You may have heard the Christmas ships if you were by the water any evening in the past few weeks; they have been parading in the waters of the greater Seattle area since the end of November. If you haven’t seen them though, it’s not too late. In fact, the grand finale will take place on Saturday, December 23, and can be viewed from Gas Works Park.

If you’re asking yourself, “What is he talking about?” here is a bit of an explanation. The Christmas ships are a holiday tradition around these parts. Lead by an Argosy cruise ship …

Fat Cat Records, formerly near the corner of Meridian and 45th, has moved to a new location at 4206 Stone Way N. The store which sells new and used records, CDs and cassette tapes was opened in 2018 by Frank Laufer and his father James. Its opening in 2018 was covered by Wallywood in a blog post.

The new location has features that the old one lacked. Parking was an issue at the Meridian location and the old space was too small to fit Fat Cat’s growth plans. It did have a very visible and iconic sign, though.

The Stone …

Hello neighbors! I am a new face in a familiar place in Wallingford, so I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Rev. Haley Ballast, and I am the new Transitional Pastor at Wallingford Presbyterian Church. I am a Seattle native, now raising my family in the same South end neighborhood where I grew up (Normandy Park). I am loving my new “work” neighborhood and have so far enjoyed buying plants for my office at Cedarhouse Flowers, eating a delicious sandwich from Grand Central Bakery, and drooling over donuts at Doce.

WPC has been a faithful …

If you’ve tried to schedule a new COVID vaccine recently, then you know that there may be some long waiting times. (I waited a month and a half to get one at our local Bartells.) But now you can get one at our local library branch — no appointment necessary!

The details:

Date: Thursday, December 14 Time: 2-4 pm Location: Seattle Public Library, Wallingford branch, 1501 N 45th St

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December is a good month to warm up with Enhanced Fitness, Strength Training and Yoga. Our board game selection has increased. Along with Scrabble, Cribbage, Pinochle and Bridge, we now have Yahtzee, Go, Sorry, Clue, Monopoly, Chess, Dominoes and more! Lunch is served Tuesday through Friday- noon to 12:45 pm. It’s $5 for members and $7 for non members.  Creative Mending, the Knitting Circle, Technology Mentoring and Scarecrow Movie Day are going strong.

We are adding some new programs in the New Year. Stop in, say hi, and pick up an updated program calendar.

Death Cafe will return on the …

This weekend will be filled with seasonal fun. From the UW Symphony on Friday night, a crafts sale on Friday and Saturday, a European Market on Saturday, to a walk around Green Lake on Saturday evening and another concert on Monday night. Take it all in and begin your celebration of a season of joy.

On Friday night, December 8, the UW Symphony will be performing in Meany Hall (just east of 15th NE and NE Campus Parkway) at 7:30 pm. The Concert will range from the sweetness of Clara Schumann’s poetic Songs to the darkness of her husband’s Faust …