Three sightings of these “Magic Wishing Pumpkins” have been reported to us in the past two days … from two West Seattle neighborhoods. Top photo is from Dano, who says he happened onto them in the Alki area. They are accompanied by a poem, and a whimsical warning – he shared photos of both:

Dano reported, “Children walking by were making pumpkin wishes after reading the little Halloween poem….. So cool!” Then, two Junction sightings came in .. Desiree sent photos tonight that had the poem and warning on the same page, along with a smaller group of pumpkins, while this one was sent this morning by Mike, saying he saw one big “wishing pumpkin”:

Each of the three “warnings” in Dano, Desiree, and Mike’s photos suggests a different fate would befall a tamperer; the wish invitations, though, each have the same verbiage. To check that it’s not something mass-produced, we tried web searches … nothing comes up for “Magic Wishing Pumpkins,” so maybe they’re just … magic

Thanks to the multiple WSB’ers who e-mailed to report and/or ask about this film crew spotted on the West Seattle waterfront, southeast of Salty’s on Alki (WSB sponsor). A production-crew member explained that portable dressing rooms and production offices are what you see set up on the for-sale property, but wouldn’t identify the film; a police officer posted at the Jack Block entrance said they wouldn’t tell him either. The crew member did say they are using part of the park just for today and that the rest remains open. The only online mentions we could find regarding any movie recently in production in Seattle are about “One Square Mile,” with stars including Kim Basinger and Richard Jenkins – here’s a recent story from the Hollywood Reporter. No proof so far whether that is or is not what’s being shot here today, though.

The sign’s up at Easy Street Records – and we’re told the newlyweds will be in the area for photos in a few hours – Auburn e-mailed to share the photo and the news of Sean Jolly and Michelle Mierz – who first met as schoolmates long ago, and much later reconnected and fell in love – getting married. More on that later today.

The other sighting is at the north end of Pigeon Point:

Mark sent that photo – and earlier, Jim sent us one from last night – and as far as we can tell, it just might be a sign that Doctor Who is wandering timelessly around Pigeon Point today. Not a Dr. Who fan? This might explain.

Thanks to everyone who sent word of this film crew working on Alki this morning, wondering what they’re up to. We just went over to check. A crew member told us it’s a commercial for the loan company Moneytree. They were still setting up when we stopped, west of 58th/Alki, with an equipment truck by Pioneer Coffee and a wardrobe RV across the street from Coastal:

They expected to be there till lunchtime. Lending/banking commercials are finding our area increasingly attractive, it seems – including Sterling Bank, which filmed a spot starring Beveridge Place Pub in Morgan Junction (see it here). And Columbia Bank shot one of its “Blue Couch” commercials here this past spring.

Several people mentioned the sighting, via e-mail/Facebook/Twitter – but so far, John Smersh at Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor) in The Junction is the only one who’s sent a photo of the “art cars” that were spotted northbound through West Seattle this past hour. The art cars are always on display during the Fremont Fair, which is happening this weekend, but what they’re doing in West Seattle tonight – if anything beyond “out for a drive” – we haven’t figured out yet! (You might recall, they rallied here last year AFTER the fair.)

8:05 PM UPDATE: Thanks to Keri for the tip they were parked along Admiral hill – we headed over for photos. But first, Debra Salazar Herbst shared her views, including these two from Don Armeni:

Now, from Admiral Way hill (north of the West Seattle Bridge), our photos:

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Don Brubeck, who commutes by bicycle, shares some of the sights he sees from the road/trail/bridge – and here’s the latest: What he describes as wind-turbine blades, on a train alongside the West Seattle Bridge. He posted a few more photos to the WSB Flickr group pool. Not uncommon, according to a quick round of Web searching, but a riveting sight just the same.

Big news from Tom Wyrick at Alki Arts – the traffic “island” on the north side of the Alki and 63rd intersection, practically out their front (roll-up) door, is no longer the almost-empty “island” it’s been since installation as part of the 2009 Alki Point sidewalk project. He shared the photos and this report:

For several weeks now we’ve been watching people walking around 63rd & Alki with plans and doing a lot of pointing. Yesterday we got a driftwood tree and today we are getting rocks!

Want to inspect it for yourself? Alki Arts is part of the West Seattle Art Walk tonight, 6-9 pm.

ADDED 6:03 PM: More information about the work – Seattle Parks senior landscape architect Joe Neiford says maintenance accountability for the island is in the process of being transferred to his department, from SDOT. He explains: “SDOT came up with some funding and gave it to Parks to do the redesign and relandscaping of this island so we are giving it the same treatment as the other areas in Alki Beach Park that we have been working on upgrading over the past several years.” Also in keeping with other shoreline parks, he says an art component may be in the works too. He’s working with Parks’ senior gardener for this district, Phil Renfrow. Neiford adds that, “We sincerely hope that Alki and all Seattle will be pleasantly surprised by this improvement, which was very difficult to make happen given the current economic conditions that the city is going through. It will take several weeks to complete all the elements so we hope that everybody will bear with our mess for a little while longer.”

Two photos to share (click either/both for larger views):

From pilot/photographer Long Bach Nguyen, a view of the Admiral District, looking north to Elliott Bay, this Friday – note Hiawatha at lower right.

Meantime, Machel Spence, who often shares closeup looks at tiny marvels, wonders if you can guess what this is:

Her only clue: She took the photo Saturday at Village Green Perennial Nursery (WSB sponsor), where she says her photo cards will soon be sold.

The photo is courtesy of a North Admiral resident who doesn’t want to be identified but wrote, “Looks like the leprechauns finally woke up from their 2-month nap and refreshed the green stripe on 41st (behind Metropolitan Market) last night. They even did the shamrock at the end. Was it a special Irish saint’s day? Or just a delay due to rain? Either way, we’re glad it’s back!” We looked up Irish holidays; nothing. Today is exactly two months since St. Patrick’s Day – when the stripe usually turns up “refreshed” – perhaps May was confused with March? Or, someone decided to make it a Syttende Mai stripe instead?

(Thanks to Babs for the motorcade photo)
ORIGINAL 5:13 PM REPORT: We’ve gotten a couple messages about a motorcade in the Alki area. We’re told it’s for the president of Bulgaria, who has indeed been visiting Seattle. Earlier today, first-year President Rosen Prevneliev was on Capitol Hill. While in the area, he’s also met with Bill Gates. He’s in the area to drum up U.S. interest in Bulgarian business and is also visiting the “other” U.S. tech hub, Silicon Valley.

8:07 PM UPDATE: President Prevneliev has moved on, according to a WSB’er who called to say the motorcade had (temporarily) shut down I-5. Commenter WS says he was visiting The Pacific Institute, which is on Harbor Avenue SW between Salty’s and Seacrest; we passed by briefly en route to another story and noted the motorcycle officers were parked right across the street from the Institute.

(Event photos courtesy FOCUS News Agency, used with permission)
ADDED EARLY THURSDAY: Thanks to Bulgaria’s FOCUS News Agency for sharing photos from the West Seattle event; their correspondent reports that President Prevneliev told members of Seattle’s Bulgarian community that he is working to build trust between citizens and their political leaders, and that he is working on a long-term development plan for the country, including a proposed technology park.

FOCUS reports that about 40 people met with President Plevneliev during his West Seattle stop, including Bulgaria’s Ambassador to the United States, Elena Poptodorova, and the U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria, James Warlick, who has been tweeting about the trip:

The president’s Silicon Valley itinerary Thursday includes a stop at Google HQ.

If you’ve noticed trucks like these around the Admiral District – including around Hiawatha Community Center – no, it’s NOT a movie crew; it’s World Famous Inc., shooting a corporate video for Microsoft. Thanks to Forest for the heads-up about an alert posted at Hiawatha in advance of the shoot, which caught lots of attention this morning (thanks also to those who texted and e-mailed!). The crew told us they’ll be around till noon or so, and that they chose West Seattle for their backdrop just because it’s scenic! (P.S. According to the Seattle Office of Film and Music‘s website, corporate/commercial production like this comprises a third of the “permitted filmwork” in our city.)

ADDED FRIDAY NIGHT: The crew was also at an Admiral-area home – Ted Johnson shared this photo via the WSB Facebook page:

The tree stump on the KeyBank corner of the California-Alaska intersection (aka “Walk All Ways”) in The Junction has a new decoration. A tipster e-mailed us early today to say it had been “yarn-bombed” overnight. First one of those we’ve heard of/seen in a while. The tipster’s photo was too small to use, so we stopped by while in The Junction a little while ago to get this one.

Everybody has a specialty. One of Mark Bourne‘s specialties is spotting appearances of The Grouchos – the mysteriously appearing and disappearing Groucho Marx likenesses seen alongside the West Seattle Bridge over (at least) the last five years. He just spotted them somewhere they haven’t been seen before, and writes about it here.

First, “Mount Costco” – now, “Mount Westwood,” and a determined (?) driver. Thanks to Johnston for the photo.

First, Grant mentioned it on the WSB Facebook page. Then Rosalie e-mailed a longer report:

Tonight at 9:30 while driving home (west) on the Spokane viaduct , a car was driving east on the westbound lanes. A little scary, drivers had to move out of the way. The wrong way driver made no attempt to turn around or stop, just kept driving along. It didn’t appear to be a cop or ER vehicle. If you hear about this from others I hope you’ll post something, it would be interesting to find out what happened. In order get on those westbound lanes the car would have had to come down the bridge on the wrong side…

We have an inquiry out to police to ask if they got involved at any point. (Those westbound lanes, of course, were to close about half an hour later for another round of construction work.)

1:43 AM: Southwest Precinct Lt. Alan Williams says police did get multiple reports about the wrong-way driver, who was “last reported to be heading eastbound up Columbian Way, so South Precinct officers went to look for it.” No report that the driver was found, though.