Former North End author Margaret Doyle is celebrating the release of "The Fisherman's Quilt," which was almost 30 years in the making. She will sign copies of the book at Ravenna Third Place Books on Feb. 18.Loosely based on her own experiences, the novel is adapted from a journal that Doyle wrote from 1975 to 1982 while living in Kodiak, Alaska. In 1985, she developed her writing in a Seattle workshop with Jean Bryant. The manuscript went from a journal to a memoir and finally a novel.
Joey the Clown moves his way around the dance floor on stilts at the former Red Hook Brewery during the Mardi Gras Masquerade Ball on Saturday, Feb. 5. The old brewery was one of three venues for dancers to groove the night away.
Over the last year I've described for you the different facets and faces of Fremont. Through that effort, careful readers may see my deep passion and involvement in this community. It's safe to say that when it comes to Fremont, I'm full of it.My connection to Fremont comes through my mom's side of my family. My maternal grandfather moved his business here in 1939 to a piece of land large enough (and cheap enough) to fabricate pieces for the Yesler housing project. Then, when my parents divorced, my mom came to work here, and Fremont became the background of my youth.On Jan. 23, my dad passed away. He stubbornly fought illness for 15 years. Cancer may have won the war, but my dad never did give an inch to it gracefully.
Anaiah CosgroveIt depends upon what the motives are and who is behind it. Is it about defending against and containing, as opposed to propagating bio-terrorism? It's not a black-and-white issue.Carson WhiteIt doesn't concern me too much. I think there is a better chance for good to come out of it than harm.
LaVassar Florists has been a fixture in north Ravenna for 35 years, but chances are, you haven't heard of it. The shop's subtle, cream-colored exterior is easy to overlook, in spite of the small sign reading "Florist" that hangs from the store's awning and faces North 75th Street.Still, the flower shop is a household name to generations of North Seattle families who have depended on LaVassar to see them through anniversaries, graduations, weddings and funerals.
Jason Chien (far right), of the University of Washington/Master Builders Association's Challenge for Charity, helps Boys & Girls Club members Matthew White (left) and Alexander Danskin assemble their own toolboxes on Jan. 5. Once assembled, the toolboxes will be filled with 12 building tools Dunn Lumber has donated for the club members to take home.
Teaching children about the importance of giving has been one of the Villa Academy's main goals since its establishment in 1978. But the lessons being taught over the years could never have been more valuable than in this time of need for the thousands of victims of December's devastating tsunami.
It may be one of Seattle's most familiar - and unvisited - drive-by locations.South Lake Union Park faces busy Valley Street in the transition zone between Queen Anne, Capitol Hill and the Cascade neighborhoods. The Center for Wooden Boats is there, and so is the handsome, whitewashed Naval Reserve armory building.Over the decades the area, once inhabited by Native Americans, has been used as a gravel fill, a log storage and garbage dump and Naval Reserve center. In July 2000 the city took ownership of the 12-acre site, completing a 15-year, $17 million quest. Just as the South Lake Union neighborhood has been on fast-forward in its evolution toward a biotech hub, the historically utilitarian park site is expected to become a magnet both for event crowds and those seeking a quiet picnic and green acres beside the lake.
The Java Jazz drive-through espresso business in the Magnolia Village 76 station is closing at the end of February after three years of steady growth. And it has not been a pleasant parting of the ways between the owners of the espresso concession and the new owners of the gas station.Fact is, a dispute about a new lease for the place has produced hard feelings all the way round. Charges and counter-charges have been leveled, an attempt was made to bar the espresso-business owners from the space, police were called in at one point and hours have been cut way back, say those involved. All that customers can get these days is drip coffee. Sue Reynolds and Cherie Mueller, owners of the coffee business, feel the new gas-station owners are unfairly trying to take over a business the two women have built up almost from scratch. "We have quadrupled the business from what it was when we took over," Mueller said. As far as the gas-station owners are concerned, the change is simply a matter of doing business.
Julia Bolz picked up a $6,700 check at Coe Elementary School on Valentine's Day for a girls school in Afghanistan that was built with the help of Queen Anne students. The check included $1,300 donated by a Coe parent who wished to remain anonymous. The check capped an effort that began in 2002 when Bolz - a Queen Anne resident and former attorney - stopped by the neighborhood school with a show-and-tell presentation that included Principal David Elliott donning a burqa, the head-to-toe covering Afghan women were forced to wear under the Taliban regime."And it fit," grinned Elliott at a lunch assembly on Monday that featured a slide show of the Afghan school, its students, staff and a burqa-clad Elliott, along with Afghan food donated by the Kabul Restaurant in Wallingford.
Jake Karraker speaks calmly and with care. His tone is patient, he's articulate and direct. He's doesn't want to be seen as self-promotional, and he has no wish to seem preachy. But his story, he agrees, is one of hope, so he's willing to tell it. After years living on the street, Karraker has made drastic changes to get off it. He's stopped drinking. He has a job. He knows it's more than a first step, but he also knows he still has a way to go.His childhood and youth are the stuff of horror movies. Karraker, now 27, was born in Arizona and raised both there and in Alaska. He does not go into great detail when discussing his family, pausing only to say "it was really dysfunctional." By his count he's been living on his own for 16 years and living on the streets on and off for about the last 10.
Worldwide pledges to countries devastated by the tsunami have topped $10 billion, with $2.2 billion of that coming in private donations. In January, the international aid organization Doctors Without Borders stopped accepting donations, and other groups are following suit.Bud Crandall, head of Indonesian operations for CARE, said his organization has been literally overwhelmed by the amount of money received - so much so that they are scrambling to create projects into which to funnel funds. Lucky them.To put this in perspective, Crandall pointed out that tsunami aid is likely 10 times the amount that was raised for the 1 million refugees who, in 1994, fled the ethnic bloodletting in Rwanda.Enough is enough, folks.
With the popularity of such interior-design shows as TLC's "Trading Spaces" and "Clean Sweep" and the Home & Garden Television (HGTV) channel, homeowners and apartment dwellers are finding inspiration for their own interiors.But these don't need to be costly, as one University District resident is proving. Barb Weismann, owner of Living Spaces, is helping people around the Puget Sound redecorate their homes using furniture and other items they already have.
The former Vitamilk Dairy property, located one block east of Green Lake, may become the home of a six-story, multi-use development. On behalf of the property owner, Seattle-based developer Lorig Associates L.L.C. submitted a request to rezone nearly 3 acres of land connected to the site. If approved, the developers would be allowed to build up to 65 feet. The property could hold up to 10,000 square feet of commercial/retail space and up to 300 units of residential housing, estimated Lorig representative Tom Bartholomew.
Julia Bolz picked up a $6,700 check at Coe Elementary School on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, for a girls school in Afghanistan that was built with the help of the Queen Anne students.The check, which included $1,300 donated by an anonymous Coe parent, capped an effort that began in 2002 when Bolz - a Queen Anne resident and former attorney - stopped by the neighborhood school with a show-and-tell presentation that included Principal David Elliott donning a burqa, the head-to-toe covering Afghan women were forced to wear under the Taliban regime."And it fit," grinned Elliott at a lunch assembly on Monday that featured a slide show of the Afghan school, its students, staff and a burqa-clad Elliott, along with Afghan food donated by the Kabul Restaurant in Wallingford.