Foolish Mortal

Dear Diary,

Unsurprisingly, I haven't kept to the schedule announced in the last page I wrote.  I've now gone through 155 of the 413 parks the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation currently lists, looking for North Seattle parks.  I hope to finish that tomorrow before going to Green Lake, but don't know when I'll be done visiting the parks I think relevant.

Anyway, today I felt very lazy, and actually used Safeway's restroom and University Village's water.  But I'd promised myself that I'd return to the three closed restrooms at more reasonable times, and the website had said Christie Park still existed, so I wanted to check that out.

At Ravenna lower, between 6:09 and 6:27, the restrooms were open and the water fountain not running.

At Ravenna upper, at 6:40, everything was the same as last night:  men's room locked, women's room unlocked, water fountain running.  I infer from this that you, dear Diary, still don't have a regular reader in the department.

At Cowen Park, at 6:59, same-same, but the leaves at the entrance to the men's room were leaking a puddle.  Well, maybe it was rain.

It occurred to me on this visit that I hadn't posted any photos of neat stuff from Cowen Park.  This is partly because the park irritates me, with my cart - practically all its paths are gravel or stairs - and partly because, for that reason, I usually leave my cart and so am in a hurry.  This time I picked two things I'd probably consider neat if they were in a more reasonable park.  A sort of spinner ride:

and another sundial:

I also wanted to illustrate an earlier mistake of mine.  A prominent feature of one side of the park is a huge, complex jumble that I'd seen people in, and I was sure it was an encampment of my peers.  No, it's actually a gardeners' storage - but doesn't it really look like an encampment?

Speaking of which, I forgot to note the time at University Playground, but it was before 7:35.  Still pretty late to draw conclusions from locked doors.  This time, however, one of the gentlemen camping there was sitting out, so I asked him if he ever saw those doors unlocked, and he said no.

I reported correctly last night on what was at the site I thought my old map indicated as Christie Park, but if my map really said that it was wrong.  The park is at the southwest corner of 43rd St and 9th Ave, and is still there, though closed for an expansion and renovation:

No idea whether either the before or the after would have a water fountain.

Oh, well, dear Diary, I've kept at this so late that tomorrow will be a real problem if no parks open timely.  (It's a day when Safeway has senior hours until 9 A.M.)  So good night.