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” … You threw the book away and ad-libbed with both feet.”
The Mod Squad, season 1; episode 1, “The Teeth of the Barracuda”; original air date Sept. 24, 1968

That is quite possibly the worst mixed metaphor ever.

I recently encountered this dragonfly in The Boyfriend’s back yard. Based on my extensive research (two Wikipedia articles and a Google image search), I think it might be a male Azure Hawker. I say “might” because I’m not clear if Azure Hawkers are found only in Scotland, or if Scotland is the only place in the UK that they’re found.

Either way, let’s call this dragonfly A-Hawk.

A-Hawk circled the same small area in the yard for quite a while, and got rather close to me. Flying directly overhead, silhouetted against a bright blue sky, his wings appeared to be made of the finest copper filament as the sun filtered through them.

A-Hawk perched on a branch, basked in the sun, and allowed me to take a bunch of pictures.

I’ve never gotten so close to a dragonfly before. It was so cool!

I took these photos during the fabulous Fourth of July fireworks extravaganza in Steilacoom, using the “Fireworks” setting on my camera. All photos were taken from The Boyfriend’s deck, which I estimate to be 2 to 3 miles away from where the fireworks barge sat in Puget Sound.

Unaltered (click on a photo to enlarge it):

Altered (increased fill light):

This bumper sticker …

reminds me of this t-shirt:

This post has a little info about and transcription of the t-shirt. Unfortunately, the pictures have disappeared from the original post. The photos in that post were uploaded to Coppermine. When I converted to PhotoPress, my Coppermine photos didn’t carry over into PhotoPress. Either that, or something went wonky during a WordPress upgrade.

For what it’s worth, I like the Urban Dictionary definition of “saucy wench” (“a spirited young woman”) better than the Wiktionary definition of “wench.”

I’m still saucy, but I’m officially too old to be a wench. And no, Wiktionary’s second definition for “wench” isn’t applicable, either.

… I asked my mother, “What will I drink?
Will I drink red wine?
Will I drink white?”
Here’s what she said to me:
Que syrah, syrah.

Photo taken at Lombardi’s Neighborhood Italian restaurant and bar in beautiful Ballard. They came up with “Que Syrah, Syrah”; I came up with the other “lyrics.” The sign is a pun on “Que Sera, Sera” an old Doris Day song.

And the “clever” tag attached to this post is all for Lombardi’s.

Fortunately, unlike Simon & Garfunkel‘s song “My Little Town,” not all of the colors are black. Nor do they lack imagination.

Check out Caffe Fiore‘s Web site redesign. They’ve added lots of info (about the business, the locations, and — of course — the coffee) and a variety of fabulous photos. Whoever took the photos and did the site redesign did a beautiful job. Check out the pics on the Our Beans page — and kudos to the barista(s) that created the lovely milk-foam designs.

Also, it’s that time of year again: Cold-brewed coffee has been back on Caffe Fiore’s menu for the past couple of weeks. If memory serves correctly, it’s usually available through September/October each year.

I really enjoy the atmosphere at Caffe Fiore/Old Ballard (5405 Leary Ave NW) – lots of natural light; botanical-themed, lighted interior signs; tables and chairs of rich wood; delicate glass light fixtures suspended from sculptural metal hardware.* (Not to mention the delicious coffees and teas, the Mighty O Donuts, and the great service.)

I was pleasantly surprised today by the artful shadows on the large round table in back:

Yep, more blurry photos. I can’t blame these on my Panasonic Lumix ZS1. I took these (and the accessories photo from the other day) with my Palm Treo 850. There are a lot of things I love about my Treo – it’s a great phone and handheld (palmtop?) computer – but photo quality isn’t one of them. (My Treo’s a couple of years old, so I’m not including a link.)

*I might try to get some good interior shots of Caffe Fiore one of these days.

Diagonally across Olive Way from the ultra modern Olive 8 is the fabulously Art Deco Tower Building (1809 Seventh Ave.):

As a follow up to this post, more photos of what I have since learned is Olive 8, a luxury Hyatt Hotel + luxury condominiums at 737 Olive Way. (Click on a photo to see a larger version.) And did I mention that Olive 8 is all about luxury?