(Wallyhood welcomes a new writer, Margaret Steck)

If you’re a parent to young children like me, you’re probably scratching your head wondering how this whole re-assignment plan from Seattle Public School is going to shake out.  I, for one, am puzzled in that the shift in school boundaries means my son will remain in his elementary school but my daughter will start Kindergarten in another.  But something tells me I’m not alone in this predicament.

The New Student Assignment Plan also includes re-opening McDonald School on 54^th.   Given that the school’s building hasn’t been used in over 28 years, the general plan is to house the school at Lincoln next fall, after Hamilton moves into its spiffy, newly-renovated school.  But with this plan comes many, many questions concerning the students assigned to McDonald School—particularly the little ones starting Kindergarten in the fall.  Neighbors who live in the school’s proposed boundaries have already come together to initiate discussions with school board members.  They are also encouraging anyone interested to get involved in this unique opportunity to provide input.

According to the group, there are several ways to get involved:

Subscribe to the McDonald School blog: http://mcdonaldschoolinfo.blogspot.com
The blog also features a poll with various language, Montessori, and Spectrum programs anyone can vote for to be incorporated into future discussions with the School Board.

• Join the McDonald School’s Yahoo Group for ongoing discussion

Attend the Meetings:

McDonald School Community Discussion
Saturday, November 14th from 11 AM to 12:30 PM
Bethany Community Church
Christian Education Building Auditorium
1147 N 81 St, 98103
(just down the street from Bagley Elementary School)

Invited: School Board Director Sherry Carr, School Board Director Michael DeBell

Meeting Purpose:
The purpose of this meeting will be to provide a dedicated forum for discussion with School Board Directors (and potentially some elected officials) on how to make the McDonald School re-opening successful.

Based on Yahoo list discussions and other McDonald School related discussion, proposed discussion items include:

• Siblings placement
• School boundaries
• Use of Lincoln High school as an interim site
• Program placement
• Design team, PTA and community involvement
• Hiring of teachers and a principal

Those interested in participating can contact Nytasha Sowers (nytashasowers@yahoo.com) with any other agenda topics related to opening the McDonald School.  Their hope is to give some time to all of the agenda items – and not just have the meeting be about one particular topic.  Also, Sherry Carr has asked for meeting attendees to let her know what they would like from her – she likes to get recommendations on how to address issues.

The group is also asking for people to take on one or more of the agenda items and prepare a summary of the issues and concerns – as well as any potential recommendations on how to address them.  Please contact Nytasha Sowers (nytashasowers@yahoo.com) if you would be interested in developing a summary of issues, concerns and recommendations for each of these agenda items.

Planning meeting for McDonald School Community Discussion
There will be a planning meeting for the McDonald School Community Discussion on Sunday, November 8, from 2 pm to 4 pm at Meridian Market (2201 N. 56 St, Seattle 98103). The group will be working on the 11/14 meeting agenda, outreach strategy and logistics, etc.

Please contact Nytasha Sowers (nytashasowers@yahoo.com) if you can make – or can’t but would still like to help.

Looking for a good meeting facilitator
The McDonald School group is also looking for a non-biased, strong meeting facilitator for this meeting that does not live in the McDonald School area boundaries – either the first set of boundaries are the revised set of school boundaries.  You can contact Nytasha Sowers (nytashasowers@yahoo.com) if you have a facilitator to recommend.

One last note…for the little ones
If you’re within the proposed boundaries and have children entering Kindergarten in 2010, contact Carolyn Cunningham, who’s taken on the responsibility of creating a group for this little niche.  Send your name, email address, whether your child has an older sibling, and brief comments/concerns to:  cunningham.Carolyn@gmail.com

Dreading the commercial crass onslaught of The Holidays? Get an early break from it tomorrow, and do some good:

Wallingford Presbyterian Church, that little church at Ashworth and 42nd St, will host our annual Alternative Gift Fair at the church from about noon until 2 PM on November the 8th. The idea of the Alternative Gift Fair is to get meaningful holiday gifts without all the lines and wrapping paper and focus on “stuff” that can be part of holiday shopping. We work with charitable organizations to develop small cards representing what gifts of various amounts purchase for the organization, and the gifts can be given “in the name of” the recipient.

This year, organizations at the gift fair will include: 45th Street Clinic, which provides health care services for adults and kids, including many non-English speaking families and homeless youth; PROVAIL (has offices on Stone Way) which provides a wide range of services for adults and children with disabilities, including therapy and dental care as well as employment services and community living programs; Noel House, a Seattle shelter for homeless women; and Heifer International, which provides families with livestock as part of economic development and social justice work worldwide.

Examples of gifts through Heifer International: $20 is a “flock of chicks”, $30 is “honeybees”, $60 is a “trio of rabbits”, $120 is a “goat”. All gift amounts go directly to the organizations, so 100% of your gifts go to their programming.

OK, maybe you can’t do ALL of your holiday shopping at the Alternative Gift Fair–a card with a picture of honeybees probably won’t cut it for a 6 year-old with her/his heart set on a particular toy–but why not save yourself some time, decrease the annual holiday waste stream a bit, get to know some local people at these organizations who are doing great work, and support the organizations and the folks they serve, all at once?

Hope to see you at the Alternative Gift Fair on November 8th!

WSDOT (that’s pronounced whiz-dot, in case you’re curious) sez:

During the early morning this Sunday you may notice some extra activity on the Interstate 5 Ship Canal Bridge. Our maintenance crews will be out there replacing portions of the glare screen between the north and southbound lanes on the bridge from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m, Sunday Nov. 8. To keep drivers and workers safe crews will close the left lane of northbound I-5 on the top deck of the bridge during the work.

If the ongoing construction at the QFC is giving you that jonesin’ feeling for the big old Wallingford sign, you can sate your craving over at Paul Dorpat’s blog. He’s got a short and pleasant retrospective of the sign, including this fine shot from Back in the Day.

Is there any air sweeter than the gusty blow of a lightning storm? Maybe it’s the ionized air, maybe it’s just the primal power of it, but when that wind blows, we can’t help but tumble out into it.

And wasn’t Thursday night a doozy? Around 8 pm, we pulled a rainsuit on Baby Z and wandered out into the bluster, stopped to chat with our neighbor John, ambled over to the John Stanford School and generally opened our nose to the tumult.

And then the sky lit up…green! The whole western sky, like a sharp, bright flare, two, three times.

We know we weren’t the only one to have seen it, Twitter echoed our amazement, but we couldn’t figure out what caused it. Transformer blow-out? Nuclear explosion? Alien invasion?

A clue came in via Twitter from Josh Trujillo:

Eerie lightning over N. Seattle now that seems to turn the clouds green. I think that means that there is hail in those clouds. Anyone know?

Well, the pounding hailstorm that followed certainly lent credence to the theory, and we confirmed with the Weather Network:

On rare occasions especially in strong supercells, the sky will appear to have a greenish tinge during thunderstorms. That is in most, if not all cases, an excellent sign that the storm contains hail, and probably large hail. The greenish color is caused by light (either sunlight, or in some instances the light of a lightning flash), refracting off the large ice particles suspended in the storm.

Green lightning, a rare treat.

Not many garage sales this week, no surprise we reckon with all the lightning, hail and thunder. Still, there are a brave few out there:

View Wallingford / Green Lake Garage Sales & Open Houses in a larger map

We have little amusing to say about them, but we do encourage you to see what My Green Lake has to say about the list, if only because it may teach you what Handerpants are.

Cathy Tuttle writes that the Spokespeople group will be leading a casual bike ride from Wallingford Playfield to the Green Lake PCC and back this Saturday, November 7th:

Michael Snyder and I are leading a ride to the Green Lake PCC and the PCC will generously provide Spokespeople riders with a free snack. We’ll depart this Saturday, Nov 7, at 2PM from Wallingford Playfield. If we are riding on a sunny, crisp autumn day, we’ll stop for a while to admire the beautiful fall colors and mushrooms around Green Lake and return by 4PM.  Last month Spokespeople toured homes that were on the Washington State Solar Tour and next month we’ve been invited to go to a centennial celebration of Greenwood Elementary School.

All Spokespeople rides start at the south end of Wallingford Playfield, 4219 Wallingford Ave N (Densmore & 42nd) at 2 p.m. PLEASE, if this is your first Spokespeople ride, especially if you are a reluctant road rider, plan to arrive at 1:45 so that we can make sure your helmet and bike are adjusted to fit and you can review road-riding skills with our commuting experts. Please also let me know in advance if you want to buy a good quality helmet from us for $10 and I will bring along my sack of helmets. Expert cyclists, we love having you along to help to inspire our newest on-street riders. All Spokespeople Ride Leaders are trained and certified by Cascade Bicycle Club www.cascade.org.

Reminder: this Saturday, November 7th, 11 am – 8 pm, is the Couch Fest Films film festival, a series of films shown in people’s living rooms across Fremont, Wallingford, Green Lake, the U District and Ravenna. Each location will have its own genre of short films playing in rotation throughout the day, so hop on a bike and check out a few. We’re not sure whether it’s cool to help yourself to something from the fridge, though.

The map of locations is below, but visit their web site to buy a ticket and get the official program.

According to a Seattle Department of Transportation press release, there will be a memorial procession for slain Seattle Police Officer, Timothy Brenton tomorrow morning, Nov 6th.

While the procession does not move through Wallingford directly, commuters should plan ahead as severe congestion is expected in the areas near the procession route and staging areas.   In addition, mourners may observe the procession as a show support for Officer Brenton’s family and for the Seattle Police Department.   The press release is copied for your information below:

A memorial procession along city streets for Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton will be held on Friday, November 6. Approximately 1,000 to 1,500 vehicles will depart at 9:00 a.m. from the University of Washington and will travel to a service for the slain officer at Key Arena.During the procession, which is expected to last from 9:00 a.m. to noon, other traffic will not be allowed on the route and will not be allowed to cross it. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) advises travelers to expect severe congestion near its path, especially as mourners are also anticipated along its course.

The memorial procession will use the following route: begins at the University of Washington’s E-1 parking lot; south on Montlake Blvd NE to 24th Ave E; south on 24th to 23rd Ave E; south on 23rd to E Madison St; west on Madison to E Pine St; west on Pine to Broadway; north on Broadway to E Denny Way; west on Denny to 1st Ave N; north on 1st to Key Arena. Staging will begin in the E-1 parking lot (north of Husky Stadium on Montlake Blvd NE) beginning at approximately 8:00 a.m.

Parking will not be allowed along the route and temporary “No Parking” signs will be emplaced. Officers from the Seattle Police Department will manage all intersections for the procession. 1st Avenue N (Denny to Mercer) and Mercer Street (1st to 5th avenues N) will be closed when the procession arrives at those locations. Roads around the Seattle Center will also be closed to traffic, to include parking, prior to the event.

The public memorial service at Key Arena will begin at 1:00 p.m., with doors opening at 11:00 a.m. No formal procession is planned after the ceremony. All questions concerning the procession route and traffic impacts should be directed to the Seattle Department of Transportation.

Hot on the heels of the OmCulture Yoga opening down near Gas Works, Sutra Yoga (1621 N.45th St) is spreading its mats and opening for business this coming Sunday, November 8th with an opening day party and benefit:

• 9:30-10:45am Prana Vinyasa Level 1 – 2 with Jenna
• 11:15-12:45 Prana Vinyasa Level 2 – 3 with Amber
• Party / Benefit 4 – 7pm

They’ll be providing snacks and drinks and raffling off class cards. All money raised goes towards Yoga Behind Bars. Their regular, full schedule starts the next day, Monday the 9th.