We all make history, every day. Our surroundings on Queen Anne are changing rapidly, and they have changed every decade in the past. This month - to be precise, next Wednesday, March 28, at 7:30 p.m. - Queen Anne Historical Society looks at some of the changes with a photo-charged presentation, "The Top of the Hill - Then and Now."
Ellen Wilson, who resided on Queen Anne Hill for 54 of her 95 years, passed away peacefully on March 11 at RiverWest assisted living in Wenatchee. A member of the Eastern Star, Mrs. Wilson was especially proud of the 12 years she waitressed at Ben Paris restaurant in Seattle. Her favorite activities were touring with the Horseless Carriage Club of Seattle, bowling, clam digging, gardening and playing pinochle. Mrs. Wilson's longest residence in Queen Anne was on Prospect Street, overlooking Seattle Center. A remarkable homemaker and an accomplished cook, she cherished her contacts with her six grandchildren and in particular family camping trips.
EDITOR'S NOTE: It's been a while since last I saw the first friend I made on Queen Anne. But I started listening to his voice the other day,and decided to let you readers listen in.Meet my friend Gordon.-RTJ If, as has been suggested, life is a box of chocolates, the following stories describe what I found in mine.I do, however, warn any gleaner of these pages that my family usually admonishes the children to "not let Uncle Gordy tell his stories until after we've eaten," or in some circles, "until after we've prayed."The box was first opened on a beautiful farm outside of Lewisburg, W. Va.
Music is universally appealing and inspiring. It can showcase the unique and draw us happily together. It is rhythmic, oscillating. It moves us ... physically and emotionally. It is comprised of parts that come together to create invisible beauty. We are drawn to the sense of balance within music, and we intuitively alert to any harmonic disruption. Similarly, we are finely tuned to maintain our own well-being. Holistic wellness is about removing the obstacles that impede you from fully inhabiting and expressing your innate capacity - your song.
Need to start exercising, but not sure where to start? Walking is one of the safest, simplest forms of exercise, and the Hill has no end of great places to do it. Mark this statistic: On average, every minute spent exercising can extend your life by 1.5 to 2 minutes!For most outdoor walks you need no special equipment apart from a good pair of comfortable supportive shoes. They can be the difference between a fun, rejuvenating walk and an uncomfortable, painful one.
I attended an elegant luncheon in Queen Anne recently, and instead of the usual rolls and butter to accompany the entrée, we were served dark brown popovers with butter and jam. Everyone was most impressed and enjoyed the change until a very local lady from Yorkshire loudly proclaimed, "Ee by gum lass, 'tis cold Yorkshire pudden!" You know, she was quite correct. >But first of all, I should explain about British pudding. It is not the instant, custard-like variety that comes in packages and plastic cups.
We've deferred our feature coverage till next issue, but prospective series ticket buyers might like to know now that the Seattle Art Museum Film Series for spring is "The Master atWork: The Continuing Cinema of Alfred Hitchcock." The 10 titles on view, Thursday evenings from April 5 through June 7, will be: "Suspicion," "Lifeboat," "Spellbound," "Rope," "Rear Window," "To Catch a Thief," "Psycho," "The Birds," "Marnie" and "Frenzy." Showtime is 7:30 p.m. and the place is still the Museum of History and Industry, while renovations at SAM continue.
The little girl seated in front of me whispered to her mother, "Which one is the princess?" To which her mother re-plied, "There are none tonight."Which last Friday was only partially true. Although Pacific Northwest Ballet's latest program "Wheeldon, Duato & Balanchine" contains no fairy tales, there was royalty to be found that evening.'WHEELDON, DUATO & BALANCHINE'Through Sunday at McCaw Hall.
The little girl seated in front of me whispered to her mother, "Which one is the princess?" To which her mother re-plied, "There are none tonight."Which last Friday was only partially true. Although Pacific Northwest Ballet's latest program "Wheeldon, Duato & Balanchine" contains no fairy tales, there was royalty to be found that evening.Poised to become one of the major wearers of a tiara at PNB, principal dancer Carla Körbes arrived at the company last year from New York City Ballet. 'WHEELDON, DUATO & BALANCHINE'Through Sunday at McCaw Hall.
There are times when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Sadly, for "Chamber Macbeth" currently playing at the Center House Theatre in Seattle Center, this is not one of those times. Seattle Shakespeare Company has mounted a less-than-wonderful production, but it does contain a number of excellent individual elements.I should start by saying that "Macbeth" is my favorite work by Shakespeare. The language resonates and includes many of his most famous lines, ones we use regularly in our own conversations. The characters, both noble and ignoble, present complex psychological portraits that demand analysis and offer deep insight into human nature. The drama offers a study in contrasts: fair and foul, masculine and feminine, loyalty and betrayal, conscience versus unbridled ambition. It's a play so rich, on so many levels, that even a less-than-wonderful production is worth seeing.
Queen Anne Community Council Transportation Committee met March 28. to assess Seattle Center transportation and other major capital improvements. The committee discussed several proposals for major capital improvements at Seattle Center that are currently under discussion by the Seattle Center Century 21 Committee. Also, there are several transportation opportunities that may open up for Queen Anne/Uptown during the ongoing planning process for the next decade of Seattle Center's redevelopment. Among them are a mass-transit link to Capitol Hill, retention of the historic Seattle Monorail, Bus Rapid Transit connections to Seattle Center and Uptown Urban Center and new bike/pedestrian routes.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, March 23, marked the opening of the first of five new floating concrete docks at Fishermen's Terminal."It's a big day for us," said terminal general manager Kenneth Lyles of a $22-million project that will replace Docks 5 though 10 by this time next year."This is a very big step," agreed Port Commissioner John Creighton, who recently bought a fixer-upper in Queen Anne and plans to move there when repairs on the house are completed.
Now in its seventh year, the Seattle Poetry Festival begins on April 20. This three-day event will feature more than 100 poets, musicians, dancers, theatre performers and visual artists in daytime and nighttime performances at three different Seattle locations. . "Poetry Mashup" will take place opening night at Pravda Studios. Daytime events, including workshops, will take place at the Richard Hugo House on 1634 11th Ave between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. On April 22, the event closes with the Seattle Poetry Slam's 2007 Grand Slam at Chop Suey.
Life has thrown longtime Queen Anne chiropractor Dr. Deborah Starr a curveball. Surgery for a benign brain tumor last summer has left her unable to practice at a business she's run for 23 years on West Mercer Street, she said. It's a balance issue, explained the Queen Anne resident, who was only the second female chiropractor in Seattle.But not being able to return to a job she loves came as a surprise, Starr said. "I kept hoping I'd go back." For that matter, Starr still hopes to return to giving chiropractic treatments someday, she said.
Magnolia native Lita Hoke says she and a couple of girlfriends started taking hula lessons when she was 15. It became a lifelong passion, and now - more than three decades later - she owns and runs the Sunshine From Polynesia dance school out of her home near Discovery Park.Hoke started performing as a hula dancer when she was 16, and she later married her high-school sweetheart, a Hawaiian man named Richard Hoke. There's a certain irony in that. "His family wasn't really into hula dancing," she said. "My husband learned hula from me."