Ell Alley

Thursday, October 15, 2015

September Garden

A new part of the garden was planted near the sidewalk in September. The area had been empty for the 2 years since we moved in. It was heavily trodden by dogs. Surprisingly, dogs have mostly stayed out of the area since it was planted. Three cubic yards of Cedar Grove compost were dumped on the area before planting. Here is a list of the plants that were used.

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi ‘Massachusetts’
Echinops ritro
Eryngium x zabelii ‘Big Blue’
Festuca glauca ‘Beyond Blue’
Hebe glaucophylla
Hebe buxifolia
Hemerocallis ‘Absolute Treasure’
Hemerocallis ‘Purple Rain’
Kniphofia ‘Alcazar’
Lavandula stoechas ‘Blueberry Ruffles’
Lobelia tupa
Penstemon barbatus ‘Iron Maiden’
Penstemon pinifolius ‘Nearly Red’
Phlomis ‘Edward Bowles’
Salvia officinalis ‘Berggarten’
Sedum sieboldii
Yucca filamentosa ‘Color Guard’

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Nancy & Christina in Seattle

Nancy & Christina at their casita in Columbia City

Volunteer Park Conservatory

Christina at the Volunteer Park Dahlia Garden

Nancy at Alki Beach & Puget Sound

Christina at Alki Beach

Lake Washington at Seward Park

Seward Park

Jordan's friend Nancy came from Modesto CA with her partner Christina on Friday September 4. Jordan has known Nancy for 29 years, but had never met Christina before. Nancy & Christina met a year ago & now they live together.

Jordan walked to Columbia City to meet Nancy & Christina at their accommodation, a small building (just a bedroom & bathroom) behind duplex apartments. They walked back to our house where we had a huge dinner of cold foods (potato salad, mixed vegetable salad, coleslaw, poached salmon, fruit, bread, Camembert & Gouda cheeses, olive tapenade, baba ganoush, hummus, crackers & wine) with Rusty & Steve. Then we all watched a few comedy shows on TV: Catastrophe, Vicious & Last Comic Standing.

Rusty, Steve, Nancy, Christina & Jordan went to breakfast at Rookies in Columbia City on Saturday. Then Rusty & Steve went up to the Triangle Recreation Camp. Nancy, Christina & Jordan drove to Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill. They walked through the conservatory & the dahlia garden. Christina was fascinated with the plants there. She was very engaged in everything she did & saw. They walked up to the top of the water tower to see the 180 degree view of the city. They walked through the Seattle Asian Art Museum. They had lunch at the DeLuxe Bar & Grill on Broadway.

After lunch, they walked down Broadway to Pike Street where they looked at all of the new development there, with many new apartment buildings, shops & restaurants. As they were walking back to the car, a thunderstorm burst open to drench them with rain. They took refuge in a tiny Chinese restaurant called Chungee’s in the basement of an old house. They had appetizers & coffee while they watched the rain through the window. When the thunder boomed, the Chinese woman owner said it reminded her of her hometown in Guangdong. ‘Have you been there?’ she asked. It rained so hard that Nancy called for a driver from Lyft to take them to the car.

On Sunday morning, Nancy, Christina & Jordan went to visit Jordan's mother Colleen in West Seattle. After the visit, they walked in Camp Long, then through Schmitz Preserve Park to Alki Beach. They had lunch at a fish & chips shop called Sunfish. After walking back to the car, they drove to the South Seattle College Arboretum on Delridge. And finally, they had dinner at Tutta Bella in Columbia City. .

On Monday, they went to Seward Park where they walked around the peninsula beside the waters of Lake Washington. Then Jordan dropped them off at the Columbia City light rail station, where they proceeded to the airport. Their visit was very enjoyable for everyone.

Click here for more photos: Nancy & Christina in Seattle

Thursday, September 3, 2015

New Banister/Railing

Two woodworkers came to install our new banister on August 17 & 18. They were here all day on both days. Rusty took Jetta to work on Monday. But Kitty was left to deal with the very loud noise of the demolition of our existing railing. Steve was at work. Jordan left the house & walked to Columbia City for breakfast. The woodworkers came back on Tuesday to sand & apply a finish. This was the last item in the remodel of our house. The banister is made from maple, walnut & metal. It was fabricated at NK Woodworking & Design, located in the South Park neighborhood of Seattle. We met with the owner & his assistant at the workshop to discuss the design.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

July Garden

Achillea millefolium 'Terracotta' (Yarrow)

Echinacea purpurea (Coneflower)

Erigeron speciosus (Showy Fleabane)

Oriental Lily

Solidago lepida (Goldenrod)

x Fatshedera lizei 'Aureo Maculata'

July 2015 was the hottest month ever recorded in Seattle. The mean temperature was 71.2. The normal mean temperature is 65.7. There were 8 days over 90. It was also very dry, with 0.09 inches of rain. Normal rainfall is 0.70 inches. Needless to say, the garden required heavy irrigation.

Monday, July 20, 2015

Russian Dinner

Rusty & Karen preparing food.

Dinner guests with the back of Jordan's head & Rusty talking at center right.

Photos by Steve

Rusty & his friend Karen hosted a Russian dinner at Ell Alley on Saturday, July 18. Three couples came, making a total of 10 people, including Jordan & Steve. One of the couples had purchased the dinner at an auction to benefit Seattle Pro Musica. Rusty had been a board member & all of the guests were associated with that group. There was lots of food, more than Thanksgiving! Karen made some of the food, which was very good. Rusty bought food at Marvel Food & Deli in Auburn & Piroshki on Madison. Both Karen & Rusty had lived in Russia. The temperature reach 92 that day & it was quite warm in the house. We took some time to tour the garden, where it was a bit cooler.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Remodel

East bedroom: new paint

Master bedroom: new paint & California Closets

Master bathroom: new paint & light fixture

Hall: new paint

Living room: new paint & floor lamp

Living room: new pain & wall

Hall & living room: new paint & UHDTV

Dining room: new paint & California Closets

Dining room: new paint & hanging lamp

Pantry: new paint & California Closets

Kitchen: new paint, chairs & pendant lights. Photos taken in July 2015.

Ell Alley was remodeled during 5 weeks of May & June 2015. The contractor & his employees were here on 21 days during that period of time.

The remodel included the demolition of the closets in the kitchen & master bedroom, replaced by closet systems from California Closets. Shelves & drawers with a bench were installed around the window in the dining room.

A short partition wall was built near the bottom of the stair. It replaced a railing. All the window ledges were tiled. The master bedroom & east bedroom got ceiling fans. The master bedroom got new carpet.

The downstairs walls were painted yellow & blue. The blue continues up the wall beside the stairs to become one wall of the hall. The other walls & ceiling are light green. The master bedroom & bathroom are dark green. The north bedroom is bright green. The east bedroom is pumpkin with a cream ceiling.

Four new chairs, a foot stool, 3 ceiling lamps, a floor lamp & a 65 inch UHDTV were purchased.

And here are photos taken by Steve:

Master bedroom: new chair

Master bedroom: new foot stool

Living room: new paint & floor lamp

Dining room & kitchen: Jordan, Rusty & Kitty

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

June Garden

Aruncus dioicus (Goat's Beard) & Heuchera micrantha 'Palace Purple'

Clarkia amoena (Godetia)

Jetta loves the garden. She has an excavation project in progress.

Lilium 'Yellow Whoppers'

A sea of Penstemon serrulatus

Shefflera taiwanensis 'Yuan Shan'

June was much warmer & drier than normal. In fact, it was 85+ on 7 days & 92 on 6/27. The average monthly temperature was almost 7 degrees above normal. Less than one quarter inch of rain fell during the month, just one sixth of normal rainfall. A lot of time was spent watering the garden. Jetta enjoyed the fenced area called the native meadow. She lay in the sun on the path & worked on her excavation project behind the elderberry bushes, next to the garage. There was a sea of blue Penstemon throughout the meadow in June.

About Ell Alley

Ell Alley is the home of Jetta, Jordan, Kitty, Rusty, Steve & Toby. It is named for the alley beside & behind the house that forms an ell: the shape of the letter L. It is located in the Rainier Vista development, in the Rainier Valley of Seattle, which extends 7 miles southeast from Downtown Seattle to Rainier Beach, between Beacon Hill & the lakeside ridges of Mt Baker, Lakewood & Seward Park. Ell Alley is 4 miles from Downtown Seattle, 0.4 miles from the Columbia City Station & 0.7 miles from the center of the Columbia City Landmark District.

Rainier Valley History

The first settlers arrived in the 1850s, but settlement was slow until the forest was cut down & milled, as it was throughout the city. Developers bought logged-off land toward the end of the 19th century. They laid out the communities of Genesee, Columbia City, Hillman City, Brighton & Dunlap.

Cheap land in the valley, just outside the City of Seattle, attracted Italians of rural origins & they planted large, productive gardens. The north end of the Rainier Valley became known as Garlic Gulch. Japanese immigrants also had farms in the valley. The produce filled local markets including Pike Place.

The Rainier Avenue Electric Railway opened the valley to greater development, reaching Columbia City in 1891 & Renton in 1896. In 1907, the City of Seattle annexed most of southeast Seattle, including the Rainier Valley.

At the start of World War II, Japanese residents were forced into internment camps east of the mountains. Tens of thousands of war workers came to Seattle to work at the Boeing Company, the shipyards & the port. The US government constructed thousands of temporary housing units at Rainier Vista, Stadium Homes (now Mt Baker Village) & Holly Park in the Rainier Valley.

After the war, the temporary housing became public, low-income housing. Suburban development took many white residents away from the valley. Blacks moved into the Rainier Valley from the over-crowded, nearby Central Area. Interracial couples found acceptance here. Filipinos arrived in large numbers.

After the fall of Saigon in 1975, refugees came from southeast Asia: Vietnamese, Cambodian, Hmong, Lao & Mien peoples. Many settled in the Rainier Valley. Chinese continued to arrive, although most settled on nearby Beacon Hill. There was a small influx of Mexicans. Somali immigration began after US involvement in Somalia in 1992.

Work on new housing at NewHolly (formerly Holly Park) began in 1997 & continued for a decade, with 1400 units sold to private owners. The rebuilding of Rainier Vista began in 2003 & still continues. Columbia City rapidly gentrified starting in the late 1990s. Many units of new housing were built in the form of townhouses, condos & apartments.

The current population of the Rainier Valley is about 41,000. The racial breakdown is 34.1% Asian, 26.9% Caucasian, 26% African American, 1.6% Pacific Islander, 6.5% Mixed Race, 1% Native American and 3.4% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race are 7.2% of the population.

Our Land & Climate

The city of Seattle rests between 2 bodies of water: Puget Sound & Lake Washington. Puget Sound is a substantial part of the Salish Sea & a very small part of the Pacific Ocean. The Salish Sea is set apart from the Pacific by the Olympic Peninsula in the state of Washington & Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia. The dense, wet clouds of the Pacific Ocean travel as far as the Cascade Mountains, near the Salish Sea & not very far from the ocean. East of the Cascades lies the desert of the Columbia Basin. The moist, temperate climate of Seattle extends south to northern California & north to southeastern Alaska. The Pacific Northwest Coast from San Francisco Bay to Cook Inlet shares a flora dominated by evergreen coniferous forest. The central portion, west of the Cascade Mountains, is called Cascadia. The climate is cool & wet from fall to spring, warm & dry in summer. The Olympic Mountains block Seattle from much of the Pacific rainfall. Seattle is drier than the Atlantic coast of North America & northern Europe, cooler in summer & warmer in winter. It lies near the latitude of Paris & Quebec City.

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