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Lawrence Pitre will be presenting his art at our monthly community meeting Wednesday, February 7 at 7pm, Grace United Methodist Church 720 30th Ave. S 98144. Lawrence Pitre is an artist for our times. His artwork brings together people at a time when everybody seems to be isolating themselves into separate identities and those identities are fragmented as well. For his long series of paintings called “Who We Are” (visible in a small version at 12th and Yesler), Pitre did a lot of research to find many aspects of the history of the Central District that have not been acknowledged in art before. He begins with Chief Seattle but comes back to Indigenous peoples later in the series. We see the effort to assimilate Native Americans in boarding schools and the Duwamish in 1890 preserving their culture. He then depicts the Denny family and the Yesler lumber mill (called Skid Row, because the logs were “skidded” to the water). Pitre moves on from the founding white families to Chinese Coal miners and Japanese Farmers. He depicts Jewish and Chinese grocery store owners, Filipinos and Irish. Another focus is individuals like the Gang of Four, (Roberto Maestas, Bernie Whitebear, Bob Santos, and Larry Gossett). Pitre based one panel on a photograph of James W. Washington, Jr. with his Fountain of Triumph  sculpture (recently restored and now at 24th and Union). Others feature Bruce Lee, De Charlene and Earl’s Cuts and Style as well as his own parents. Several panels address gentrification, and inequity particularly in housing, but there are also celebratory subjects like a Japanese Wedding. Pitre grew up not far from all of these places. His trajectory to become an artist is unusual and reminds us of the privilege especially white artists enjoy in gaining access and opportunity. At an art class his teacher singled him out and he did go to the UW School of Art where he was fortunate to take classes with Jacob Lawrence. Lawrence said to him “promise me you won’t ever quit.” There is an affinity with Lawrence’s “Migration” series, but Pitre’s paintings are larger in scale and focus on Seattle as an immigration hub for many different ethnic groups. Pitre tried to find work in the arts in the 1980s, graphic design on a Mac, but nothing worked out, so he joined the military for 13 years: he had three deployments to Iraq and even volunteered to go there! Fortunately, he came back whole. Then he worked for the Veteran Benefit Administration for 10 years He took art classes toward a Masters at Seattle University because his children nagged him into it. As a thesis project he proposed “How does art affect communities?” and that was the springboard for his work. In addition to the series “We Are One,” he is currently working on 14 signs for a path in Beer Shiva Park in Rainier Valley, scheduled to open to the public this spring. In another project he worked with Hawthorne Elementary School students. Each grade level was asked “what does culture mean to you and your family.” He put their drawings on a canvas which now hangs over the library door. A project for the new Africatown apartment building on 23rd is also in progress and he has completed a work for the Bob Santos building in the International District. “Jazz,” a large 3 panel work, appears as you enter the parking garage for the Amazon grocery store at 23rd and Jackson (which sadly is supposed to make up for destroying the beloved Red Apple that was there for so many years – the subject of another one of Pitre’s panels). As you go into the garage (I walked in), you can easily see his multi-panel series, with the theme of music that honors a few of the many musicians who performed in this area. Pitre has created more than ten different series each one with twelve works, including recently the “Stations of the Cross.” He also experiments with different media such as painting on burlap or compost (!). Pitre is an artist who brings communities together and thinks about the place of art in our lives. What a wonderful endeavor. Lawrence Pitre shares both the joys and sorrows of urban life. ~Susan Platt, PhD www.artandpoliticsnow.com

A couple of bits of Frink Park history that did not survive the ages were two clay tennis courts. One was on South King Street, just below 31st Avenue. Built in 1911, it was beset by weeds and required continuous maintenance, leading to its abandonment by 1935. Perhaps due to the demands of tennis players, it was restored in 1941. But by the late 1940s, most tennis courts were asphalt or concrete. It was abandoned permanently by 1956. I have only known it as an open but shaded site that seemed like it would be a good picnic place on a hot day, except that I never saw anyone gather or even walk there. Just in the past year it has been partially filled in with some plantings. Another clay tennis court is much less known or visible. One of the add-ons to the original Frink land donation was a triangle on the east side of Lake Washington Boulevard South, between the King Street and Lane Street stairways. Looking down from the Boulevard, one would have to strain to see a flat area through the foliage below. According to Ariel Stout, who lived nearby and played tennis there as a child in the 1920s, it had a concrete wall and “had always been there.” She honed her skill at an early age by hitting tennis balls against that wall. Searching for the wall, I was rewarded after bushwacking through the low foliage just south of King Street. I found the original wall, about three and a half feet high and a hundred feet long, holding up the steep embankment coming down from the Boulevard. The tennis court must have been carved out of the ground below. It has long since been abandoned, leaving no evidence of its former use save for the flatness, covered with soil. Alder trees, which enjoy that kind of damp, open space, have been growing for a while. A few years ago, the space was cleared of weeds and replanted with native species, including cedar trees that are now thriving. While we’re on Lake Washington Boulevard, what about those decaying wooden bollards along the curves just south of the intersection with Frink Place? They were visually pleasing, made of sections of what look like telephone poles, and they lasted 40-some years. Now they are mostly lying on the ground, decomposing. I reported them to the city using the Find It, Fix It app and got no response. A member of Friends of Frink Park explained why. The bollards were installed in the 1980s with Parks Department approval but private funding and labor. Now, since the city itself didn’t install them, it doesn’t want to be bothered with maintenance. Another of the few human-made things in the park along the Boulevard is the attractive concrete bridge over the outflow of Frink Creek. Never seen by motorists, or by most pedestrians, are the engravings on the sides of the bridge walls facing away from the road. They are worth a look, while out on a leisurely stroll on a bright day. At one time there were stairs up the hill to the north of the bridge, where the rhododendron grove is now. There was a sidewalk just above the road on the west side, as shown in the old photo above. The bridge was built between 1909 and 1911. Above the bridge is a waterfall, also created by humans. Trails from the road allow for up-close appreciation. The organization Friends of Frink Park works to preserve the park as a natural urban forest. To get involved with the group’s preservation efforts, see frinkpark.org . ~Roger Lippman The author writes monthly about Leschi history and his experiences over his 48 years in the neighborhood.

On Tuesday, 1/9, the Central Area Neighborhood District Council’s Land Use Review Committee (LURC) held an open meeting with council member Joy Hollingsworth to discuss the merits of public meetings as part of the design review process. One goal of the design review process is to ensure that new housing or commercial developments consider the needs of the community. Public input, however, has come under fire in recent years as an obstacle to necessary development. The argument goes that the process is used by not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) neighbors to slow down or stop development. Secondly, feedback is usually provided by a group of engaged neighbors who have the time to show up at review meetings and who are generally not representative of the community members affected. And lastly, the people who currently live in the neighborhood can’t represent the interests of those who need housing and are looking to move into the neighborhood. As such many states have been looking to streamline public input or eliminate public input altogether. At this meeting, however, attendees’ main concern was that development plans are often submitted without regard for how a building fits within the larger space and plans for the community. Besides affordability, does the building provide space for families and for people who want to live in the neighborhood long term or just studios and one-bedroom apartments? How is the building connected to public spaces? Does its curb invite pedestrian traffic or leave room for trees? LURC provided Joy Hollingsworth with several examples of major projects in the Central District where public input improved the development for the better. Jeff Floor, the committee chair, pointed out that in Seattle a study commissioned by the city found that public meetings had a negligible impact on the total turnaround time for a Master Use permit. Lastly, a way to streamline the process may be to address adherence to good urban design principles upstream. What if city planners established relationships with the community and pushed developers to adhere to design guidelines, rather than helping developers make just enough changes to obtain a permit? As the city is working this year towards establishing a new comprehensive plan for the decades to come, the committee asked council member Hollingsworth to advocate for a neighborhood-friendly design review process and reject a process that would let developers simply focus on buildings over how a building enhances the neighborhood. Should you have concerns about land use in Leschi or public input for the design review process, bring it to our attention at leschicouncil@gmail.com . We will connect you with LURC or help facilitate the dialog with the city. ~Matthias Linnenkamp

We invite you to join us at our March community meeting on Wednesday, March 6, to discuss public safety in Leschi. We hope to bring together residents and local business owners for this discussion. Similar to last year, we plan to host meetings with Seattle organizations this year (Parks, SDOT, SPD, etc.) and last year the public safety conversation provided good context for those meetings. We would also like to assess interest in forming a Leschi public safety committee to make progress on the public safety issues throughout the year. (Venue is Grace United Methodist Church, 722 30th Ave S at 7pm) ~Ashley Martin

We are making some progress with the plans to replace the Yesler Pier (next to the Bluwater Bistro). After the October meeting with spokespeople for the Parks Department, the Parks and Greenspace Committee became increasingly dissatisfied with the plans for a new Yesler Pier. The existing pier is 47 feet wide and wood, but the new one is only 16 feet wide with steel grates. True, it is connected to a 12-foot-wide platform over a new breakwater that will be 500 feet long. But missing is a pedestrian-friendly space that can meet the social needs of the case in summer, small groups of friends and sunbathers, especially a lively place for teenagers to hang out on the pier in summer. Unfortunately, the project design was jelled three years ago without virtually no serious public outreach. When the Leschi Community Council protested the design–our letter was in the November issue of the Leschi News –the Parks Department responded that there could be no changes in the dimensions of the pier due to the status of permits that had been negotiated. Current environmental requirements are strict about minimizing the coverage of platforms on the lake—in order to protect the migrating salmon juveniles from predator fish that hover in deep shade. The most that could change, the Department said, would be the addition of a few benches. We don't have any places to sit now, so that is an improvement. We still were not happy after we found the 100% plans on the web. No benches are shown on the plans and there were no ladders to help people in the lake climb onto the pier. The best news is that instead of steel grates for the surface of the pier, we will get a soft fiberglass grate material. The surface on the breakwater platform, because it is over deeper water, will be solid concrete. We are pursuing an access landing and temporary storage for canoes and kayaks—to replace the low floating dock which was constructed by the Washington Water Trails and Leschi Community Council. Landscaping for the slope of Leschi Park south of the entry to the South Leschi Moorage: we have seen no landscaping plans. One other improvement we may get is an entry structure with a sign that denotes the public character of the new pier. City Council funded the project five years ago, but construction costs have climbed. The project, though, is a requirement tied to the environmental impact of the changes for the South Leschi Moorage. ~John Barber

Frink Park was created as, and remains, a natural, wooded park in the urban surrounding. It retains the Olmsted vision of a forest setting and rustic feel, with narrow, winding trails and dense foliage, without the formalized development to be found in places like Leschi and Volunteer parks. Originally known as Washington Park, Frink Park was platted as park space in 1883 by Judge Thomas Burke and intended as privately owned land. When it was acquired by the Frink family and donated to the city, it was renamed because Seattle already had a Washington Park. Seattle was extensively logged by 1920, and it is likely that the future Frink Park had the same fate. If it was not completely logged, at least it was relieved of its largest, highest-quality trees. Sawmills that existed along the Leschi shoreline would have been happy to receive the product. The native forest consisted of cedar, hemlock, and fir. A survey conducted around 2000 found the largest trees to be about 100 to 125 years old. There remains a variety of evergreens, along with bigleaf maples. A study noted that the dominance of maples has crowded out the establishment of conifer seedlings, slowing the transition to a forest dominated by longer-lived conifers. This raised the concern that the forest would not be able to grow replacements for overstory trees that die. Targeted planting of conifer seedlings was recommended by the study. Since then, over a thousand conifer starts have been planted in the park, with good success rates. Most of the conifers now seen in the park were planted by volunteers in the past 30 years. There are other, less welcome things growing in the park. One of them is English ivy, control of which occupies the efforts of many a park volunteer. Where did that come from? Photos from 1913 show new plantings that appear to be ivy. Olmsted planting lists for Frink Park have not been found, if they ever existed. However, Olmsted did recommend ivy for Interlaken Park, which is similarly steep and wooded. “Invasive species” was not a concept in Olmsted’s time. A survey, reported in 2000, listed 78 varieties of birds actually observed in the park, from American Crow to Yellow-rumped Warbler. Less rigorous surveys noted eight types of mammals (from bats to rats), three amphibians, and two reptiles. In addition to the plant and animal life described here, there are remnants of human habitation in the park as well. In 1910, a house with garage and storage shed was built as a rent-free residence for the person variously known as the foreman or caretaker of Frink Park and perhaps Leschi Park as well. The location remained in use until 1964, when the resident maintenance supervisor died. A couple years later, a cooperative pre-school asked to use the structure for the children. After an inspection by the building department, however, it was found to be unsafe and was demolished immediately. What little remains had once been used for picnicking but now is just a curiosity. The site of the former residence, which was given the address 322 34th Avenue South, can be found by following the trail up the hill from the intersection of Frink Place, Jackson Street, and Lake Washington Boulevard. County records show the one-story structure as having been 20 feet by 44 feet, but you wouldn’t know it from what’s left. The house had an 8’ 6” ceiling, one 4’ dormer, and no attic. After the remains of the residence – not much more than a chimney – the path leads through the woods back to a small meadow and the upper end of Frink Place, where the block-long Washington Street used to dead-end from the hilltop. A century ago, the path was an old wagon road, wider in those days, used by motor vehicles for access to the caretaker’s home. Until 1927, Frink Place did not exist. That connection between Washington Street and Lake Washington Boulevard was recommended by the Olmsted Brothers consulting firm as early as 1912. It was not created, however, until an act of the City Council. Frink Place is not to be confused with what was once called Frink Boulevard, from King Street to Colman Park—now known as Lake Washington Boulevard South. Continued next month. ~Roger Lippman The author writes monthly about Leschi history and his experiences over his 48 years in the neighborhood.

Retrospective Exhibition to February 25, 2024 Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, 550 Winslow Way E. 206.451.4000, Hours: 10am-5pm daily. Dazzling color paired with emotional depth and brilliant handling of the watercolor medium strike us right away in Linda Okazaki’s paintings in her retrospective exhibition at the Bainbridge Museum of Art. Okazaki has lived in Port Townsend for decades, and before that she lived in Eastern Washington, attending Washington State University for two degrees and then joining the faculty there in the 1970s. She was part of an informal group of faculty and graduate students, a relaxed connection because of the isolation of Pullman. I can remember when I was on the faculty there in the late 1980s (long after Linda Okazaki had left) the rural setting affected the artists in unusual ways. We had parties to look at the stars, bonfires for the fourth of July, and still plenty of time to work. The artists often engaged with the unique landscape, its stillness, its creatures, its odd palimpsests of earlier times (such as a disused railroad track). Gaylen Hanson, by my time retired and painting full time in the tiny town of Palouse, was one of Okazaki’s professors. Near the beginning of the exhibition is a “studio conversation” of Gaylen and Vincent Van Gogh. We see Hanson’s presence in her art in the benevolent animals and birds that fill her paintings. But her birds multiply and congregate and disperse as in the wonderful recent painting, Birds Take Flight into Twilight , 2023. We see twenty different species of birds, each carefully observed, in a landscape filled with a rainbow of colors. Another inspiration was the Bay Area artist Joan Brown, who also pursued a personal vocabulary of self-portraits, dancing, and swimming, in a fantasy world. Also important to her was the anguished imagery of Frida Kahlo, as we see in Letter to Frida , 1985. The exhibition has numerous themes, but they are not clustered together; Curator Greg Robinson, in collaboration with the artist, conducts a symphony of phrases that build on one another, and repeat, each with a new variation. The themes given are “Personal Narrative, Domesticity and Nature Morte, Dream Logic, The Mother Wound, Landscape and Waterscape, Music, Song, and Theater, The Briarcliff series, and Birds. My own response is that water is the dominant subject that encompasses all the others. First, there is the transparency of watercolor which conveys many moods. At the outset of the exhibition, we see Evening Departure , 1980. The sea (Puget Sound) swirls around the boat, as the artist, accompanied by her dog, is held in the arms of a large wolf. The embrace is tender, but the image suggests anxiety. This represents on one level her departure from many years in Eastern Washington to live in Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula. But on another level, we can sense her fear of starting over in an entirely new environment through the imaginary, but gentle embrace of a wolf. In River Story Return , 1989, the artist now depicts herself nude in the water, carrying a raven and reaching for the shore as a glass vessel floats toward her and a person in a red and black striped robe fails to connect to her. Desperation is palpable, expressed through the color, textures, and images. Crypt Swimmers  heightens the sense of danger as several figures swim among heavy columns and arches. When Okazaki was six, her mother was murdered by a stalker who then committed suicide. For the first time, the artist is showing several works that refer to this trauma, each more explicit than the last. The earliest is a pencil drawing made while in art school, but later large watercolors confront this painful subject with a courageous directness. Not surprisingly then, the overall sensation of the exhibition is one of unease, everything is off kilter, filled with undecipherable metaphors, particularly in the still life paintings of tables set vertically against the picture plane and filled with odd objects. Much of the imagery is from dreams, dreams that suggest struggles to just find a firm footing particularly in juxtaposition with water. It is timely that the exhibition “Hokusai Inspiration and Influence” is at the Seattle Art Museum: Hokusai was a master of painting water. The artist clearly has an affinity with him. But I will end where I began with the dazzling color: Okazaki immersed herself in a study of Goethe’s color theory and then made her own color charts in order to exactly convey the emotions that she wanted to express. So seeing these paintings through color first gives us a feeling of comfort and sometimes joy, even as the paintings themselves take us on a fantastic adventure. ~Susan Platt, PhD www.artandpoliticsnow.com

Caretakers of the Leschi-Lake Dell Natural Area Obit/Remembrance: Betsy Zickler remembers Leschi volunteers superb, Fran and Bunny Wood, who both quietly passed away in the last two years. The couple were the leading stewards of the Leschi-Lake Dell Natural Area, 36th and East Terrace. For many years this beautiful hidden gem of a park was lovingly looked after by Fran and Bunny Wood, whose home a few steps away allowed them easy access to the park on a daily basis. They both worked tirelessly in the park and with Seattle Parks and Recreation crews, as well as with Forterra, an organization “dedicated to conserving wild lands and green and prosperous communities” and Earth Corps when large tree removal and steep hillside work was required. Their friend Rich Appleton also spent hundreds of hours over the years working with Fran and Bunny in both the hard labor of maintenance in the park and serving as a liaison with Parks, Forterra and Earth Corps. Fran and Bunny organized monthly work parties for on-going maintenance, purchases of plants and trees and work parties for fall and spring plantings. Most work parties consisted of a small dedicated group of five or six folks [Fran and Bunny, Rich Appleton, Diane Morris, Marianne Steele (traveling from Olympia!) and Betsy Zickler), with larger work parties sometimes joining in during the planting sessions. Other organized groups volunteered from the University of Washington typically on Earth Day and Martin Luther King Jr Day. Occasionally a few individuals from the surrounding neighborhood would stop by to help. Throughout it all Bunny would supply everyone with lunches she made–sandwiches from homemade bread, just-baked cookies, chips, seasonal fruits and vegetables and drinks–we never went hungry and some folks noted they came for the food and fell in love with the work. Work parties were held regardless of the weather, and we ate a number of lunches in their garage to keep warm and dry with Bunny providing warming soups to keep us going. Fran would make daily (or more) trips to pick up trash left behind by visitors and maintained a vigilance over the site. He befriended everyone who visited and continuously encouraged all to join in the work parties, with varying success. Fran and Bunny’s tireless efforts in maintaining this park ended a few years ago when they relocated to Corvallis, Oregon, to be closer to Bunny’s family. Sadly, Fran died in July 2022, aged 93, and Bunny passed away in September 2023 at age 92. The park has lost its leaders, and due to aging and illness the remaining few members of the work parties have been unable to continue. Thus, the park has declined in the recent years, in part due to the Parks department being so thinly stretched in its maintenance of our city park areas due to budgetary cuts. It would be nice to see younger members of the community begin regular work parties again to restore the Leschi-Lake Dell Natural Area to its former beauty. Such efforts would be a welcome tribute to Fran and Bunny's love and care of this natural area, ready to be enjoyed again by future generations. ~Betsy Zickler

TASTE OF LESCHI RETURNS DECEMBER 6th, 5-7pm Taste of Leschi, our school's annual celebration of our many diverse cultures and traditions, will be on Wednesday, December 6 and all are welcome. Families are invited to bring a dish of cultural significance for a community potluck, and there will be an open mic for students or family members to share cultural attire, music, or other items of note. 14th ANNUAL GIVING GARLAND The Giving Garland is geared towards the children, providing families with support during the winter holidays in gift cards and gifts… HOW CAN YOU HELP THIS YEAR? Buy a gift from the Amazon wish list, purchase grocery cards or gift cards for a teen who wants to shop for themselves, and more! Please go to https://www.leschipta.org/giving-garland for specific actions you can take to support Leschi Bullpup students and their families. The Giving Garland support comes in different forms…some items are fun: toys, bikes, art supplies, board games, balls, books and some are basics: clothing, bedding, warm coats or diapers. And every family receives gift cards for easily accessible grocery stores. In 2022 we distributed nearly $12,000 in gift cards for groceries, clothing and specific gifts and approximately 700 gifts! Over the last 13 years, the Giving Garland has supported nearly 2,000 children and their families during the winter holidays. It is made possible by the Leschi school and neighborhood communities, and sponsored by the Leschi PTA.

Date: Wednesday, Dec 6th 7:00pm Location: Grace United Methodist Church, 722 30th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98144 Details: Please join us for light refreshments, good company and to share your thoughts on what the Leschi Community Council should focus on in 2024. Even if for only ten minutes, please stop in for a cookie and to provide input to inform next year's plan.

120 Lakeside Ave. Hours: Mon- Thurs 11-8; Fri 11-9; Sat. 9-9; Sun. 9-8 Meet Alejandro Martinez, the new general manager of Pablo y Pablo. And where is that you might ask? It’s residing in the same spot where Meet the Moon was once! Asked about the change in concept, Alejandro said the former menu was a bit of everything. It was hard to put a label on it. The tacos were popular and there is no Mexican restaurant close to Leschi, so it made sense to introduce Pablo y Pablo to our community. Alejandro was born and raised in Cancun and attended culinary school in Mexico City. Beyond his classes, Alejandro learned much from his abuela (grandmother) who taught him that food is an act of love. One shows their love to others through food and the serving of food. Her specialty was a spiced ham which she served for important holidays. He is trying to duplicate that dish, but it is not quite the same and he continues to tweak. Alejandro moved to the United States in 2018 and came right to Seattle. He began as many do washing dishes, then line cook and on up the career path. He has worked in Human Resources and accounting as well as everything to do with food. He is well suited to become a general manager with an understanding of all the positions and his own personal philosophy that serving food is a team effort and making it work seamlessly is what makes a meaningful experience for the visiting diner. Alejandro meets with his team 3 times a week to ensure this flawless performance on everyone’s part. One problem of the moment is no sign; banners are obscured by the overhangs on the building. But be assured, Pablo y Pablo is open and waiting to serve you. Don’t miss the warm crispy chips and salsa seasoned for your taste buds: mild or spicy. Tacos are served with a side of your choice; the rice and beans are not your usual; pinto and black beans are not mashed and refried and the rice is in a flavorful sauce. And if you have room, top it off with a crème brulee for dessert. Pablo has a full bar as did the waning Moon and they still have the favorite avocado toast on the menu! ~Diane Snell

Happy Holiday Season Leschi! Giving the gift of wine can be equally as fun for the gift giver as it is for the recipient. When choosing a bottle of wine (or two) to gift, keep a few basic ideas in mind. Know what the recipient tends to like and have a rough estimate of what you would like to spend. Many great wines can be found across all ranges of price points. When in doubt- ask an expert- like US! Leschi Market will be well staffed with wine experts throughout the month to assist you with all of your wine needs. A comment that I will never forget, was said to me one of my first holiday seasons at the Market. “Giving wine just seems so last minute.” We have discussed the art of gift giving many times before. As we embark on the biggest gifting season of the year, let me offer some ideas on putting a little meaning behind those gifts. Trust me, in general, everyone loves to receive wine as a gift, and if you put just a tiny amount of thought into it, it won’t seem so last minute at all. Personally, I anticipate quite a bit of wine gifting (and drinking!) this year! Theme based wine gifts are creative and fun. These definitely show some amount of planning and thought. They are just as fun to assemble as they are to receive. All you need to do is choose your price point and choose your theme. Here are some of my favorites from over the years. For the bicyclist on the list, a “ Tour de France ” package can include a wine from several different regions in France: Alsace, Beaujolais, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Chateauneuf du Pape, Gascogne, Languedoc-Roussillon, Loire, and Rhône are great starting points. These regions are so diverse themselves that you could easily choose a few wines from within each region. With even more of a return to normalcy and increased travels during 2023 and beyond, the “ Around the World ” packages might be a great way to revisit or anticipate those far off destinations. Focusing on one country, or several, is easy enough to do. Rieslings from Germany, Barberas from Italy, Tempranillos from Spain, Bordeaux style wines from Mexico, Malbecs from Argentina or our unique “stamp collection” section that houses wines from Georgia, Greece, Lebanon or Romania. Domestic sets can be great too. Walla Walla, Willamette Valley or Napa would provide great themed packages. The possibilities and spin-offs are truly endless. From an “ Italian Getaway ,” to an all natty grouping, from all under $10 wine, to an all animal themed label, use your imagination and creativity, and most of all, have fun with it. This brings me to Champagnes and Ports. These are ultimate gift wines, if not for the sole fact that people rarely buy them for themselves. Who knows why, but we tend to put off splurging for these special wines for ourselves yet are ecstatic when we are gifted them. When in doubt, look to the Port and Champagne sections. Many of these wines are discounted during holiday months, and great finds can be had for under $50. Vintage Champagnes and Vintage Ports are more expensive and harder to find, however “Colheita” Ports (years of ports not designated as “vintage”) can be found for a lesser dollar amount and for nearly every year; a great idea when trying to match birth years, anniversary years, and other significant dates in one’s life. Finally, let’s conclude with highly sought after wines that are in fairly limited supply. Collectors, cellar builders, and new winos alike will appreciate getting their hands on some of these rarities! These are just a few of our offerings. Take a look at our lockbox, located next to the Champagne in the wine aisle–it’s full of treasures as well! 2015 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley ($180) 99-points, James Suckling 2017 Dow’s Vintage Porto ($150) 96-points, Robert Parker 2015 Clos des Papes Chateauneuf du Pape ($125) 98-points, Wine Spectator 2006 Tolaini Picconero Toscana ($125) 93+-points, Wine Advocate, Galloni 2015 Reynvaan Stonessence Syrah ($98) 95-points, Robert Parker 2015 Muga Prado Enea Gran Reserva ($94) 97-points, Robert Parker Champagne Billecart Salmon Brut Rose NV ($85) 92-points, Wine Spectator 2017 Le Vieux Donjon Chateauneuf du Pape ($65) 95-points, Robert Parker 2014 R. Lopez de Heredia Tondonia Vina Gravonia ($50) 95-points, Robert Parker 2016 Domaine Saint Damien Gigondas Louisiane ($36) 94-points, Robert Parker Still unsure what gift to give the wine lover on your list? One of my favorite reminders is that accessories like wine glasses and decanters rarely need a gift receipt! Have a safe and memorable holiday season and we’ll see you next year! CHEERS! ENJOY! ~Kenneth Benner 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 monthly column is intended to inspire and explore new choices in wine, learn about wine with his readers, and share his knowledge and experience in the wine world. Check out the latest at www.LeschiMart.com or to request to be added to email updates at wine@leschimarket.com .