Autumn in the Pacific Northwest
Very Ape
🎶 I am buried up to my neck in,
🎶 contradictionary flies
🎶 I take pride as the king of illiterature,
🎶 I'm very ape and very nice
🎶 If you ever need anything please don't,
🎶 hesitate to ask someone else first
🎶 I'm too busy acting like I'm not naive,
🎶 I've seen it all, I was here first
🎶 Out of the ground
🎶 Into the sky
🎶 Out of the sky
🎶 Into the dirt
Half-Priced Books
Stocking up on fiction feels a bit redundant, given how absurd our reality has become. But old habits die hard....
Autumn in the Pacific Northwest
(Taken along Mukilteo Boulevard overlooking Possession Sound in Everett, Washington)
Autumn in the Pacific Northwest II
(Taken along the Lowell Riverfront Trail on the Snohomish River in Everett, Washington)
American Portions
(Re)adjusting to American-sized portions is always a struggle....
(Taken at Jetty & Grille on the Everett Waterfront)
Lesser of Two Evils?
Lesser of Two Evils? Our Fight Is Against Both, No Matter How We Vote
Pulitzer Prize Winner Viet Thanh Nguyen’s sobering message on the Quiet American versus the Ugly American in the US presidential election.
This feels like an especially eloquent, depressing, important read on the eve of what's going to be a nauseating day regardless of what happens....
"How many Americans will choose the lesser evil and recognize that it is not a metaphor but is, in fact, evil? And will then choose to fight not only the greater evil but the lesser evil as well?
Fighting a greater evil provides reassuring moral and political clarity. Fighting the lesser evil would mean recognizing the ultimate unity of the Quiet American and the Ugly American, archetypes of this country from its very origins, when settlers arrived in the Garden of Eden and imagined themselves as Adam and Eve, when they were, in fact, the serpent.”
Don't shoot the messenger
Curmudgeon Election HQ (and all the gambling sites) are already calling this one, at only 6.37pm here on the West Coast. Don't shoot the messenger....
Deep fried turkey is back!
This is almost certainly just a literal message board advert from a bottom shelf fast food chain hawking a culinary monstrosity for the upcoming holidays - which, it should be noted, was spotted yesterday afternoon on the way home from dropping off a ballot.
BUT, there's also a non-zero possibility that the message was put up as a purposeful political statement (warning?) from a subversive line cook with a very astute read on contemporary American society. And knowing that is highly amusing.
Autumn in the Pacific Northwest III
(Taken in Howarth Park between Everett and Mukilteo)
A Tale of Two Merfolk
These photos were taken randomly at two different friends’ houses in the greater Seattle area recently, but seems it's also a fitting time for the annual posting of the opening paragraph of the Dickens’ classic A Tales of Two Cities:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
Autumn in the Pacific Northwest IV
My grandmother, who lived most of her life around here (ie Mukilteo), loved blackberries - picking them, making jam, baking pies, etc. Now urban sprawl covers almost the entire area, which is what made spotting these all the more symbolically meaningful…
Push button for...class war?
If only it was as easy as pushing a button. But alas…
More about the Revolution Communists of America here: https://communistusa.org/
Autumn in the Pacific Northwest V
(Also taken in Howarth Park between Everett and Mukilteo)
Merry Christmas from the Holy Land
Sent: 24 December 2023 from Aqaba, Jordan 🇯🇴 🇯🇴 🇯🇴
Arrived: 8 November 2024 in Everett, USA 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸
NB: This is not even close to the longest a postcard sent from Jordan has taken to arrive at its destination.
#Memories 😭 😭 😭
When Google Photos keeps cruelly reminding you of the kittens you left behind in Dahab..... 😭 😭 😭
Mary's Towing
And this year's award for most ironically named towing company in the greater Seattle area goes to....
Custer Died for Your Frats
Explaining what frats are to people outside of the US is always a tricky task. This street 'art' spotted in a frat row alleyway at the University of Washington doesn't really help matters, but it is amusing in an absurdist Dada kind of way....
Here comes the sun
Coincidence doesn't equal causation, but prior to 5 November it'd been gloomy and rainy almost every single day for weeks here in the greater Seattle area. And ever since it's been nothing but blue skies, sunshine and birds singing. Or at least was till the weekend. Don't ever accuse Mother Nature of not having a wicked sense of irony....
Autumn in the Pacific Northwest VI
(Taken in Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens in Everett, Washington)
Hug Your Kids
"Stephen Miller is what you'd get if Joseph Goebbels and Pee Wee Herman fucked and made a baby, then never once gave it a hug."
- Ken Fitzgerald (Twitter)
This was originally posted in February 2017, but is sadly once again relevant (and still hilariously accurate). RIP Paul Reubens....
Power Cable Nostalgia
When you start randomly feeling nostalgic for Nepal, but can't figure out why....
Autumn in the Pacific Northwest VII
(Taken at American Legion Memorial Park in Everett, Washington)