Hear that tapping on the window? No, it's not Jack Frost-at least not for most of us in Magnolia and the Seattle area-but winter is just around the next bend in the calendar.As much as we try to ignore our Northwest winters, it will make its presence felt despite our refusal to release our grip on summer. The days will become shorter, the nights nippier and the clouds thicker over the next weeks. But there are some things we can do to both prepare for winter and to beat those winter blahs.Senior citizens need to consider that there may be slippery sidewalks as the rains begin, and even the occasional morning frost. Be sure you wear shoes with soles that grip, and if we get down near that freezing mark, try to find a handrail or a friend to keep you upright. It isn't necessary to be fearful, just careful. Cold and dry air, the flu season and, of course, colder weather all pose more of a risk for those of us who are a little long in the tooth.
I love being project manager for the Magnolia Historical Society's history book project.Well, that's how I feel today. So many Magnolians-many of whom never would have thought of themselves as writers, story-tellers or researchers-have written great pieces for this book.Helen Haladyna wrote of an interesting Magnolian, Jo Swift, who was a Women Air Force Service Pilot (WASP)-one of 25,000 women who applied, 1,800 who were selected and 1,079 who actually graduated. Swift was one of first women to fly military planesOne of my favorite stories in the collection is of a female soda jerk, Barbara Wade Gates, who worked at Werttemberger's Magnolia Pharmacy circa 1940 and who once accidentally dropped her watch in a pot of clam chowder.And then there's the writing of Hal Will's first research piece on J.J. Hill, railroad magnate, which is very good. (Thanks to Hill, Magnolia witnessed the Silk Trains at Smith Cove.) Hal got so involved with the writing of this piece that he practically brings the reader along rail by rail from east to west coast. That is the fun part of this project.
I fear, if you are always in your SUV and never afoot in this neighborhood we share, you grow tired of my harping on common driving courtesy, vis-à-vis your neighbors in crosswalks.But I cannot stop writing about it because too many of you allegedly "nice" folks cannot, or will not, even heed the walk signs, much less display a little extra courtesy to your ambulatory brethren.Today (six days before you read this), the rain is falling again and things get even dicier for pedestrians, especially the elderly amongst us.I can remember when traffic always (or nearly always) stopped for pedestrians in Lower Queen Anne. Now, many of the new, cellphoning, SUV-driving Seattleites who have invaded us in the past decade don't even stop when the foot traffic has the shambling right of way and are inside the white lines of the crosswalk.Just this morning, coming back from the driving range up at Interbay, I stopped to chat with an elderly lady who lives in the building next to mine.As we talked, the walk light to cross Queen Anne Avenue toward Easy Street came on and we stepped off the curb.Our progress was immediately halted by a young, clean-cut white boy's newish car. Oblivious to our presence, he was turning right onto Mercer without a care in the world.Brandishing the golf clubs, I peered in at him through his back window. Silently judging him, to quote the best line from a picture full of good lines, "Magnolia."He looked away and drove on. No apology, not even the look of embarrassment some distracted cellphone drivers manage when they almost kill a pedestrian due to inattention. Maybe this fool thought the old lady and I were part of a big open-air computer game.
Parking is set to become a lot more complicated and more expensive for motorists trying to find a spot for their cars in Lower Queen Anne. The changes from Roy Street to the north to Denny Way to the south, and from Second Avenue West and Fourth Avenue North will wipe out formerly free or time-limited free parking in many sections of the neighborhood by installing new parking pay stations.And several blocks will be turned into residential parking zones (RPZs) at night, meaning only local residents with paid permits will be allowed to park there.The Seattle Department of Transportation determined the changes were needed based on an SDOT study last winter that showed most parking in the area was full most days and evenings, according to an agency press release.But the argument for making the change has been framed as one that will help local merchants.
A plan announced at earlier meetings with community groups to add 6-foot-wide sidewalks to sections of the Queen Anne Boulevard system changed at a community meeting last week. According to the $500,000 Pro-Parks Levy project manager, David Goldberg, installing sidewalks along one side on one block of West McGraw Place and on one side most of the length of Bigelow Avenue North was just a proposal-not a plan. Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent Ken Bounds wants to be very clear that the department wants to hear public comments before a final decision is made over the issue, Goldberg explained. The public meeting last week, the first of three, was "an opportunity to go back to square one," he added.And there were many Bigelow Avenue residents at the meeting who were flat-out opposed to putting in sidewalks along their street. "I'd like to see the park nature of the boulevard preserved," said one man who added that he is opposed to installing sidewalks.
At 101 pounds, Julie Makin is not what most people picture when they think of a weightlifting champion. But the diminutive 42-year-old Queen Anne resident broke five state records at an Aug. 26 competition on Alki Beach.She garnered a first-place award in the over-40 Masters Division for bench-pressing 85 and 90 pounds-lifts that both broke state records for her weight division of 104 pounds and under. Makin might have broken a third state record, but the one of three lifts she attempted didn't fly with the three-judge panel, she said. Bench-pressing involves taking the barbell down from the rack and placing it on your chest, then lifting it and pausing.
Magnolia residents and visitors may have noticed the recent changes to Magnolia Village. A few retail stores closed this season, leaving behind empty storefronts-never a welcome sight.But Matt Baker, owner of Magnolia's Village Pub, had an idea to take advantage of the available space. When a large clothing boutique across the street from his pub closed, he decided his establishment could use a major makeover.The Village Pub has been in its current location at 32nd and McGraw since June 2003. It was purchased by Baker and his business partner in the hopes of converting what was once a poorly managed, grimy neighborhood bar with one television into a thriving village attraction for the Magnolia sports fan.Already co-owner of Fremont's popular Triangle Tavern, Baker had the vision and experience to update the pub's fading image. Yet Baker and his partner had differing ideas about which way to take Magnolia Village's lone bar, and soon after purchasing it, they parted ways. His partner retained ownership of the Triangle, and the Village Pub became Matt's own project.
A shortage of troops at the battlefronts in both Iraq and Afghanistan have prompted changes at the U.S. Army Reserve Command at Fort Lawton.One big change is that the resident 70th Regional Readiness Command unit is being eliminated, said Fort Lawton spokeswoman Pam Garrison. The other is that a new battalion has been formed at the Magnolia base.The new 344-member 494th Combat Support Battalion was activated at Fort Lawton on Sept. 16, and it will "enable, enhance and protect the operational freedom of action of the supported force," according to an Army press release. "It's going to be a deployable unit," Garrison said.Many of the soldiers will come from other units, including the 70th, and some of the troops for the new battalion will come from the 2122nd and the 164th, she said. "But I'm sure there will be other slots that need to be filled from elsewhere."
Pacific Northwest Ballet's new Director's Choice might also have been called "Dim Sum." The mixed repertory program resembled one of those classic Chinese brunches where a little bit of everything went wheeling by, and everyone in the audience got a taste of something that they liked.For those looking for something American and not too strange, artistic director Peter Boal has added Jerome Robbins' "Fancy Free" to PNB's repertoire. This 1944 classic of three sailors out on a spree in New York marked the first collaboration between Robbins and composer Leonard Bernstein. Besides inspiring the Broadway musical "On the Town," as you can plainly see, the ballet (and Robbins) influenced all musical theater dance of the next decade, particularly the athletic and very masculine styling of stars like Gene Kelly.
What do you get when you mix a Holocaust story with a treacly tale of surrogate families and newfound love? A long eve-ning in the theater ... a very long evening. "Broken for You," by Seattle writer Stephanie Kallos, may have worked as a book club pick for "The Today Show"; it doesn't work as a staged piece.It requires three hours to drag out the story of dying Margaret's attempt to finally make her life mean something. Margaret's existence before her brain tumor diagnosis was quiet but dignified. She lived surrounded by the exquisite porcelain pieces her father collected and left to her. But they provide rather cold comfort for a woman who knows she'll soon meet her maker.What she needs is companionship, some lively human interchanges. And she gets just that when she takes boarders into her opulent Capitol Hill mansion.
I remember a particular Halloween night a very, very long time ago, during which my mother made a suggestion so outrageous as to be unthinkable. With strong memories of living through the Great Depression filling her head, especially the way families pulled together during those hard days to keep food on the table and a roof over themselves, my mother implied that the act of reaping candy during trick-or-treating should perhaps be considered a collective good. In short, Mom had a completely nutty idea that my brother, sister and I should pool our bounty into one large, community trove of tasty sweets to be - gasp - shared. Mom knew little about the squirrel instinct that possesses children on Halloween, i.e., that compulsion to hide one's gatherings from imagined predators of winter and ration it to oneself over months. But I understood Halloween as a celebration of individualism, and certainly Harriet, the youngster at the heart of Seattle Children's Theatre's new "Harriet's Halloween Candy," understands. Based on the fifth book in a series by children's author and illustrator Nancy Carlson, "Harriet's Halloween Candy" (adapted for the stage by Ann Schulman) explores the consequences of an Ayn Rand approach to trick-or-treating for oneself alone.It's not a pretty picture. But much of "Harriet's" is very funny, and it surely delighted kids of all ages (recommended for age 5 and up) at the show I attended.
George Bernard Shaw was ever a warrior against the romantic notions and hypocrisies that bring woe to both individuals and nations. In "Arms and the Man," currently playing at Taproot Theatre, he makes his case with humor and irony.It's 1895. A war between Serbia and Bulgaria is in its final throes, and in the Bulgarian home of Major Petkoff, pampered daughter Raina is warned to lock her shutters against intrusion by enemy soldiers who are fighting in nearby streets. Convinced her glorious army would never allow such an impertinence, she disregards the admonition and soon finds a member of the enemy forces within her boudoir.Her initial fright is replaced by compassion. Captain Bluntschli, a Swiss national who is a professional solder fighting for Serbia, convinces her that he will be brutally killed if he makes any attempt to leave. He appears to be a gentleman, yet much to her astonishment he is less taken with the romance of war than she. He knows soldiers, and knows they just want to get home alive.She brags about her fiancé who epitomizes the military ardor she respects. But Bluntschli reports that her Sergius is an incompetent. His troops would have been slaughtered because of his misguided com-mand, had the enemy not been sent useless ammunition. Raina refuses to believe Bluntschli, but she agrees to abet his escape.There follow a series of romantic fits and starts, a threatened duel, innumerable deceptions, lusty advances and some satisfying surprises, all of which build to a happy ending. In the process Shaw manages to skewer the concept of the romance of war. He also makes clear that our romantic views and self-deceptions about society and even love are ill founded. Our mistake is to build our institutions on ideals that are illusions.
George Bernard Shaw was ever a warrior against the romantic notions and hypocrisies that bring woe to both individuals and nations. In "Arms and the Man," currently playing at Taproot Theatre, he makes his case with humor and irony.It's 1895. A war between Serbia and Bul-garia is in its final throes, and in the Bul-garian home of Major Petkoff, pampered daughter Raina is warned to lock her shut-ters against intrusion by enemy soldiers who are fighting in nearby streets. Convinced her glorious army would never allow such an impertinence, she disregards the admonition and soon finds a member of the enemy forces within her boudoir.Her initial fright is replaced by compassion. Captain Bluntschli, a Swiss national who is a professional solder fighting for Serbia, convinces her that he will be brutally killed if he makes any attempt to leave. He appears to be a gentleman, yet much to her astonishment he is less taken with the romance of war than she. He knows soldiers, and knows they just want to get home alive.She brags about her fiancé who epitomizes the military ardor she respects. But Bluntschli reports that her Sergius is an incompetent. His troops would have been slaughtered because of his misguided com-mand, had the enemy not been sent useless ammunition. Raina refuses to believe Bluntschli, but she agrees to abet his escape.There follow a series of romantic fits and starts, a threatened duel, innumerable deceptions, lusty advances and some satisfying surprises, all of which build to a happy ending. In the process Shaw manages to skewer the concept of the romance of war. He also makes clear that our romantic views and self-deceptions about society and even love are ill founded. Our mistake is to build our institutions on ideals that are illusions.
9/11So how did you honor the day? Five years has passed, yet it sometimes feels like yesterday. My best friend in college narrowly missed dying when the jet hit the Pentagon. Another friend walked out of building No. 7 at the World Trade Center site just 15 minutes before it collapsed.Taste! Kirkland took place on the weekend of the anniversary. The city put up a card on the north side of Hallmark Realty. So many people signed it that a second had to be put up to allow all the well-wishers to express their encouragement.I wanted to talk to people passing this site. I stopped a number of people and met others walking around town. Here is their testimony.Downtowner Sandy MacLane works at Tria Moda. She told me, "Every year since 9/11, another person and I ring the bells on 9/11. The priest does a mass for the dead. We ring the bells right at the time the planes hit the towers. John was late this year. He has the keys for the gate. So, I used the hook handle on my umbrella to reach the bell rope to ring the bell on time."She said the bell ringing is a death toll composition. Each bell is rung once, then all three bells together for each plane.Downtowner Paul Kerrie is a cab driver. Paul told me he did not do anything to honor the day and he does not do anything differently as a result of 9/11. He told me he worries about many things but not particularly about any fallout from 9/11.I wondered whether Homeland Security or everyday people might bother him due to his dark complexion. "No one bothers me," he said. "I am a Canadian citizen. I have been here for two years. No one, the American people, police, immigration, no one bothers me."Next I talked to Downtowner Judy Wheeler. Judy has lived here for six years.
It is barely the first day of fall as I write this, but the dew is already on the car windows; it is dark and cold in the early morning, and I fight to go and walk as has become my custom. Summer is fading fast and it seems like we may not get that Northwest summer that we are used to. The rains came hard and cold last week, reminding us rain washes away all the muck, leaving us with our pristine outdoors. Being a native Seattleite, I welcome it - wet soggy leaves and all - but I can mourn the loss of summer with the best. This time of year is all about transitions and The Juanita Neighborhoods just made the major transition into a new space for their monthly meetings. Meetings are now held in the new fellowship hall at Holy Spirit Lutheran Church.The church was chosen due to its central location in the neighborhood (on the corner of N.E. 124th Street and 100th Avenue N.E.) and at the invitation of Pastor Michael Anderson last year, just prior to the remodeling of the building. The first meeting of the 2006-2007 year was on Sept. 18, with just over 20 in attendance.Included on the agenda was an update from Sound Transit, announcements from the senior council and ongoing information about the Neighborhood Connection grant.