Wallingford, Seattle

French Host

This would aptly be titled "Host French", but then there's no pun. Jill Zawatski is coordinating a summer exchange program that has placed 15 French students in homes around Wallingford, Green Lake and environs. However, she's looking for a host for the group's chaperone, Nathalie: A school teacher from Paris, Nathalie is the French chaperone who is traveling to Seattle with 15 teenagers this summer.  During her stay, Nathalie will be busy working approximately 30% of the time.  She enjoys horseback…

Continue ReadingFrench Host

Waterway What?

You're a creative lot. Remember when we challenged you to come up with a mnemonic to remember the order of Wallingford streets? Well, see Wally Mnemonic Results if you don't. Good times. Anyhoo, Janet Stillman over at the Wallingford Neighborhood Office is issuing a new challenge: we need a better name for the new park near Gas Works that is presently known as Waterway 18. Yes, Waterway 18 does have a certain ring to it. Reminiscent of Slaughterhouse 5, perhaps? But…

Continue ReadingWaterway What?

Midsummer in Mid-Wallingford

In the few blocks around Dicks one afternoon. At Sunnyside and 44th, a man with a shaved head, eyeglasses and dark crimson monk's robes gets out of a car with Utah license plates. Two blocks over, a disproportionately large inflated blue and green tower looms up in the yard of the house next to Mosaic Coffee.  On closer inspection it looks like a child's water slide. Inside Mosaic itself, my daughter sits reading her book while a woman on a couch…

Continue ReadingMidsummer in Mid-Wallingford

The Family 4th of July at Gas Works is On!

Every Fourth of July—around 4:00 p.m. or so—I watch as scores of drivers swoop in for one of the precious few remaining parking spaces on my street. As the hours pass, the scene changes from motorists to pedestrians, who make their way down Wallingford Avenue in a slow and steady stream. They’ve got quite a few blocks to go before they hit Gas Works Park, but this stretch of Wallingford becomes a giant block party in and of itself. The street…

Continue ReadingThe Family 4th of July at Gas Works is On!

Big Boats

Got this update a few minutes ago from our contact with the city: A large Coast Guard vessel has just made its way eastbound/inbound through the Ballard Locks and is heading for the Ballard Bridge.  The 1,000 ton vessel will require both the Ballard and Fremont Bridges to open for its passage – and during that time, the two bridges will be closed for vehicle traffic.   Estimated time for passage at the Ballard Bridge is 4:15 p.m.  and Fremont Bridge at…

Continue ReadingBig Boats

Wallingford Works – From Home

Before I began working at home, I used to wonder what the heck all of those folks were doing in all of those coffee shops! I’d stop for a cup of coffee on the way home from a meeting and would think “They can’t ALL be students. Or writing the Great American Novel. Or checking out internet sites that they can’t watch at home. What ARE they doing?” Turns out – while some ARE students, writers, and folks wanting a break…

Continue ReadingWallingford Works – From Home

Casey Neil at the High Dive

Our old friend Casey is coming from Portland to play a CD release show at the High Dive in Fremont this Wednesday, June 30th. Now, before we get too much further, we'll insert the disclaimer: he really is an old friend: every summer brings back memories of trudging a starlit wooded path to the abandoned quarry in New England where we group up, stripping down and charging off the cliff into emptiness, then bracing cold, ink black water water below. Of…

Continue ReadingCasey Neil at the High Dive