Alki Beach Walking Club

I have started walking earlier in the morning and am being paced by a few other regulars who have walked the beach for years. You can barely see the Bald Eagle sitting on top of the light pole.

At one time this morning we had a total of ten walkers in our group! We have started joking that we are members of the Alki Beach Walking Club. It's sort of a defensive move. A number of the walkers enjoy coffee and chit chat after the walk. At one point last week they were "told" to move by another local social group which had decided that they "owned" those particular tables. Notice that I am intentionally leaving out lots and lots of details. So, the suggestion was made that maybe we needed to be an offical "club" in order to get tables for coffee time.

In actuality of course, anybody who walks Alki is a member of the club. We're all in this together.

The Advantages of Insomnia............

Sorry I don't have a photo of tonight's spectacular lunar eclipse. Believe me, I have tried taking a photo of the moon before and it just never works for me.

I spent over an hour in our backyard tonight (from about 3 to 4 am) drinking hot tea and bundled up in my hoodie patiently watching the Earth's shadow cross over the moon's surface. I set up a deck chair out on the lawn in order to get a good view and just sat. What a show! And no clouds anywhere to obscure the view.

I'm never outside at this time of night, although I'm often awake. The eclipse gave me a good reason to get out and reexperience the notion of "peace and quiet." Perfect conditions for contemplation. About how no matter how much we might screw up our environment, there's no way for us to screw up eclipses. They will still be happening long after we are gone.

Here's a web site with more info and pictures.
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/08/27/335236.aspx

Beach Sculpture

Some really cool sculptures down on the beach this morning. Someone spent a lot of time and effort on these. Our mystery beach artist..............

Keep Your Dogs off the Beach!

I haven't been tracking the baby seals too closely, but I do know they are around and are having a hard time finding peaceful places to rest.

I did spot one this morning, but I won't tell you where. He was sleeping on an outcropping which was completely surrounded by water. It should have protected him from most of the beach walkers. As I was watching from afar, he was chased off the rocks by two huge golden retrievers - off leash. Their owner just looked up at me and said, "Sorry."

I could see the baby's head bobbing in the water. Occasionally he looked back toward the dogs. I never did see the mother show up.

I'll just leave it at that. I'm not going to get all preachy. I will say that I have a dog. I walk it every day. And I follow the rules. He's always on a leash and never on the beach.

My friend Casey. (Not my dog.)

A Second Baby Seal

A huge scene down at the beach this morning at about 7 as a second baby seal appeared. He was sleeping just about 50 yards away from the first one who was there again as well. Someone has named this baby seal "Spot" and the first one "Spud."

Good samaritans have been posting warning signs, arranging traffic cones and setting up "crime tape." Some people have been keeping round-the-clock watch to make sure the seals aren't touched by people or attacked by dogs. But the Parks Dept. came and took down some of the cones and told everybody just to leave the seals alone.

This is a good time to remind people to ALWAYS keep their dogs off the beach - whether leashed or not. The beach rule is not just to keep the beach clean, but also to protect wildlife. There is a $500 fine if you let your dog on the beach and a $2,000 fine if you touch or harass a seal.

Baby Seal

Please be on the lookout for a baby seal that has been lying on the beach this week across the street from the Cactus Restaurant near 63rd SW. Most of you already know that the baby seals are left on the beach while their mothers fish for salmon in the Sound. And that the moms won't retrieve the babies if they have been touched by humans.

Installation Art..........

Well, I have been walking, although I haven't been posting much.

I've been trying to walk a few more hills for aerobic exercise. And since there aren't a lot of hills at the beach, I have had to go "inland" a bit. One morning this week I was slogging through a downpour in some nondescript residentical area and came face to face with this. Yes, it is a phone pole decorated with wads of chewed up gum. And it looks as if at one time the pieces of gum were arranged in the shape of a heart.

Oh, the speculations that came up with this one. It does seem as if there are so many pieces of gum, of so many different types, that this project must be ongoing, rather than a one shot deal. Who could chew all this gum at one time? I'm wondering if there is a group of neighborhood kids who are collaborating on this. Or if there is one person who "drops their gum off" daily as they walk home from work. Or maybe two different people are carrying on a romantic conversation from a distance - each one making an equal contribution.

Don't I have a quirky mind. I'm probably the only one in West Seattle who is at all intrigued by this.

Sorry, this probably doesn't qualify as "beach walk" material. But I did get to Alki Beach later in my route, if that counts. Anyway, I'm getting too many blogs and don't need another category...........

Sitting by Magnolia's Water

In all this heat I've been trying to stay close to the water. Of course I've spent a lot of time down at Alki sitting in the comfotable breeze. But while running errands yesterday I found myself near one of my favorite fish & chips spots: Little Chinook's at Fishermen's Terminal. It was fun to sit by THEIR water (Magnolia's) for a change of pace.

A Breath of Fresh Air

It really surprised me this morning when I got down to the beach and discovered that we had a stiff North wind blowing in off the water. For some reason the water always turns navy blue when the wind is from the North. It's a Monday and the energy of summer weekend activities has dissipated.

Tai Chi at "Anchor Park"


Buddhist Monks

Small World Syndrome

So, I was out of state visiting my good friend Carol who I have known for more than 35 years (more about that trip later when I have time). We got to talking about her cousin who is also an artist. Who is a sculptor in Seattle. Who was fascinated by Cowboys and Indians when he was a kid. Who makes outdoor re-creations of famous Western cowboy and indian battle scenes. And is making one to install on the beach near San Francisco.

Got it yet? That's right. Her cousin is none other than Thom Ross, the artist whose work was seen briefly on Alki Beach this spring. More info about him can be seen in the May 27th post below.

The moral to the story is to always mind your P's and Q's because you never know who knows who.

Beach Glitter, etc.

Beach Glitter


Pirate Flag at Blue Bottle Park


Checkerboard Shell on the Bulkhead


Grayscale Evening


Dancing on the Beach. This was the first time I had seen this. Someone had taped together a large number of cardboard sheets and laid them on the sand as a dance floor. These dancers were really good and seemed to be having fabulous fun as well.

JOHNSTONS' FLAG

Happy Fourth of July. It's good to be back in town. We live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. I've really missed walking the beach.

Jack Kornfield

I attended a workshop with Jack Kornfield in June. I was hoping to get some information about the relationship between creativity and meditation. He didn't say too much about that. But toward the end of the afternoon he advised, "Walk By Water." Well, I could have told him that. I walk by water every day - almost. But it was nice to hear someone like him validate what I do. Too bad this is such a bad photo. It's a phone photo. I didn't want to start taking photos of him like I was some kind of a groupie.

Jury Duty

I spent the end of May and beginning of June in downtown Seattle on jury duty in King County Superior Court. We were hearing a civil case. Washington State's Department of Social and Health Services was being sued by four siblings - foster children who had been abused for five and a half years in two separate foster care homes. I've linked a news web site about the case to the title "Jury Duty" above. It made me very sad to think that while those kids were living in terror, I was blithely walking my dog at the beach.

For a while I thought maybe I would write a longer account of the trial and post it over on my Personal Blog. But I've decided that I need to move on and you don't need to hear the gory details.

The afternoon I finally got home, I grabbed my stuff and went out for a two hour walk. Needless to say, after nearly four weeks of not walking much, I got some pretty bad blisters.

Below are some of the photos I took during my low tide, Sunday afternoon walk in early June. I have finally had some time to edit and post them.

People










Places








And Things

Glorious Day!

I have lived in the Alki neighborhood for a long time. I hate to admit that for many years I never took the time to walk the beach during the June low tides. And before I knew it, summer was gone and so was the opportunity to walk the beach. I always had one excuse or another: babies, yardwork, artwork, pet care, housework, exercise. Taking a couple of hours off to enjoy the sand, water and sun seemed irresponsibly frivolous. Finally a couple of years ago, I decided that I was going to take advantage of the low tides no matter what.

So today, despite ten loads of laundry piled in the basement, no food in the house, a dog that hasn't been properly walked in three weeks (I don't take him on the beach with me), and a house and yard that could use A LOT of attention, I decided to give myself a break.

I took my "good" camera and went out to walk about noon. Low tide was scheduled for a little after one pm. When I walk the beach at low tide, I have to time it just right. I start at the Alki Bathhouse and head out to Duwamish Point. By the time I get there I hope it is just about low tide. I hang out on the beach below Luna Park for a while and then turn around and head back toward Alki.

If I'm not mistaken, low tide lasts about twenty minutes. Then the tide starts to roll back in. I want to be careful that I don't get caught in some of the really deep pools between the exposed sandbars. I'm not really afraid of being trapped, since I'm a good swimmer and the shore is so close. But I don't want to get totally wet either.

During my walk today, I got a pile of really good photos. But I don't have time to edit them now and won't for a few days at least. It's back to downtown tomorrow morning. Later in the week I hope to be able to reveal the mystery of my disappearance from Alki for the last three weeks.


These are Rachel and Alex's sandals. As soon as they saw me snapping this photo, they ran up to me to make sure I got their names. These kids sure know how to start marketing themselves early. Sorry, I'm not the PI or the Seattle Times.

Spotted by Jerry Whiting

Jerry says, "I snapped this photo at the foot of California Ave just where it hits the beach."

For those of you who might not be in on it, the face peeking out of the photo is the work of a local guerilla artist. For the story behind the art go to West Seattle Blog

I have linked Jerry's photography web site to the Post Title above.

"Alki Beach" poem by Richard Hugo

Here is a Richard Hugo poem about Alki Beach submitted by Kreg - a student librarian at the West Seattle Library. Thank you Kreg! More information about local writer, the late Richard Hugo, can be found by clicking on the Title Link above.

Alki Beach - by Richard Hugo
Clams and barnacles clatter
black and white in the first feet
of a new tide. By old piles
perch gleam, slide by flexing
men o’war. Bathers urge
the summer to their skins
and water climbs in air
to hurt their eyes. Gulls
echo in two-note screams to the south
of pioneering winds, the moment
a ferry spawns waste.

Where whites first landed
is forgotten. Spray,
abandoned, falls from the statue
by the marked-off, unused picnic grounds.

A love begins: a beer can, tossed,
stops rolling where waves
can barely reach. And a love is ended
or it never started: one man,
his coat too dark for the day,
where waves will never reach, remembers
what descended where the bubbles are.

from A Run of Jacks (1961)

Incidentally, the West Seattle Library will be hosting a conversation about Hugo’s work next Sunday (June 3) at 2pm. More info at:
Richard Hugo Library Talk

Thom Ross' Art on the Beach

Some pretty fabulous art on the beach this Sunday morning. I'll try to get more specifics to post later. Each figure looks to be at least 10 feet tall and there are 20 of them. When the art is finished there will be 120 figures and it will be exhibited near San Francisco.

More info about the story behind the art work can be seen at West Seattle Blog