Seattle: A Sanctuary City

Seattle is a sanctuary city and proud of it. On this day that our new President signed an executive order blocking federal funds to sanctuary cities, I feel compelled to share the signs that I saw in my neighborhood when I came home from India last week. They speak for themselves.

Daily Prompt: Ten (and in this case several more)

cropped-senior-salon Shared on Senior Salon

Wordless Wednesday

Nature’s Beauty: Fungi

I also found this beautiful fungi in the Greenbelt yesterday:

From Top to Bottom

Yesterday I found this big mushroom in the Greenbelt. It was more than six inches across.

Top:

The edge of the top:

Taking a photo of something I couldn’t see was tricky. The underneath part of the cap, also called gills, isn’t as clear as I would have liked but the view is right:

The next two photos show the stalk and the ring around the stalk:

And finally, the base:

Daily Post: Base

Wordless Wednesday

A New Beginning in Seattle

Leaving home for college!

In September of 1966, I left my family home in Florida to go to college in Seattle. I was so excited. My first night there, I stayed in a downtown hotel. The next morning, I walked the Seattle streets marveling at the skyscrapers. Having grown up on army bases, I had never seen buildings so high. The other thing I remember doing that day was buying a small typewriter, one with a red case. Since the suitcases I had brought from Florida were also red, I’m assuming that must have been my favorite color in those days. Or maybe it was the color of new beginnings. In September of this year, I will have lived in Seattle for 50 years, so that day was definitely a new beginning!

This post was originally meant to be a response to last Wednesday’s Daily Post prompt- City. As I started thinking about this 1966 event though, I became curious about changes I have witnessed since I moved here. I remember at that time the Smith Tower was the highest building in Seattle. No one was allowed to build a skyscraper that was taller. The only exception to that rule was the Space Needle which had been built for a World’s Fair in 1962.

Smith Tower

Space Needle

Seafirst Building

The Smith Tower was built in 1914 and is 38 stories and 484 feet. The Space Needle which is 605 feet high and, as I already mentioned, was built in 1962. The height restriction was eventually changed and the Seafirst Building was built in 1969. It has 50 stories and is 638 feet high. Now, the tallest building in Seattle is the Columbia Center. It is 76 stories and 943 feet high and was built in 1983.

Columbia_Center,_by_simonsonjh — Columbia Center

Next, I wondered how the population had changed during the 50 years I have lived here.

In 1970, the population of Seattle was 530, 831 and in 2015 it was 668, 831. The current population was much smaller than I expected. When I looked into it, I discovered that the city’s population actually went down when the Boeing workforce was reduced from 80,400 to 37,200 in 1970/71. While the city itself did not have tremendous growth between 1970 and 2015, the suburbs and metropolitan area really grew. In 2015, the population of Seattle metropolitan area was 3,733,580 and we had the 15th largest metropolitan area in the U.S.

The_Fabs

The last thing I will mention is that when I first Goggled “1966 Seattle” I was rather surprised to see that the first three listings were about the Beatles August 25, 1966 concert! I don’t remember being aware of their recent visit at the time, but I imagine it must have been a major topic of conversation for many Seattlites.

It has been interesting to think about my arrival in Seattle and learn more about the city I chose to be my home. Thank you WordPress for your “City” prompt.

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Photo Credits : Wikimedia

All statistics come from Wikipedia.com

Front Yard Vegetable Gardens in My Neighborhood

I don’t know how many Seattle residents have front yard gardens, but they are definitely common in my neighborhood. I love to see people growing some of their own food.

I visited the neighbors that live across the street from me yesterday. It is always such a treat to see their gardens. They have turned their yard into property that is magical. Even though the photos don’t capture it, know that this front yard garden is tiered on a steep slope. Eiric weaves branches to create the structure for the beds and remakes them every two years. When I asked him the correct terminology to describe this process he responded: “They are ‘wattled’ beds of Apple ‘air shoot’ branches.”

(To enlarge photos click on the individual galleries.)

Other nearby gardens:

And mine!

There are many other front yard vegetable gardens in this neighborhood but I think I’ve shown you enough to give you a good idea of what they are like. I wonder how many people have back yard gardens too!

Roses in My Neighborhood

I have been more aware of the roses in my neighborhood than ever before. This year they started blooming in April. I saw this one on April 24.

In May, I found these beauties.

Yesterday, June 1, most of the roses were dead or dying but there were many still in their glory.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Landscape

Jefferson Park is a city park located near my home in Seattle. When my children were young the park consisted of a community center, a tennis court and a golf course. The land behind the park was owned by the Seattle Water Department and it was used for a water reservoir. They allowed a playground to be built in an unused portion of their property. My children spent many hours in that playground.

In the late 90’s and early 2000’s in collaboration with Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle City Light, Seattle Department of Transportation, the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Department of Neighborhoods, and many community groups, the park was developed into the 6th largest park in Seattle. The project started with the reservoir being buried.

The landscape pictures below show a small portion of the park as well as some of the neighborhood, city and mountain views. (You can enlarge the photos by clicking on the gallery.)

Written for Weekly Photo Challenge: Landscape