July 2010

When Joan Olson thinks about the first time her husband Edward showed interest in her she feels like a kid again.

That's because until they married her name was Joan Kidd. He swept her off her feet, well, skates, at the Ballard Ice Arena on Dock Street back in '48. "My friend Gloria and I took the bus three times a week to skate there," Olson, 77, who was born and raised in West Seattle, vividly recalled.

"We would see him come in and he was so handsome and wore this Scandinavian navy blue sweater with the white snow and elks. We were like, 'He's here. He's here.' One time it was couples only so I began leaving the ice and he came up from behind and took my arm. What a thrill!'

"She was a very beautiful girl, still is," offered Edward, 83, a retired union construction electrician and merchant seaman in the Pacific during World War II. "He started taking Gloria and me home in his beautiful car," Joan said.

"It was a '48 Ford convertible, creme-colored," Edward said. "I went on vacation up to Seshelt, Canada, where my aunt and uncle had a lumber company, for maybe a month," said Joan. This was soon after Edward and Joan had met.

At 87, Bill Wurster is a man of many talents. Business owner, family guy, hydroplane racer and one of the seven founders of the Seattle Seafair Pirates, he attributes much of his success to his good friends and his father’s mantra that he could do whatever he wanted, if he applied himself.

Wurster’s father died when he was 17, placing Wurster at the head of the household.

“He has a very deep devotion to his family that continues to this day,” said lifelong-friend John Dowbroski.

Though he was still in high school at the time of his father’s death, Wurster lied about his age and landed a job with Boeing.

In 1948, after a short stint as a commercial artist, Wurster opened his own advertising agency. It was in advertising that he would learn the business skills needed to succeed in what would seem to be a very different career path – that of a hydroplane racer and Seafair Pirate.

That same year a new owner called Seafair Inc. appropriated the hydroplane races and summer parades that would become defining features of today’s Seafair celebration.

To the editor:

This may not be politically correct but.......

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines Psychosis as "defective or lost contact with reality as evidenced by delusions etc...." and a Neurosis is "a mental and emotional disorder and is accompanied by less distorted perceptions of reality than a psychosis." A simple analogy is that Neurotics build castles in the sky and Psychotics not only build them but they also live in them.

When we get involved in a war in Iraq on the basis of lies ie. Weapons of Mass Destruction, someone has clearly lost touch with reality. When we are spending ourselves into oblivion in the hopes of preventing a depression the likes of which the world has never seen, someone is delusional. When our State Legislature will not balance a budget but insists on raising taxes in a climate where unemployment is rampant and foreclosures are epidemic, then they are delusional. This also applies to Seattle's new Mayor. Aren't all these people Psychotic? Isn't raising taxes going to drive more small businesses into bankruptcy and isn't it going to make more people lose their homes?

To the editor:

The article by Mr. Shay in the Herald 7-23-10 regarding the "big dig" and the risks brought out by Dr. Thom Neff are troubling enough. When you add the fact that one bidder has dropped out and top it off with Seattle citizens being on the rope for cost overruns it is time to take another look.

Gov. Gregoire, along with other state leaders and the Seattle City Council majority saying the amendment for we citizens of Seattle to pay said overruns isn't legally enforceable while it is still in writing doesn't make it so.

If it is not legally enforceable , a big IF,( while it is in writing at present) a very simple solution to that concern is SIMPLY TAKE IT OUT. I fear unless this is done we citizens of the State will find ourselves paying the bills both as defendants as well as plaintiffs in the massive lawsuits that are sure to come.

In my humble opinion anyone who thinks a project like this will not have cost overruns has been sleeping the last 100 years.

Harriet Benjamin
West Seattle

West Seattle Hi-Yu royalty past and future were part of the program at the Hi-Yu West Seattle Community Breakfast at Alki UCC on Sunday, July, 25.

Out going royalty included The Hi-Yu Junior Court Princess Isabella Carufel, Queen Kailin Jo, Princess Kaitlin Morgan, and Hi-Yu Princess Kelly Nealson, Queen Georgia Mitchell, and Princess Vernonica Pupava.

The event, held at the church for the first time this year was well attended and featured bacon, sausage, pastries and fresh fruit all prepared by Don and Sheryl Bogie.

The incoming candidates for Hi-Yu Royalty included Melanie Frey sponsored the West Seattle Rotary Club, Kelsey Bills sponsored by the West Seattle Lions Club, Victoria Ferrfulli sponsored by the American Legion, Rose Marie Unite sponsored by the West Seattle Eagles, Kelsey Porter, sponsored by the West Seattle Kiwanis Club.

The Hi-Yu organization is non-profit and organizes and coordinates the selection of royalty from area service clubs as it has since 1934. The young women who take part in the program are eligible for scholarships offered through the program.
Hi-Yu means "much, plenty, abundance" in native Chinook jargon.

The Alki Art Fair, which took place over the weekend of July 24 and 25 got outstanding weather with virtually cloudless days and temperatures in the 80s.

While many people were there for the beach alone, thousands took the time to stroll through the art on display by more than 70 artists.

CLICK THE IMAGE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT.

When my son was very little, he couldn’t say the word “strawberry.” It came out, “Strawbaby!” Since then, at our house, we have strawbaby jam, strawbaby and spinach salad, strawbaby vinegar and strawbaby and rhubarb squares.

The Pacific Northwest is strawberry heaven! We have just the right weather, including the rain, to make our strawberries the most desirable in the nation. And, we get to keep most of them because they don’t ship well.

So, take advantage of our local berries when they are in season at local farmers markets. You can also stick a few plants in your garden or in a pot on the deck.

Local berries are smaller, darker in color and packed with flavor. But, use them up quickly; they don’t keep.

If you can’t wait for a new way to savor local strawberries, make jam. Even if you’ve never canned, succeed with this quick, easy, microwave recipe for the best strawberry jam you will ever eat.

My son, in college now, regularly requests a care package of homemade Strawbaby Jam.

“It tastes like real fruit, not red paste,” he says.

Microwave Strawbaby Jam

The West Seattle Rotary Club Kid's parade was brief but bubbly as several dozen participants ambled, rolled, or rode through the Junction before a big crowd, ready for the main event.

CLICK THE IMAGE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THE PARADE

TheAmerican Legion Grand Parade< (and the West Seattle Rotary Club Kiddies Parade) started at 11 am, July 24. See the link above for our updated slide show of the Grand Parade. The Grand Parade began at Lander Street in the Admiral District and the Kiddies Parade began at Genesee Street. The Grand Marshalls were Marty Riemer and Jodi Brothers and back this year is the Daffodil Festival float and of course, J.P. Patches.

Over for another year is Alki Art Fair just adjacent to the Alki Bathhouse. That featured 70 artists, live music, food and fun for kids.

There is often a point in a film—a good film, that is—where the director lets you know he has a solid grip on his story and you’re going to have a good time. In Ridley Scott’s “Robin Hood” that moment comes at the beginning of the film. Scott leaves his star, Russell Crowe, on the sidelines for the time being and puts his opening scene in the hands of Cate Blanchett. As Marion Loxley, Blanchett marches through her run down manor rousing sleepy servants to fend off a gang of thieves. By the time she reaches the door you have no doubt that bow in her hand is a danger to anyone who gets in her way. One could write a book about what gives Blanchett her star power, but the bottom line is that she gathers a movie around her with an uncanny blend of grace and authority.

Ridley Scott is as much an actor’s director as he is an action director and he seems to know instinctively what the chemistry between Blanchett and Crowe can do for his film. But first he has to get them together.

The Herald got an email from Kimberly Cisson regarding a traffic accident she was involved in. She requested that we post this online to potentially find any witnesses to the incident. Here's her story.

At about 8:15am on Wednesday, July 21 I was on the on-ramp of the 1st Ave Bridge going north from W Marginal Way S in a red Nissan Sentra. I was in the left hand lane that becomes the exit only lane onto S. Michigan. It was bumper to bumper traffic.

A SUV was merging in front of me from the right lane (which has a sign saying the lane ends) there was a blue Honda CRX (WA License plate - 152 VJW) behind the SUV that was tailgating the SUV and moving into the lane where I was. There was not a space for him in my lane. He began scraping up against my car. At this point I stopped and he went ahead.