Sunday, March 29, 2009

Organic Panties


Preem, this is for you!!








At Seattle's GreenFest yesterday I worked for Washington Toxics Coalition and hung out with the folks at People for Puget Sound and the architect/timberworker/CEO Michael Kruger of Sunpod Greenhouses http://www.sunpodgreenhouses.com


I was briefly crowned Sustainability Queen of Bellevue at the SCALLOPS exhibition corner but promptly abdicated when we discovered there was already one. We just don't know how to reach her: Vicki Goode are you out there??!!!
SCALLOPS stands for Sustainable Communities ALL Over Puget Sound--and are they ever all over! Check them out at www.SCALLOPSwa.org


These are two darling little stoves for children made of recycled olive oil cans and available through eurostyle in Fremont.




Not my age, just my legislative district!

Oh the Sub-urbanity!

Red Apple Auction Items (no longer available)













Newport Hills Photo Gallery II

Newport Hills has garage doors to die for. The Boeing Boom provided neighbors with the extra steady income that caused families to purchase two cars and the two-car garages to house them in. The need arose to tame all that bare external wall with something--creative--but these are engineers, remember. Organization counts.

So many originals remain that Eff-Stop Local (click on his blog at right) has begun a typology of Newport Hills garage doors. To get the full effect you have to visit his site to see them in all their glory, neatly categorized with his wry comments on the side.

I really love these and think everyone should be envious of our incredible collection, available to all anytime you go for a walk.



In honor of Eff-Stop's newest category, chevrons, here are just a few of my favorites from previous posts:





Friday, March 27, 2009

Earth Day Event


A Newport Hills Earth Day event is in the early planning stages for Saturday April 25. The idea is to promote a community garden in the business center during the transition from gigantic parking lot to thriving focal point.

We plan to have people bring containers from home and have soil, seeds, plants and demo models on display for the purpose of raising neighbors' awareness of the importance of sustainability. Recycling, composting, saving water and decreasing pollution and runoff, as well as raising food are all going to play a part.

One possible site includes the highly visible and sun-drenched (when it's not raining) south end of Stod's across the street from a small Metro Park n' Ride.






Please Don't Ever Go II


How could I forget Newcastle Fruit and Produce? Because they said they'd open March 1st and they still haven't? It's OK--you're forgiven.

Bartell's, of course, at Coal Creek Plaza, for their candy aisle, mainly, and their food bargains. Not to mention lawn furniture.

If we're counting Factoria, I have to include I Love Pho for their Pho Ga and salads. Awesome, addictive. And, to be honest, Nordstrom Rack. And Tokyo for their amazing caterpillar rolls and friendly sushi chefs.

Puffball Paranoia

Now, this is funny. If you enjoy my puffball shrubbery posts. The thing is, I had knee surgery three weeks ago and for about two weeks I spent a lot of time with my leg elevated in bed, laptop on tummy. Watched every Brad Pitt movie available. Saw the actors and directors commentaries on Fight Club, a movie for which I now have a boundless appreciation and can talk semi-authoritatively about almost every camera angle. Especially the one with BP in the bathtub talking to Edward Norton about whatever it is they were talking about...anyway, that's another story. I allowed my mother to wait on me shamelessly and didn't see my kids for a really long time.

Little did I know I had a guardian of the foliar variety watching over me. Just out of view beyond my bedroom window.

Once I was able to hobble around again I looked out over the next-door neighbor's yard, and here's what I saw.

Avenging angel sent to keep an eye on my movements or innocent shrubbery keeping watch---you decide.



Friday, March 20, 2009

Please don't ever go

We're suffering from a little post-traumatic stress here chez-Bentley since the most recent demise at the neighborhood center: Newport Hills Drug and it's neon posters announcing its closing sale over the last two weeks has had us all a little rattled. Over dinner last night the entire family voted on the top two places in Newport Hills we couldn't bear to be without, that life would just not be worth living without:

Thai Castle (actually in Newcastle at the Coal Creek Plaza, but walking distance if you're fit)

Dara and crew have been serving up the most delicious larb gai, chili fish (hot! Sour! Sweet!) tom yum soup and lemon grass (or garlic) chicken of any I've had on the east side. They arrived shortly after we did (so that would be 10-12 years ago) and we still don't want to eat anywhere else. They are family now, and we celebrate every occasion there. Even when we've lost power we can depend on them to treat us to the best, with candlelight! We love you Dara!!

Newport Hills Chevron

Absolutely the best service, customer and mechanical, you will receive anywhere on the planet. People who have moved over to Seattle still come back to Newport Hills to get their work done by Barry. Again, they're like part of the family.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Third Places II: Calling Ron Sher




These days, looking at the empty spot in the center of our neighborhod, I find myself thinking often about one of my "local heroes": the developer Ron Sher. His idealistic vision of community nurtured the development of Crossroads Mall in Bellevue and Lake Forest Towne Centre in Seattle. His current project is in the middle of Bremerton--a windowless hulk that once housed the JC Penney's.


At Crossroads and Lake Forest, events are programmed in to the spaces which combine city services, a stage and other amenities with retail shops and restaurants. At Crossroads, where there was originally a "main street" he added a stage, seating, a giant chessboard. A farmer's market has taken root in the parking lot, and a library, a mini-City Hall and lots of other places for people to sit and mingle have all joined the lively mix. One visitor labeled it "a mall with soul."

The Seattle Times ran a feature article by Eric Pryne last October on Sher's work and I've borrowed from it here:


"'This kind of stuff is what I'm passionate about. 'I love place-making. My whole thing is to be able to create these places that catalyze a community.'"






When he repeated Crossroads' success at Lake Forest Park Town Centre, fans said it had become the city's living room, its heart.

In Lake Forest Park, for instance, there's a "commons" with a stage where musicians perform on weekend nights. Couples and toddlers dance. Families fill big tables, eating food from one of the eateries on the periphery.


Knitting clubs, book groups and gamers hold regular meetings at the shopping center. The county library system and Shoreline Community College have branches there. Most days, an author reads at Third Place Books, an anchor tenant.

Like at Crossroads, there's a giant chess board painted on the commons floor, with king-sized pieces.


"I love the message it sends to people," he says. "It says, 'You can come here, you're welcome here — and you don't have to buy anything.' "



Now this is the amazing thing:

Sher comes from a family of developers. He's a principal in a company that controls shopping centers, hotels and office buildings in Washington, California and New Jersey. He once co-owned the largest retail-leasing brokerage in the country.

But Sher doesn't fit the developer stereotype. He's been intrigued for decades by the notion that shopping centers could be places for social interaction as well as commercial transaction.

He got the idea from sociologist Ray Oldenburg, who has written that Americans lack but desperately need "third places" — informal, socially inclusive settings away from home and work where they can relax, connect, build community and foster democracy.







From an article which originally appeared in The Seattle Times
Oct 19, 2008 by Eric Pryne

Friday, March 13, 2009

Birdnest



Once we decided to purchase our house I began researching local mid-century modern architects and discovered that our house was a model known as "The Rainier" designed in the late 50s. There it was, right on the homepage of DOCOMOMO-WEWA, the local chapter of "Documentation and Conservation of the Modern Movement." The dapper man in the picture here is Jerry Gropp, the Rainier's Mercer Island architect.

The Rainier was his most popular model, designed for "budget-conscious" families and sloping, narrow lots. The plans and specifications sold for between $50 and $60. They featured ontemporary lines, a shallow pitched roof and exposed beam framing. The floorplan was "zoned" for private and public functions. An entire wall of floor-to-ceiling windows in the living and dining areas and lots of deck area makes it feel like a birdnest in the trees.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Sustainability Begins at Home



I have absolutely no business starting a community garden when I can't even grow garden cress from seed in the privacy of my own kitchen!!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

What to do when you fall in love




Last year at this time we got ready to move.

We'd driven down a street in our neighborhood we had never been down before. It was night and we were in the woods, a mile and a half from the house we'd lived in for l4 years. We pulled into a driveway to turn around and the headlights caught this ceiling, floating in the trees.


One month later, we owned the house.
Walking through, we imagined our piano in the front windows.



What was the significance of the copper-quilted indoor barbecue?




We bought it just before Christmas, when we decided that the costs of repairing all the rot were never going to be accurately assessed, that we would just do what we could when we could.

That's what you do when you fall in love with a house.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Community Gardens: Step 1


From the friendly folks at American Community Gardening Association:


To start a community garden, FORM A PLANNING COMMITTEE



Determine if there really is a need and desire for a garden.
What kind of garden--vegetable, flower, trees, a combination?
Who will the garden serve--youth, seniors, special populations, people who just want an alternative to trash?
If the project is meant to benefit a particular group or neighborhood, it is essential that the group be involved in all phases.


Organize a meeting of interested people.

Choose a well-organized garden coordinator.Form committees to accomplish tasks: Funding & Resource Development; Youth Activities; Construction; Communication.


Approach a sponsor.
A sponsor is an individual or organization that supports a community garden. Site sponsorship can be a tremendous asset. Contributions of land, tools, seeds, fencing, soil improvements or money are all vital to a successful community garden. Some community gardens can provide most of their provisions through fees charged to the membership; but for many, a garden sponsor is essential. Churches, schools, citizens groups, private businesses, local parks and recreation departments are all potential supporters. Community Development Block Grants are sometimes available through your municipality.
Make a list of what needs to be done.
Find a garden site.


Obtain lease or agreement from owner.
Decide on a mailing address and central telephone number(s). Try to have at least 3 people who are very familiar with all pertinent information. Form a telephone tree.
If your community garden has a budget, keep administration in the hands of several people.
Choose a name for the garden.