Demaris in the cupboard under the stairs aka the Hobbit Hole. It's actually a fairly nice Hobbit Hole being not at all dark and damp nor is it in the least bit dry and sandy. It's carpeted warm and cozy (dim 7'X3'X3'.)

Our front door and patio.

Until Jay and the moving truck arrived, the apartment was rather sparse.

The entrance to our patio and outside view of our apartment. All the units have really interesting floorplans (as if the Hobbit Hole didn't give that away.) They're all either townhome (2bdrm) or lofts (1bdrm).

Our first week in town was Passover so we had a Seder. Judy and Walid attended. We forgot to take any pictures till afterwards though :-(. Stay tuned for the Power Point Haggadah.

We've had lots of out of town visitors in the 2 months we've been in Seattle. In order: Jim, Brad, Shasta, Jeff Axup, Shari, Paul, Shari, Brad, Jill. Only 75% have crashed on our floor, inflatable mattress & beanbag chairs! You could be next!

Our sudden popularity is more than likely due to all the cool things to do in Seattle. This shot is from one of the public ferries ($3-$5 roundtrip) that go to the various Island communities in the Puget Sound. They run every hour and take between 30-50 minutes.

Shot from the ferry looking at Downtown Seattle.

Seattle* is made up of about 20 neighborhoods each with its own "culture". Due largely to geography these communities are very tightly knit, reminiscent of the strong community feeling associated with early 20th century New York or Chicago. However, as the boundaries are geographic as opposed to cultural, the neighborhoods although clearly distinct, share a common culture in addition to their neighborhood feel. Each neighborhood has a festival sometime during the summer. If this sounds like there's a festival every weekend, you're right! The "festival season" aka summer, opens with Memorial Day weekend, when downtown Seattle has the largest of the city's festivals "The Seattle FolkLife Festival."

*Generally when when we say Seattle we mean the Seattle metro area. In this case we're specifically referring to the Westside of the lake which is Seattle proper, as opposed to the Eastside much of which is suburban blight, with the universal suburban culture of SUV's and strip malls.

Cool handmade string insturment.

The Seattle FolkLife Festival has lots of wandering entertainment and about a dozen permanent stages running entertainment from 10am till 10pm. The festival ran for 4 days over the weekend and had a suggested donation of $5.

Lots of park space for lounging on and relaxing with friends.