GREY AUGUST, BRIGHT AUGUST

The Big Rock (the massive boulder seen near the treeline at the bottom of the picture). Probably dropped by glaciers 20,000 years ago, it was a local swimming hole up until a combination of factors blocked it off to public access. I took this pic on August 4th, when the weather changed from grey to summer again.

August is usually the best, sunniest, warmest month in Seattle. However, this August started out grey, with moderate temperatures (between 65F and 75F usually)(18-25C or so). This year, the Seattle "Seafair" festival, which is usually held the first weekend of August, was grey and rainy, including a few thunderstorms.

By the second week of August, my apple tree began dropping apples. I was able to get a few of them off the tree before the rest decided to hit the ground.

However, the first couple of weeks in August progressed from grey to sunny, and lately the weather has been beautiful.

My cousin inherited my grandmother's gardening genes (I guess I inherited my grandfather's musician genes, even if I haven't made a dime off of it). And the corn on this barbecue is an example of his bounty. I know the rest of the world calls it maize, but we Americans call it corn anyway. On the 11th I roasted some hot dogs for something different (and more protein) and roasted some corn, too.

I rode my bike down to Renton one evening this last weekend around sunset, and I took a few pictures. It was 80F out and beautiful. Ironically, no one was swimming in the river at the usual places. But there were a lot of people out walking, biking, and skateboarding.

The Cedar River Trail, which I ride daily, goes all the way through Renton to Lake Washington. Where the Trail ends at Lake Washington there is a boathouse and fishing pier, where there frequently are people fishing for yellow perch. I've fished there, and have caught one or two perch. There is a knack to catching perch, but also a certain amount of luck -- they run in schools and Lake Washington is a really big lake. :-)

The sun broke through the grove of cottonwoods near my favorite spot on the Cedar River Trail. I took this pic on my way to the Lake.

Further down the river, the Trail crosses it on a pedestrian bridge. You can see people floating / swimming in the river, and a few hanging out on one of the numerous rocky reaches on the side of the river during Summer.

At Liberty Park there was a softball game, and numerous people chasing Pokemon at the Library nearby.

As the Cedar River goes through central Renton it has the Trail on one side and a couple parks on the other side. During Summer it can be a nice walk.

The Williams Avenue bridge was refitted in the 1980's or 1990's, and when they rebuilt it they added rolling abutments. After all, this is earthquake country.

A picture of Lake Washington taken at the end of the Cedar River Trail. In the distance is Seward Park and the hills of Seattle. In the foreground is the "Cedar River Delta", a shallow area of sandy earth just a few feet below the water. In the Summer it can be very warm water. Kayakers and floaters launch into the river and go out a ways into the Lake when the weather is fine.

About a mile from Lake Washington the Trail passes the Renton High School Stadium, where the city's three high schools play their home football games.

A few years ago when I was fishing at the Lake with my late stepfather I caught several bullhead catfish, a couple crayfish, and then a trout. I have had more luck fishing in a few of the other, smaller lakes in the area, where yellow perch seem to be more abundant.

One evening this past weekend when I rode to the boathouse, the sunset was spectacular, but there were no people fishing on the pier. I was able to snap a few photos of the sunset, though. The skyline of Bellevue (a nearby city of 100,000 people just north of us and East of Seattle), and the Columbia Tower were visible, as well as the northern edge of the Olympic Mountains.

A Turkish airliner being painted before delivery at the Boeing paint shop.

A full view of the new 737, being painted for Turkish Airlines.

Across from the Boeing plant lies the Renton Airport. The wind sock was lit up a bright red, glaring in the fading sunset.

Last week I had a few days off, and did some yardwork as well as some 'summer cleaning' -- I want to be ready for the holidays. I know the holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's) are a ways off, but I'm hoping to have better ones this year than last year, and part of that is having the decorations ready -- and having them all stored in one place really helps. :-)

The Cedar River slows and deepens as it reaches the edge of Lake Washington next to the airport and Boeing Plant.

KFOO 102.9 FM -- Alternative & Classic Rock from the 80's, 90's, and 00's

While doing stuff around the house I've been listening to 98.9 FM KVRQ and another local alternative / rock music station that comes in well on my Sangean mini-boombox, a station called KFOO 102.9 FM. KFOO broadcasts mostly to Tacoma -- Seattle's twin city just 40 km south of us -- and their transmitter is in Centralia, WA (about 100 km south of Seattle), and they play a good mix of alternative rock from the 90's and 00's as well as some classic hard rock from the last three decades.

The Renton Boeing plant -- or, what's left of it. It used to consist of ten or more massive factory buildings that took up most of North Renton. Now there are just three buildings left -- one of them an office building. This building with the zig-zag roof was built during World War Two to build B-29 Superfortresses, at the time the most powerful and advanced bomber aircraft in the world.

Similar to KVRQ 98.9, KFOO 102.9 play a lot of late 90's / early 2000's era rock (I heard Linkin Park's "Crawling" on 98.9 last night for the first time -- I'm not a Linkin Park fan, but I remember that song and liked it. Now it's made it to 'classic rock' status). But 102.9 add more alternative rock from the 80's, 90's, and 00's into the mix.

A view of the Bellevue skyline from the end of the Cedar River Trail. Bellevue is the next major Seattle suburb north of Renton.

Here in the U.S., Rock radio was divided during the 1990's and 2000's into "Active Rock" (the heavy stuff, from mainstream hard rock like AC/DC to nu-metal) and "Alternative Rock" (anything from grunge to post-grunge alt-pop, with some rap thrown in). Both 98.9 and 102.9 do a decent job of bringing back much of the music that was popular on both rock formats during those two decades.

A view of the Cedar River "delta", looking towards Seattle. All the driftwood in the foreground washed down the river over the past few years.

BACK TO REAL LIFE

This week is back to normal. Work, biking, some photography, and working out. The weather later on this week is supposed to be in the high 80's and low 90's F (over 30C). I'm looking forward to it.

I finally got a smart phone. I figure it's called a 'smart phone' because you have to have a fairly high IQ to figure out the simple tasks, like how to find your phone number on the thing so you can tell people what your number is.

The Renton Boathouse, with a fishing pier. Usually there are at least two or three people fishing for yellow perch on the pier, but this particular evening there wasn't a soul there.

A view of the inside of the Boeing plant from the Renton Boathouse fishing pier.

A 737 being assembled inside the Renton Boeing plant. The fuselages are hauled by train from Kansas or California, and the wings are attached to the plane, and the rest of the work is also done here. The Renton Boeing plant built B-29's, 707's, 727's, 737's, AWACS, 757's and 767's.

I know my smart phone is supposed to be user friendly, but to find some of the functions you actually have to (gasp) read the manual. Completely unlike my previous phone, which was antiquated 2G technology but easy to figure out without a manual. Live and learn.

Once I got the hang of using it, it was fairly intuitive -- but not as icon/menu driven as the 'smart' flip phones were. It has a great camera on it. Even took decent pictures through the plastic camera lens cover (woops!).  I will post some of those I took in downtown Seattle soon.

During the first week of August, a lot of the weather was similar to this. And on this particular morning, the highway was backed up more than three miles.

One of the first leaves of Fall, on August 4th! Yikes. Two cottonwood leaves I found -- among others -- on the Cedar River Trail.

An Oregon Big-leaf Maple tree leaf, also in Fall colors. I found this one on August 10th.

A splendid afternoon with massive cumulus clouds, set off by a church spire. Taken in White Center.

More of my photos from August (which I'll be posting there soon) and a lot of other photos taken over the past two years can be seen on my Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/120507399@N03/

A bright 85 degree day in August, the Trail looking like a shining path into the cottonwoods.

Here's hoping you are having a great August, wherever you are.

EDIT: As I post this, it's several weeks late -- it took some time to sort through all the photos. But I decided to leave the post as is. I hope everyone had a great August and a great summer (in the Northern Hemisphere).
C.C.