_{Lincoln Park Path, courtesy of Slightly North}

Okay, so it’s more likely to be one of those obnoxious condo overlords who wants a better view, but the Seattle P-I reports that someone has been intentionally killing trees along the Burke-Gilman trail. (#)

The “tree assassin” has been drilling holes around the tree trucks and injecting them with herbicide. Of course, it sounds like someone tried to do the same thing last year, by stripping the bark off the poplars in question. Stripping bark, or girdling, exposes a tree’s inner core to pests, fungi and bacterial infection and cuts off the channels for food and water to get through. While the 30-year-old trees near 77th Street survived last year’s girdling, five trees are already dead and two more Douglas fir trees are on their way out.

Of course, last time it seemed like some mysterious criminal was running around Seattle parks wreaking havoc, it turned out to be the city itself. (#) I’m hoping that the city isn’t off killing trees worth $30,000-$70,000 but you never know. Let’s hope they figure out whose view was most improved by the dying trees, because somehow, I’m guessing that might have had something to do with it. Maybe…

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If you are a Mariners fan and you’re female,  this one is for you.

The Savvy Girls of Summer are hosting a pre-game event next Tuesday for female Mariners fans and children under 14. Tickets are only $11 and include the game and a pre-game event w/ snacks, wine, and a Moose visit!

From Deidre Silva, one of the savvy girls, and author of It Takes More Than Balls: The Savvy Girls’ Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Baseball, “What makes this different from a Girls Night Out or Ladies Day event is that there will be a brief panel discussion featuring women who work in the sports industry. This is a good opportunity to expose your kids to a dramatically different sports perspective than we normally experience. Fox Sports commentator Angie Mentink will be on hand as well as a few women who are executives in the Mariners organization, including one of the player’s wives.”

More details, including the event schedule and online reservations, available here.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Carlson [flickr] via our group pool [#]

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Family fun for the weekend, rain or shine….

South 47 Farm Tomato Celebration

South 47 is always a fun time, but this weekend is extra-special, since they’re celebrating heirloom tomatoes (the best summer treat, in my opinion). In addition to the usual goats, alpacas, and u-pick produce, you can sample heirloom tomatoes (they grow a dozen varieties), go an a hayride, and “listen as Storytelling Steve shares stories from the land of the tomato’s birth.”

Jazz at Cal Anderson

Free jazz in the park. The first of five performances begins at 1pm with Floss featuring Zachary Watkins. Also playing: Reptet, Aram Shelton + Special O.P.S., Ahamefule J. Oluo & the New Seattle Brass Ensemble featuring Okanomodé, and The Wally Shoup Free Three.

Arts-in-Nature Festival

This sounds amazing - musical and dance performances throughout the park, a “museum of sound where artists take up residency for the weekend and create multidisciplinary installations that blend sound, auditory arts, music and visual arts,” and “lots of interactive and hands-on activities such as EcoRhythm Instrument Building, EcoArt Mask Making, and Printmaking in Nature Interactive Arts/Family-Kids area.”

Duwamish River Festival

“This free, fun, family-friendly environmental festival’s feature attraction is updates on the Duwamish River Superfund cleanup.  This year’s event will have even more booths and activities including kayak tours on the river, live entertainment, water taxi rides, food, children’s activities, health information, tiny tots nail salon, an eco-friendly car wash demonstration, and more!”

Dive-in Movie

Friday night is the monthly dive-in movie at Medgar Evers pool. This weekend they are showing Snow Buddies, which appears to be about talking, dog-sledding puppies (?!). $3.75 adults, $2.75 kids.

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As far as getaways go, this is my favorite: “Under gunfire after stumbling upon suspicious activity, a Des Moines man escaped from his assailants — by unicycle [PI].” It seems that on Monday night the man passed the food bank and saw a bunch of people standing by the food storage trailers. They noticed that he had looked at him and shot at him, hitting a tree. (Poor trees are having a rough time of it lately.) He took off on his unicycle before they could fire again. Presumably, he was not also juggling or breathing fire at the time.

Neighbors heard the shots and called the police, who showed up and gave chase but were blocked by a man with the unlikely name of Fola Fola Jr. After more chasing, a little wresting, and a little chasing, he was arrested, and the man who did the shooting was caught three days later. I’m impressed that the man on the unicycle managed to keep his seat while being shot at. I guess it takes a lot of equilibrium to stay upright on one of those things.

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This past Sunday saw thousands of women descend upon Genesee Park in South Seattle for the 17th Annual Danskin Women’s Triathlon Series. They swam 1/2 a mile in Lake Washington, biked 12 miles on I-90 and ran 3.1 miles around Genesee Park. There were women of all shapes, sizes, ages and backgrounds who participated. I’m happy to say that I was one of those women.

A co-worker convinced me to sign up for the triathlon and I’m glad that she did. I trained with the Team Danskin Heart Zones training group, which was founded by Sally Edwards, a pioneer in the sport of triathlon and former Ironman world record holder. The group training was amazing as was having the opportunity to spend time with Sally Edwards and hear her speak.

It was an unbelievable experience and I would encourage all women to give it a try.

For more information:

Official Danskin Triathlon Series website
Heart Zones Training
Team Danskin

Photo courtesy of Shawn via Flickr.

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_{Bike Shorts, Denim Skirt, Tatoos, courtesy of Seattle Daily Photo}

In an effort to reduce drive-alone commuting, King County teamed up with REI and the Cascade Bicycle Club to encourage biking to work by offering 200 free bikes to participants who meet the requirements of their pledges.

The program, which is offered through businesses to employees (and which employers had to sign up for by August 4th), allows commuters who reduce their drive-alone commutes by 60 percent to earn ownership of an REI Novara bike or a free bike tune-up. In addition, Cascade Bicycle Club is providing safety training and bike mentors.

Thus far, the program seems to be going well, which isn’t surprising considering how bike-friendly Seattle is, and the upward trend of gas prices over the last year.

“We have had an enormous response!” said Susan Whitmore, Commute Trip Reduction Services Training Specialist. “We currently have nearly 250 participants registered.”

The brand-new project was funded by a grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation, and may continue in future years if additional grant funding is secured. For more information about how to get yourself or your employer involved, see the Green Bike Project web page.

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Since I only live a block away, I am always rooting for something interesting to occupy the quaint yet troubled space at 12th and Denny. In my four-year tenure in the area, I’ve seen a coffee shop, a pizza place, a pizza/burrito place, and a burrito place. I do like the idea that there will be booze, and they are sprucing up this very tiny space inside/out. And although the only word associated with an eating/drinking establishment that makes me cringe more than fusion is gastropub, I’d like to see this tiny little space succeed. A mildly indifferent Google search could find no further information about this place or its owner; does anyone have any further information about Esmeralda?

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photo by suzie [flickr] via our group pool [#]

• Wonder why Value Village (currently for lease!) has that weird smell? Maybe it’s because most of Pike/Pine used to be an auto row. [capitolhillseattle]
• Ladies, your new Bachelor is a Bachelorette reject and Kirklander. [seattlest]
• Now you know what Kim Thayll and Jeff Ament think about grunge. [subpop]
• One word Radiohead preview. [soundonthesound] Yet, even though I saw them twice this tour I still feel a twinge of soggy clogged traffic jealousy.
• Those of you who buy the local daily will be spending an extra quarter for the privilege of newsprint. [p-i]
• The harrowing adventures of a scrappy band of alt-weekly employees struggling to bring you a newspaper in the face of electrical crisis. [slog]

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- Louisa May Alcott

• I heard an interview with David Carr, on NPR, over the weekend, but somehow missed the title of his book. It’s been driving me crazy. Fortunately, our local lit scene is on the job: Elliott Bay Books, the Seattle Public Library, and The Stranger have conspired to bring Mr. Carr to the Douglass-Truth branch of the SPL for a public interview by The Stranger’s book editor, Paul Constant. Indubitably, one of the topics covered will be Mr. Carr’s crack-addiction memoir, The Night of the Gun: A Reporter Investigates the Darkest Story of His Life: His Own. I bet you a nickel that the subject of James Frey also comes up, if only for comparison’s sake. Find out for yourself at 6:30 PM on Thursday, August 21st at the Douglass-Truth Branch Library, 2300 East Yesler Way.

• Up on Queen Anne, Rosanne Olson will be signing This Is Who I Am: Our Beauty in All Shapes and Sizes at Queen Anne Books on Thursday, August 21st from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM. Queen Anne Books is hosting the reception for Ms. Olson as part of the neighborhood Art Walk, and is featuring the photography of Ms. Olson August through September. Even if you can’t make it for the signing, Ms. Olson’s collection of portraits is beautiful, thoughtful, and moving, well worth both the hill-climb and the cover price.

• On a lighter note, Friday August 22nd, Kelli Stanley will be signing her debut novel, the “Roman Noir” Nox Dormienda: A Long Night for Sleeping, at the Seattle Mystery Bookshop from noon until… she’s done? I realize this paints me as a geek of tremendous and incurable dorkitude, but I’m really excited to read this novel. There aren’t enough Roman-era mysteries in the world (shut up, there aren’t!) and Ms. Stanley, with a Master’s in Classics, is eminently qualified to correct the situation. Nox Dormienda is the first in a trilogy, according to her website, but ad praesens ova cras pullis sunt meliora.

• Also on Friday, the University Bookstore (U-District store) will be celebrating Dorothy Parker’s birthday with an evening of readings and tributes by Store staff. This could be fun, or it could be “terrible with raisins in it.” However the event turns out, it starts at 7:00 PM.

• If there is one writer I want to see this year, it’s Sarah Katherine Lewis, author of Sex and Bacon: Why I Love Things That are Very, Very Bad for Me, and Seattle Mystery Bookshop is hosting her on Saturday, August 23rd, at 5:30 PM. Ms. Lewis is a Seattle native, former sex worker, and foodie. This event is rated R, for coarse language, mature themes, and adult beverages, i.e. restricted to 21-and-over. It is very likely that this will be the last Seattle reading Ms. Lewis does for Sex and Bacon, so don’t miss out!

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carry a piece of the mainstage with you at all times, courtesy of useless to useful makers at alchemy

Speaking of that pesky bag fee, Alchemy Goods took all of the signage from Bumbershoot and turned them into stylish messenger bags. [bumbershoot] Just in time for this year’s festival, going back to school, or preparing for more eco-friendly shopping. Really, how many other people can say that Fergie danced in front of their tote bag?

Get your own at Red Balloon. [$]

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photo by peter from report on ikea’s self-checkout lines. [mb]

I just can’t get enough newspaper stories about the deep and powerful effect that next year’s shopping bag fee will have on Seattleites of all stripes. Each of us are special snowflakes, meaning that there are a near-endless supply of tales to tell about how bringing a bag to the store or shelling out a few cents for one will make our lives ever so different once Everything Changes. Today, feast upon the a trio of predictions of how things will be different for grocery baggers who will need a shelf for reusable sacks rather than the plastic bag hangers, mothers who live in fear of nagging daughters, and people already overwhelmed by the paper vs. plastic question who might be crippled by having to decide between returning home or just buying a new bag. [p-i]

I feel so boring for just planning to always pay for disposable bags whenever my purchases are too many to carry. How will you cope? You have only four months to plan!

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If you live in Seattle and own a car, you know already that residential parking can be a real pain in the neck. Heck, I don’t even drive and I know that. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is aware of this, too, and that’s why they’ve released a draft of recommended changes to the Residential Parking Zone (RPZ) program which has been used here in Seattle for almost thirty years.

You can read the either the condensed fact sheet or the more inclusive summary document online. After you’ve reviewed either or both of the documents, take a survey online, or, better yet, send your own thoughtful comments regarding the RPZ review directly to the SDOT.

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Pagliacci Pizza really wants us to vote. Click the picture for a larger view.

With my pizza last week came a lesson on how democracy is supposed to work. Thanks Pagliacci! Your seasonal Tomato Basil pizza was amazing and now I know why we vote in November as opposed to June. Next time, though, please cite your sources. The whole underside of the box was left unused.

(Seriously, vote. And seriously, their seasonal Tomato Basil pizza is amazing.)

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Today is voting day. If you are registered to vote, please do so. If you are not registered, why not fix that today?

What could be better than voting? It’s free, it’s fun, and it matters!

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photo by viv | seattle bon vivant [flickr] via our group pool [#]

• Hempfest caused Christopher Frizzelle to have an out of body experience. [slog]
• Drink with Seattlests tonight at MOE. Remember: no EdWe IRL. [seattlest]
• Teens swimmers circumnavigate Mercer Island for charity, high school graduation. [times]
• A downside of being the daughter of the Seahawks coach is that you get ousted from your fantasy football league. [wbaltv]
• Kapow! wants a statue of Allen to tower over SLU. This is just another excuse to sell t-shirts to go with their coffee, right? [bigblog]

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