Happy Halloween

I was so shocked the other morning when I spotted this evidence of frost on the leaves. I remember in New England by Halloween there was usually "frost on the pumpkins." So we get frost here this year as well.


Here is a shot of one of my sitting rocks. I guess it is totally frivolous and self indulgent to spend time just sitting on a rock doing nothing but looking out at the water. Oh well. That's what I like to do. Especially when it is cold and windy and there isn't another soul around. I was a bit miffed the other day, however, to discover that a park bench has been installed just a few feet away. So do I sit on my rock or on the bench? I will admit that this rock is not on Alki Beach. I've been expanding my walking routes.

Big Wind Party/ Photo Shoot

I have always loved the wind. Whenever we have a big wind storm, I am one of the first people to get down to the beach. I love to sit by the water and let the wind blow in my face.

Wow, were there a lot of people at the beach doing the same thing yesterday. And so many cameras!

It looked like there were lots of nice SLR digital cameras as well as "snapshot cameras," video cameras and cell phone cameras. Of course there was a KOMO TV camera. The TV stations always send someone out to cover the wind storms.

One guy had a HUGE telephoto lens on a tripod. The tripod was supposed to stabilize the camera. But I was wondering how he was going to stabilize the tripod. The whole setup seemed to be blowing all over the place. He must have been using a really fast shutter speed.

I had brought my "old style" Kool Pix digital - the kind that has a lag time between when you press the button and when the shutter opens. I still haven't figured out when, during that time, the photo is actually "taken." The camera was pretty useless since no matter what I did I couldn't stop it from moving for the amount of time that seemed necessary to shoot the photo. I finally decided to just point and shoot and hope for the best.

Then I took out my cell phone camera and decided I couldn't do any worse with that.

See the video posted on the West Seattle blog and the great photos at the Beach Drive blog - linked to this site.

A Different Kind of Walk

Alki Beach from the Ferry


Augusta Asberry

I got to see a different perspective today - both of Alki Beach and life. I took the ferry to Bremerton early this morning to attend the funeral of my friend Augusta Asberry. Augusta was a nationally renowned artist who specialized in paintings of dancing African American women in their traditional native clothing. Her figures were colorful and dynamic.

Augusta was the oldest of 10 children from a family living in Louisiana. Most of her childhood was spent taking care of her brothers and sisters. Later on she had three children of her own and helped raise three step sons. The chapel today was full of relatives and friends. The City of Bremerton declared today "Augusta Asberry Day."

Among the things Augusta's family said about her during the service was that she was an artist who worked for 35 years as a nurse. During that time in the Bay Area, a painting of hers had won first prize in a prestigious art competition. But when the organizers discovered she was black, they refused to give her the award.

At the time of her death, Augusta was the President of Women Painters of Washington, the oldest art organization of its kind in the nation. I am so proud that the group was able to give her the validation she deserved. Hopefully it made up for some of the unfairness she had encountered during her life.

RIP

Memorials set up for the victims of last year's spectacular car crash off the Duwamish Head sea wall. That explains yesterday's bouquet of flowers as well.

Pieces of Summer

Now that summer is gone I have a few leftover photos that I never got around to posting. So I guess you would say this is a "clean up" post.
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Blind Runner
I've seen this blind runner being guided by his friend a number of times.

Does anyone out there remember Norm Bright? He was another blind runner who used to stand in the middle of the Green Lake running path yelling for help until someone, anyone, would volunteer to guide him around the lake. Someone always did.


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Wild Roses

Although evidence of the changing seasons is everywhere, there is a particular clump of wild roses that acts as my "season barometer." In the winter the plants are nothing more than bare brown sticks. In the spring, after the sticks sprout bright green foliage, I celebrate the unfolding of the bright pink flowers. Slowly, as the summer passes, the petals fall away leaving huge, red rose hips. And the seasonal cycle starts again.

Every time I walk by that clump of flowers I am reminded of the wild roses of Martha's Vineyard that I used to pass while I bicycled along the Atlantic shore. I was 16 years old then and the world made sense.

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Wild Ninja
One morning I spotted this Ninja star lying in the sand. It was only about two inches across and made of cardboard. It couldn't have hurt anyone. But I found it during the time when Alki Beach was having all that supposed gang activity during the long summer evenings.


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Magnolia
During one week this summer my son was working in Magnolia and I had to forego my morning Alki Beach walks and drive him to his job. It was a great opportunity for me to walk the dog in Discovery Park. Years ago when my husband and I first moved to Seattle, we rented a house in Magnolia just a few blocks from the Park. I don't get over there often anymore and it was nice to get back. I hiked along the cliffs and out to the Lighthouse where I sat on a rock for a while - one of my favorite activities.

The beach was great but I was rather disappointed at the state of the outbuildings. At one time they had been occupied and well maintained with fresh paint. Presently, they appear abandoned and in disrepair. Truly, it was disheartening for me to wonder about a country that now seems to take no pride in the state of its commons. Obviously our priorities are elsewhere and we just aren't willing to put the effort into keeping up what we once cared about. Sure enough, as I was standing there in disappointment, one of the doors fell off its hinges with a bang. You can see the door lying on the ground in the second photograph. It was as if the building was actually talking to me saying, "Do something, will you?" I guess these buildings are so far out of the public eye that the people making these decisions figure no one notices or cares. Well, I do.






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The Painting Twins
On my way out of the park I ran into these two men who had set up their painting easels. Being a painter myself, I couldn't just walk by them without a conversation. Turns out they were painting landscapes of Puget Sound with Alki Beach in the distance. So I asked them, "Where are you from?" And their answer was, "West Seattle." I said, "I live in Alki." "So do we," they replied. We had a good laugh. Three artists from Alki randomly meeting across Elliott Bay in Discovery Park. My Magnolia hiking trip had an Alki connection after all.


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Bird With a View
Sometimes I think it would be great to live life as a bird. Well, if there is such a thing as reincarnation, maybe there is still a chance for me.

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More Mystery Flowers
I found these flowers left on a spot near Duwamish Head this morning.

Shades of Gray

It's really stating the obvious that most of us in Seattle become sensitized to the many nuances of the color gray - whether we are artists or not. I'm always inspired by the varieties of gray I notice when I walk the beach on a cloudy Sunday morning in September.

A view of the beach just about 7am as I started my walk. Although the fall and winter can be dreary, there are often spectacular natural views early in the morning which are created courtesy of the distant edges of the cloud cover. The gaps of clear sky visible off toward the Cascades or Olympic Mountains allow the sun to shoot across the horizon, bouncing off anything in its path. (This is why artist Mike Burns would get up at 4:00 am during the summer months to capture images for his paintings.)
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And if the edges of the cloud cover close up, there is also the possibility of "sky holes." This morning the sun made a direct hit on one of them.




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I got to thinking about why the tide seemed especially low just about the time I rounded Duwamish Head on my way back to Alki. (Sure enough my tide table said low tide was at 8:44 this morning.)

One clue might be that the Autumnal Equinox was at 2:51 this morning.(Autumnal Equinox Info) So, summer is officially over. Apparently one man hasn't gotten the message because I spotted him at 8:30 am in his shorts actually wading in one of the tide pools. Brrrrr........

I started wondering if the equinoxes really have any impact on the tides since they only mark the point where the sun crosses the equator. Since I really don't know much about this tide business, I did a bit of online investigation.

I found a hint from this website: tide info which states: "During the time of the Vernal Equinox and Autumnal Equinox, around March 21 and September 23, when the Sun crosses the equator, very high tides will occur. These high tides will occur during either the Full or New Moon nearest to the Vernal Equinox and Autumnal Equinox."

Hmmmmmmmm, which means I needed to find out when the next full moon is. See Moon Info. Apparently the closest full moon will occur this Friday night. Sure enough, according to my tide table we will see a 12 foot high tide on Friday evening at 6:17 pm.

Makes sense to me, I guess, but the truth is that I really don't know what I am talking about here. Most of my nature knowledge is experiential. The tide comes in and the tide goes out. And I notice that.
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Not everything around here is idyllic. I passed one gentleman, still asleep, who appeared to have spent the night on a park bench using a knapsack as a pillow. Another was eating his breakfast out of a garbage can. Shades of gray to be sure.............

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The title of this gray painting is "Don't Hold Your Breath." For many reasons. It will be on display at the Alexis Hotel from October through December.

Found on the Promenade

Glad She's Back

"With the faith and courage of
their forefathers who made
possible the freedom of these
United States

THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA

dedicate this copy of
the Statue of Liberty as a pledge
of everlasting fidelity and loyalty."

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.