November 2010

As a teen-age box boy at Meier and Frank's department store in Portland, my daily duty was to waggle a wheeled cart through the first floor, artfully dodging shoppers while I gathered mail order packages from various stations, then hustled them downstairs for mailing.

I got pretty good at it. Sometimes I snagged silk stockings on the legs of angry lady shoppers. But I was good enough to avoid lawsuits and went on to snag a less hazardous position as the in-store mail boy. I lugged a huge leather bag up and down stairs to 12 floors of department bosses.

Today, grocery stores provide fleets of wheeled baskets for us. I use them whenever I do the shopping.
But when I shop with Elsbeth, her German upbringing takes over. She prefers to drive one of those electric carts with a basket in front the size of a Volkswagen's trunk. She tosses her purse in the basket and launches herself.

I "puppy" along behind dutifully as she points out a cereal box on the top shelf, or box of broccoli in a freezer case.

The key to living to 105 is "just keep putting one foot in front of the other," according to Des Moines resident Myrtle Lunn.

She was born Sept. 8, 1905 in Princeton Minnesota. Her parents immigrated here from Sweden. She grew up on a farm with seven brothers and sisters.

Myrtle left home at age 15 and worked at various places. She went to business college in Bismark, North Dakota. She worked many years for an attorney in Yakima. She also helped start an insurance company in Seattle and was its secretary and vice president.

Her passion is fishing. She caught many big fish. One that didn't get away was a 265-pound halibut in Alaska.

She has lived in the Des Moines Woodmont area the better part of her 105 years. She now resides in an adult family home near Saltwater Park with her dog and companion, "Teddybear."

Burien Little Theatre announces auditions for five roles, including two South American women, in the comedy "Clean House," written by Sarah Ruhl. The author is best known for her play "Dead Man's Cell Phone."

This play is an ensemble piece for five actors, two of whom will also fill dual roles. Characters range in age from their late 20s to their 50s.

Synopsis: A clever offbeat comedy about the beautiful messiness of life, full of romance, laced with astringency and tinged with absurdist fantasy. A doctor hires a maid who hates to clean and is in search of the perfect joke. To cover for the maid, the doctor's sister secretly takes over the housecleaning--and finds "foreign" underwear in the laundry. As the doctor's marriage unravels, true love emerges and the perfect joke is found.

Performances are at Burien Little Theatre in Burien from Feb. 11 through March 6, 2011.
Auditions are Thursday, Nov. 4 from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 6 from 1 to 4 p.m. Callbacks are Tuesday, Nov. 9 from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. Rehearsals begin Jan. 3.

Stage director Maggie Larrick.

$100 stipend provided.

Foster High School's National Honor Society has inducted William Cumming a 1934 Foster graduate into the school's Hall of Fame.

Cumming is a national renowned artist who was part of the Northwest Art School of the 1930's and '40s. Cumming donated two panel paintings for the present Foster building in Tukwila.

Cumming, who is 93, was not able to attend the ceremony but delivered a video message for those who attended the induction ceremony.

Seahurst Park will be undergoing a major restoration project beginning in the winter of 2010 and continuing until the spring of 2012.

Restoration will include the removal of seawall, rock riprap, rock groins, paving and fill, restoring beaches to replicate natural slopes and add beach nourishment of gravel and sand substrates.

The park will be closed to the public and vehicular access beginning in July 2011. Due to the presence of heavy equipment and other impacts occurring in the park during construction, and the need to reduce safety risks and protect the public, closure of the park has been determined to be the most prudent course of action.

The Seahurst Park Shoreline Restoration project follows up on earlier shoreline restoration work completed in 2005 along the southern shore of the park, and the results will be similar, but on a larger scale. The project area includes 2,800 feet of shoreline and extends from the park's lower parking lot to the northern park boundary and to the lower slopes of the forested bluffs.

Here is the back story you won't be hearing from this newspaper and the Highline School District about the bonds and levies recently floated as a trial balloon.

Selling to the public follows a shopworn pattern:

Announce the goal, probe the public using the adjunct Highline Citizen's for Schools as agent, target likely voters, conduct the election at great cost in the winter following the General election three months prior, but not during a General election when there are more likely voters, and then campaign to sell the bond.

On October the 8th the trial balloon was launched in the Highline Times identifying a $200 Million bond to replace Highline High School and Des Moines Elementary School. You may get the details from the District.

In addition, an unidentified levy of undetermined cost is being evaluated.

At the October 13th meeting to hear the report conducted by the Highline Citizen's for Schools about their survey, the District announced they would not float the bond issue. However, voters will decide in February on a four-year "Educational Programs and Operations Levy" hereafter referred to as "EPOL. "

Three vacant and unfinished townhouses on 18th Ave s.w. were broken into last week. A police report was only released for one of the three townhouses and detailed a burglar breaking a lock on a sliding glass door and taking the kitchen faucet, an overhead metal rack and the four hooks that held it in place and four screws from a partially dismantled light fixture. Although Home Depot was close by, the thief decided to cut out the middle man on this home improvement project. A pair of bolt cutters was found outside the unit, but rain had washed away any potential fingerprints and there is no suspect.

In a similar instance on s.w. Beach Drive, a suspected burglar chose a house, cracked open the front door with a pry bar and entered to find the home completely empty. Nothing was taken, as you can imagine.

Keeping local storm drains clear of leaves can make a huge difference in street safety by preventing the pooling of water and helps prevent other issues, such as basement flooding, street pollutants entering local streams, and overflows in other drains.

Through its Adopt-A-Drain program, the City of Seattle will supply volunteers with supplies to assist in keeping drains clear.

Adopt-A-Drain volunteers will receive:

• Supplies on loan for the duration of volunteer service.
• Safety equipment.
• Storm Drain Stencil Kit.
• Educational resources.

This is an opportunity for Ballardites to join volunteers across the city who are maintaining storm drains, a critical part of the city's utility infrastructure, according to the city.

Participants commit to removing leaves and other debris from a minimum of 12 storm drains.

Adopt-A-Drain volunteers help:

• Prevent flooding in their neighborhood by keeping drains free of debris.
• Keep pollutants from entering streams, creeks and Puget Sound, which protects fish and other wildlife.

West Seattle Senior Center Needs Volunteers
4217 S.W. Oregon St.
Make a difference by getting involved! Rewarding volunteer opportunities available: kitchen assistant, cafe assistant, and Stop ‘N Shop assistant. Call Margie, Volunteer Coordinator - 206-932-4044 or email at margiew@seniorservices.org.

Take Off Pounds Sensibly
Guadaloupe Church-Pastoral Care Center
7000 35th Ave. S.W.
Every Tuesday, 9:30 a.m. TOPS is an encouraging weight loss support group with weigh-ins every Tuesday. For information contact Peg at 206-932-2621.

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.

Over the years of writing this column and my blog on SeattlePI.com, the contents of my mailbox have changed. Not the basket that sits on my front porch but my online mailbox.

In the old days, I heard from a man certain he was the large man in bicycle shorts in my yoga class (he wasn’t) and the occasional suggestion from a reader about a story idea.

My email box is now one part commercial/one part citizen advisory. It appears my new best friends are Dewey Potter (Seattle Parks) and Joelle Hammerstad (City of Seattle). On any given day they send two to three news alerts.

Meanwhile, public relations firms send generic emails about potential stories. It is rare that someone has actually personalized the pitch in any way.

The joy of writing this column has always been writing about what strikes me as I wander, rather than what tries to strike my inbox. Who do they think I am, I often wonder, sorting through announcements from Ghost Light Theatricals and Wilson PR? What do they think I am?

Once the communications people added blog contacts, they must have thought we were all alike.