November 2007

Gardener Sylvia Li has created and maintained a circular sanctuary surrounded by a bustling Ballard intersection.

"This was once a big tangled mess filled with bottles and cigarette butts," said Li, referring to the roundabout she takes care of, where 22nd Avenue Northwest and Northwest 58th Street intersect. Her apartment is just across the street.

She's got nerve while watering her prized morning glories and bouquet of purple asters at 8 a.m.

Isbelo Ordonez shows off two rainbow perch he caught off a Golden Gardens dock last week. Ordonez is a regular, showing up to fish most days of the week. He uses shrimp for bait and caught nine perch, one short of the limit. "The last one's always hard to catch," he said.

Grandma Kay from Northaven sells one of her handmade scarves to Ballard resident, Doni Jenssen, right, during the third annual Crown Hill Art Festival.

Ballard twins, James and William Endter, 2, were easy to spot along Market Street on Halloween.

A crow finds the Ballard High School tennis team's cream cheese too tempting as he repeatedly dips his beak into it. The cream cheese was disposed after the uninvited guest had his meal. The team plays home matches at Lower Woodland Park.

Valerie Jandl, a seventh grade student at St. Alphonsus School, rings the morning bell just outside the entrance to alert the other students that it's time to begin their school day.

Green Lake is one of the city's busiest parks. Walkers, runners, roller bladders and bicyclists find the 2.8 loop around the water attractive on a nice day. It can often be very busy. Walkers can do the route in about 50 minutes if they go fast.

Crafts are career options, too

By Don C. Brunell

How often do you hear parents say, "Get a college diploma, it's your ticket to the good life!"

My folks drilled that into our heads, even though both of my parents graduated from technical schools and made a darn good living for our family. They excelled in their vocations, but somehow felt unfulfilled.

Even though my father was a master electrician, he wanted his children to bypass his trade and get a four-year college degree.

Readers of the Ballard News-Tribune have told us they enjoy the columns we run on a semi-regular basis.

We found a writer of what is going on around her in Ballard who was doing fine on the Webtown of the Seattle Post Intelligencer, but we agreed what she had to say about Ballard was important at a more personal level, so we brought in Peggy Sturdivant. She never seems to be without a thoughful, funny or just plain unusual view of our wider Ballard community.

At Large in Ballard by Peggy Sturdivant

"Is this really the last time?"

That was the primary question the voters asked as we issued ballots in the Ballard church gymnasium, and I'm sure it was the same question over and over in polling stations all over King County.

Last week's election day had the turnout and spirit of an estate sale - the most pressing issue on the citizens' minds was the publicized demise of the neighborhood polling place.