WEDNESDAY 31
Ballet breakfast
The Back Bay Inn will host the Sugar Plum Fairy Breakfast on Dec. 31 as a benefit for the Vashon Junior Civic Ballet. Seating will begin at 9 a.m., and the restaurant will have special performances from the principles from the civic ballet’s “Nutcracker.”
Guests can have their picture taken with their favorite Sugar Plum, share tea with the Snow Queen or play checkers with the Rat King.
Tickets are $15 per person or a family pack of four for $50. All proceeds go to the ballet scholarship fund.
Call the Back Bay Inn for reservations at 463-5355.
Labyrinth walk
The eighth annual Walk for Peace will be held on the labyrinth at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit, from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 31. All Islanders are invited to bring prayers for peace and join in the walk.
There will be a burning bowl at the center for those wishing symbolically to mark the passage, releasing what has held them back in the old year to make room for the new.
The labyrinth is located at the north end of the church grounds at 15420 Vashon Hwy. S.W.
For more information, contact Betty Hawkins at 463-5062.
New Year’s Eve party
An alcohol- and substance-free New Year’s Eve party for the community will be held at the Vashon Presbyterian Church from 7 to 10 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 31.
Games and activities for all ages will be available. A “New York New Year” will be celebrated at 9 p.m. followed by ice cream sundaes provided by the church. Bring a snack to share if you’d like.
Call the church at 463-2010.
Pride New Year’s Eve
Vashon Pride Alliance will host a New Year’s Eve dance from 8:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the VFW Hall.
The $10 door admission provides fellowship, dance music, munchies, Vashon High School scholarship fund and hall rental expense monies.
Gays, lesbians and gay-friendly people are welcome.
For more information, contact Sue Nattrass at smnattrass@aol.com.
Zen New Year’s
The Puget Sound Zen Center will hold a contemplative New Year’s celebration from 10 p.m. to midnight on New Year’s Eve.
People are welcome to join them as they ring in the New Year with silence and sound.
Meditation will be followed by shakuhachi flute by Larry Lawson and a brief informal and fun gathering.
This event is open to all, regardless if people have previous experience in Zen practice. For more information, call 463-4332 or go to www.pszen.org.
Democrats’ party
The snow-delayed Vashon Democratic Club annual holiday party and potluck will be at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 3, in the Land Trust Building. Jason Osgood, who ran for Secretary of State last November, will speak to the group about election reform issues and the Feb. 3 election for the Director of King County Elections.
Tim Nuse, who is currently first vice chair of the 34th Legislative District Democrats, will also be there. Nuse is running for chair of the 34th legislative district. That election will be part of the election of officers at the district’s Jan. 14 meeting in Fauntleroy.
The group will collect donations for the Vashon Maury Community Food Bank. For donations, money goes further than food for the food bank, but for those who wish to contribute food, canned fruits and vegetables, canned whole meals (pork and beans, soups, etc.), and canned/jarred proteins (peanut butter, tuna) are suggested.
Organizers are planning a “Throw Your Shoes at Bush” event as part of our fundraiser for the food bank.
Participants are asked to bring their own, non-disposable dinnerware.
Contact Roger Fulton at 463-0079.
SUNDAY 4
Opera preview
The Vashon Library will host “Opera Preview: Georges Bizet’s ‘The Pearl Fishers’” at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 4.
Opera lecturer Norm Hollingshead will discuss how a decade before composing his masterpiece, Carmen, the unknown young Bizet composed this hothouse opera for an “opera factory” in Paris.
Bizet’s melodies raise this story of a love triangle set in ancient Ceylon to astonishing heights. For many opera lovers, the duet from The Pearl Fishers is their all-time favorite operatic number.
For more information, call the library at 463-2069. No registration is necessary.
MONDAY 5
Great Books meets
The Great Books Discussion Group will meet at the Vashon Library at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 5.
This month’s selection is Planning and Democracy from “The Road to Serfdom” by Friedrich Hayek.
All are welcome; call the library for more information at 463-2069.
UPCOMING
Ebb tide program
An Audubon Ebb Tide Program with Island beach naturalists will be from 8 to 10 p.m. Friday, Jan. 9, at the north end ferry dock beach.
Those who are going on the beach walk should meet at the espresso stand and bring flashlights, extra batteries, wading boots, warm hat and jacket and dry gloves.
For more information, call Michelle Ramsden at 406-3723 or Rayna Holtz at 463-3153.
People should not park at La Playa restaurant.
Caring for the Island
Caring for the Island: A Community Conversation will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 13, to discuss Islanders’ love for and obligations to Vashon-Maury Island.
Dr. Kathleen Dean Moore, essayist, philosophy professor and activist, will be framing the conversation with a presentation, “The Sound of Human Longing: Field Notes for an Environmental Ethic of Care.”
With stories, readings from her nature writing and an occasional dive into philosophical waters, Moore will explore people’s emotional connection to the landscapes that bring joy and meaning to their lives.
She will consider what moral obligations grow from deep love for a mountain meadow or a rainy island, and when those landscapes are degraded, what we can make from our sorrow.
Moore is a professor of philosophy at Oregon State University and the founding director of the Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature and the Written Word and is the author of several books.
Contact Sylvia Soholt at 399-0628 or sylvia@sylvansanctuary.org for more information.
Sea turtle talk
The January Audubon program will feature Islander Marcy Summers, the executive director of Alliance for Tompotika Conservation (AlTo), a Vashon nonprofit organization working to conserve wildlife and wildlife habitat in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Of particular focus will be AlTo’s new sea turtle conservation initiative.
The program is free, and all are welcome to attend. It will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, at the Land Trust Building.
Call Laura Bienen at 567-4613 or visit vashonaudubon.org to answer any questions.
ONGOING
Meditation group
Vashon Buddhist Insight group is a meditation and discussion sangha that meets every Monday from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Zen Center, 20406 Chautauqua Beach Rd. All who are interested in Buddhist Insight meditation are welcome.
For more information, contact vashoninsight@gmail.com.
Library story times
The Vashon Library will offer story times throughout the month of July.
Toddler Story Times will meet at 10:40 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 6, 13, 20 and 27. It is for ages 18 months to 3 years with an adult.
Preschool Story Times will meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 6, 13, 20 and 27, for ages 3 to 5.
Baby and Me Story Times will meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 7, 14, 21 and 28, for babies from newborn to 18 months old with an adult.
