Co-pilot

photo by BallardBlog

If Bubba is your co-pilot, you're not getting off the ground today.

Ladies Godiva

photo by BallardBlog

Three women on horseback and one on foot did a Lady Godiva on Ballard Avenue last night. They disrobed at Marvin's Garden and led a procession down the street. Performance art? Political statement? Marketing campaign? We're not quite sure.

Ballard Bars

photo by BallardBlog

Hard to believe, but in the checkered three-year history of BallardBlog, we've not really talked about Ballard bars. Bars and Ballard go together like hot dogs and mustard. Chips and salsa. Lutefisk and aquavit.

I won't say that the history of Ballard is the history of its bars, but much of the history of Ballard took place in its bars. At one time, Ballard had more bars per capita than any other community in the state. It also had more churches per capita than any other community in the state. Ballard was settled by Scandinavian immigrants and I'm told this seeming contradiction simply reflects the two sides of the Scandinavian character. One drinks, the other repents.

It's always been a working class town, our Ballard. A town where folks like to get together after work and have a few drinks, shoot some pool, throw some darts, and reflect on Benjamin Franklin's observation that beer was a sign that God loves us and wants us to be happy. Of course, Ben reminded us that early-to-bed-and-early-to-rise was also a sign of God's favor. It would be nice if we could figure out what God really wanted. Until then, we'll be happy with another pitcher.

Red-eye Duck

photo by BallardBlog

Even ducks can get red-eye. This mallard was paddling around the pond at Golden Gardens this afternoon when I snapped him with the Sony. I'm sure there's a way to do red-eye reduction in the camera but I was working without the manual. Sorry, Mr. Duck, I'll fix it in Photoshop.

Red Ivy

photo by Ballard Blog

Most of the leaves are on the sidewalks now but there are always a few holdouts. This ivy grows alongside a sandstone building on Ballard Avenue and it sticks around until November each year. The entire side of the building will blaze red, but because the building next to it gets in the way of even the most intrepid photographer, there's no way to capture that in a photograph. We'll have to settle for a small snippet of its redness.

This un-noteworthy photo is noteworthy in that it's the first photo posted here taken by BallardBlog's newest consumer electronic time-sink, a Sony digital camera. It's very cute. Lots of buttons to push. A hundred pages of cryptic owner's manual to learn. Ouch.

I've taken lots of pictures with lots of film cameras over the years. Technically, at least, I know what I'm doing. (Artistically, I'm sure, the jury is still out.) But this little Sony somehow manages to turn everything I know upside down, shake 'n bake it, and deposit it back into my lap with a vague reference to page 73 for an answer. And then the batteries die.

Canada's Finest

illustration from McFeely's.

There's not much bluster about Canada. They just go about their business of doing things well without all the breast-beating and trash-talking Americans favor. This might be why you've never heard of the Robertson square-drive screw. Invented in Canada in 1908, it's positively brilliant. Unlike conventional or Phillips screws that usually require three hands to place (one on the screw, one on the drill, and one on the material you're fastening), the square-drive screw stays on the drill bit. Now you only need the two hands God gave you. Divinely inspired, if you ask me.

I mention this because I spent part of the afternoon repairing a windowshade. The hex-head screws that came with the thing were impossible, leading to the sort of language Mom never approves of. I got some square-drives and the thing went up in no time.