November 2010

Diane Venti, pictured, & Tom Wyrick have owned Alki Arts art gallery and event space, 2820 Alki Avenue SW, for five months, and feature mostly local artists. On Saturday night, Nov. 27, the gallery hosted over 35 WSHS class of 1980 graduates for a benefit to help fellow classmate, Dee Duncan, who has been struggling with cancer. She also attended, and sold her handmade jewelry.

Painting on right is by Alki artist, Phil Jones.Also featured in the gallery are nature watercolors by West Seattle resident John Constantine, the father of King County Executive, Dow.

Coming up on Dec. 2 is the West Seattle Community Forum with Mayor Mike McGinn. The event will be held at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center at 4408 Delridge Way s.w.

The community forum is an opportunity for members of the West Seattle community to hear about work by City departments, and to talk with the Mayor about issues of interest. Staff from the Seattle Department of Planning and Development will be available at the event with information about the department, including information about the West Seattle Triangle project.

Getting to Youngstown Cultural Arts Center By Bus
Metro routes 120 and 125 stop directly in front of the building and connect to downtown in 10 min-utes. Route 120 also connects south to Burien while 125 connects Youngstown with Capitol Hill when it switches to Route 11 as it goes through downtown and to South Seattle Community College as it heads to White Center.

For more information please contact Becky Stanley (206) 684-8106 or becky.stanley@seattle.gov
Thursday December 2nd 2010 from 6:00 - 8:00pm
4408 Delridge Way SW - Seattle, WA

Agenda:

By Lee Ryan
Although the stores are decorated for Christmas, a few of us are still aware that Thanksgiving is actually the holiday on the docket.

No one is more aware than Gail Fleming, 92, who still does all the cooking for her family and the friends who come for her old-fashioned feast.

I can certainly attest to her skills as a cook, as I was treated to a few slices of her homemade bread. In fact, I asked her about making bread, without a bread maker, and she said, "Oh you just knead it, let it rise, punch it down, knead it, let it rise, then put it in the oven and cook it."

Gail makes it sound simple, but that's because she grew up fast in the little town of Geraldine, Montana (pop. 250), when she was still known as Mary Gail Taylor.

Her folks owned a gas station, which also had a service garage and a car lot. Her parents and her 3 other siblings all lived above the shop.

She said, "When I was eight or nine, my granddad was supposed to watch the pumps, but he headed off to Elmer's Pool hall to play Seven Up, so I ended up pumping the gas."

By Micah Summers

At The West Seattle Tool Library, we've been thankful and fortunate to receive a large number of unique donations.

Over the last year, we've received everything from 100 year-old, vintage tools to those that have barely been touched. Today, I'm writing about one of our many relatively unique tools, the draw knife, which is a tool for wood carving.

A long (typically 6-12") blade is secured between two handles. The user pulls, or draws, the knife towards himself along a rough log or long piece of wood. Common uses are to debark wood or to shape furniture, boat spars or virtually any larger, carved wood piece.

The pictured tool had one of its handles replaced seemingly decades ago but remains fully functional and a lot of fun to use.

Based on its construction, this particular draw knife likely dates between 1920 and 1940. It is just one of 1000+ tools available now at the West Seattle Tool Library, which is free to use and run mostly on member donations.

In light of the recent fatality that occurred when a woman was struck on the train tracks near Golden Gardens park, people are reminded to not walk on the tracks.

“Please utilize the designated crossings,” said Burlington Northern spokesperson Gus Melonis.

Melonis said that there have been 19 fatalities on train track in the state of Washington this year alone.

“The Seattle - Everett route is by far the most problematic,” Melonis said. That line is where the most incidents occur whether those are close-call situations or an actually train struck.”

Melonis said that the tracks between Golden Gardens and Carkeek park as elsewhere are all private property and trespassing is a criminal offense.

“All railroad property is private property, and we issue situations to violators. We have an internal police department and we do issue citations,” he said.

Bob Boston, director of Operation Lifesaver, a safety division of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, said that there aren’t as many fatalities as there use to be.

White Center Jubilee Days is sponsoring Festivus, Saturday, Dec. 4 at the White Center Eagles at 10452 15th Ave. s.w. According to organizers "The celebration will be in true Festivus style with a Festivus Pole, Feats of Strength and the Airing of Grievances.

The event will feature a silent auction which starts at 5:30 pm. The cost is $25 per person.

Up for bid in the auction are 2 sets of tickets for a suite at a Seahawks home game, donated by the Snoqualmie Tribe

A .28 Carat Diamond pendant necklace, donated by Barney's Jewelry and Loan valued at $750.

2 nights rental at Ocean Shores in a house 1/4 mile from the beach. Donated by Gerald Robison, Attorney.

Tickets can be purchased from any Jubilee Days board member, participating White Center business and at the door until sold out.

It’s what happens when two trained social workers, who are also parents of teenagers, open an art studio together - they realize they want to show their children, their students and their community at least one answer to the question, “What can I do to help?”

On Friday, Dec. 3r, co-owners Barb Smith and Lauren Molloy-Johnson of Space to Create, an arts and crafts studio in Ballard are providing all the materials and know-how for kids and adults to make gifts and donate to families being served by the non-profit Solid Ground.

Barb Smith is a former chair of Solid Ground’s board and still “an amazing advocate and spokesperson for Solid Ground's efforts to build housing and end homelessness for families in our community,” said Paul Haas, resource development director at Solid Ground.

She recently toured the latest phase of the Brettler Family Place housing for families currently homeless or in transitional housing that is scheduled for move-in February 2011 in the Sand Point neighborhood.

Press Release:
South Seattle Community College’s Northwest Wine Academy invites the public to celebrate the holiday season with a festive wine tasting and holiday bazaar. Featured student-produced vintages include a 2009 Late Harvest Viognier, and two reds, the recently-released 2009 Field Blend (Rhone Blend) and 2008 Well Red (Merlot/Cabernet). Also available for purchase will be the 2009 Rousanne, a bronze award winner at this year’s prestigious Tri Cities Wine Festival.

Unique holiday baskets with an assortment of wine, holiday goodies and wine accessories make the perfect gift. And, for the first time, you can also purchase staff-recommended wines for holiday celebrations – a Beaujolais Nouveau and a Moscato d’Asti.

All wines are discounted 20%.

South Seattle Community College’s Northwest Wine Academy is a first-of-its-kind program in Western Washington and offers three associate degree and certificate programs – Wine Making, Wine Marketing & Sales, and Food & Wine Pairing. The Academy complements the college’s highly regarded and award-winning Culinary Arts program and the new bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management program. .

7th Annual “Admiral Sings Christmas 2010”
Admiral Congregational United Church of Christ
4320 S.W. Hill St.
206-932-2928
Sunday, Dec. 12, 4 p.m & 7 p.m. Keith Terhune’s delightful concert style sing-a-long of favorite Christmas songs, carols and fun with the Admiral Choir and guest Overton Berry and Carol Nielsson. Free, donations gratefully accepted. Non-perishable food items may be given to the food bank. Door open and refreshments will be served 30 minutes prior to showtime.

Endolyne Children’s Choir 2010/2011 Season
New singers are welcome to join. Rehearsals take place at St. John’s Church in West Seattle. For information visit www.endolynechoir.org or email info@endolynechoir.org. Debut Choir rehearsal grades K-2 is Tuesdays, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Encore Choir rehearsal grades 3-5 is Thursdays, 6:30-7:30. Advanced Ensemble rehearsal grades 6-8 (gr. 5 by invitation) is Thursdays, 7:30-9 p.m.

Fall Puppet Shows at Alki Bathhouse
2701 Alki Ave. SW

The park that has been built atop the Myrtle Street Reservoir at the intersection of s.w. Myrtle St. and 35th Ave s.w. opened quietly Tuesday with the partial removal of temporary fencing. A full grand opening will follow but no official date has been announced.

The fence removal meant that nearby neighbors had a chance to finally enter and test out the playground equipment and take in the view. Sandra Cohen said, "I think it's fantastic. I think as many places as we can have for kids to go is good because it's a rainy place and the more activities we have the better." Cohen had supported the option to install a skate park on the site but understood other neighbors concerns about noise.

"It's a wonderful addition to our neighborhood. Our kids need it. They need a place to play nearby and it looks to be like they spent our government's money really well," said Ron McMaster.

Looking at the view with her daughter Miya, Maari Falsetto said,"Do you know that nobody has seen that view? It's the first time it's been open to the public here at the highest point in all of Seattle."