October 2010

GriefShare Class
Grace Church
10323 28th Ave. S.W.
Saturdays 10 a.m.-noon. This international grief recovery support group is open to anyone who has lost a loved one to death. You can start at anytime. For information: Barb at 206-932-7459.

Call for Vendors for Arts & Crafts Fair
Burien’s J.F. Kennedy Catholic High School’s Arts & Crafts Fair is set for December 4, 9-4 p.m. The Fair features hand crafted items and unique gifts. Vendors contact Julie Chaplin 206-431-6662.

Irish Dance Lessons
West Seattle VFW Hall
3601 S.W. Alaska St.
Mondays & Tuesdays in the late afternoon & early evenings. Join the Comerford School of Irish Dance and be ready to show off a few jig steps for the holidays. Open to children and adults. Information at 206-935-3225.

Guided Tours of Seattle Chinese Garden
South Seattle Community College
6000 16th Ave. S.W. (at north end of College)
206-764-5219
www.seattlechinesegarden.org

In a three-way meet Oct. 8, the Ballard High School girls swim team handled both Bothell High School and Eastlake High School. The Beavers defeated Bothell 104-69 and Eastlake 105-72.

Galen Bond, Luisa Chan and Gailyn Portelance emerged victorious from three races each for Ballard.

Bond took first place in the 100-yard fly with a time of 1:03.89. She was also part of the 200-yard freestyle relay team, along with Katie Seibel, Chan and Porelance, that won in 1:47.30 and the 400-yard freestyle relay team, along with Kylie Brown, Chan and Portelance, that won in 4:00.86.

In addition to their relay team wins, Chan placed first in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:37.72 and Portelance placed first in the 100-yard breast stroke in 1:13.32.

Brown added a second victory with her win in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:10.75.

Janine Warren rounded out Ballard's winning afternoon with her first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:07.90.

A trailer was stolen from a West Seattle storage facility early last week, and chances are the thief was befuddled by its contents. The victim told police that he works with explosives (no further detail available, unfortunately) and although there were no explosive materials inside the trailer, all of his tools of the trade were. He told police, “The stolen tools would be useless to anyone who was not familiar with his line of work.” Surveillance tapes revealed a white Ford pickup with an extended cab entering the facility sans trailer, then a few minutes later exiting with the trailer. Turns out employees at the storage facility were familiar with the thief and his white pickup truck in question. They had noticed a recent upsurge in storage unit break-ins since he started renting there, and also found it odd that he made so many trips to his own unit – atypical of normal renter activity. Police gathered the suspect’s information and license plate number and are probably knocking on his door right about … now.

Two West Seattle residents opened a new edgy shop in downtown Ballard, Vulcan Knife. With 30 years of experience, Paul Inman, and partner, Thomas Gregory of Ballard, forge and sharpen custom knives, swords, axes, and tools while Inman’s wife, Dee Button, a longtime leather crafter, designs sheaths and helps run the business.

Gregory, who lives on his under-30-foot sailboat, mentored with Inman for 10 years. Inman learned from the late William F. Moran Jr., world-renowned bladesmith known as "the father of modern Damascus knife.”

“My parents originally settled on Alki Avenue in 1941, from Idaho,” said Button. “Then they moved to Alaska and returned in 1973 to retire. They are both in their 90’s and still live in the same house. We live with them. They have one of the few homes left that has not become a condo.

“Dad fed the family in Alaska by hunting outside Anchorage in the late 1940’s,” Button added, pointing to a mounted sheep head on the wall.

“This sheep head is the only thing he ever had mounted,” she recalled. “He would not shoot anything to brag. He shot to feed the family. I was raised on wild meat and when I first ate beef it tasted strange.”

Television "personalities" are often seen as having outsized egos, and as people whose perfectly coiffed hair and scripted commentary somehow elevate them above the common folk.

Maybe it's because he has lived in West Seattle for twenty years but Jim Dever, is a guy who takes anything but himself seriously and is as easy to talk to as you can imagine. His funny and clever (his name rhymes with it) segments have made him a well known feature reporter and occasional host for King 5 Television's Evening Magazine.

He is married, and a father to a teenage daughter and a grade school son.

Typical of his comedic commentary he notes for example that his daughter doesn't quite yet have a firm grasp on time. "We'll be leaving the house and she will call someone and say, 'We'll be there in ten in minutes and I'll have to say, 'whoa, whoa, whoa, we will not be there in ten minutes. We can't teleport…yet."

His light, humorous style has been developed over a long history in television, working almost exclusively on "Magazine" shows.

It started so simply; a friend (Joel Niemeyer, you know I mean you) saying that I should meet another friend of his, also a writer. Then we joked about creating a roundtable of Ballard writers: Ballard’s version of the famous Algonquin Table.

The original idea has bloomed and multiplied like so much local moss, and there will need to be many tables, fully extended, to accommodate the smorgasbord of local writers participating in the Ballard “Authors & Neighbors” event from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Oct. 19 at Sunset Hill Community Club.

I contacted a few writers I knew then Secret Garden Bookshop gave me many more. Then each writer gave me other names. And although a few authors had conflicts, no one turned down the invitation to meet one another and their neighbors at a community event.

I decided to make it a potluck of authors, but without pre-assigned genres. So there will be cookbook authors and poets, writers with agents and without. Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Literary Memoir, Health & Psychology, Young Adult, Early Reader…there will be something for every age and interest.

by MaryBeth (and Ben) Dagg

If you think Toy Story 3 is just for kids, you would be wrong. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing all three Toy Story movies over the course of 11 years, and the final of the trilogy is stunning on so many different levels.

The movie opens with a rousing and heart-felt sequence showing the 17-year relationship between Andy and the toys we’ve all come to know and love. The scene lets us revel in the pure wonder of a child’s imagination that sparks the wild adventures of our pals Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen) and the gang, along with a lot of new and vibrant friends.

Andy is leaving for college and has to decide whether to donate, trash, or store his old toys. In the packing mayhem, the toys are accidentally sent to the toddler room at Sunnyside Daycare, where they are methodically and creatively tortured by dozens of unruly youngsters.

On top of these horrors, the toys discover the place is under the evil rule of the deceptively welcoming "Lotso" Bear, along with some of the creepiest toys I’ve seen outside a horror film. With Woody’s help, the toys plan their nearly impossible escape to get home to Andy.

In a very seasonal if unlikely pairing Mountain to Sound Outfitters (M2S) is planning a Halloween Ski Swap and Haunted House Oct. 30 at the West Seattle VFW Hall 3601 S.W. Alaska St., Halloween Weekend benefitting the West Seattle Snowsports Council (WSSC).

There is some set up and planning required, and you are welcome to to assist in the effort. Plus of course you can drop of your gear to be swapped in advance.

Greg Whittaker, owner of M2S and the head of the WSSC said, "Many different Manufacturers Reps will be bringing sample product, so you can get some great deals on some of the best new gear in the NW."

Here are the details:

October 29th - Gear Drop Off 4-7 PM, Haunted House Setup
October 30th, Ski Swap and Haunted House 10-6
October 31st, Haunted House and Ski Swap 10-4, Gear Pickup 4-6pm
At the Veteran of Foreign Wars Hall (VFW), across from M2S on Alaska Street.

WSSC Planning and Haunted House Meeting
Wed. October 13th @ M2S, 6:00 PM.

Sunday October 10, 2010 marks one of the calendar's more unusual dates since it is literally 10/10/10. This calls into question a whole range of human ideas since we seem to lend a sense of importance to dates, events, lists, and much more associated with that particular numeric designation.

Here's a site for example that offers numerous interpretations of the significance of the date (if any).

It won't happen again until October 10, 2110.

Of course last year we had an 09/09/09 and next year we can look forward to 11/11/11 but there's something about the number 10 that people seem to like.

It has a lot of historical precendent.

Hotwire Coffee is sponsoring Trick or Treat Photographs again this year on Saturday, October 30th from 12:00 p.m.to 4:00 p.m. in the Hotwire Courtyard at 4410 California Ave. s.w.

You can get your photo (or you with a friend, partner or other) taken by a professional photographer, Stephanie Cristalli at the event and they are urging you to "Bring your goblins and princesses to the Hotwire courtyard during Trick or Treat in the Junction". Which means show up in your craziest costume, get a great photo and help some people out in the process. All proceeds benefit West Side Baby and the West Seattle Food Bank.

Hotwire owner Lora Lewis said, "Photos will be posted online so folks can just pick what they want and pay via the website we’ll have set up." The cost is $10.

The event is Co-sponsored by Durante & Associates and Dr. Heidi Horwitz.

There will be food and diaper barrels out for collections.