“Dwellings showcased on the May 12 Bainbridge Performing Arts Home Tour include small, cozy spaces, to go with those large and grand.Whether they appeal to an atavistic instinct to curl up in a den or a straightforward desire for less to clean, Denise Harris’ gypsy caravan and Craig and Nancy Johnson’s condominium show the comforts of containment.For Harris and friends, small did not mean fewer hours of construction, however. More than 1,700 hours have been devoted to the gypsy wagon so far, Harris said.Building the caravan was like any other project, she said. If you start, you might get obsessed.But the most important thing is that it was built from scratch – built, not bought. “
“The Environmental Protection Agency will finish cleaning up a portion of the Wyckoff Superfund site on the south shore of Eagle Harbor this summer, potentially freeing up 23 acres of prime waterfront and view property.If city and park district officials have their way, the property will go into public ownership, because the public paid for the cleanup.My dream would be a park with a variety of active and passive recreation uses, Mayor Dwight Sutton said this week. “
“Bainbridge Island Broadcasting, has a studio for the first time in its five years on the air.The Bainbridge Island School District, after considering the issue for some time, donated space in Commodore Center that officially opens with a reception, 5-7 p.m. May 10. It has been truly amazing to see how one very ugly elementary school classroom metamorphosed into a television studio, a control room, an editing room and a reception/meeting area, station manager Wini Jones said.BIB cameraman Kit Spier has been renovating the Commodore space for several months, partitioning the 1,225 square feet into distinct and useful spaces. “
“A wise and wizened law school professor once made the following observation on the first day of class:You think that you will be involved in struggles of good versus evil, he said. But that doesn’t happen very often, and those conflicts are easily resolved.The hard ones, he said, are the conflicts of good versus good. “
“One-hundred hands will reach for stringed instruments. Violins will be tucked under chins, and cellos firmly planted. And 50 bows will be poised for the First All-Island Youth Strings Concert, 7 p.m. May 10 at the Sakai Intermediate School gym. That instant will bring past, present and future together – the cumulative total of thousands of hours of practice over the years on the part of the students; months of organization by the adults; and their collective vision of an orchestra program in the Bainbridge schools. “
“Believing that mental health and spiritual health are inseparable, Stephen Erickson is combining his therapy and his divinity training into a counseling practice on Bainbridge.And while the candles and flute music in his small office and advertisement for spiritual psychotherapy may suggest a New Age approach, Erickson’s orientation is mainline Protestant.God bridges the gap between knowledge and theory, Erickson said. We can know about family-of-origin or relationship issues, but we need to be in a relationship with God for real healing.Erickson believes that the Judeo-Christian tradition and belief structure provides a workable framework for personal therapy. “
“A $3.35 billion transportation budget that preserves existing ferry service in the Central Sound region sailed through the House Transportation Committee this week, and now heads to the full House for a vote.And on Thursday, the Transportation Commission finally approved the 20 percent ferry fare increases recommended by the Tariff Policy Committee. “
“On the Sunday Arts Walk, artists and artisans will sell a wide variety of items, but quilter Maggie Ball’s offering will be the written record of a project.She will be in front of Esther’s Fabrics, signing copies of Creative Quilting With Children, the new book that documents Ball’s years quilting with 900 Bainbridge students.I would never have thought, when I saw my first quilts in the Ozarks 15 years ago, that this book would be the result, Ball said, and it started because I couldn’t afford to buy a quilt myself. “
“Kathy and Leon Kos like history, as they demonstrated by buying and preserving Bainbridge Island’s oldest house. And after putting that much time and trouble into an 1856 structure, she wants to make sure the next buyer and the one after that are also interested in history, and not simply in the Port Madison half-acre where the house is located.It really scares us that it might be torn down sometime, she said. We’ve done a lot to the house to preserve it, and I’d really like to see some way to save these old buildings. “
“The literal Sanskrit translation of the word yoga is union.That’s what five island yoga teachers have formed for a fund-raising event Sunday.Island yoga teachers are banding together for the first time to work for cancer research, teaching yoga classes as a fundraiser for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The Day of Yoga is one of the local events under the umbrella of Positive Yoga 2001, based in Seattle and the country’s only yoga fundraiser. “
“Everyone has a favorite band and balladeer, but not everyone founds a music series to share those musicians with friends.That’s what Susan Goodwin did when she invited singer/songwriter Peter Rowan to the island in 1998, a series that continues May 6 when Tom Russell performs with Andrew Hardin.The series started because I liked Peter’s music so much, Goodwin said. I had seen him many times, I had told friends about him. Bringing him here was like getting to take your friends to your favorite restaurant. “
“After 105 days of a regular legislative session and into the second week of the first special session, our folks in Olympia have finally staggered to the starting line on improving the state’s increasingly dysfunctional transportation system.Gov. Locke has proposed a revenue package that would boost the gas tax by 7 cents a gallon; levy an excise tax on auto sales; and increase fees on commercial vehicles. Estimates are that the plan would raise some $9 billion over the next 10 years, to be matched by another $9 billion-plus raised on a regional basis.Predictably, Locke’s proposal has drawn flak from all sides. “
“For Fred and Willie Grimm, community involvement is just part of the deal.Fred, an island orthodontist, has put in stints on the park board, the school board, and the board of Bainbridge Performing Arts. Willie is the long-time manager of the Bargain Boutique.Volunteerism comes naturally. It’s something we’ve always done, Fred Grimm said. It’s part of the way our parents expected us to live.For that 30-year history of civic involvement, the Grimms have been named Business Couple of the Year by the Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce. “
