Kate Gavigan and Carol Battistoni

If you’ve ever found yourself lacking the same creative spirit others seem to use effortlessly, and to their fullest potential, then you might be interested in a course designed to tap into your own creative side.  According to Julia Cameron, author of The Artists’ Way, we are all creative, but “in order to retrieve your creativity, you need to find it.”

Carol Battistoni and Kate Gavigan are firm believers in Cameron’s writing; so much so, they’ve created a 12-week course designed to teach students how to channel creativity into daily life.  Covering each of the chapters in The Artists’ Way as a group provides a unique level of interactivity, where students can work through a series of exercises together.  You can read more about the class and Cameron’s teachings on their FAQ page.

The fall session begins on September 20 and goes through December 6.  Class meets on Monday nights from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. held at The Healing Edge (Carol Battistoni’s office): 4010 Stone Way N., Suite 200 (NE corner of 40^th and Stone Way).  The 12-week class is $375 and students can register here, and the maximum class size is 11 people.  A $75 deposit holds your spot in the class, and students are responsible for having their own copy of The Artists’ Way.

Homebound? Can’t make it up to the shops on 45th Street but want to window shop? Never fear, the Internetz are here!

Our friend Rusty has been working on a project, Real Places, for some years now that allows people to take Google Street View-like tours of the inside of buildings and such, and he’s featured Wallingford’s 45th Street early in its development. Click that link and take a stroll through Sock Monster, Fainting Goat, Not a Number and more.

As long as you’re taking virtual strolls, you might want to give this beautiful VR Gallery a peek, including a moody, pensive view of 35th and Burke, an eye-popping infrared view of Gas Works park and a cool visit with our neighbor, artist Rollin Thomas.

So you’re heading up to the Wallingford Farmers Market this afternoon, 3 – 7 pm at Wallingford Center, and you’re wondering to yourself: “what shall I get?”

Honey Crisp apples from Tiny's. Photo copyright 2010 by Zachary D. Lyons.

How about grabbing some Honey Crisp apples from Tiny’s Organics, some golden honey from Sweet As Can Be Honey Farm and some delicious fish heads from from Loki Fish Company.

Ah yes, nothing says “Happy New Year” like crackling fresh, juicy apples, warm, dripping honey, and glistening, slimy fish heads.

Where are we going with all this? Well, sunset tonight marks the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year (Happy 5771, for those you counting at home), and among the traditions we mark it with are dipping apples in honey, and eating fish heads.

The apples and honey part, we’re sure you can figure out: they symbolize both the harvest of the old year and our wishes for the sweetness of the new year. We dip the apple in the honey and say “Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha’olam borei p’ri ha’eitz” (Blessed are you, Lord, our God, king of the universe who creates the fruit of the tree). Then we take a bite and say “y’hi ratzon mil’fanekha Adonai eloheinu vei’lohei avoteinu sh’t'chadeish aleinu shanah tovah um’tukah” (May it be Your will, Lord our God and God of our ancestors that you renew for us a good and sweet year).

The fish heads, though, not so sweet, right? But “Rosh Hashanah” literally means “Head of the Year” in Hebrew, which should bring it all into focus a little bit. That, plus fish have been a symbol of abundance and fertility since ancient times.

It certainly feels like a new year around Wallingford. School buses are suddenly rumbling by again, the weather has changed (abruptly), and it’s easy to picture ourselves in a warm, firelit living room unpackaging all those projects we set aside for summer frolic.

Shana tova (happy new year), Wallingford!

Hot on the heels of our missing/recovered Boxer pups story, we received a plea from new Wallingford neighbor, Brooke:

His name is Tycho and he is a 4-year-old male, neutered Bengal cat. We are new in town and heartbroken about losing him. We live off of 40th and Stone but got a call yesterday that he may have been seen around 35th and Densmore. Please help! We love him very much and want him to come home.

If you see Tycho, please contact Brooke in e-mail: brooke.macbeth@gmail.com or call (323) 702-5809.

We hope Tycho finds his way home soon!

Courtesy: Lullaby Moon

I grew up in Texas, reared by midwestern farmers who didn’t believe in anything you can’t see, taste, smell, hear or touch  (except God, of course).

So imagine my reaction to last year’s Lullaby Moon, a mystical and magical performance I happened to stumble upon at Gas Works Park.

To set the scene:  the south side of kite hill was covered with people sitting on blankets and nibbling on picnic fare.  They faced the green space between the hill and the water, as if the grass would become a stage (it would!).  A small live band played classical tunes while dressed in top hats and tails.  And then all these 6 foot tall moon drunk bunny people took the “stage” and acted out some sort of mime performance to the musical accompaniment. Young children who couldn’t sit still ran toward the actor bunnies & started dancing with them. The bunnies just worked the improvisational dances right into their performance, no big deal.

Photo: Chris Witwer

And the audience — they acted like this whole thing was NORMAL.  Did everybody get ‘shrooms but me?  I mean, there were 6 foot ball BUNNIES dancing around and giving one another big white gift boxes wrapped in shiny bows, and nobody acted like this was a weird at all!  At one point, a big paddle boat docked near the stage and other similarly-clad characters emerged to join the show.  There was some juggling, and lots of dancing.  There was a queen, I think.  And followers.  A row boat appeared, and a few more characters joined in.  But no words, no language, no script. The music cued the mime-dancers with some unspoken narrative.  It was so weird, so surreal.  So completely phantasmagorical… and yet, totally engaging.

You’re just going to have to see it for yourself if you don’t believe me.  Check out Lucia Neare’s website and browse through pictures from past performances.  Or experience Lullaby Moon in person!

Photo: Chris Witwer

What: Lullaby Moon 2010 is a free, large-scale, site-specific public performance celebrating the new moon. Lullaby Moon celebrates our precious place in the Milky Way galaxy and the promise inherent in everyone’s dreams.

When: Friday, Sept 10th 7pm

Where: Gas Works Park, south side of the hill

A very happy day-after-the-long-Labor-Day-weekend to you!  Today pretty much feels like a Monday (groan), and time to start the workweek for most.  But if you’re a commuter, I have two nifty apps I’d like to share with you that might take some of the sting out of your daily grind.

WSDOT just released an app that gives users real-time information on traffic, and includes information about ferries, mountain passes, and travel times for all highways in the region.  Right now, the WSDOT app is only available for iPhone and Android users; but users with Blackberry and other devices can go to http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/small/and view traffic information scaled down to fit a mobile device.  I downloaded the app for my Android and what I found to be most useful was the traffic times, but I could see when the information for mountain passes and ferry schedules would come in handy.

If you take the bus, OneBusAway is an app that enables you to track any Metro bus route, to and from its destinations, and it tells you when the next bus will arrive at your stop.  For instance, let’s say you take the 26 downtown. Just type in 26 under “Routes” and choose “Downtown Seattle”.  The list of all the stops for the 26 will appear and once you choose your stop, it’ll tell you how many minutes away the next bus will be at that stop.  You can also click through to your stop on the map and it’ll give you arrival times for all of the routes.  I’ve been using the OneBus Away app on my Android for some time now and love it; but my husband has a Blackberry and he uses the mobile site, which he thinks has a lot of glitches, so your mileage may vary.

Both apps are free and can be found on iTunes and the Android Marketplace.

Happy commuting!

We’re very happy to report that the two adorable 14 month Boxer pups, Fred and Gus, are home safe and sound.  Steve wrote:

FOUND!!…. well more like ransomed back to us. It is a long story and probably would entail an entire article but the facts are that my wife and kids are ecstatic to have our puppies back. Thank you to EVERYONE that reached out to us and supported us during this very long 36 hours.

Steve has an appointment to get them micro-chipped tomorrow.

We’re very happy for the family!  If you ever feel like sharing the deets, we’d be happy to pass them along.