The community’s location on the west-facing slopes of Puget Sound provides many amenities, including extensive views of the water and Olympic Mountains, access to beaches and waterfront parks, and compact downtown area.

As of April 2007, the population of the City of Edmonds has grown to 40,760. The rate of population growth has been relatively stable at about 1% per year with major increases occurring primarily as a result of annexations in the 1960s and 1970s. Based on forecasted continued growth at 1% per year, the population in 2010 is projected to be 43,650.

The Edmonds Chamber of Commerce was founded over 100 years ago and plays a major role in the Edmonds community. The Chamber sponsors several events throughout the year 4th of July celebration, A Taste of Edmonds, David Stern Golf Tournament, Classic Car Show, Halloween Festival, and Tree lighting.  The Edmonds Chamber is preparing for the largest event of the summer “A Taste of Edmonds”  A Taste of Edmonds is August 12-14th. Located in the Civic Play-field this will be the 29th birthday of A Taste of Edmonds featuring 3 full days of  fun, food, drinks, and great entertainment in downtown Edmonds.

Voted one of the “Top 100 North American Festivals”, there’s fun for everyone.

This Stunning 180-degree Puget Sound/Olympic Mountain/Whidbey Island View from beautiful 3,901sf Talbot Park home. Serene 1/2 acre perched high above cul-de-sac. Gourmet Kitchen, Master Suite w/fireplace/walk in closet & french doors open to fabulous Wrap Around Deck! Views from virtually every room including basement level which boasts potential mother in-law w/private entrance & very cool 1950′s diner style kitchen. Hot tub, huge laundry/project room, study/den, RV parking, prof landscaped & lots more. Priced to sell @ $685,000 for a private showing contact ^the Cobbin Group of exprealty

The Shoreline Library, an attractive modern building just east off the Shoreline exit of I-5, is always hopping.  After school and evening hours sees extensive usage by the teen and school aged crowd.  Days sees mothers with y0ung children as well as adults and retired users, and days and evenings are hopping for the adult users too.  A wide variety in a small space works because, like all King County System libraries, if the book you are after is not here, you can order it from a nearby sister library.  Because the catalog lists all the books available, none are ever far away.

Extensive classes for adults and some for children, community notices and literature on programs, book clubs, community meeting rooms, of course computers for general use and a great set up of computers as well as a puppet library for check out, DVD choices, videos, audio CDs, and even foreign language selections for adults and kids.

Some classes being offered this month are:

Free Museum Passes (KidsQuest, Bellevue Art Museum, Museum of Hisotry and Industry (well worthwhile for kids and adults like it too), Washington State History Museum, and Tacoma Art Museum.

Baby, toddler, preschool, raising readers, and other targeted story times, including some foreign language ones like Chinese, Korean, Russian, Spanish and more.

Study Zone with volunteer tutors.

Ongoing computer and ESL classes.

At Shoreline Library in May are:  “The Basics of Home  Brewing” (May 19) and “Effective Resumes” (May 26).

At nearby Lake Forest Park Library are:  Teen Writing Group (3rd Tuesday) and Casper Babypants Band (held on the stage at 3rd Place Books upstairs from the library) on May 23.

At Richmond Beach Library tomorrow (Saturday) is the 45th Annual Arts and Crafts Fair and the Strawberry Festival in the parking lot from 12-5.

Check on the Library Website for more events and information monthly.  I predict you will love the King County Library System (please note there is also a Seattle Library System which keeps separate but they are nicely interspersed as far as location and activity).

Another time you may want to utilize their services is in the case of the unthinkable… your favorite or very valuable dish or pottery gets smashed.  The restoration service can work miracles on broken art be it statues, china, pottery, or occasionally glass is restorable too, although probably hardest.  Since today is Friday the 13th, just in case, this info might be useful to someone today!

Personally my interaction with Phoenix has been limited to their framing services, and these are very satisfying in that they really don’t mind going to great lengths to discuss the perfect frame for any given art and help you in the aesthetics of the decision making process.  Trying out different frames with the art and discussing where it will be placed are all part of the service, and their workmanship is also first rate.

Phil and Pam Boulding, the center of this musical whirl of Holiday sparkle, are magical at holiday time. 

Yuletide Concert Magical Strings Ensemble

The Shoreline-Lake Forest Park concert is the first of their holiday series (which goes from Portland to Mount Vernon) and is, according to Phil, “always exciting, the energy is up and high because it’s the first show of the season.”  This year is specially special…Brittany Boulding, one of their five children, has returned from NYC where she lived for years performing with major orchastras.  It’s her first year back and she is busy as she’s the Concertmistress of the Bellevue Philharmonic, as well as playing with the Seattle Symphony.  She will appear with the Magical Strings group and play a special solo as well as fiddling along with the Celtic music and jigs!  Her brother Brenin, a notable cello player, will also join the group and since his wife is Sara Raney of the Raney Irish Dancers, there has for some years been a cross link and the dancers will be performing at the concert.  More wonderful family, grandaughter Rowen, now 9, is an award winning Irish Dancer (The Tara Acadamy of Irish Dance is run by Sara Raney and her sisters) and will perform a solo. 

Also appearing will be Irish Flute Player Hanz Areki as a guest performer (said to be the “quintessential world music musician”), lyrical juggler Thomas Arthur, vocalists Mark and Colleen Raney, and other special guests.  Phil explained to me that he and Pam compose a lot of their own original music, and have just returned from a spectacular trip to Ireland which inspired some of this year’s program.  I am personally looking forward to a special arrangement for a violin and cello duo that sounds amazing!

Practically a household word in the Northwest, Magical Strings Ensemble enthralls with a tight woven blend of dancing hammers and pulsating strings.   The distinctive music created by the harmonious partnership of Phil and Pam is described in the Washington Post as “warm, graceful and sonically gorgeous.”  Centered around a tight-knit blending of hammered dulcimers and Celtic harps, the performance will be enhanced by pennywhistles, valiha (Malagasy harp), concertina and song  and storytelling.  During the past 25 years Magical Strings has always drawn a great and loyal following all over the world, captivated by sparkling arrangements of Celtic music and their original joyful compositions, intertwining Celtic roots with classical and World Music influences

Could there be more?  Yes, just don’t miss it!  Please take a look at their Magical Strings website for further details  and for other concerts they will be playing for this series in the Holiday Season!  And don’t forget to check out the Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Arts Council website (and maybe bookmark it?) for gallery news and other events of the season.

For an interesting taste of a Hanz Araki balad, try http://popup.lala.com/popup/2810527689712221426.

The lecture was supposed to go from 7 to 8:30, but at 9:30 participants were still eagerly questioning Piper, whose sparkling intensity won her instant fans.  At that moment, for everyone in the room, the most important thing was to understand how our arrangement and choices in our homes are affecting our moods, energy, ability to move forward in life, in fact. The school custodian, however, was begging us to leave so he could close up, and a last few eager questioners gathered around Piper in the dark chilly parking lot, unwilling to let her go.

Explaining that “our surroundings have a powerful effect on us” Piper went on to teach us some of the basics of feng shui, including the bagua, a directional map that you can place over your home to find out which areas are connected strongly with various aspects of your life.  The ancient chinese energy management system includes the symbols of wood, metal, water, fire and air which need to be in balance for joyful and purposeful living.  If you find yourself in a career predicament, check the area of your house which strongly influences career, and you will, according to feng shui teaching, find that there is some rearranging to be done!  Color, type of material, symbols, all can have a negative or positive affect on how things are going in that area.

Piper Lauri Salogga maps participant's home

Natural Balance, Piper’s business which addresses design and feng shui concerns in home and office, has been in existance for 11 years, although she has been working in the field longer.  A child of an architect and a landscape architect, Piper has been living in the world of design her entire life.  Her broad understanding of the principals of feng shui, which she calls the “magic door” to realizing your intentions in the world, was clear and inspiring.  We learned that feng shui is not about thinking about it (or not only) but about taking action, in the form of a focus point, symbol, or element you put into your environment to bring a certainn desired focus into your life.  By doing so you’re “putting it out there” and there is story after story about how the universe responds to focused intention.

Some interesting and even funny stories came out of the evening from participants as well, including how when your fish keep dying it’s a good idea to move them… but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  For those who would like to see the outline of the class please go to “homework” on Light Up the Future, our project website. 

And if you’re in Seattle (or Lake Forest Park!), you might want to attend Piper and Sara’s Sit and Sip event on 11/21, a home accessories exchange.  There are only 100 seats available so make your reservations qucikly!  The event takes place in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood center, a place I love to go for it’s atmosphere of Seattle history, as it’s an old three brick school with wooden floors and high ceilings!

Some classes Piper teaches (from her website)

• Designing Your Perfect Retreat, One Room at a Time (Perfect Retreat Party)
• OfficeShui^TM , practical powerful tips to create an inspiring and productive workspace
• Your Perfect Retreat groups
• Clearing the clutter, one corner at a time
• 7 Steps to a harmonious environment (Intro to feng shui)
• Intro to feng shui for architects and designers
• Numerology, the story of your life

Most of the classes go for 2 hours with time for Q & A… but if last night is anything to judge by, they are going to go quite a lot longer than that if the participants have their way.

Thank you, Piper Lauri Salogga, for an inspiring and really useful evening.

(for more information on our school fundraiser, please go to www.lightupthefuture.org)

When asked if the bear were a threat, or could be a danger to little children, a Fish and Wildlife Agent didn’t think much of the question.  He is reported as saying, “Do you know how many little children have been eaten by a black bear?  Zero.  You have more chance of being run over by a KIRO news truck than of being hurt by this bear.”

A two year old black bear now nicknamed “Urban Phantom,” he was first spotted in Magnolia and is little by little heading east while eluding attempts to capture and help him out of the city.  He seems to be headed toward the unpopulated spots to the north and east of the Seattle Metro area, and finally hopefully back to the Cascades, “where bears belong.”

The City of Shoreline has posted some useful information about how to live with urban wildlife on its Web site which is at http://www.shorelinewa.gov/

Here is what The Department of Fish and Wildlife advises you to do if you see a bear:

Remain calm. If you can, move away quietly when it’s not looking.   As you retreat, watch its behavior for cues on what to do next.

If it comes toward you, stand up, wave your hands above your head and talk in a low voice. (Don’t use the word “bear” because it might associate the word with food … people feeding bears often say “here bear.”) (and don’t feed it.)

Don’t throw anything and avoid direct eye contact.

If you cannot move away safely or if the bear continues toward you, clap your hands, stomp your feet and yell. If in a group, stand shoulder-to-shoulder and raise and wave your arms.  If it persists, use pepper spray if you have it.

Don’t run unless safety is near and you are certain you can reach it.  Climbing a tree generally is not recommended.

What draws people to Shoreline?

Besides the nice balance of the location, is its highly acclaimed school district, the family oriented lifestyle it offers, the rapidly growing business community, and – last but definitely not least – the happy median of the abundance of trees and beaches that boast the most beautiful sunsets on Puget Sound.

Homes in Shoreline

Shoreline homes tend to be more affordable compared to the Seattle market, another reason why people decide to take their property searches there.  The median housing price is about $399,950. Also, Shoreline tips over more to the residential side, with more than 70% of the households being single family residences. However, like Seattle, Shoreline definitely has its “brand name” neighborhoods. The Richmond Beach, Richmond Highlands, The Highlands, and Innis Arden neighborhoods are highly acclaimed neighborhoods and have several outstanding view properties, especially as most of them are right on the sound.  Housing prices lower when you get closer to Aurora Avenue (Hwy 99), mostly due to the traffic noise and the proximity to the commercial district, which is located on Aurora.

Geography and Bordering Cities

Shoreline, which is estimated to be around 6,900 acres, has 330 acres dedicated to parks (there are 25 of them). Shoreline has several cities bordering its city lines. Seattle to the south; Woodway, Mountlake Terrace, Edmonds, and Lynnwood to the north; and Lake Forest Park to the northeast. More about Shoreline Georgraphy and Bordering Cities.

Getting Around Shoreline

Shoreline is convenient in that there are several highways very close by. There’s Highway 99, also known as Aurora Avenue, which starts down south in Fife, WA, and runs all the way up to Everett, WA. Because Hwy 99 runs through Shoreline, North Seattle, Downtown Seattle with opportunity to branch off to the West Seattle Bridge, and to the SeaTac Airport, it is an excellent alternative during traffic hour, when the Interstate 5 is extremely congested. 99 also runs north through Edmonds, Lynnwood, Mukilteo and then to Everett, also a fantastic alternative to I-5 during traffic hours.

Shoreline Schools

There is one school district in Shoreline – the Shoreline School District- which includes 9 public elementary schools (two were closed in Nov, 2007), all with enrollment of no more than 570, 2 public middle schools, 2 public high schools, and its very well known community college (Shoreline Community College) which was established in the 1960’s. The very first high school in Shoreline was Shoreline High, which was closed in 1986; the school property is still currently used as the main athletic facility for the entire district.