That gorgeous $800,000 condo you thought you could never afford might be on a "this-recession-only" 50-percent discount sale, like this one in the Queen Anne High School building that just sold at auction for $350,000. Yikes. Too bad Seattlest still can't afford to buy, because we've been in one of those Queen Anne units and they're really nice. Very solid, and it's an old building populated, we're told, mostly by retirees who are gone a good chunk of the year, so it's also quiet. Ideal for, say, a writer. Who wants to buy us a condo? Half off! more ›

The Paramount Theatre's next touring musical is called Spring Awakening (October 14-19, tickets $22-$70). It was nominated for eleven 2007 Tony Awards, won eight--notably best musical, direction, book, score, and featured actor. more ›

A new report tells us what we all already know, painfully and personally: rent in Seattle is at an all-time high and rental vacancies are sparse. more ›

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--Is there a street sign out there with your name on it? more ›

When we first bought our house the "backyard" was a complete eyesore, replete with a tar-roofed carport next to a plot of head-high blackberry bushes held back by a sagging chain-link fence. We joked about renting goats to clear the whole thing, but in the end resorted to a backhoe. (And this past weekend, a mere 3 1/2 years after we moved in, we finally have a backyard, huzzah!). Apparently, we're not the only one who had that goat idea: Just 4 blocks down from our house, construction company Saltaire hired "Rent-A-Ruminant" to graze an entire quarter acre in just 48 hours. We wandered down the street and lo and behold, there were 60 goats (we could only see about 15 at a time, the rest were wandering up inside the blackberry bushes) munching away like a, well, 60-goat wrecking crew. We were joined by many neighbors, all of us slightly shaking our heads and laughing, just marveling at the sight of a pack of goats on a steep sidehill just steps away from an insanely busy intersection at Dearborn and Rainier. Slowly more and more kids arrived, squealing and pointing and petting (note to neighborhood associations: if you want to have a packed and lively block party, rent some goats). more ›

Last night we were standing on our back porch-like thing (which is actually more related, in terms of dimensions, to a hallway except instead of a bathroom at the end of it there's a Weber) in Wallingford. It was raining and we were drinking a can of beer and wondering where all the T-storms and hail were. Never showed, Double Doppler. And we thought back on some of the heavy weather that did show up as promised in the past few months. In fact some of the shingles that were blown off of the house up the street during the wind storm are still down there in the back yard, nearly completely covered by the spring grass. That violently diagonal stump a few houses up the hill? Still there. Still more unearthed than not. And this is relatively lightly winded Wallingford. They're probably still running on battery power in Duval. more ›

The summer’s dearth of classical music is finally over. In fact, there’s so much happening around town we may have trouble fitting it all in without overwhelming you. more ›

Ah summer in Seattle. You never know what you might find around the bend. Whether it’s 19 cannons being fired off at Pier 36 this morning, bad traffic, or the Blue Angels screeching overhead, Seafair continues into August. So don’t forget to check the schedule to mark where you want to be or not be. Personally Seattlest can’t wait for the Parade of Ships on August 3rd. And guess what? You can actually take a cruise around the Sound on an aircraft carrier if you play your cards right. Here’s an interesting discussion going on about Seattlites’ feelings about Seafair in the PI. more ›