Seattle Parks and Recreation wants to come up with the perfect name for a new Magnolia park, and the public can make suggestions. That's a relief, because I have a few ideas of my own about a perfect name for what used to be the Magnolia Elementary School playground. Actually, my Thomas Guide already labels the expanse of cracked asphalt as the East Magnolia Playfield. But that's waaay too dull, given the less-than-thrilled and whiney reaction many nearby residents have had to the green-space windfall. However, Parks doesn't want people to pick a name willy-nilly, no matter how upset they are. Nope, there are some ground rules we have to follow.I'll try.
If a tree falls in Queen Anne, will anyone hear it?Of course.Some people might even take pictures. That's what Jim Fielder did.Last Wednesday, Oct. 12, the McClure Middle School math and science teacher was driving home from work when he saw unwelcome activity swirling around one of his beloved Queen Anne trees.The object of attention was a huge, old silver maple - 75 feet high - just off the intersection at Second Avenue West and Boston Street. The landmark tree merited mention in Arthur Lee Jacobson's "Trees of Seattle."
Hopefuls for the mayor's office and four city council positions squared off at an Oct. 4 candidates forum at the Nordic Heritage Museum. Moderated by veteran KOMO-TV correspondent and analyst Bryan Johnson, the forum engaged a number of topics, including the fate of the monorail - a beleaguered transportation proposal up for a public vote once again this November.
A&J; Meats and Seafood is a Seattle institution that Queen Anne is fortunate to call its own. This butcher shop has been around since 1951 - the same year the first long-distance telephone call was connected without operator assistance, the very first jet passenger flight took off and Mickey Mantle hit his first home run. A&J; came into being during a time we often romanticize as having been "simpler," although it's more likely that the world was just a lot smaller and much less crowded. Certainly, the era was one when people traveled less and spent more time close to home, looking to their own neighborhoods to meet their needs.It was in that climate that Allen Ploe ("A") and Jerry Friar ("J") left their jobs at Ploe's Meats on Rainier Avenue and opened their own butcher shop ("A&J;") in the old Quality Market, on the corner of West McGraw and Sixth Avenue West. Over the next 50-plus years, while innumerable small businesses have been forced to close their doors in order to make space for mega, one-stop grocery and department stores, A&J; Meats has continued to thrive, providing quality products and hands-on service.
Al Runte is very much at home in Seattle, having lived in his Wedgwood neighborhood for the past 25 years. A big man, like his mayoral opponent, he sits affably for our interview, inviting a curious onlooker to listen in and "be entertained."
Jake Heggie's opera "The End of the Affair" offers a thought-provoking debate over the existence and nature of God. The new work is also a fine example of how lyrical modern opera can be.Opening Seattle Opera's 2005-06 season on Saturday, Oct. 15, the opera has undergone two revisions since it premièred on March 4, 2004, at the Houston Grand Opera. Heggie and director Leonard Foglia joined librettist Heather McDonald in overhauling the storyline for this latest version. "The End of the Affair" is the story of the married Sarah Miles, who makes a deal with God to save her lover, Maurice Bendrix, after she believes he has been killed during the London Blitz in World War II. Based on the Graham Greene novel of the same name, which also engendered two films, the opera follows the painful consequences of Sarah's promise to give up her relationship with Maurice.
Louis Comfort Tiffany is one of those artists whose work suffuses contemporary culture. From Wal-Mart to high-end mega-mansions, Tiffany designs are everywhere. You've seen reproduction lamps, and you probably recognize his influence on local glass artists. But it's not until you're presented with an assemblage of originals that the greatness of the artist is manifest. The current show at the Seattle Art Museum is a shimmering feast for the eyes.
Last week I picked up a book of photography from a friend's bookshelf. Distracted, I flipped though the pages thinking it was just another glossy coffee table book, but I stopped at a photo of a beautiful woman in her fifties with a half-shaven head and a large stapled wound on her scalp.She looked otherwise strong and athletic. She was smiling boldly for the camera, a kayak paddle in her hand. It was the story of a retired fashion model a wife and a mother - who survived advanced breast cancer, only to be diagnosed with an unrelated glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer. She was given only a few months to live. Instead she fought. She underwent surgery, aggressive chemotherapy, and radiation; while her husband photographed her in different stages of her illness. Then she took up kayaking, gardening, yoga, and photography. She made a book out of her photos and the photos taken of her; and she has outlived her doctors' predictions by years.
Oh, so endearing is the 'punkin'! Halloween is nigh. Scoff at (or celebrate) the impending gloom of winter; carve a clutch of 'jack-o-lanterns,' bake spicy pumpkin pies and breads. If you don't know how much the average hippopotamus relishes pumpkins, show up at the Woodland park zoo, usually on November 1st, to watch them feast on big orange messy pumpkin treats like candy. My weekly Community Sponsored Agriculture (CSA) basket is becoming suspiciously heavier each week as the winter squashes sneak in. For an easy meal, I love using Thai Green Curry paste and coconut milk to simmer the squash with potatoes and whatever other veggies, like green beans, are at hand. This is a delicious easy weeknight combination when served with basmati or jasmine rice and a little salad.
Matt Janke succeeded the popular Café Counter Intelligence with his eponymous, even more popular, fine dining spot in the Market. He has earned public and critical awards in that small sliver of a space. Last month, with the landlord PDA's blessing, he asked the Market Historical Commission for approval of an expansion into the adjoining office space. The move would just about double his seating capacity.The Historical Commission unanimously approved the expansion.It is sometimes not understood how established, successful Market businesses which expand into neighboring spaces with assistance from landlords and approval by the Market Historical Commission contribute to a trend that alters and hurts the Market.
This past month all eyes were on New Orleans; a beautiful, one-of-a-kind city; a jewel linked with The Father of Waters; the proud location of possibly the oldest multi-cultural trading grounds and open-air urban markets, in the country.The New Orleans French Market was born more than two centuries ago on the relative high ground where the Mississippi River bends on its way to the Delta. Native Americans began trading here, French colonists and assorted settlers followed suit. The Spanish were the first to build structures.In 1813, the first market building was erected (to provide sanitary conditions for selling meat). Over the years various tents and shacks were covered. In the 1930s the market that grew there was remodeled. Our Market has a similar, albeit shorter, history; but the major differing fact is our Market has been in continuous operation since that fateful August day, in 1917. The French Market has been virtually abandoned on a couple occasions: folk have moved on uptown or outta town. The market recovered.
You can help the Pike Market Medical Clinic and enjoy the best food from Market restaurants at the 22nd annual Feast at the Market Tuesday, Oct. 4.Registration begins at 5:30 p.m. at the clinic, 1930 Post Alley, on the corner of Virginia Street. Dinner is from 6 to 9 p.m. Desserts also will be served from 6 to 9 p.m., according to Ellen Chesley, who is organizing the event. "For $60, people get a booklet of tickets - coupons for appetizer-sized dishes. Go to as many of the restaurants as you like. Tickets also include parking at the Pike Place Public Market Parking Garage," Chesley said. "Twenty different Pike Place Market dining establishments are donating food and services for the Feast."
This October look for pumpkins from Frog's Song Farm, of Fir Island, and costumes from Just Horsin' Around, of Vashon Island, along the day stalls outside on Pike Place and inside the North Arcade.The 98-year-old Pike Place Market tradition of "meet the producer," selling direct to customers along Pike Place, continues as 287 farmers and craftspeople bring their finest, including the organic pumpkins and more of Nate O'Neil and Shannon Dignum's Frog's Song Farm, Fir Island, and the children's costumes and adult wizard robes of Laura Daughenbaugh and Tom Graham, Just Horsin' Around, Vashon Island.Organic Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., will continue through month-end to showcase local, certified organic fruits and vegetables, including many heirloom varieties, proudly grown by farmers such as Nate O'Neil and Shannon Dignum on their 12-acre Frog's Song Farm near Mount Vernon."We're selling several pumpkin varieties including the giant-sized Jack-O'-Lantern which is great for carving," said Shannon Dignum.
Soccer-playing girls in the Seattle area who are looking to join a competitive select team - and still have fun - may be in luck. The U-13 Badgers are currently looking for new players to cover the goalie and field positions, said Coach Andrei Zahajko."(The U-13 Badger team) plays highly competitive soccer," said Zahajko. "They are a top-tier select team that plays at the top level for their age group."The U-13 Badger team is part of the Badger F.C. Select Soccer Program, a developmental girls soccer program in Seattle that oversees teams currently ranging in age from U-11 to U-15.
After 30 years in the 4700 block of University Way, one of the Ave's quirkier stores, Astrology et al, will close its doors on Halloween day.The specialty store not only stocks more than 1,500 astrology related books but also carries tarot cards, incense, posters and a lot of other random items relating to astrology and spirituality. Owner Gregory N. Nalbandian noted several reasons why the longtime business, the largest of its kind in Seattle, must close."With the state of things on the Ave, my customer draw is down to nothing. (With) rising gas prices as well as book sales on the Internet, there's just no way I can stay open," said Nalbandian. He will still operate the business over the Internet (www.astrologyetal.com).