These are two views of the George & Dragon Pub, one of Seattle’s premier sites for watching the World Cup, just a block away from where I live and work.

I drew the first during a lull in the soccer action, the day before the U.S–Germany match. I then returned yeterday during the match and added the crowd watching the outdoor screen to the first sketch. Notice how the screen was raised for better viewing.

Even though the U.S. lost 1–0, they still advanced to the knock-out round! Next up, Belgium…

When the Seattle Uurban Sketchers met along Alki beach for its monthly meetup yesterday, I decided to draw the Alki Homestead located at 2717 61st Avenue SW. This is one of the few historic log structures remaining in Seattle. The log house, originally called Fir Lodge, was designed by Tom Lin and built in 1904 as a country estate for Gladys and William Bernard.

The Homestead Restaurant operated here from 1950 to 2009, when a fire closed the restaurant. Because of plans to demolish the designated landmark, the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation listed the log building as one of their Most Endangered Historic Properties.

The Southwest Seattle Historical Society, the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, and Historic Seattle all began a campaign to encourage rehabilitation of the property as opposed to rebuilding with new construction. In 2010, the building’s owner expressed interest in selling the Alki Homestead property and, as you can see from the sketch, it is currently for sale.

Mike and Patti Sherlock started making rye whiskey in the late 1990s from a recipe from the journals of John Jacob, an immigrant from Holland and Patti’s great-grandfather. When Washington state passed the craft law in 2008, Mike and Patti founded Fremont Mischief Distillery. Here is a view of the distillery with its retail shop and tasting room fronting the Ship Canal.

Fremont Mischief distills whiskey, gin and vodka using winter wheat grown on Whidbey Island and rye from small Washington State farms and the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Quoting from the distillery’s website:

“Fremont Mischief is a full-circle distillery. We begin by selecting the finest organic, heirloom and small farm conventional grains & botanicals. Together with pure artesian waters, these ingredients are skillfully crafted into fine spirits with the help of our artisan stills. Then, our spent grain is reused and ultimately returns, full-circle, as organic compost for farms and gardens. We recognize the artistry in crafting fine spirits. Our stills are a work of art themselves. They are hand-made by Arnold Holstein Co., a German family that’s been building distilleries for many decades. We worked closely with the still-maker, to incorporate proprietary technology into our columns stills. No need for twelve times distilled or even three.  Our stills allow us to distill pure, flavorful spirits the very first run.”