I passed by the transfer station one dark night several days ago, and was surprised to see the playground fenced off and under construction. Most of the walking paths were dug up, and some of the landscaping seemed to have been removed – among other things. The playground and the station itself were completed back in late 2016 as we wrote about here, so why so much work so soon?

A sign on the fence briefly described some of the work:

Reducing sidewalk slope in some areas Changing pavement to standard concrete Adding hand rails

The sign also provided links …

There is an alien world in western Wallingford.

Co-writer/director team Chris Caldwell and Zeek Earl, along with producer Brice Budke, created Prospect, a short film that was well-received at SXSW back in 2014. Encouraged, they captured funding from  Bron Studios in Canada to turn it into a full-length feature film starring Sophie Thatcher, Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones, Narcos), Jay Duplass (Search Party, Transparent).

They searched a wide area for a space to create their workshop and studio in but ended up finding a large open space with clear span (and a difficult to find one …

Wallyhood writer Cathy Tuttle provided the following update on the trees of N. 40th St.:

The City Arborist will talk about plans for the trees on 40th at the next Wallingford Community Council meeting, Wednesday Nov. 7 at 7 pm, room 202 Good Shepherd Center.

Wallyhood neighbors love the beautiful old oak trees lining N 40th St., so naturally many people were concerned to see signs go up a few weeks ago on the trees from the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT).  After many neighbors called SDOT, SDOT wrote an FAQ.

For folks who have trouble reading bureaucratize, here’s a …

There’s a sweet little sign where 2nd Ave NE doglegs around NE 42nd Street: Word of the Week.

On it, woodworker and furniture maker Jonathan Cohen inks a fun and interesting word each week (or so), chosen both for its rarity in common use and its visual beauty. The words are written in an elegant calligraphy, and Jonathan described himself as having a particular affinity for the letter G.

Long-time Wallingford neighbors know it’s been around for a long time, and has moved around some over those years. Jonathan made the sign and started the tradition back in 1983, and …

Here’s a reminder that Meaningful Movies which celebrated their 15th year here in Wallingford as we reported back in February, is having their monthly screening this Friday at 7 pm. The location is 5019 Keystone Place N. (Keystone Church), one block North of the Good Shepherd Center, across 50th Street.

Jim writes:

Meaningful Movies in Wallingford screens documentary films on the 1st Friday of each month.  On Nov. 2, we are showing “Dark Money,” which examines the influence of untraceable corporate money on our elections and elected officials.  After the film, we’ll have a community discussion and a guest …

Happy Halloween!

For those of you new to the neighborhood, the answer to your question is “Yes, kids do trick-or-treat.” That said, it’s a bit hit-or-miss whether they will trick-or-treat at your house. I live over by the John Stanford School on 4th Ave NE, and we’re lucky if we get a half dozen groups of trick-or-treaters throughout the night. If you go two blocks to our west, though, they’re out in droves.

If you’ve got kids and are wondering where to go, I hear the folks at 42nd and Woodland Park Ave have a War of the Worlds theme …

We’ve been hearing it for months now: “The November 6 election is the most important midterm election in decades.” That’s largely, of course, because all three branches of the Federal government are currently in tiny Republican hands, and November 6 should be a gauge of the American people’s tolerance for an administration and its allies who have been anything but tolerant.

But because Trump is not on the ballot and the Senate map is terrible for the Democrats this year (it looks much better in 2020), the only real opportunity to rein in the power of the national Republican Party …