#shilshole bay

[jwaseattle]

If you're looking for a custom home that seamlessly integrates interior and exterior space, JWA Seattle is here! We provide progressive designs that connect people to their environment, from South Bennett Street to Shilshole Bay. Contact JWA Seattle Immediately!

[granthindsley]

Hitchhikers, Shilshole Bay, Seattle, WA 2023.

[thedaveandkimmershow]

August was definitely an odd month.

It also felt like two months. There are definitely events during the early part of the month that seemed like they belonged in July. There are even things that happened after the fifteenth that seemed of another age.

The summer/fall thing had a lot to do with that oddness, I’m guessing. We are, after all, now living in the season of Fall.

Booooooooooo. 😡

August was a busy month for Linzy. She played gigs at The Cottage in Bothell and The Rustic Cork in Mill Creek where we enjoyed a lovely evening with dear friends.

The band she's in, The Little Lies (a Fleetwood Mac tribute band) played to a packed Taste Edmonds crowd on the 11th. The other band she's in, Midnight High, debuted their new album, Swimming Lessons, at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard to a packed house and a lot of love from that audience.

The month was a busy one for me in a number of ways, the most interesting of which was exploring the use of Generative Fill in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe's AI tool that enables serious manipulation of reality. For example, we were at a Public Storage place with friends when I took out a chair, placed it in the middle of the road between two buildings, and had our friend's son sit on that chair with a big smile plastered on his face. With not terribly much effort, I replaced the background trees and sky with a sun-soaked jungle. I also replaced the road with a brighter chunky cement surface and toy dinosaurs running all about.

Seriously.

Toy dinosaurs.

As if they were giant set pieces I'd brought down for the occasion.

Couple weeks later on a particularly bright and hot weekend, I took another photo at that Public Storage, this time with plenty of room for…

A giant public swimming pool.

No kidding. It actually looks like a public swimming pool complete with a net for water sports, barely a couple feet from our van.

I did a bunch of stuff like that across the month, figuring out this tool. Mostly illustration-y things. But those photos at Public Storage continue to capture my attention because of how strikingly real are my additions.

Kimmer, of course, continued her work from home with Ballard Psych. She's also fully gearing up for her Doctoral program at The American College of Healthcare Sciences in Portland. It's an exciting opportunity for her and, from the sidelines, I can see the experience is fixing to be pretty incredible with all the resources they're already making available to her.

For our family movie outing of the month, we all convened at The Crest Theater in Shoreline to watch "Barbie" and compare notes. It's fun to watch, definitely. It's filled with a lot of laugh out loud moments on top of a metric ton of nostalgia. It's creative as hell, great casting (did not see Rhea Perlman coming, for example), wonderful performances all around. Definitely a lot of social commentary that, in a nearly full theater, resonated with a lot of different people at different times according to their experiences... as well as lighting up universals that are obvious (of course) to everyone.

One of my favorite quiet moments of August was a comfy weekend afternoon when Kimmer 'n I drove into Ballard, grabbed some burgers at 'Lil Woody's next to The Majestic Bay Theaters, and drove further west to that spot overlooking Salmon Bay where the water empties out into Shilshole Bay. At that overlook is a patch of grass with a park bench on which we enjoyed a lovely lunch together.

Those sweet moments are not nothing, you know?

Insanely Small World Award of the month goes to Lerin Herzer who opened for Midnight High at their album release show. Lerin, it turns out, is the daughter of Linzy's Jr. High band director.

Dang.

The previous winner, by the way, is Harry Wirth III, Linzy's bandmate in The Little Lies who was also in a band called Molasses, a band in which Linzy's High School band director also played.

Speaking of Linzy's high School band director, he recently referred one of his 2023 graduates to me to talk shop. The student's about to embark on their university experience and wanted to ask questions about being a professional creative. We covered a lot of ground during our conversation and, once again, much to my chagrin, I found myself advocating what once I used to roll my eyes at whenever the Music & Video Business director at the Art Institute of Seattle would bring up his pet advice: networking.

He talked about it a lot.

And we all rolled our eyes.

Only, you know, he was right and even though I frame the advice in terms of community and chasing your career as part of a group with compatible skillsets, yeah.

I'm singing that same old song.

Networking.

So that's it for August (and summer, apparently).

Eight down.

Four to go in 2023.

Onward!

[artworksstore]

https://society6.com/art/puget-sound-oak-bay-to-shilshole-bay-nautical-chart-18473?utm_campaign=2574&utm_source=sharedlink&utm_medium=social&utm_content=ddp_from_ddp

[dankhole]

Fremont & Shilshole - 191229

[wyattjohnston]

your eyes look like coming home - jamie oleksiak

word count: 2,682

summary: What started in Dallas finds its roots in Seattle.

warnings: conversations about cancer, infertility (as a result of a total hysterectomy), and a subsequent discussion about being a 'failure of a woman' in reference to other conversations that happened prior to this fic.

Devin hadn’t meant to make a habit of showing up at parties as a loose plus one. The connections were getting looser and looser with every party, but she supposed that she’d shown her face enough that people were beginning to assume she belonged. She wasn’t entirely wrong when she was being greeted by name every five minutes.

The house the Uber had dropped her off at was new to her and all she’d been told in the message from Naomi was ‘Athlete’—it checked out. It was nicely sized and contemporary, and she couldn’t wait to find the best vantage point to see Shilshole Bay in all its glory.

There were a few familiar faces hovering about, enough that Devin was able to kill time before Naomi showed without just drinking alone in the corner—though judging by some of the people milling about she would not have been the only one.

Devin squeezed through a doorway that was occupied by two people making out aggressively and headed towards the bar in search of her next drink. There was a mirror on the wall behind the bar, reflecting the room back at her as she leant over it to grab tequila and a shot glass. She was just about to straight up when a large hand landed on her lower back… her ass. It was definitely on her ass.

“I’d remember if I’d seen you before.”

Devin raised her head, saw who was reflected in the mirror and snorted.

“Get your hand off my ass, Jamie.”

Jamie flinched, immediately retracting his hand and at least looking a little sheepish.

“Devin—you got a haircut,” he said, staring pointedly at her face as she turned and settled her back against the bar.

“I also got new tits but thank you for not mentioning that first,” she winked.

Jamie pulled another shot glass from behind the bar and gestured for Devin to pour them shots. They both grimaced but tried to pretend they were unfazed as tequila slid down their throats.”

“It’s a big change,” he said, gesturing to her hair and still not looking at her chest.

It was a big change. Her hair, when she’d left Dallas, had been long enough to reach the curve of her ass and had been naturally black. The change, and it was recent enough that she was still getting used to it herself, had it barely brushing her jawline and dyed a platinum blonde.

“I look good, though.”

“Of course, you do.”

Devin smiled and shimmied her shoulders a little before putting the tequila and shot glass back on the bar. With her hands free, she patted both of his shoulders.

“Do me a favour and don’t immediately go for the ass grab. Consent is sexy.”

Devin left him at the bar with the instruction for him to find her later.

Later arrived after a rather uneventful evening—Devin had started to wander around the house, everyone was drunk enough that they didn’t seem to notice her opening doors that had otherwise been closed. The couple who had been making out in the doorway really did not seem to notice when Devin opened a bedroom door and caught them mid-blowjob.

“Do you always go through every room at a house party?” Jamie asked, materialisation out of thin air despite being the biggest man there.

“Only when I’m trying to find the best view of the Bay,” she answered, unembarrassed, as she innocently opened another door.

“It’s not from in there,” Jamie said knowingly. Sure enough, the door opened to a linen closet. “Come with me—I know exactly where to see the view.”

Devin followed him down the hall and into what must have been the master bedroom.

She sighed, her eyes rolling instinctively when she saw the framed jersey on the wall—a Dallas Stars Winter Classic jersey with the Number 2 on the arms.

“This is your house.”

“You didn’t know that?” Jamie asked, turning back with one hand still on his balcony door.

“Babe, I just get told where the party is and show up.”

“I should have known.”

He pushed the balcony door open, and Devin averted her eyes to avoid his devilish smirk.

It had been how they’d met; Devin being told about a house party at Seguin’s. The invite was as vague as anything she’d received since prior or since, but she’d shown up, acted like she fit in, and ended up with a genuine invite back to Jamie’s place; nearly four years had passed since that night.

Devin stepped onto the balcony, keeping a wide berth between her and Jamie. The view didn’t disappoint, so she stepped towards the railing, rested her hands on it, and stared out over the water to Bainbridge Island.

“Is the view what you wanted?”

“It’s beautiful,” Devin answered. “I think I like Seattle better than Dallas.”

“I don’t think you can ever go back now.”

“Wasn’t ever planning on it to be honest. You were never gonna see me again.”

Jamie was silent behind her for long enough that Devin looked back over her shoulder to check on him. It didn’t surprise her, really, to find him staring at her.

“It’s really nice to see you again.”

His voice was softer than she’d ever remembered hearing, and it caused her to tilt her head as she tried to run it through her mind again. His face was just as soft, though maybe a little intense in the eyes, and her heart might have skipped a beat.

“I’m really glad you ended up here,” she said back, even if it was a silly admission to make to someone who had been back in her life for only a couple of hours. He hadn’t even really been in her life much before she left.

That didn’t matter, though. Devin was moving towards him before she had time to think of much else. He seemed to be expecting her, catching her effortlessly as she pushed herself into his personal space, craning her neck to kiss him with an intensity that caught them both off guard.

Devin wasn’t small—growing up she was always the tallest girl in her class, sometimes even the tallest student—and yet Jamie always managed to make her feel that way. At six foot tall, there were few men in her everyday life who were taller than her, and even fewer who were comfortable being shorter than her; Jamie, though, had never been an issue.

There was familiarity in everything that followed, even though it had been years since their irregular hookups—Jamie still knew exactly the right pressure to put on her hips with his fingers, how to make her moan with little bites to her inner thighs.

“You’re a lot better at that than last time,” Devin said between heavy breaths, reaching up to grip the planks of the headboard just to cool herself down. “You’ve been practicing.”

Jamie’s laugh was melodic, “Someone told me that I couldn’t just rely on size, and I went and worked on it.”

“That someone was very wise,” Devin retorted, smiling to the ceiling.

She stayed staring at the ceiling, even as Jamie started moving around beside her. Every muscle in her body tensed up when she felt his finger ghost over her stomach—the shudder that ran through he was involuntary.

“These are new,” Jamie mumbled, his fingers brushing over what Devin knew was a small alien head.

“I did them myself,” she said slowly, looking down at her stomach and his large fingers. “A little at home stick-and-poke.”

Jamie moved up the ghost tattoo, saying, “Unusual placements.”

“Uh, yeah. Remember when my uterus tried to kill me?”

She knew that he’d heard about it because he’d called her the day he found out, making sure she was going to be alright in Seattle by herself, making sure the medical bills were going to be manageable.

“I do, yeah.”

“I had it removed and I hated the scars. They’ll probably go away, they’re not that big, but I just couldn’t stand to look at them. It also stops guys asking about the scars which means they can’t make me feel like I’m a failure of a woman.”

A silence followed. Silence was typical for when she told men about what she’d been through, the handful she’d thought deserved to know all immediately lost their words and let a suffocatingly heavy silence sit between them as they worked out how to tell her that she wasn’t good enough.

Jamie’s silence was different, though,

“Dev.”

“I know, it’s horrible, and if I heard anyone else say it, I’d have a fit, but I can’t shake it. It’s also why I got these done,” Devin said, gesturing to her breasts and the incision in the inframammary fold. “I can’t quite get the right angle to get those scars myself.”

“I didn’t even notice them.”

Devin sighed at the strain in Jamie’s voice, the way he was obviously trying to hide whatever emotions he was clearly feeling. She lowered a hand from the headboard and placed it on his head, flattening out his unruly hair.

“You don’t have to fix me. Or make up for anything any other guy has done.”

“There’s nothing about you that needs fixing.”

Her eye roll was instantaneous; the skip in heart took a little longer. Nothing more was said, it was just Jamie brushing his fingers over the tiny fairy to the equally tiny werewolf and finally over the vampire teeth. Devin’s hand didn’t leave his hair until he was sitting up with an unsettled grunt.

“I should probably make sure the rest of my house is still standing,” he said, looking less than happy as he was standing and pulling on his discarded clothes.

Devin sat up, her hands falling into her lap as she asked, “Do you want me to head out?”

“Nah, not at all. I don’t have to be anywhere until tomorrow afternoon; you can stay as long as you want.”

He kissed her, something she wasn’t at all expecting; one large hand holding her cheek as he tilted her face towards his and she melted so easily into it that she found herself chasing his lips even as he was pulling away and leaving the room.

She decided to rifle through his closet for a shirt she could wear because she didn’t want to sleep totally naked when there were still people milling about the house, and then slipped back underneath the covers and curled up. She was asleep before Jamie even made it back to the room.

Devin wasn’t going to admit that her heart sank when she woke up to an empty bed.

Her phone was still in the pocket of her jeans, so she pulled herself out of the bed to check the time and anything she’d missed overnight—it was nearly ten and there were two missed calls and a handful of texts from Naomi. She apologised to Naomi, said that she was fine and would explain later, and then gathered up her clothes.

It would be overstepping, in her mind, to help herself to a shower even though she desperately wanted to, so she pulled on her underwear and jeans and left Jamie’s bedroom with her shirt and shoes in hand.

Multiple voices could be heard as she descended the staircase, and Devin knew that she could slip out the front door completely undetected. She stared out the glass panel of the door, into the brewing storm and heard Jamie’s ‘you can stay as long as you want’ on repeat in her head.

She placed her shoes down by the front door, set her shirt down with them, and stepped gently towards the voices in the kitchen. She was hopeful that Jamie would be the first to see her, with anyone else’s back to her, but when she did turn the corner, it wasn’t Jamie she was met with.

“You must be Devin from Texas,” one of the unknown men said.

Jamie turned around immediately, his arm stretching out before he’d even said any words. Devin stepped into him easily, letting him wrap his arm around her shoulders.

She said to the man who had spoken to her, “That would be me,” as well as she could as Jamie kissed the top of her head and her brain momentarily short circuited.

They introduced themselves as Mason and Haydn—Jamie’s teammates, though Devin had presumed that already—and did not seem at all fazed by the way Jamie’s hand was creeping under her shirt, further and further up her stomach until his thumb was touching the underside of her breast.

“I’ll see you boys on the plane?” Jamie asked.

They both understood it was less of a question and more of an instruction to leave and Devin waited in the kitchen, trying to work out how to make herself a coffee, for Jamie to see them out to their cars.

“You’ve got me for four hours,” Jamie said, his hand pushing under her shirt again, but this time up her spine, “we can shower and then get brunch?”

Devin’s hands froze over the top of the coffee machine, a result of being distracted by the shivers his hand was sending up her spine and down her arms, combined with his suggestion taking a moment to sink in.

She faced him, his hand falling back by his side as he waited expectantly. Devin asked bluntly, “Do you just like me now because I’m a blonde with big tits?”

“We fucked when neither of those things was true,” he said resolutely, his voice pitched low so she knew just how serious he was being.

“You’ve never asked me to stay before.”

It had only been a handful of times, granted, but Devin remembered each time vividly. It would be a lie to say she’d been pining after him, it had very much just been a matter of convenience but she would always go home with him over anyone else.

Despite her comments from the night before about him improving, she’d always choose him and his careful touches and desire to please over anyone else.

She’d always left when they were done, though, and he’d always let her.

“You’ve always been a little scary, did you know that? I never wanted to ask for anything I didn’t already know you wanted.”

“Am I not scary anymore?”

“A little, mostly I just put on my big boy pants,” he said, his grin jokingly proud. “Are we going to get brunch?”

“Brunch,” Devin mocked, “You haven’t even been in Seattle half a year and they’ve already got you.”

“Are you going to answer my question?”

He was pushing her for an answer; she knew she could say no and that would be the end of it. Yet, when she looked at him closely, she knew that that’s not what she wanted to say. There were just other things she needed to get out before she could agree to something as simple as brunch.

“You get that I can’t have kids, right?”

Jamie was taken aback; Devin had expected him to be.

“Yeah,” he said slowly. Certainly. “It doesn’t bother me. Bit soon to be bringing up kids, though, isn’t it?”

“So many guys can’t handle it,” Devin sighed and then quickly found anger rising within her, “because women are only good for breeding.”

“Fucking hell,” Jamie said, his voice getting low, somewhat scary, “who have you been dating?”

Devin sighed, “It’s been a long eighteen months.”

The prior year and a half ran through her brain, a highlight reel of every time the conversation had gone the opposite direction. Of every man who had made her feel comfortable and wanted, until neither of those was true.

There were no words that could accurately describe what washed over her when Jamie next spoke, just that it was all she had wanted to hear, since even before the cancer and the surgery.

“I want you, exactly the way you come.”

Please consider leaving feedback—reblog and write in the tags or send an ask, I’m not fussed. I just want to know what you’re thinking!

[stellarisjay]

Work isn’t so bad when it’s on the beach. / / / / #washingtonstate #washingtoncheck #latergram (at Shilshole Bay) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ2RbfWscsp/?utm_medium=tumblr

[jwaseattle]

If you're looking for a custom home that seamlessly integrates interior and exterior space, JWA Seattle is here! We provide progressive designs that connect people to their environment, from South Bennett Street to Shilshole Bay. Contact JWA Seattle Immediately!

[bsharp321]

Shilshole Bay

[germancitygirl]

#PNW #clouds #PugetSound #Seattle (at Shilshole Bay/ Golden Gardens) https://www.instagram.com/p/CDnFLA_pVuI/?igshid=1hsgdwca6j1cl

[lucybootstoo-blog]

Shilshole Bay | 2017

[breakfromwork]

May 28-June 11, Washington

We took the van in on the 28th for an oil change near where we stayed overnight in Bellingham, then ran some errands, and enjoying lunch at Boundary Bay Brewing. The beer was as good as I remembered, but the food, not so much. A quick Costco run finished our errands and we holed up for the night near Whatcom Community College. We drove to Seattle on the 29th to be ready for Gae’s Dr. appointment on the 30th, and enjoyed a nice dinner at the Raleigh’s in our old neighborhood. The Dr. visit on the 30th supplied a referral for Gae, which took many calls over several days to set up for the 12th.

Gae took a picture of our old garage on her walk to the Doctors, which the new owner had custom painted by a local artist... nice!

The inside wall was done up too.

I laid low with a constant sinus headache, while Gae took a walk to the junction for fun.

She noticed this upside-down walk sign near the Safeway... huh?

We hung out on the Raleigh’s back deck a bit, where Luna took up her usual exhausted pose.

Saturday, June 1st I visited the Dr’s office in the hopes of getting an antibiotic to knock down the sinus infection, which had spread to my left ear. The office was closed for a software upgrade, and I didn’t even know those Doctors ran on software! I drove to Shilshole Bay to visit with a couple high school friends over some fish and chips for lunch. I was excited about getting some Totem House fish, but ownership has probably changed several times since my childhood, and the fish was mediocre.

I did have a great visit with Dennis, who is local, and Steve, who was in town from Buenos Aires.

Frances treated Gae and I to a massage at a nearby shop, wonderful:-)

I laid low over the 2nd, while Gae went to church. I was using a hot water bottle pressed against the left ear to get sleep over the weekend, hoping for an early unscheduled visit with my Doctor on Monday. I lucked out on the 3rd and immediately picked up the antibiotics, hoping they would work their magic and I could get some relief from the head pain. It took until the 5th before I was able to move around a little, so while Gae hit the Greek Festival with Frances, I enjoyed dinner overlooking Mee Kwa Mooks park.

They made a stop at Starbucks to enjoy their usual.

Lots of action at the festival.

Gae only watched as Frances enjoyed her seafood at the festival.

I got to watch some wind surfers using something I’d never seen... a hydrofoil attachment.

Their speed on the water close to doubled when they hit the necessary speed to push the board out of the water... way cool!

Gae and I decided to build a front gate for Frances for her birthday on the 7th. I spent time designing and picking up materials on the 6th and 7th. We joined Frances, John, Cups and Gofres for her birthday dinner at Feed Co. Burgers, where she treated us! Whaaat? I worked on the gate over the 8th and 9th, and also picked up supplies to replace the lower rail and spindles on the front, outside stair that were rotted.

Gae did all the painting, gate parts and railing parts, while Luna and Bella contemplated the meaning of life.

I joined college buddies Andy and Mike for a great round of golf on the 10th at West Seattle, while Gae finished painting the spindles.

Gae painted the posts we replaced during our last visit using the paint I had color matched for the gate on the 11th.

I installed the spindles and lower rails.

And finished the gate installation with hardware... no escape now Bella!

[bixnohandy]

West coast sunset 🌅 . . . #BixnoHandy #handyman #seattle #seattlehandyman #tools #transformation #desire #build #winning #diy #business #realestate #work #grind #workflow #explore #travel #determination #journey #handy #motivation #inspiration #skills #homeimprovement #passion #goals #pacificnorthwest #dream #work #inspire (at Shilshole Bay Marina)