We’ve been two parks down in Wallingford for the past few months: Dump Park, the play area given to the neighborhood by the city as a bride price for the Transfer Station renovation work, has been fenced off for the past couple of months for ADA compliance work. Likewise, the playground at Wallingford Playfield at N 44th St and Wallingford Ave N has been closed for complete replacement since November.

Good news for the kiddos on both fronts. Dump Park has mostly re-opened, with just some temporary barricades around the basketball hoop and benches until the hoop is reinstalled and …

I remember camping out overnight for Pink Floyd tickets, but I didn’t realize that beer releases could generate the same excitement.

According to Facebook’s Wallingford Community Page, there’s a line down the block coming from Bottleworks (1710 N 45th St) awaiting the limited, one bottle per customer, release of a unique Belgian brew (and an accompanying 20th anniversary party).

Here’s what Bottleworks had to say on Instagram:

‪This Sunday, February 17th, we’re celebrating our 20th Anniversary! We are honored to have Adam and his team over @floodlandbrewing make a beer for us that represents both our roots here in Washington …

Lincoln High School opened at Interlake Ave N in 1907, but was closed due to low enrollment in 1981. Since then, the building itself has served as an interim location for other schools undergoing their own renovations, and more recently, “Lincoln High” has been operating out of its own interim location on Ravenna Blvd by Green Lake.

But in a mere 198 days, Lincoln High will re-open in its original location here in Wallingford.

Ed Phippen writes that “parents have been busy establishing PTSAs and such. A group of us are working on raising money for …

Quick update to yesterday’s post about garbage pickup in the wake of the this past week’s blizztastic weather event. As of 9:00 PM Thursday night, SPU is now advising:

If you have somehow managed to collect so much trash that you are unable to wait for regular pickup (perhaps you were taken up in the pre-storm …

This week’s snowstorm has thrown garbage pick-up for a loop. I’m pretty used to the standard “if there is a holiday, our Friday morning pickup is delayed to Saturday”, but I have no idea what’s going on in light of our once in a generation snowstorm and the slush fest that followed.

Fortunately, the SPU web site has it all sorted for us:

Monday and Tuesday customers’ collection: Wednesday, Feb. 13  
[…]If your regular collection day is Monday or Tuesday and your garbage was not collected, please bring your bins in from the street and place out for collection …

When I was growing up in the Great White Northeast of New England, we looked forward to snow storms, and not just for the obvious reasons (sledding, snow forts, snow balls, and cancelled classes).

A good snow storm meant cold cash.

The kids in our neighborhood would fan out the moment the last flake fell (and often before), ringing bells and offering to shovel sidewalks for money.

It occurs to me that in this neighborhood, where the average house doesn’t even own a snow shovel (or you would certainly be forgiven for thinking so, judging by the state of the …

“Rrrrrr…click-click-click. RRRRR…click-click-click.” I know that sound.

I was all packed up for an overnight camper van trip to Snoqualmie Pass this past Friday, 10 year-old son strapped into his car seat, last glimmer of sunlight fading fast, but when I turned the ignition, “rrrr…click-click-click.”

OK, no problem, jumper cables out of the back, Honda Fit pulled up alongside, hood popped, but it’s dark, so I flick my iPhone into flashlight mode and prop it on the engine block while I connect the batteries, black, black, red, red. This time the engine roars and purrs and there’s a flurry of cable …