Walk through the courtyard of Ellsworth House any evening at 7 p.m. and you’ll witness a sanctuary of Chinese culture.
When it comes to catering, who is the talk of the town? I found the company, and its name is Gourmondo. Alissa Leinonen Gallagher is the co-owner and business manager with a 20-year restaurant career as her background. In February of 1996, Gallagher left Sostanza in Madison Park and partnered with Ron Johnson to launch a European-style bistro and catering company that was then located in the Pike Place Market. Under her leadership, Gourmondo has grown into a successful business with more than 50 employees and top corporate and private accounts.
Those Islanders who listen to AM radio are most-likely familiar with KIXI 880, “Music of Your Life,” either because their ears perk up when the name Mercer Island — the station’s licensed owner — is dropped every hour or because they are devoted listeners to KIXI’s nostalgic music of the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s. Licensed to Mercer Island in the early 1980s, KIXI 880 has been filling Puget Sound homes with the voices of Dean Martin, Etta James, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and other big names of the period since 1961. It is the only station in the Seattle area to feature the radio dramas “Imagination Theatre” and “Twilight Zone,” and draws listeners young and old, according to operations manager Dan Murphey, who has worked at KIXI for 15 years.
Originally proposed over 50 years ago, the President’s Council on Physical Fitness was formed after concerns that our nation was going “soft.” President Eisenhower appointed then Vice President Richard Nixon to chair the council and establish physical fitness objectives for the country at large, and youth in particular. Immediate goals for the very first council were to raise the standards for physical fitness professionals, increase funding for classes and equipment at public schools, and to encourage more students, particularly girls, to participate in sports and recreational activities.
If you have ever wondered where you may have misplaced say, oh, a Swiss Army knife, I’m here today to tell you how to find it.
As summer becomes official, Islanders throng to our walking-biking trails. Not only do more dog-walkers surface, but hired sitters manage “leash bouquets” attached to assorted pups. Skateboarders join in, free from the classroom and often with cell phones attached to their ears.
This spring, I was frequently asked, “Where are the hummingbirds?” I, too, noticed little activity at my nectar feeders. At first I thought it was just the cold spring that delayed the birds’ northbound migration. I was hopeful that they would still appear.
The good thing about global warming, climate changes and high gas prices is that many people are now becoming aware of the need to conserve. I see more shoppers bringing reusable bags to the supermarket. The shuttle bus from the Mariners game last week was standing room only. I especially appreciated the bumper sticker on a hybrid car that said: “We drive this car for our grandchildren’s future.”
Two Mercer Island octogenarians are celebrating unexpected graduations this season — 66 years after the moment in history that dashed their college careers and sent 120,000 people of Japanese descent to internment camps in 1942.
I heard you enjoyed five weeks of yarns from the late Virginia Ogden Elliot, the Island pioneer who bequeathed us her “Mercer Island Old and New” columns. A compilation of her work is on reserve at the library.
Standing on a skateboard for his first time ever in brown dress shoes, a helmet and knee pads over his khakis, state Rep. Ross Hunter glides down the ramp.
