Monthly Archives: July 2015

The Boulders Near the Tacoma Public Library Main Branch

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stones on parking stripThe boulders were dropped on the parking strip on Earnest S. Brazill Street between Tacoma Avenue South and Altheimer Street in June 2015. The strip is between Tacoma Public Library Main Branch and a public parking lot and indeed it was often full of people prior to the great stone drop.  Prior to the drop, the area had been identified as one of seven “hot spots” for homeless encampments in Tacoma. When I went passed this evening there was a small group of folks on the still green strip uphill to the west of the boulders. The move was seen as controversial and it is indeed a difficult issue. It is the second boulder drop in Tacoma this year with the other drop being under I-705 near the Dock Street offramp.

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Chamber’s Bay Whole Foods

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16793848633_738f3a9fab_kI was pretty excited when I learned that Whole Foods was opening up a location in University Place (Chambers Bay Whole Foods, 3515 Bridgeport Way West, University Place, WA 98466). We had a Whole Foods near us (kind of) when we lived in Dallas and I’ve always enjoyed shopping there. My day to day shopping is elsewhere, but Whole Foods was a pleasure for a once in a while treat.

I went to Chambers Bay Whole Food’s grand opening with live music and free samples. It was a lively event! But yesterday I went back to see how they are doing now that the opening is over and the US Open has left town.

The good points are.

  • Their employees are helpful, cheerful and knowledgeable.
  • Free samples! Lots of delicious fresh fruit and even a little wine.
  • There is plenty of parking and an entire underground parking lot also.
  • Plenty of ‘to go’ meal options including pizza by the slice, salad bar, hot food bar, juice bar, coffee bar with adjacent bakery, a bar bar (yes, you can have beer or wine with your pizza there in the store!) and other made to order goods.
  • They have a lovely Facebook Page.
  • Their website is also well done.
  • They have a good selection of local produce and other goods. For example there is an upcoming brewer’s night with local beer brewers.
  • All kinds of products that I don’t see elsewhere.
  • I love the octopus on the narrows bridge art over the cheese shop!

The less than good points are:

  • Well, they are expensive. For example the leg cramp medicine my husband uses was 1/3 more expensive than it is on Amazon. Though I found quite a few reasonably priced items and some of the sale items (I love their soaps) were a steal!
  • This location doesn’t carry Tom’s Shoes, which is what brought me there. In fact they have very little in the way of clothes. That’s OK, if I want clothes with my groceries I go to Fred Meyers. Though I really wanted to check the fit on the new Tom’s sneakers.
  • Like Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods doesn’t stock most day to day items, so if I want Pepsi or Oreo Cookies, I need to go elsewhere. They do have healthy options to sodas and sweets.
  • I was looking forward to taking a class or two there and they don’t seem to be set up for that. Maybe in the future.

The good outweighs the not so good and I’m delighted that they are here.

 

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The End of the Wildflowers – Six Weeks Early

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imageI finally made it up to Mt. Rainier to see this year’s wildflowers. Normally they are just starting to be in full bloom. The National Park Service’s website says “Mount Rainer’s renowned wildflowers bloom for a limited amount of time every year. The “peak” bloom for wildflowers is heavily dependent on weather and precipitation patterns, so accurate predictions are difficult. In most years, many flowers will be blooming by mid-July, and by the first of August the meadows should be very impressive.” This year because of our ongoing heatwave the wildflowers came into bloom six to eight weeks early, so I was catching the last of them. But still they were lovely and it was great to hike around and see the new to me visitor’s center. Driving up and down the mountain and even hiking around was like being in a cloud. When I crossed the bridge over the Nisqually River, I couldn’t even see much of the bridge and nothing to either side. It was a real leap of faith to keep going!

imageThis sign was displayed at the trail head and it made me wonder what the snowfall was for the year that just passed. 2014-2015 was a new record of low snowfall with only 266 inches. That is not a good thing impacting the glaciers, lake levels, skiing, fish migration and the water that will be available to Washington residents this year.

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Goodyear Blimp over University Place

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Good Year BlimpI hadn’t seen the Good Year Blimp in years, but there it was flying over University Place during the U.S. Open. This photo was taken on June 18th and it is the very best that my camera could do on full zoom.

There are three Goodyear blimps in the fleet and I suspect that this one is the Spirit of America, which is based out of Carson, California. More information on this particular blimp can be found here. The official Goodyear Blimp website has a great deal more information about these wonderful, helium filled flight machines. They have a regularly updated Facebook page too!

Good Year Blimp2

Little Free Library #9134 and the Boze Community Garden

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imageLittle Free Library at the corner of East ‘L’ Street and 68th Street and is part of the Boze Community Garden. It is a well constructed Little Free Library and has about a dozen books, mostly for children.

On the same parcel, there is the Boze Community Garden. More information about Tacoma’s Community Gardens can be found here.

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Hong Kong Supermarket

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imageThe Hong Kong Supermarket at 3828 S Yakima Ave, Tacoma, WA 98418 opened in April 2014, so it has had more than a year to settle into place. It is a large specialty store with a full selection of food items from primarily Southeast Asia. There is a deli and some household items as well. It is good to see a new building/expanded business in the Lincoln District which has quite a few empty storefronts and under utilized buildings. The Hong Kong Supermarket had been located on the corner of South 38th and South Yakima Ave before they constructed their new store in the previous location of Lincoln Bowl.  I purchased a treat for dear daughter, but if I had been more adventurous I would have gone for one of the drinks: Pennywort, Chrysanthemum or Basil Seed. Yep, that’s what I’ll do next time!

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Ivar’s for lunch

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I had a very late lunch today at the Ivar’s in Lakewood, WA. I enjoy Ivar’s not only for their tasty fast food, but also for their quirky sense of humor. More history on Ivar himself can be found here.

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Tacoma Screw has a really big flag

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imageI took a break from my fireworks nervous dogs today to see the region’s largest U.S. Flag at Tacoma Screw, 2001 Center Street. It weighs 150 pounds and is the largest U.S. flag west of Wisconsin and north of Sacramento. The measurements are 80’x40′ and the pole is 180 feet tall, which is 90 feet above the adjacent Highway 16. In comparison, the largest U.S. flag is located in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and is 120’x60′.

Tacoma Screw commissioned the flag as a way to celebrate their 70th year in business and to give back to the community.

It was a little difficult to photograph and to give a sense of the sheer size of the flag. I started at Tacoma Screw and then moved up to Irving Park to capture it from above. The full summer hillside at the edge of the park didn’t provide a full view, but finally some people came by and I had my shot that showed scale (thanks people!).

A short video can be found here. IMG_1099

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Little Free Library #14444, Tacoma

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imageThe Little Free Library #14444 is at 6720 Park Avenue, Tacoma, across the street from Park Avenue School.  It is cleverly located in a cheerful red newspaper box, the Seattle Post Intelligencer. Inside there are about almost dozen books. The one that I have read for sure is Amy Tam’s Joy Luck Club, but I’m pretty certain that I’ve also read The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd.

What really stood out with this visit was the sidewalk next to the Little Free Library. There was a small stand with three new food products: Shredded Coconut, Panko Breadcrumbs and How & Sweet Pepper Jelly. I don’t know about the coconut, but the other two items were from Trader Joe’s. Those three ingredients can pretty much be used to make Coconut Chicken with Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce. Well, ok then. One does wonder why. They are obviously available for the taking and certainly quality ingredients. And I can see why the milk and chicken wasn’t included, it being hot and all. I guess it will remain a mystery and mysteries are good.

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Star Wars Family

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imageWhile walking through the Tacoma Place Shopping Center Parking Lot at 1901 South 72nd, I discovered this stupendous Star Wars family car decal. It features a Boba Fett dad, a Princess Leia mom and daughter, an Ewok son and a R2D2 dog. That’s my best guess.