July 2010

Camp Long at 5200 35th Avenue S.W. will celebrate the renovation of the Camp Long Lodge on Saturday July 31. The event will offer a tour of the renovated building, with some light refreshments.

The renovation of the Lodge was funded by the Parks and Green Spaces levy that voters passed in 2008.

Camp Long specific information can be found here. but the project elements included:

Full renovation of the lower level including:
Kitchen renovation
2 ADA compliant restrooms
New energy efficient heating system
Relocating the mechanical room to the storage room near the stairs
Changing the mechanical space to a ‘damp lab’
New electrical service

Clean-up of the main floor lodge room including:
New lighting
Fresh paint
Seismic upgrades building wide

Make-A-Wish working with the people at Pathfinder K-8 School staff will be at Alki Beach in West Seattle on Friday, July 9th from 7:15-8:00pm to welcome to the Seafair Pirates' crew Joseph Rackham, 13, who has wished to be a Pirate for a day.

In a note sent out to members of the Yahoo group for Pathfinder they say:
"He will insure the Legend of Seafair continues in our city and will defeat Royal soldiers who are trying to claim the Seafair Pirate's buried treasure on Alki! Because of his heroic efforts, the Pirates will do a special presentation for Joseph and he'll be named "Happy Joe Rackham" and be invited to storm the beach with the Pirates on July 10. "

How can you participate?

1. Bring friends and family to Alki Beach in West Seattle around 7:15pm on July 9 to "cheer on" our heroic pirate.

2. Dress up in your pirate-best, look like "townsfolk"

3. Joseph wished to find treasure he can keep, so if any of you have unique "treasure" to include in that chest, bring it along!!

Mayor Mike McGinn, Congressman Jim McDermott, City Councilmember Jean Godden, other elected officials and industry leaders gathered for a press conference Thursday morning, July, 8 to urge United States Commerce Secretary and former Washington State Governor Gary Locke to intervene to consider using existing federal facilities in Seattle for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Operations Center-Pacific homeport.

The monthly West Seattle Artwalk is tonight, July 8 from 6 to 9 but at least in the West Seattle Junction it will be a little different. The streets will be closed. The West Seattle Summerfest is this weekend and to get ready and get things set up, the streets will close. For a list of the artists and capsule descriptions of who they are and their art see the Artwalk site.

Locations

Junction Businesses
8 Limbs Yoga
ArtsWest Playhouse & Gallery
Bakery Nouveau
Bella Nouveau European Day & Medi Spa
Bin 41
Blue Willow Catering & Luncheonette
Body Bar Day Spa
Brunette Mix
Capers Home
Carmilias
Coffee to a Tea with Sugar
Cupcake Royal & Verite Coffee
Dr. Catherine Sparks
Elliot Bay Brewery
Fresh Bistro
Funky Janes
Ginomai
Hotwire Online Coffeehouse
Josh Boender Allstate Insurance
Keller Williams Edna Bishop
Knows Perfume
Krieger Dental
Liberty Bell Printing
Mural Apartments Gallery
Red Cup Espresso

Nearly 300 pharmacists from across the country descended on Washington, D.C., to meet with their congressional and senatorial delegations as part of the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists' 16th annual Compounders on Capitol Hill conference and legislative event in June.

One of the pharmacists who made the trip was Debra Smith of Ballard Plaza Pharmacy, which is located inside the Ballard branch of Swedish Medical Center.

“This trip gave us a chance to speak directly to members of Congress and voice concerns that affect our patients, whose health relies on compounded medicines,” Smith said in a press release. “We may not have an army of lobbyists like the pharmaceutical giants, but we do help millions of patients every year, and that gives us a pretty loud voice on Capitol Hill.”

With temperatures expected to hit the 90s today and tomorrow and stay in the 70s and 80s through Monday, Seattle's long-awaited summer weather has arrived.

Now that the heat is here, the question on most everyone's mind is how to beat it.

Sustainable Ballard has a number of ideas on how to keep cool while also keeping green.

• Close windows and blinds during the heat of the day.
• Unplug unnecessary appliances and electronic equipment – coffee machines, microwaves, printers, etc.
• Reduce lighting to minimal levels.
• Investigate personal and space cooling with small room fans and ice packs.
• Set your printers to power saver mode when they are not in use.
• Set your computer screens to power saver mode when they are not in use.
• Turn off all unnecessary lights.
• Consume fresh, cold meals or cook during cooler hours.

On Friday, July 9, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray will join U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, students, and teachers at Aviation High School in Des Moines to discuss innovation in education and unique education opportunities in Washington state.

Following a student presentation, Murray and Duncan will participate in a panel discussion with students and teachers, highlighting the innovative approach of the high school administered by the Highline School District.

Joining the two on the panel will be moderator Eric Liu, Nik Joshi, former Microsoft employee, now an Aviation High teacher; Peter Morton, president of Peter M. Morton Aviation Consultants, Boeing executive and Aviation High board member; Stephanie Hoag, 2004 Aviation High graduate; Navid Shafa, current Aviation High student and Dean Allen, CEO McKinstry Company CEO and chairman of the Partnership for Learning.

If you are thinking about ways to get away from the heat over the next few days here in West Seattle, you might have thought about heading to Lincoln Park. But don't include Colman Pool in your plans today through July 10. It's closed for the Seattle Open Swim Meet. It's closed again July 16-18.

The wading pool for toddlers in Lincoln Park is open daily in the upper park or you can head over to E.C. Hughes at 2805 SW Holden St., noon to 7 p.m. Wed, Thu, Fri through Aug. 20. for their 'Three Day' wading pool.

Seattle doesn't get that many truly hot days so choices for air conditioned places are somewhat limited. You can head downtown for a stroll through the Seattle Art Museum, but that's not the west side.

The Loyal Heights Summer Concert series kicks off July 8 with a performance by the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra Cello Choir.

After that, there will be three more free concerts in July and a final concert in late August for the Loyal Heights Community Center's end-of-summer barbecue.

Concerts take place at 6 p.m. on the lawn of the Loyal Heights Community Center, located at 2101 N.W. 77th St. In the event of rani, the concerts will be moved indoors.

The concerts are free, and concessions will be sold.

The complete lineup is as follows:

• July 8 – Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra Cello Choir
• July 15 – Mud Junket
• July 22 – The Silverbacks
• July 29 – Emerald City Jazz Ensemble
• Aug. 27 – ADHD Rocks

This is the tenth in a series of articles on West Seattle legend Morey Skaret. At ninety-six, Mr. Skaret has the verve and vigor of a man thirty years younger, much wit and wisdom to share and many lively stories to tell.

Morey’s life has been filled with the kind of travel, experiences and adventures that most of us can only dream about. He has lived through seventeen U.S. presidencies, two world wars (he served in the Second World War and Korea), the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression—the subject of today’s story.

Like many young men reeling from the joblessness, hunger and despair wrought by the Great Depression, Morey Skaret leaped at the lifeline offered by President Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal.” One of these programs was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which not only put millions of men to work rebuilding, replanting and repaving America; it provided their families back home with desperately needed income as well.

I ask Morey to talk about life in the CCC. As the memories come flooding back, his eyes sparkle, his voice booms and the words begin to flow as if it were yesterday: