Stopping by, late in February, at the Queen Anne Office Supply store, my heart broke and memories flooded in. The shelves, once brimming with myriad selections, were now bare. A few bits of stock were strewn about, but emptiness ruled supreme. I thought of all the times the staff had helped me with my questions and taken the time to sort out my quandaries. They did not have to parrot at the checkout place "Did you find everything you needed?" because they had always been available, usually long before you could succinctly frame your questions. Yes, before they closed their shop I had tried to buy my office supplies at the big mall-like stores, but had found the shopping experience so disheartening. Did I save money? Probably, but it was not enough to endure the impersonal "service." I rue the day when I will need another ream of paper, or a broad selection of pens to replace all those that grow legs and walk away from here on their own.
Maybe the new Bartell Drugs store on the top of Queen Anne Hill can become my new office supply store? I will have to study their paper and pen supplies, but I must say I am getting very confused about these big stores. Why does a drug store carry so many food items, cell phones and cameras? Is this really just a miniature Fred Meyer slipped in between the normal mix of small, local businesses?
The liveliness of our local community has to rely on our dedicated and adventuresome local merchants. A few years ago, Jennifer Hill opened the Hilltop Yarn shop at 2224 Queen Anne Ave. N. in one of those 'ancient' two- to three-story houses still functioning as restaurants or shops at that block of the Ave.
The seductiveness of her yarn selections, and the dedicated service provided by her staff, along with some stellar classes for beginners even brought me back to the pleasures of knitting and crocheting. In this fast-paced world of ours, who would have thought that multitasking women and a few men would fully embrace the time-consuming art or act of knitting?
A few weeks ago, a nasty electrical fire broke out in the old house. Due to the damages, Hilltop Yarn had to close their shop. Immediately, Queen Anne Books and the shop, Eat Local, made their spaces available so that the Hilltop Yarn classes could continue.
When you need to ask an expert how to get those stitches over and under and off and then again onto those needles, a cancelled class is not going to sit well with you. The reaching out by the local merchants just brought us all home to such a wonderful sense of community.
On the first of March, Hilltop Yarn shop had its fire sale! Before the opening at 11 a.m., the line stretched south along the Ave and wrapped east along Boston Street. Yes, I dreamt about the beautiful alpaca and silk blend at 50 percent off, but a sturdier and more dedicated group of shoppers had arrived earlier in the morning. How thrilling it was to see such an exuberant flow of energy supporting one of our dedicated local merchants.
In my garden, the small, fuzzy emergence of my Epimediums and Vancouveria renew my faith that Spring and more light are marching toward us at full speed. The bright yellow bunches of daffodils always bring a smile and the old-fashioned forsythia plants have thrown their yellow cloak of blooms over their bare winter stems. Everywhere you look, at the street trees, in our parks, or in our gardens, the buds are fattening and the catkins grow longer each day as we move away from the winter months.
Addendum: The new editor, Myke Folger, spoke with me last week about his plans to add additional writers for this newspaper. The timing works well for me because I have taken on a project that will require 100 percent of my focus for the next 3 months. I look forward to resuming my weekly columns early this summer. [[In-content Ad]]