Recently in Seattle Category

Today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. We Seattleites are famed weather snobs. Yes, it rains here, we know that. The summers are also so bloody spectacular that only fools leave town. This year has been different. A drier-than-usual winter was followed by a wetter- and colder-than-usual spring. For instance, yesterday tied a record for the lowest high temperature for the date. And this is latest in a calendar year in recorded temperature history that the city has gone without a 75-degree day.

Needless to say, the conditions haven't been ideal for my first summer of growing in my yard. The cherry tree seems to be doing quite well. I don't think it's any appreciably taller, but certainly full of leaves.

No fruit likely this year. In fact, I'm not sure at what year it should start bearing yummy Rainier cherries. I also plan to move the tree next year to a more open spot in the yard. Its current locale is crowded out by a plum tree and an older tree in my neighbor's yard whose branches block out some sun.

In two dug-out vegetable patches, I planted seeds for eight different vegetables: two tomato varieties, summer and fall squash, lemon cucumbers, hot peppers, sugar snap peas, and radishes. Yes, seeds. I went all D-I-Y I guess, starting from "scratch," horticulturally speaking. Vegetable starts would have been a better option. All the lack of sun this "Junuary" has it looking like the tomatoes and peppers are non-starters. The next weakest link are the lemon cucumbers. The fall and summer squash look like they're going to be OK. Best of the bunch are the radishes for which my father gave me no marks saying they're incredibly easy to grow (Mr. Born-and-Raised-in-Brooklyn would know) and the snap peas. My lovely stake and netting creation pictured below. Stay tuned.

The good news is, this looks worse than it really is. But, what is true is that after 36 years as a beacon in Pioneer Square, Elliott Bay Book won't be calling it home anymore.

The silver lining is that the store isn't closing, merely moving to 10th Avenue on Capitol Hill: dripping ice cream cone distance from Molly Moon's, close enough to Neumo's to hear the PA, next to Cal Anderson Park and Oddfellow's. In short, you could spend a heckuva great day without moving more than one block in any direction.

Pioneer Square seemingly will never outgrow its Skid Row roots and the loss of Elliott Bay won't help the 'hood at all, but for the most literate city in the US, not losing Elliott Bay is the best news of all.

I suppose I should be flattered at the promotion; didn't know the dreaded middle management qualified as being an "executive." As was suggested to me, I should share this with my father, I'm sure he'd be proud.

But, more to the point, it was shocking and not a little bit frightening to see a "news story," or at least a short brief with a byline, about me and my recent home purchase published on BlockShopper. I've tried to formulate a reasoned opinion around the two-faced beast that the internet is and here's some more empirical evidence.

No, I'd never heard of BlockShopper either, but on their About Us page, they claim to provide "original news and data" as they are run by "experienced journalists." And the kicker: "For us, this is a journalistic exercise; we aspire to be part of the 'next generation' of local media companies, taking local news gathering to an entirely new level."

What makes this whole bit amusing is the lack of journalism involved. Shania Sampson took public record information -- my purchase of a house -- and coupled it with my LinkedIn profile. She turned bullet points into sentences, but that was extent of the journalistic exercise. She/they even copied the shitty little jpeg profile picture of me. So, do I and the photographer get a share on any ad revenue?