Dispatches from Ravenna, a neighborhood in Northeast Seattle
If you have never seen or heard of the phenomenon called Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel, you can just stop reading this right now.
Phil Harris, captain of the F/V Cornelia Marie (and the poster boy for how to look sexy in a mullet), will be at the University Village QFC TODAY from 4-7pm.
If you miss him then, you have plenty of opportunities to try again.
Have any holds at the Northeast Branch of the Seattle Public Library? If so, you have until Sunday, August 22 to pick them up.
As of Monday, August 23, the branch will be closed…until early October. No no, not just closed Labor Day week like the rest of ’em (for fiscal and BBQ reasons), but for MUCH. LONGER.
But FEAR NOT! The closure is for a good cause (or three):
I first noticed the monstrous piles of materials on hold after last winter’s snows. I just figured that the books were getting to the library, but patrons weren’t. Turns out that this branch of a mere 15,000 square feet process more holds than nearly every other branch in the system. The aforementioned switcheroo refurbishing will make room for all of that.
Yes, I’m sure that the library folks are aware that the branch underwent a doubling of size only five years ago, and now, here were are, already needing to close things down and rework it again. But I imagine that many of us were hitting the bookstores more back then, in the heady economy of the mid-2000s. *sigh*
Your holds will be transferred to the Lake City Branch during the closure, unless you choose otherwise. I’m going to switch to the Green Lake Branch and go for more walks. Or just visit Chocolati a lot, to try and cope with the change. We’ll see.
My Ravenna Nation doppelganger, theNortheaster, just put up a story on said blog about the self-guided food garden tour that the Sustainable NE Seattle Urban Farmers are doing this Saturday.
Spotty posting on this blog have you wondering what’s happening in the Ravenna Hood? No worries! Head on over to ravennanation.com and read more about our fair neighborhood over there, too.
Ravenna Nation is a new part of the Neighborlogs family of neighborhood blogs (theSouthLake.com, InterbayDistrict.com, and CaptiolHillSeattle.com are some of the older siblings). Looks like they’ve only been posting since February 9th or so, but their latest story about Ukranian website pirates is a good ‘un.
Welcome to the neighborhood, RN. Now get out there and get to work! It’s raining, and I’d rather like to stay inside today.
We’re sure you’ve seen the sepia-toned covers of the Images of America books in your local bookstore. Perhaps you’ve even thumbed through Early Ballard or Frederick & Nelson or Puyallup: A Pioneer Paradise and thought, these are nice little historical picture books, but they’ll never have one on my neighborhood.
We’re happy to report that you are mistaken.
Admittedly, Seattle’s Ravenna Neighborhood has been out since 2007, but author Ann Wendell is giving a talk about it on February 24th from 6:30 to 7:30 pm at the Northeast Branch.
Wendell has posted an interview about the book up on her website in case you can’t make it, or you just like to be prepared for such author talks.
Wendell also wrote the Frederick & Nelson book, for those of you keeping score. Should anyone want to purchase either title, I would suggest you do so directly from the author’s website (Paypal). Support your local historians, or they’ll be history!
Oh yes. We’re still here.
October came and went (as did our paultry six Trick-or-Treaters)…
…votes were cast and turkey was eaten in November…
…there was a little blizzard in December…
…so, was there really anything to write about?
Yes! Of course there was! TONS! But we didn’t, and for that, we apologize.
And now, we’re back on the case. Off we go….
…but it always feels good.
Another Green Seattle Partnership volunteer event in Ravenna Park is happening this Saturday from 10 am until 2 pm.
More information and contact emails and whatnot at the Green Seattle Partnership website.
Support your local small business owners! It’s good for them, good for the community, and it gets you away from those Dow Jones tickers that seem to be popping up on every local news broadcast.
Don’t know where those small business and their owners happen to be? Then you should attend this year’s Shop Local Seattle, held at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center this Saturday from noon until 3 pm. Heck, you should attend even if you do.
There’s even a raffle! We loves a good raffle. One free ticket at the door, $1 for additional tickets. Proceeds go to the Literacy for a Lifetime, a program dedicted to giving books to sick kids at Seattle Children’s.
The list of vendors at this year’s event is here, and it’s impressively long, I would say.
An article by NWsource shopping columnist Alison Brownrigg about this year’s event is here.
Thanks to Chris D. for poking me in the inbox.
At 6:23 last night, no fewer than 16 fire department units were dispatched to 70th and Ravenna Avenue NE in response to a fire at the multi-unit building on the NW corner of the intersection.
At approximately 8:00 pm, when we were coming home, there were still a couple units at the scene, including a ladder truck parked in the traffic circle. A brief walk-by by yours truly revealed that the fire was out, many charred pieces of furniture littered the sidewalk, and more pieces were being removed by fire fighters.
Here’s a shot of the scene this morning:
Work has already started on the unit, which I think is a good sign. As multi-resident buildings go, we’ve often admired this one as it blends in so well with the surrounding neighborhood of single-family homes.
If anyone has any more information on what happened or what anyone can do to help, drop us a tip.
UPDATE: There’s a bit about the fire on the Seattle P-I’s Seattle 911 blog. No injuries, which is was I was wondering about and hoping for.
Stay Connected