, and where/when we decided to buy/reserve a condo. The tallest one, the CR Hotel, was the second one to be built.
I do miss Cebu...

This morning's walk was sort of blah, but this Speed Limit sign for bicycles is interesting. It's completely hidden by the shrubbery

Speed Limit 15MPH

closeup of an old train bridge pillar, converted to Solar

Green on green

here's looking at you

concrete vines

a lot of lines and shadows today...