Things are changing on Queen Anne - we can all see that. The question is: What are we becoming, and are we going to like whatever that is? The top-of-the-Hill business district is designated an Urban Village in the city's Comprehensive Plan. With new development in the works and more to come, your neighbors are trying to figure out how to grow a village - the kind that will keep what we like about Queen Anne and make it even better.
We all, at one time or another, are in search of a product or service, and naturally we want the best money can buy, for the least amount of money. Our lives are often dominated by such questions as, "What doctor or dentist should I choose?" "Which house painter, mechanic, plumber, or lawyer should I pick?"We live in a world of specialization where others now provide most of our services. The days of the jack-of-all-trades are past.The problem is deciding, or rather the process of deciding which product to buy, or which service to employ, and remember, you are the employer.In the past I've jokingly called this process "Yellow Pages roulette." You opened the Yellow Pages, flipped to the section you're looking for, and made your decision, often based on the biggest advertisement. Today, this would be relabeled "Internet roulette" as the Internet increasingly becomes the main source of information.<br
One of the tools of the trade when you're working with the (mostly) elderly folks who suffer from some sort of dementia is memory care - talking to folks about the things they once liked to do. Some people with Alzheimer's can't seem to remember their former hobbies, homes or even specific family members. But others, in the early stages, respond well to brief talks about favorite foods, places, seasons and even movies and sports.I've been doing so much memory talking lately that I find I've honed my own aging memory a little bit. And I think I've come to the conclusion that even if you can't tell whether a person is good or bad by what they can or cannot remember, you certainly can get a window into someone's personality talking over faves.<br
Uptown Stroll Artists Recruitment organizer Kathy Biever has announced a preliminary list of the artists who will be participating in the seventh annual manifestation of the Stroll this coming Saturday, Aug. 25.
Magnolia Garden Center's Pot Recycling event Aug. 11 and 12 saved more than 1,000 plastic containers from local landfills, to the manifest satisfaction of garden center co-owner Chuck Flaherty. Even gardening guru Ciscoe Morris contributed. A local grower will sanitize and reuse the pots. Magnolia Garden Center is at 3213 W. Smith St. in Magnolia Village.
The Washington State Department of Ecology and King County are planning to dredge and dispose of contaminated material left over from years of untreated combined sewer overflows off the beach at Myrtle Edwards Park.The contaminants include, among others, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, silver and PCBs, according to an Ecology notice seeking comments from the public.
Craig Wilson (left) of Video Isle and Mark Canlis of Canlis Restaurant were among the folks with something to celebrate following announcement Sept. 10 of the Mayor's Small Business Awards. A third neighborhood business was among the 10 honorees: With a Little Help Inc., a Magnolia homecare service.
After 30 years, Michael Kaufman opened his box of Zen-like bird paintings and let them out.The 73-year-old Queen Anne resident's sumi ink images are on display at the Northwest Crafts Center and Gallery, west of the International Fountain at the Seattle Center, through Sept. 30.
Pacific Northwest Ballet began its new season last Saturday with "First Look 2007." This special preview performance, followed by a gala party for PNB supporters, ranged from the elegance of Balanchine's "Ballet Imperial" to the giddy goofiness of Jerome Robbins' "The Concert (or, The Perils of Everybody)."Entering his third year as artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet, Peter Boal again demonstrated his willingness to keep the audience guessing.
Abstraction gets specific in Susie Wind show at FountainheadSusie Wind never planned to be an artist. When she lost her enthusiasm for the chemistry and physics she was studying in college, her father didn't want her to drop out, so enrolled her in art courses. At first she thought she was being punished for not living up to expectations. She quickly discovered, however, that she liked art, and in 1994 received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting and drawing from the University of Utah.The exhibition of her work currently at Fountainhead Gallery reveals a bit of that past.
You have to eat, right? And you like the idea of helping kids to read? Have we - well, they - got a deal for you!Next Wednesday, Sept. 26, restaurants across Washington state will donate a portion of their proceeds to help provide new books and reading resources to children in need. "Dish Up Literacy," a benefit for Page Ahead Children's Literacy Program, will allow diners to put books in the hands of kids simply by going out to eat.
It's that time of year for the annual Fall Fecal Fest when garden enthusiasts enter a drawing in hopes of being selected to purchase Woodland Park Zoo's highly coveted Zoo Doo. The pungent piles of poop make up the richest, highly aromatic, most exotic compost in the Pacific Northwest. Also available is Bedspread, a product that made its debut during the Spring Fecal Fest. It's a composted mulch made from the manures and bedding of the zoo's non-primate herbivores.
September not only signifies the official back-to-school season, it's also National Preparedness Month. Put those together and it's a good time to review the basics of emergency preparedness by ensuring that everyone in your home knows the family emergency plan."There are three simple things each of us can do to be prepared: make a plan, build a kit and get trained," said local Red Cross CEO Larry Petry.
A new wave of bestselling books and popular TV shows is flooding the market. The basic gist is to remind us that there are lots of things for us to do "before we die." The underlying view is that, although life is short, we should not have to leave this world before we have experienced everything it has to offer, or at least as much as possible.
On the Boards launches its 2007-08 season with the Friday-Sunday, Sept. 21-23 return of New York City's Elevator Repair Service (ERS) and the Seattle première of "GATZ," a creative staging of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" - every single word of the novel performed by 13 performers. It'll cost you six hours of your life (plus a 75-minute dinner break).