Articles

The Seattle Area Mini owner Association is having their annual "Vashon Bash", Saturday Aug 11. Cars will be on Display at the Vashon Island Roasterie between 10:30am - 12:30pm. These cars car are the original classic minis and Coopers made from 1959 to 2000. Expect to see about 25 cars.

For the last four years, audiences have been packing the Red Bicycle for Comedy Night. By turns hilarious, insightful, and embarrassing, Comedy Night has become a high-voltage experiment in stand-up comedy with a growing roster of seasoned island comedians and terrified newbies.

I do love lamb. It is expensive, but a couple of shoulder chops or lamb steaks can be made to go a long way, cutting the per-serving cost of a lamb entrée to a less budget-bashing amount.

Enjoy a mid-summer’s evening concert with renowned finger-style guitarist, Grammy-nominated musician Alex de Grassi, 7:30 p.m., Saturday, August 11, at VAA. De Grassi’s sheer virtuosity redefines the art of acoustic guitar as he weaves a canvas of music from melody, counter-melody, bass, harmony, rhythm and cross-rhythms. Libations included with ticket.

There seems to be a consensus among the purveyors of opinion that the failing economy is the most important crisis facing civilization. I tend to think that the availability of water and food rank a bit higher than jobs and discretionary income. I’d like to talk about some factors to consider that affect our personal, community, and global food security. Growing method, farm size and location, and marketing all affect our personal health as well as the health and resilience of our community and ecosystems we rely on to grow food.  

The life of a National Rodeo Correspondent is one of desperate privations: gas station food, cheap motels, loneliness and long hours in the saddle. I wanted my mind to soar, but sometimes it just makes my butt sore. The Rodeo, always just ahead, is worth it, though, and it is always a surprise.

There is a property just outside downtown Vashon that tells a unique and important story. It is the universal story of those who come to America to build a future for themselves and their family, yet it also tells how one of those immigrants expressed the deep cultural roots of her homeland. Recognized as a local, regional and national treasure, the Mukai House and Garden combines a typical American suburban home of the late 1920s designed and built by Japanese immigrant B.D. Mukai, and a traditional Japanese hill garden designed by his wife, Kuni Mukai. 

Many Americans watched their first sheepdog competition in the 1995 movie, Babe, in which a runty pig rises above barnyard prejudices and his own insecurities to become a prize-winning sheep herder and the pride of his farm. A century-old sport originating in Britain and New Zealand, sheepdog (sorry, no pigs) trials are gaining popularity in the U.S. and Canada, with more than 1,500 dog handlers participating nationwide in competitions like the Vashon Sheepdog Classic, scheduled for September 14, 15, and 16 on Vashon Island.

My Cousin Nancy and I went to the Quinault Resort and Casino ("$89 rooms!"), out by Ocean Shores. It was a good trip for both of us, getting away from our regular lives for a couple of days and doing pretty much nothing. Nancy and I are skilled at doing nothing, especially together. Oh, we talked a lot about our lives, "solved the world," as Nancy likes to say, and we also napped, watched TV, gambled a little, and walked on the beach.

In a part of my own set of loosely interpreted personal guidelines, one can find a provision that grants little or no time or reasonable recognition to musicals. As a middle school kid, I remember breaking into semi-uncontrolled laughter in our living room because of the sing song aspect of an Encyclopedia Britannica salesman’s pitch to me and my parents. When asked why I was laughing, I covered by saying I had just remembered a funny joke.

The BARC (Burton Adventure Recreation Center) Stewardship Council is pleased to receive funds and 501c3 status from the recently dissolved Vashon Youth Council. After several meetings, the remaining Directors of the Youth Council determined the goals of BARC aligned most closely with their own in their desire to work with and serve youth on the island.