On a dark, cool, and drizzly September afternoon, the first day that felt like Fall, we decided to take one last swim in the lake. (Actually, it was my husband’s idea and I—somewhat bravely, I think—agreed to tag along.) Gone from the T-Dock were the spirited summer crowds, replaced by solitary fishers and a bundled-up couple who seemed alarmed when we began undressing. Gone, too, were the turtles from the log at the marina’s perimeter. The log, our usual swimming destination, is populated in the summer by a phalanx of 6 to 10 turtles basking in the summer sun. Where, I wondered, did they go? While the study of turtles is called cheloniology, what follows here is a google of facts I collected to satisfy my curiosity. Turtles are reptiles, cold-blooded creatures (ectotherms) whose internal temperature varies according to the outside environment. They breathe air and lay eggs and are omnivores, feasting on fish, worms, insects, and aquatic plants. Their existence on Earth pre-dates snakes and crocodiles. The turtles we see in Leschi and at Seward Park are either the native painted turtle (distinguished by a black top shell and red or yellow stripes on the neck and legs) or the non-native red-eared slider, which boasts a red or yellow blotch behind its eyes. And what do they do in the winter when the sun no longer warms them? They bromate. Like many of us endotherms, they get slow and sluggish, but unlike us, they can’t warm up by eating, moving, or layering-on down jackets. So, they submerge themselves in the lake’s bottom or along its banks and as the outside temperature drops, their body temperature drops as well so that their energy needs decrease dramatically. Mary Hopson on Turtlepuddle.org sums it up: “Most water turtles go deep into the pond and snuggle down into some mud and leaves at the bottom. Then they let themselves get cold. Their bodies slow down, so they don’t need to eat anymore. Their hearts slow down too so that they beat only once every few minutes. They stop breathing through their lungs. Because their bodies are running at such a slow speed, they don’t need much oxygen, but they do need some. They can get the small amount of oxygen they need from the water. It sinks in through some specialized skin cells that are just inside the tail opening...They “breathe” through their tails!” Turtles are also remarkable for their ability to convert stored glycogen to energy and balance the resulting lactic acid build up with minerals including calcium pulled from their shells. In Canada (so perhaps here?) they return to the same places every winter to bromate and do so in groups. Dogs and raccoons are the chief predators of our hard-shelled denizens which are at their most vulnerable when they slowly begin moving around again in spring. Another reason to keep your dogs on a leash when appreciating the Leschi shoreline. So, to answer my original question—these incredible creatures are not gone at all. Let’s protect and respect them. ~Anne Depue

One of the tallest deodar cedars (“tree of the gods” in Sanskrit) in Seattle was in Leschi Park until the lightning storm on September 7. Many of us heard a sharp clap that seemed too close for comfort during the massive lightning storm that struck the Seattle area between 6pm and 9pm on the first Saturday of September this year. The top of one of Leschi Park’s two deodar cedars was sheared off. The tree was cited as having a height of 86 1/2-feet in “Trees of Seattle” (2006) by Arthur Lee Jacobson. We’ll need a new measurement, but clearly, it’s off the list of tallest deodars.

There is always a sense of excitement as we approach September and another newsletter season, especially with the ArtWalk to promote. What I didn’t expect was to be laid up during this critical period. A nasty fall resulted in two compression fractures in my lower back and a “do not drive” admonition from the doctor. When I was unable to show up at the Senior Center Member Meeting, Peggy Herman stepped forward and wrote the notes about the critical need for raising funds quickly in their efforts to become independent. And neighbors Mike Nelson and Janet Oliver offered to do the newsletter preparation: picking up the printed copy at Pacific Publishing in Georgetown and putting all the labels on, bundling them by zip code so I could complete the post office bulk mail form. Our grandson Jason took the news to the Bulk Mail Center and finally the newsletter was on its way to Leschi residents, thanks to the willing help of friends and neighbors (and family of course!) Mike and Janet have offered to do the October issue as well as I must heal before I can drive again. We received the newsletter late as the printer had lost building space and their trimming machine and had to send the papers to an outside source; this meant not only late delivery but a $200 fee for trimming. Ouch! Head printer Richard has suggested switching to a tabloid form (like the Madison Park Times) to avoid trimming costs. After checking with our layout artist and getting the OK, we decided to switch. We hope you like the fresh look with this different format; our printer said this offers a color possibility to us if we have the ad revenue to support it! We need to thank Brandon Macz, Madison Park Times editor, for putting the ArtWalk announcement on NextDoor Leschi. With all that was going on, we forgot! Brandon has been a joy to work with; he wants the neighborhood news and gives us generous reminders about their deadlines. We appreciate him coming to the ArtWalk each year and taking photos. And we would like to acknowledge all our readers who looked at their mailing label and said “Oops!” when they saw they were late on dues and quickly renewed, along with many generous donations. This support will keep the presses rolling! The entire LCC Board extends a hearty thank you! ~Diane Snell, Editor

Hello fellow residents! Well, we have certainly welcomed Fall ahead of the calendar this year. As I write this, rain looks like the week’s course of weather action. What an interesting time we live in now approaching the end of another decade. It seems like yesterday the main concerns of life was whether the computers would not work on January 1, 2000. The world unfolded with no hitches. This month we are offering a candidate forum for our City Council District 3 and featuring Kshama Sawant and Egan Orion. Both have passionate and divergent views of our city. I invite you to join us Wednesday, October 2, 2019 at 7pm at the Central Area Community Center. I also encourage you, if you are a registered voter to do so; vote. If not, please register. It is disheartening with so many people registered to vote in our country, that the majority do not take the time to vote. We are a community and one that cares about our residents. Please, if you need any help, reach out to someone. So many people think they are a bother and don’t ask for help. Others willing to help feel helpless when they know of those who are too proud to ask. Be there. Ask. Receive. Be grateful. Be brave. Be Joyful. I encourage you to remember yourselves too...you matter. Warm Regards, Janice Merrill Brown President LCC Each day do one new thing that scares you...grow!

Please join us for Halloween treats at Leschi businesses! Oct. 31, 4–6pm

Join us for a District 3 Candidate Forum! Kshama Sawant, incumbent, and Egan Orion, her challenger, will answer questions submitted by the LCC Board and audience members. Trevor Lalish-Menagh will moderate. The program starts at 7:30pm at the Central Area Senior Center, 500 30th Ave. S, one block south of Jackson. There is more parking down the street at Grace Methodist Church. Please note the new time.

We are always a month behind in the financial report as we start on the next month’s newsletter (in this case September) before the end of the month (August.) You will see there are no expenses for printing and postage as we are on our summer break with the newsletter. The largest fund continues to be the Officer Brenton fund which is restricted. We have worked our way through all the restricted funds explaining the purpose and who is in charge of these funds but if you have questions, you can always write to leschinews@comcast.net and we will print the answer in the newsletter. In next month’s report, we will have many ArtWalk related expenses.

It has always been dicey paying for the monthly newsletter and depending on ads. Fortunately, the past few years, Leavitt Capital paid for a half page ad promoting Leschi Lake Center which took care of 20% of our printing costs. Alas, that benefit is now gone! Leavitt no longer manages the property and its principal owner, Alaska Copper, is in charge. When we approached their representative, he said to cancel the ad; they no longer require it. They do not donate locally, preferring to donate to United Way. We need to ask folks to look at the label on their newsletter and see if their dues are up to date; if not, please renew! In the past we have relied on readers for postage only but now it is more drastic if we are to keep going. And if you feel generous, any donations you send our way are tax deductible as we are a non-profit. If you have a business or frequent one in the area, talk to them about advertising in our newsletter. It is reasonable and reaches many residents beyond our mailing list. The business copies and those at the Senior Center and library go quickly. We can send you a copy of the rates if you email the leschinews@comcast.net address or call 206-726-0923. We have been keeping the neighborhood informed for more than 50 years and we hate to stop now! ~The Leschi Community Council Board

Hello and welcome back Leschi! We have loved being a part of your summer festivities. As we slowly ease back into Fall routines, let’s take this opportunity to update you on anything you may have missed wine-wise down at the Market. First, an announcement! The Madrona Neighborhood Association has announced their Fall Wine Tasting! Save the date of Saturday, October 12th. More details to come, and you are always welcome to check in at the store for updates and tickets as we get closer. Following is a list of TEN red wines sure to help you get into the Fall spirit. There really is something for every red wine drinker here. All have great scores and accolades, as well as represent a wide variety of different grapes from various places. Enjoy! 2014 Schiavenza Barolo Prapò Piedmonte ($56) “A bright, open and fruity style, boasting cherry, strawberry, tobacco, iron and saline flavors. Firm and linear, with a tight cohesiveness and a long, detailed finish. Best from 2023 through 2042. 290 cases made; 65 cases imported.” ~Wine Spectator, 94-points. 2016 Avennia Valery Red Columbia Valley ($47) “Merlot from old blocks at Boushey Vineyards make up 70% of this wine, with the rest Cabernet Franc from esteemed Champoux Vineyard. Fascinating aromas of ripe red raspberry, earth, green herbs, cigar box and flower are followed by ripe, hedonistic fruit flavors that show the warmth of the vintage. Coffee notes linger on the finish. Best after 2023. Cellar Selection.” ~Patrick Sullivan, 96-points. 2014 Buty Connor Lee Viney Merlot/Cabernet Franc Columbia Valley ($42) “A classic wine from this estate, the 2014 Conner Lee Vineyard is a blend of 63% Merlot and 37% Cabernet Franc. It offers an herbal edge in its ripe black cherry, red plum, chocolate and earthy bouquet. This gives way to a rich, medium to full-bodied red that has polished tannin, integrated acidity and a great finish.” ~Wine Advocate, 92-points. 2010 R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Cubillo Crianza ($20) “The richness and depth of complex dried wood and spice here is seamlessly sewn into the dried red and dark cherries. The palate is pinned around a fresh-blackberry core that marries still sweet fruit to more savory style. Long and balanced. The tannins are fine yet assertive. It freshens into the finish nicely. Drink or hold.” ~James Suckling, 95-points. 2017 Syncline Subduction Red Columbia Valley ($20) “Plump, elegant and expressive, with layered black raspberry, smoky beef and licorice flavors that build structure toward refined tannins. Syrah, Grenache, Carignan, Cinsault and Mourvèdre. Drink now through 2026.” ~Wine Spectator, 92-points. 2016 Two Vintners Syrah Columbia Valley ($20) “Refined and sleekly built, with expressive raspberry, tarragon and smoked pepper flavors that built tension toward polished tannins. Drink now through 2026. 925 cases made.” ~Wine Spectator, 91-points. 2017 Soter Vineyards Planet Pinot Noir Willamette Valley ($20) “This offers some wild-raspberry and strawberry aromas with a very fresh and primary attitude. The palate is succulently fresh, lithe and juicy with raspberry flavors holding fresh and juicy.” ~James Suckling, 90-points. 2016 Bear Flag Zinfandel Sonoma County ($19) “Blended of 89% Zinfandel, 7% Petite Sirah and 4% Teroldego. The wine bursts from the glass with baked raspberries, redcurrant jelly and Black Forest cake notes with hints of tree bark, cracked pepper and Indian spices plus a waft of potpourri. Full-bodied, rich, velvety and wonderfully spicy in the mouth, it gives up loads of earthy layers on the long finish.” ~Wine Spectator, 91-points. 2018 G.D. Vajra Nebbiolo Clare J.C. Langhe Piedmont ($18) “Bright red. Explosively fruity aromas and flavors of red cherry, raspberry nectar, sweet spices and violet. At once big, dense and juicy, but vibrant, with a hint of aromatic perfume that is extremely inviting as is the underlying sweet spice component. This is absolutely delicious. I couldn’t put my glass back down once I started tasting this. ~Vinous Media, 92-points. 2012 Bodegas LAN Rioja Reserva Spain ($16) “A thick, firm texture carries ripe flavors of blackberry and fig paste in this solid red. Notes of dark chocolate, smoke and forest floor add complexity. The tannins are well-integrated, and balsamic acidity keeps this lively. Tempranillo and Mazuelo. Drink now through 2028. Smart Buy.” ~Wine Spectator, 91-points. Kenneth Benner, a Seattle area native, is a trained chef and has worked in such restaurants as Barbacoa, B.O.K.A. Kitchen + Bar, and Dahlia Lounge. Ken is the wine buyer at Leschi Market. He has a passion for learning, a meticulous palate, and a tenacity for searching out the best for his customers while offering some of the most highly coveted wines in the area. His wine column is intended to inspire and explore new choices in wine, learn about wine with his readers, and share his knowledge and experiences in the wine world. Check out the latest at www.LeschiMarket.com or request to be added to email updates or send questions, comments, or suggestions to ken@leschimarket.com and follow the wine department directly on Twitter at twitter.com/leschimarket .

Editor’s note: We received four art reviews this month: two from our art critic, Susan Platt, and two from our “Renaissance Woman,” Georgia McDade, who goes everywhere and comments on her experiences. Somnyama Ngonyama: Hail the Dark Lioness South African superstar artist Zaneli Muholi bursts out at the Jacob Lawrence and Gwen Knight corner gallery at the Seattle Art Museum: “I’m reclaiming my blackness.” Her exhibition “Somnyama Ngonyama: Hail the Dark Lioness,” spills into four adjoining spaces. First, a four feet high self-portrait confronts us in the gallery adjacent to the art of the abstract expressionists (mild white man art by comparison). The artist wears a headdress of sheepskin that takes a lion’s mane to the next level of luxuriance. Keeping in mind that it is the male lion that has a mane, this lioness identifies as they. They look to the side, focusing beyond us. Turning around, we see the artist posing in a mural scaled photograph in what evokes a classical reclining nude posture, until we realize that it contradicts that tradition of exploitation. Lying on their side and holding tightly to multiple plastic pillows that cover all specifically sexual body parts, they displace and occupy the reclining nude tradition constructed for male eyes throughout art history. Moving into the next space, another 4-foot self-portrait evokes the statue of liberty, with the crown replaced by large coils of black foam and the gaze directed skyward. Again, the icon is redefined, reoccupied, remythologized. As “liberty” has become an empty word, this upward gaze expresses that impatience and absurdity. The oblique gazes accent the whites of the eyes in every image in the show. As we enter the main gallery, painted entirely in black, we experience these intense looks over and over, trapped as though by pincers on four walls of self-portraits. In each work the artist transforms, with junk from the street, into a goddess, a miner, a queen, a king, and even a rocky cliff or forest. The props enable layers of metaphors and political references that range from historical to contemporary, from personal to public. For example, in a self-portrait with South African money pinned to their head, a cow’s skin pinned on their shoulders, the references can be to the “bride price,” the selling of woman like cattle, but defiance and resistance embodies the posture and the gaze, even as it seems to suggest surrender. In another work, an homage to her sister, a gentle and proud Muholi wears a crown and necklace of rubber inner tubes that confer majesty, and a defiant inversion of the violent history of rubber in Africa, where the Belgian King Leopold ruthlessly killed thousands to satisfy his thirst for that “natural” product. We can draw a straight line to the exploitation in the Congo today to obtain the minerals for our electronic gadgets. Zanele Moholi: Ntozakhe II, Parktown, 2016. Courtesy Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg and Yancey Richardson, New York Every single image can be approached with layers of meanings, as brought out by the intense and indispensable series of essays in the catalog. About the portrait “Kwanele, Parktown 2016 it is enough,” a face surrounded by plastic detritus, Ama Josephine Budge writes: “Enough a plastic wrapper for a headdress. Enough chemical spilled oceans. Enough burning of carrier bags. Enough the animal carcass choked with used needles and candy wrappers. Enough electronic waste that will never decompose. Enough acid poisoning that never washes off. Enough villages under sand. Enough sand stolen for cement. Enough salinized cropland. Enough desertification. Enough brown bodies on the shoreline. Enough plastic wrappers forced migration. Enough polyethylene saran-wrapped suitcases—everything I could grab in a moment—abandoned at the immigration centre. Enough tear gas in the eyes of protestors. Enough extinct species. Enough plastic-strewn beaches. Enough. Enough. Enough. Enough. Enough. How many times must I say, ‘kwanele’ it’s enough, before what you hear is not more but too much.” The directness of the artist’s bold head shots controls us as we look back seeing the steely gaze, the power, the anger, the courage. Muholi speaks of occupying public space, the spaces given to white people. As a South African, Muholi is particularly aware of the segregation of public space and its history in apartheid, but the entire planet is rapidly becoming an apartheid state with migrants imprisoned at militarized borders or drowned at sea. Prior to this series, Muholi photographed the LGBTQIA people of South Africa to honor those murdered and those living amid murders and crimes against their community. Their own studio was ransacked, and unprinted work deliberately destroyed. Turning the camera back on their own face in these portraits, Muholi allows no objectification of the other, deliberately negating a long tradition of the black body in ethnography, anthropology, tourist and so called “documentary” photography. The body is Muholi’s, the narrative is Muholi’s. The statement is both local and global: the artist has constructed the images all over the world and identified each image by city, and in isiZulu, their native tongue. Working in black and white (albeit with color film) is another political reference to photography as created by white eyes and cameras calibrated in F stops for white skins. Here the subtle tones of black emphasize the many nuances of dark skin colors. We are caught in the web of these layered metaphors that defy the state of our present world with brilliant defiance. “Hail the Dark Lioness”! (until November 8). Don’t miss the videos behind the “Lioness” and read the articulate catalog! Challenging Dominant Stories On the same floor the Betty Bowen award winner Natalie Ball (Modoc, Klamath) installed a provocative pair of works. Ball is descended from the famous leader of the late nineteenth century Modoc resistance, Captain Jack. That heritage of warrior defiance is obvious here. You Mist, again (Rattle) and Re Run make up the installation “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Snake.” The title interrupts the familiar nursery rhyme about the stars with a snake that can be both threatening and magical. Ball explores the collision of indigenous and white cultures as well as African American, also part of her heritage (note the bullet shells embedded in one of the giant rattles). But she is also celebrating indigenous vitality and incorporating trickster humor. Natalie Ball, You Mist,Again (Rattle), 2019, part of installation “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Snake” cotton, crystals, pine, polyester, rattlesnake, deer and porcupine hair, braiding hair, Converse shoe, acrylic beads, bullet shells, and deer rawhide, photograph by Susan Platt Rattlesnake skin appears as part of both works (although significantly identified simply as rattlesnake), a skin that a snake has shed, after it regrows another, a clear reference to the survival abilities of indigenous peoples, in spite of white man’s best efforts to obliterate them. The quilt filled with diamonds suggests joy, but it is rudely interrupted by the words “Run” and “Ran.” The violently cut up sports jerseys and letters in these pieces interrupt any cliché of Native or African American culture, giving us instead a proud declaration of survival and humanity. (Until November 17) ~Susan Platt www.artandpoliticsnow.com Inspiring Art When I think about the amount of time I spend volunteering for several groups, I should be happy that I had a hiatus from The Leschi News! However, the truth is that I missed writing the column. Over the past two months I have considered countless conclusions, revelations, or events as good topics for this column: the environment—climate change and dangers to bees, butterflies, whales, and people; death of loved ones; mass shooting deaths and grief, the deaths not labeled “mass”; tweets; the mean-spirited Mitch McConnell and what the Founders had in mind; paying to park on a street—on a Sunday; Brexit; $40,000 cap for assistance for a property tax waiver; Boeing; reparations; Ashland; the country’s world standing; redlining; family and friends; disagreements; health concerns and professionals; plays; church; revising the book Tribute; radio interviews; books; movies; articles; touring the Liberty Bank Building; television news and shows; swimming; privilege; $800-a-month prescription—with co-pay! A few times I began a column, to get ahead, but never finished one. Receiving a deadline, however, sent me back to work. One of the high points of these two months has been art, in a variety of disciplines and a variety of places. Because art educates and uplifts me, I want so much for you to know about two visits that left indelible impressions: Yehaw Native American Art at King Street Station and the Seattle Art Fair at CenturyLink Field. Although these exhibits have ended, I believe the uniqueness of each makes comments about them worth sharing. Yehaw was held at King Street Station March 23–August 4, 2019, housing 280 pieces of art by 200 artists—all Native Americans. The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and American Art Museum are the only places to house more Native art! Diversity was the order of the day. Some artists identified as indigenous Latinx and others indigenous Mexican. Among the 100+ nations represented were Ojibwe, Crow, Tlingit, Tahltan, Winnebago, Klamath, Choctaw, Cherokee, Chippewa, Tulalipi, Puyallup, Zapotec, Aleut, and Steilacoom. Washington is the base for more than half the artists, but Oregon, Alaska, Montana, and British Columbia were represented too. Media used by the artists were as varied as they were—steel, wire, porcelain, paint, feathers, linocut, beads, ink, acrylic, fabric, string. On the wall, in cases, installations, storytelling, video are some of the forms. Sculptures dotted the room. Established artists and first-timers were sometimes next to each other. At the beginning of the exhibit is an excerpt from a Coast Salish story: “The Creator has left the sky too low. We are going to have to do something about it, and how can we do that when we do not have a common language? ...We can all learn one word, that is all we need. That word is yəhaw̓—that means to proceed, to go forward, to do it.” writes taqʷšəblu / Vi Hilbert (Upper Skagit) in her telling of Lifting the Sky. This is exactly what the artists do. Several artists were present and willingly talked about their art. Although the project entailed several events, the art was the major focus. And all the events were free; everyone was welcome. At least 2700 persons took advantage of this amazing program. The curators of this most democratic show were Tracy Rector (Choctaw/Seminole), Asia Tail (Cherokee Nation), and Satpreet Kahlon. For more details and photos of the art, visit yehawshow.com. where great detailed information abounds. The Seattle Art Fair at Century Link Field exhibited a diversity of another kind. I admit that the $35 entrance fee for the show of August 2–5 was prohibitive for some of us; I learned too late there were several places to secure discounted and free tickets. Everything else was flawless! Artists came from Hong Kong, Korea, France, Japan, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Russia, Viet Nam, England, Sweden, and many states in the United States! Curator Nato Thompson had to be proud of this fifth Fair although some worry about its future because of the death of founder Paul Allen. In Thompson’s curatorial statement is an exceedingly small glimpse of what was expected of “Here Explodes the Wunderkammer.” Wunderkammers, cabinets of curiosities, aptly describes the more than 100 galleries! How can I explain the content of some galleries? You had to have been there! Of course, there was what is expected—portraits, landscapes, food, flowers, animals, trees and persons of all ages. There were sculptures. Media was as varied: oil on canvas or linen, steel, silkscreen, iron, gouache, laser-cut on aluminum, thread and shredded money, marble, flowers, feathers, enamel, rope, wood, spray paint, silicone, ceramics, rice paper, watercolor, tintype, acrylics, photography, bronze, glass, and others. One digital piece took the form of a video in several panels with subjects traveling from one panel to another. On another were flowers exploding/blossoming all over the Mona Lisa blossoms enough to cover the painting only to have the process begin again. There was a video from ceiling to floor; on it and in it were symbols traditionally used in still-life paintings. Flowers of many colors, fish, skulls, clocks steadily moved up the panel only to return in the same pattern. Suggesting the brevity of life on the one hand coupled with steady movement on the other in some ways defies the death in the still life as we know it. Nine projects played a role in the Fair. One piece that drew much attention was Self-Facing, an example of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) where Fairgoers had several opportunities to smash their faces into the bread as does the artist Bread Face. Of course, there were takers. The other was Stephanie Dinkins’ Not the Only One (NTOO). This multigenerational vase-looking memoir example of artificial intelligence (AI) answered the audience’s questions—sometimes right but often wrong. I may have cited instances that would prevent you from coming, but I hope not. There were talks on art collecting, curating, artists conversing, destruction of art by nature, AI, and the market disruption by technology. There was also the Kids Panel that gave nine to 12-year-old children a chance to discuss their favorite artwork. One of my favorites was the $90,000 Cycladic Head of an “Idol.” (about 2500–2400 B. C.); I saw one piece for $425,000! The Seattle Times ran a photo of a $4.8 million bust of Apollo. Curator Thompson wrote “...the mutability and interwoven qualities of all forms of life and non-life are distinctively embedded in literary, political, artistic, and scientific discussion.” He added, “A poetic relationship to fact, fiction, science, theology, biology, herbology, cosmology, and even cosmetology is the bread and butter of the artists. The previous two sentences point to intersectionality—a major word in our society today. Artists at the Fair—and elsewhere—have few boundaries. This freedom refreshes as so many persons in so many places have their freedom curtailed and/or eliminated. Perhaps the art will help pave the way to greater freedom for more people everywhere. Although there were other extraordinary happenings in Seattle, especially Intiman Theatre’s free The Events where no one paid for tickets, I hope the two exhibits I’ve described will alert all of us to the extravagant buffet feast of art one can find in Seattle. The many art galleries, “mainstream” to fringe theaters, opera, dance, symphony, and choruses with regular programs plus the many annual and biannual performances can keep us in the Puget Sound occupied and preoccupied. Add the festivals and fairs for more entertainment and education. Just know that in a time when there is so much turmoil from and on so many fronts, much of which we cannot control, art can allow us to catch our breath; art can be a lifesaver, at least for a while. ~Georgia S. McDade Georgia Stewart McDade, a Louisiana native who has lived in Seattle more than half her life, loves reading and writing. Earning a Bachelor of Arts from Southern University, Master of Arts from Atlanta University, and Ph. D. from University of Washington, the English major spent more than thirty years teaching at Tacoma Community College but also found time to teach on every level at several other institutions of learning.

In my last article, I said that “we’d likely be in for yet another more active-than-normal fire season.” Thus far, that forecast has been a dud, and I couldn’t be happier to have been proven wrong. After the apocalyptic smoke and flames we’ve seen the previous five summers (apart from 2016), why has this summer been so surprisingly pleasant? The primary reason for our underwhelming fire season was that our summer weather was much closer to climatology, with mild, onshore flow originating from the Pacific and not hot, dry, offshore flow from British Columbia and the rest of the West. Our most recent bad smoke/fire years—2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018—all had over 20 days of highs greater or equal than 85 degrees at Sea-Tac, with 2018 notching a record 32 days. As of 8/21, Seattle only has seen 10 days of 85 or greater, and while we might see a couple more before 2019 is over to exceed our long-term average of 11 days, the chances of us exceeding 15 days is vanishingly small. Our biggest fire season by far was 2015, where 1,100,000 acres (275 Mercer Islands) of land were scorched in Washington alone. 2017 and 2018 each saw only 1/3 of the acres burnt as 2015, but they were memorable for the insufferable smoke that suffocated the Pacific Northwest. With our persistent onshore flow this summer, almost all the smoke from eastside fires continued moving inland. Our mild summer is evidence of this onshore flow—after all, the Columbia Basin is much hotter than the Pacific Ocean! Additionally, with the notable exception of the 45,000-acre Williams Flats fire northeast of Grand Coulee Dam, the vast majority of this summer’s wildfires have burned over grass or brush and in easy-to-access locations. Because non-forested locations have far less combustible material, fires there spread more slowly, produce way less smoke, and don’t “jump” from one location to another via smoldering, airborne embers as easily as forest fires. The fact that our fires have been confined to grass and brush and not forests is a testament to the moist fuels compared to the past few years; it’s easier to ignite pine needles than pine trees! However, I would be remiss to fail to mention the potential for autumn wildfires, particularly over California. As summer transitions to autumn, the giant heat dome over the Rockies and Desert Southwest—and the thermally-induced low pressure associated with it—weakens to the point where pressures inland can be higher than those along the coast, setting up offshore gradients and the dreaded Santa Ana and Diablo Winds. The Camp Fire of 2018 (the deadliest/most destructive wildfire in California history that bankrupted PGandE) occurred in November, and Southern California saw wildfires throughout December 2017. By November and December, the Pacific Northwest is usually getting pummeled with storms off the Pacific, but we’re still definitely susceptible to smoke from fires throughout the West for the next 1 ½ months. Autumn fire potential notwithstanding, it’s awesome that we had such a mild, smoke-free summer after the truly hellish summers of 2017 and 2018. Here’s hoping our good luck continues through the rest of the year! ~Charlie Phillips Charlie Phillips, a Madrona resident, received his B.S. in atmospheric sciences from the University of Washington and works in Portland as a meteorologist. Check out his weather website at charlie.weathertogether.net .

Seafair and the Blue Angels at the Central Area Senior Center couldn’t get much better! Nothing beats the Annual Seafair Patio Party as the best way to experience the annual event. Seated there on the Central Area Senior Center’s massive east-facing deck, enjoying the sights and sounds before the Blue Angels action begins—not sure it gets any better! First, the absolutely stunning view, with a wide span of Lake Washington, including Floating Bridge, Mt Rainier to the south, and across the water, there are the Cascade Mountains! Face and body painting for the young and young at heart. Below: Bob and Gwen Rench with friend Charles Willi. Photos this article courtesy Joan Ervin. Starting off, it’s fascinating to watch an army of visitor boats of all shapes and sizes arriving from the north to secure a spot. From the CASC deck, here come the hydroplanes whipping through the water. As the Blue Angels stream overhead in endless varied patterns, one dines on awesome barbecue dishes from Ezell’s while watching for the next dramatic move by the Blue Angels. Also, it’s hard not to be-bop to live rhythm and blues from the Triple Treat band inside the Center. Youngsters enjoy their own space, with a view of the water while they enjoy games, face painting and kid snacks and beverages. Even watching the army of visitor boats depart was quite a sight (we stopped counting at 150). Central Area Senior Center, thank you for such a wonderful event and looking forward to next year! ~Tracy Bier