26) Snail-mail artist Flatchestedmama invited me to check out this classic mailbox parked in front of a Safeway in the Othello neighborhood. Could I refuse an offer like that? Of course not! I headed down to S Othello Street at MLK Way S on a chilly Sunday morning so we could meet and exchange thoughts on various mail-related artistic expressions. Like you do.

25) It was a fine sunny morning, the perfect time to enjoy a Tiny Diet Coke next to this box on NW 58th Street at 14th Ave NW in Ballard. Does anyone else remember when there used to be a mailbox on the median that runs down the middle of 14? One of my fondest mailing memories involved that box, and it’s sad to see that it’s no longer there.

 

24) I started this project by visiting the Four Corners of Seattle, snapping the boxes that staked out the most outer extremes of our fair city. This box is also geographically special, as it is the westernmost mail receptacle, beating its closest competitor by a full two blocks. If you need to mail something to Hawaii, you should probably venture over to 63rd Ave SW and SW Hinds Street in West Seattle and drop your letter in this box. You know, to give it a head start.

23) This project has proven to be very educational. Am I learning deeply repressed secrets of my own inner child? Am I learning about the crumbling infrastructure of the human soul? No, I’m mostly learning that I’m not very good at anticipating when the 10-second timer on my camera is going to fire, resulting in shots like this. I proved this to be true once again at the corner of Boyer Ave E and 16th Ave E in Montlake.

22) What a stroke of luck! We met some friends for dinner last night, and the restaurant turned out to be across the street from the only mailbox left in the International District! If you find yourself at S King Street and 7th Ave S, you can choose from quite a few places to eat after you’ve worked up an appetite doing your mailing.

21) Let me end the suspense and tell you right now that no, I did not get the Free Gulp. Nor did I take advantage of the 2 for $20 special. I didn’t even use the ATM Inside. All I did was grab this quick photo outside the 7-Eleven as I passed through the Haller Lake neighborhood. If you want to take advantage of any of these great offers, get yourself up to Roosevelt Way N at 1st Ave NE pronto.

20) So what’s with the funky photo treatment? Am I trying to make some statement about the grittiness of the Capitol Hill neighborhood? Am I reflecting the starkness of the human existence? No, nothing quite like that. I visited this box at Boylston Ave E and E Republican in the early evening, just when it was starting to get dark. The lightening apparently confused my camera, which overcompensated by totally blowing out my forehead. Applying this rough sepia filter is just my way of covering up for an otherwise bad photo.

19) The skies were menacing the morning I visited the Olympic Manor neighborhood and found this box waiting at NW 89 Place and 23 Ave NW. Fun fact — We used to live near here and would frequently take the dog on walks through these streets. One thing that was impossible not to notice was how many lawns were impeccably groomed with the grass blades cut to about 1/2?. They reminded me of military buzz cuts.

18) It was a beautiful late winter Sunday when I found myself atop this sturdy box located across from the old KEXP studios on Dexter Ave N.