"Golden Gardens Beach 1" by seattlerayhutch45 A celebration of the wonderful weather we've been having. Pay a visit to our Seattlest Flickr Pool for more sunny images.......

Photo courtesy of Adam Lyon Lightning, thunder, and heavy rains are beautiful and exciting, particularly to us in the Pacific Northwest who get to witness them so infrequently. When a storm comes in we always hope we're near a window (or camping, so said people on the bus this morning) so that we can catch random glimpses of nature's fireworks. Other people react differently, though. When a storm whips up Dad, back in Illinois, mans......

We were walking down Broadway at lunchtime trying to decide on the perfect uncrowded, sun-soaking lunchspot, when it came to us. Actually, it was printed on a sign that advertised La Puerta's lunch specials. That's when we remembered that La Puerta has an upstairs deck overlooking Broadway -- and that their food is resolutely mediocre, virtually guaranteeing light occupancy. How right we were. Just one couple was sitting outside, discussing a California "growing" operation. We......

Ryan Dobosh lived in Seattle from 1989--2002, before moving to Los Angeles. He is in town this week and has some thoughts about his old home. I woke up this morning and had that old familiar dread coursing through my veins. "Did I leave my sunglasses in the car again?" I'm sure you will agree with me, that is THE WORST. Oh well, no matter, I was to get on a plane at noon bound......

Another beautiful photo from Seattlest Flickr contributor Tim Willis Yesterday's stormy weather left over 35,000 homes in Western Washington without power. Nearly 20,000 of the homes affected were in Seattle and South King County. The National Weather Service warned of gusts of over 55 mph yesterday and, while it's no scientific measure, the windows of our house were rattling and the power flickered more than once last night. Thankfully, it never went out. The Washington......

Thanks to smohundro for sticking that lovely photo in our Flickr pool Yes, yes, we know that bumming about the weather in Seattle has so been done that it's become offensive to some. Sure, this Seattlest is originally from a place where there's so much sunshine, they could harvest the light for energy (which remains to be seen; Crist is NOT on our good side). Sure, we're among the many who pile up outside......

As our friend pointed out, between the weather, the Mariners, and The Love Guru, 2008 could go down as the worst summer in history. The Seattle Times took a big poop-poop all over everyone's lives by reporting that the cooler than normal temperatures could be with us through July. We understand that not all of you prefer blue skies and warm temperature, so enjoy this, it's your time. As for the rest of us,......

The weather, it just gets worse. Hoping for summer? Keep hope alive! Remember spring? Surely, we must have had one. (Missed it last year; we were in the bathroom.) Wait, a dim memory: a vague recollection of a spring-like afternoon last week. It comes back to us now. We were on upper Queen Anne. A whole street of yellow blossoms catches our eye. Goldenchain, they call those trees, don't they? Laburnum, in the garden store.......

Only three days away. You're ready, or you think you're ready. You've got your tickets, and your overnight plans are set. Congratulations! Now don't fuck it up. Be prepared. First time visitors to the Gorge are often surprised at how different the climate is from Western Washington. It's hot, it's dry, and it will burn your ass if you're not paying attention. Bring sunscreen and actually use it. Slather up your ears, the back of......

Holy Jeezits, what an outstanding weekend! On Friday, we knocked off early, rounded up the wife and in-laws, bought a bag of tacos, and headed to Richmond Beach in Shoreline. The picnic tables were warm, the tacos messy and delicious. We watched people play or take naps. We watched a pale, red-headed girl turn lobster red while playing Frisbee with her negligent mother. Saturday, we drove out to Snoqualmie Falls. We'd never been there, so......

TO TELL THE TRUTH: We in the Seattlest newsroom love a good controversy. When it involves a literary sensation and Oprah, the intrigue is doubly delicious. So you can bet that number one on our list of things to do tonight is go to Town Hall to see James Frey and Josh Kilmer-Purcell for a night of readings from two "memorists turned novelists." Frey admitted on Oprah that what he wrote about getting over his......

Looking for a way to get out and enjoy some beer with the nice weather this weekend? You've probably got it all figured out, but here are a few ideas anyways: University District Street Fair - Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (6 p.m. Sunday). Nearly 400 craft and food tents to browse, plus live music and other events. The Big Time Brewery beer tent will be the place to be......

Or sunburns, more likely. We doubt any of of you have actually thought to pack sunscreen on your person, given the state of our weather lately. KOMO says it's only fifty-five degrees out there, and maybe it is, but it feels awesome outside. It's Friday afternoon, people. Just get up, walk to the elevator, and be on your way. No one will even notice. Go on now. You know you want to. You know you......

This is what the sun looks like, and that blue stuff behind it, that is called the sky. Sunday and Monday should be nice, so get outside while you can, because the rest of the week looks like the last twenty days.......

"What did you do on Saturday?" Always with a smile, we've asked--and have been asked--this question many many times today. It seems everyone around us is genuinely interested and excited to hear what we were up to during our glorious sunny Saturday. Us? Once we finished mowing the lawn for the first time this year, we packed a sandwich, a book, some tunes, a thermos of Tanqueray & tonic, and biked down to Richmond Beach......

With temperatures today solidly in the low, mid-50s and sun shining down on us, it’s hard for this Seattlest to believe that just this past weekend we were skiing at Mt. Baker in the best powder we’ve encountered. You probably remember last week’s disgusting wet weather and cold temperatures which brought big, fat, wet snowflakes to the sea-level environs of Seattle. We sure do, since the non-sticking white stuff scared the bejesus out of every......

But it does make us wish we hadn't ridden our bike in to work today.......

On this, the 26th day of March, it was snowing at 8pm on Capitol Hill--and it was even sticking to cars, to the grass, to the trees. WTF? It is nearly April, right? One more snowy pic after the jump.......

My God, it's beautiful outside. When did that happen? Here we are sneezing and coughing and oozing from every orifice on our face when we look outside and Holy Obamalove, Batman! It's really nice out! We recommend leaving your office job early and skipping through Cal Anderson Park (or whatever facsimile exists in your neighborhood). Pick up an iced latte. Go have a margarita. Take your dog and your little sister. Put your hair......

Photo from Seattlest Flickr User Matt Westervelt Next season on The Deadliest Catch? A Seattle-based fish processor is on its way back home after it caught fire in the Bering Sea. The Pacific Glacier caught fire on Tuesday night, forcing the majority of its 106 crew members into rescue rafts. In the Bering Sea. In the middle of the night. In the depth of an Arctic winter. No thank you. The fire started in......

Seattlest grew up in Central Florida and, even though we haven't lived there for many, many years, we still crave the sunshine. Maybe it's because our body expects more vitamin D? We certainly don't want to add to the choruses of imported souls who bitch and moan about Seattle winters. Nonetheless, we wind up doing so, anyway, every year around mid-January. But, we've come to delight in February, which always gives us a week......

Riding our bike to work this morning along Elliot Bay, we realized that we are going to make it. The dark, cold winter is finally getting ready to release its grip and, while we are sure to have more cold, wet days ahead, today is a sign of great things to come. Heck, it was warm enough for us to wear shorts while riding and we even took off our gloves and hat at a......

The ability to endure month after month of days like today is an unappreciated phenomenon unique to this corner of America. Elsewhere winter storms may be harsher in the traditional frozen pipes/paralyzed infrastructure sense, but the psychological toll of Steve Pool’s constant grey "with a chance of light rain" is just grueling. Long-time Seattle residents are not unlike seasoned veterans of a lifelong Chinese Water Torture and Seattlest appreciates the local grit required to......

For those who don't know, the city of Shoreline lies just beyond the northern city limits of Seattle. Incorporated in 1995, Shoreline has an approximate population of 54,000 -- just shy of Cheyenne, Wyoming's 55,000. Shoreline's chief import is twenty-something first-time home owners while the chief export is the snow which flies off of our Subaru Outbacks and Foresters as we cruise down I-5 toward downtown Seattle. Here are some shots of the winter wonderland......

Photo by Tim Willis Thanks, snow. You've got one guy pledging never to take the bus again, and another venting obscenities. Both on LiveJournal. First, the new car convert:In Dec I got a job in the South Lake Union area, close to REI. I live in Greenlake and was busing it into the city everyday ... Today I drove to work because of the weather and fear of bus delays... My trip by car: $5.25......

Photo by cory schmitz from the Seattlest Flickr PoolNorth Seattle got snow, West Seattle didn't. Issaquah got snow, Federal Way didn't. The picky snow has made for an odd commute. We were rolling down an iceless hill this morning near Renton, annoyed that the person in front of us was proceeding with such outsized caution. At the bottom of the hill, we saw a Geo that had spun into a ditch. Guess it was icy......

A freezing rainstorm left the streets by Seattlest HQ white. It's since morphed into a light snowstorm that will make our half-mile trip to the video store a winter adventure. These photos were taken at 6:58 pm. Minutes later, our Capitol Hill correspondent texted us that the hailstorm had started there. Temps could drop as low as freezing tonight, and Weather Underground forecasts snow for the rest of tonight and early tomorrow morning. KOMO weather......

Don't you want to go outside and gulp huge mouthfuls of this stuff until you collapse and start burping up moose hairs and stray Denali snowflakes? It's supposed to start raining tomorrow and Wednesday, but today and the weekend preceding today we've had the best Seattle winter weather we could possibly hope for. The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, however, doesn't share our enthusiasm, grading air quality today Orange; Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. What do......

As an alumnus of Centralia Community College (out of boredom, we took a Latin class there one fall) and former southwest Washington resident, we've been following the flooding thataway with interest. A friend of ours just passed along two emails from K. in Centralia, and they can't be beat for a you-are-there feel that balances some of the apocalyptic news coverage -- let's face it, if nothing terrible happened to you, you aren't news. On......

Behind our couch lives what we refer to as our "third cat." Much more well-behaved and definitely lower-maintenance, petting-wise, than the two actual cats from whence it came, but more or less inert unless there's a breeze. When we sweep behind the couch every three or four years we generally don't carry the third cat down to the Sound and chuck him in, but that's what storm runoff is doing right now to a lot......