Encountered recently - I couldn't make any of this up: In the Starbucks on 45th Street a woman came in saying she lived a couple of blocks away and that her car had just been stolen but she needed a cup of coffee first before dealing with the police A group of 4 people were spotted walking down Meridian Ave. N. with a pig on a leash Outside the Wallingford Center, a drunk man sitting on a bench was clutching a…
The image from Oliver Sacks' fantastic book An Anthropologist On Mars has stuck with us since we first read it years ago: a brilliant woman with a PhD in animal science who feels so disconnected, so different from the world around her that she feels as if is an alien observer on a foreign planet. Temple Grandin, the eponymous character in Sacks' book has managed to turn her autism into a tool, a strength. After years of having to carefully study…
Anyone who's ever hosted a big party knows how it goes: everybody's all back-slaps and cheers before and during, but when it comes time for clean-up, it's you and the crickets. This year, it's you, Starbucks and the crickets. Hoping to restore our neighborhoods and waterways to cleanly glory following the annual bacchanalia that marks our Independence Day celebration, Starbucks is spearheading an area-wide clean-up. Says their press release: In a follow-up to the Seattle community-supported Family 4th at Lake Union,…
Save the date! Friday, June 18th the Wallingford Community Kitchen holds another Summer Picnic! Yea! Picnic! Rachel Duboff (Thyme to Nourish) describes it for us: We will cook as a community and then enjoy the bounties of our labor by sitting down to share a meal. Participation requires a $5 pre-registration fee to cover the cost of ingredients and the facilities. We ask that anyone who can, donate additional funds to allow those who are facing financial difficulties the chance to…
Before moving to Seattle in 2005, I lived in Charleston, South Carolina (where the Gullah word, kumbaya comes from), where I witnessed the school district's search for -- and eventual selection of -- a new Superintendent for the Charleston South Carolina School District. Her name was Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson. She talked about accountability, and diversity, and improving students' education, all of which Charleston sorely needed. Some of my neighbors did not like her, though. I kept hearing "she's black" or "she's…
It was a cold, cloudy morning in 2003, far too chilly to be wearing nothing but latex paint. But there we were, crowded in a basement in Ravenna along with a couple dozen friends, getting ready for the Fremont Solstice Parade. As a long-time beekeeper, our "costume" was obvious, if lacking in serious artistic merit. You be the judge: thanks to a strategically located arm, the photo below shows us in (almost) all our glory. Our friends were more creative: cartoon…
All dressed up in teeny adorable Crocs, baggy swim diapers and those little sunglasses with the strap to keep them on, where's a toddler to go for some summertime water fun this year? The mayor's office announced today that, due to mid-year budget cuts, the Wallingford wading pool will be operating with reduced hours beginning June 30th through August 20th: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, noon - 7 pm. Green Lake's wading pool (along with those of Magnuson, Lincoln, Van Asselt, and…