Marshall in the Hole

photo by Ballard Blog

Much of what makes a model railroad run lies below the surface. Here we see Marshall working on some electrical wiring. He's asking Gerry for the soldering iron.

NP Locomotives

photo by Ballard Blog

Comin' round the bend. This brace of sharp looking Northern Pacific locomotives runs on the Ballard & Shoreline Railway, an HO scale model railroad built by some friends.

Sunset

photo by Ballard Blog

Back in Ballard. Whew! It's great to be home. The other day it stopped raining long enough for this sunset. That's Puget Sound in the foreground, Bainbridge Island is the dark mass across the middle, and the Olympic Mountains are in the background. The sun sets so far south this time of year that the mountains are lit from the left side. In June, they'll be lit from the right. In March and September they're backlit.

Warren G. Harding

photo by Ballard Blog

Tucked away in a forgotten corner of Vancouver's Stanley Park is this memorial to the forgotten Warren G. Harding, President of the United States from 1921-1923. Harding? Why him? He is, after all, often considered the worst president of the 20th century, an amiable and photogenic boob who presided over a corrupt administration of the sort not seen again until the current amiable and photogenic boob came along .

Well, Harding was the first American president to visit Canada. On a western trip in 1923 he stopped in Vancouver on his way to San Francisco where he died of a heart attack. I suppose Vancouverites had been grateful for the attention and found themselves a bit overwrought at his death so soon after his visit. That's what opens checkbooks for this sort of thing. Aside from his tomb in Marion, Ohio, I wouldn't be surprised if this were the only other memorial to the poor fellow.

Walk

photo by Ballard Blog

I found Vancouver's "walk" signs very charming. Look at that purposeful stride. Now there's a fellow going places!

Friday Cat Blogging

photo by Ballard Blog

Today's cat blogging comes from Vancouver, BC, home of the Secret Lantern Festival. We visited the festival site at the Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden. It's a lovely garden made lovelier this night by hundreds of lanterns. There were ship lanterns afloat, dragonfly lanerns hovering, and this cat lantern sitting on a rock. Alas, we lacked a tripod for the camera, so this is a blurry bit of cat blogging.

It was a cold night. Luckily, we were warmed by good Chinese food. The Floata Seafood Restaurant claims to be Canada's largest Chinese restaurant and I'm not arguing. The room was the size of Saskatchewan. The servings were plenty big, too.

Loonie Plus

photo by Ballard Blog

It was time to get out of town so we took the train to Vancouver, B.C. The Canadian dollar is commonly known as the "loonie" because there is a picture of a loon on one side of the coin. Consequently, "dollar stores" are called "loonie stores" and this one offered more than the others.

Cookies

photo by Ballard Blog

What is the real meaning of Christmas? Cookies! Molasses ginger snaps tonight. It's the hint of clove that makes 'em gooooood.

Scruffy

Friday Cat Blogging

photo by Ballard Blog

Scruffy
(1987?-2003)
Best Cat in Ballard.

December 1990 was a cold and nasty month. A scruffy looking cat started hanging around the house. We put some food and a cardboard-box-and-towel shelter on the porch for him. Pretty soon, Scruffy was eating in the kitchen and sleeping on the bed. Stray cats have a way of doing that, you know.

Friday Cat Blogging

photo found somewhere on the Web by Ballard Blog

So which one do you think is going to keep you up all night?

Cormorant

photo by Ballard Blog

The sun poked through the clouds while we were walking at Green Lake. This cormorant enjoyed the fleeting moment of warmth as much as everybody else.

Pigeons and Eagles

photo by BallardBlog

In the 1920's the Eagles were flying high in Ballard. They built Ballard's tallest building on the corner of Market and 22nd. It was grand. It housed the lodge, the Bagdad Theatre, and the offices of Ballard's worthiest professionals. Then the Depression hit. The Eagles couldn't make the mortgage payments. The bank foreclosed.

Over the years shops have come and gone in the street level spaces. Upstairs, the building housed Ballard Hospital. The Bagdad closed and was replaced by the famous (or infamous) Backstage nightclub. Many Ballardians have a Backstage story. Most can't be told to their kids.

Nowadays, a new generation of Ballard's worthy professionals have their offices upstairs. On the street you'll find, among other shops, a terrific bakery. The pigeons really appreciate their good work. No wonder they resist the best efforts of the building's owners to evict them.