Join Island trackers

Vashon Wilderness Program announces its newest program: the Tracking Club.

The Tracking Club will meet for the first time from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 25. Here is your chance to spend the morning learning about the natural world and experience the mystery and intrigue we call tracking. Join skilled naturalists and trackers as we explore the Island in search of tracks and signs. Learn about aging techniques, track interpretation and identification. All ages are welcome to join this exciting new club.

E-mail me at mtimken@comcast.net or call 463-1866 to reserve your spot and to learn the location of our first tracking adventure. The cost is $10 for adults, $5 for kids.

— Mark Timken

Quilt Guild meets

Vashon Island Quilt Guild meets at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 21, at the Vashon Presbyterian Church. Guests are welcome; refreshments will be served.

For information about supplies needed for participation in the program, call Judy Dohm at 463-3192.

— Jo Ann Bardeen

VIGA hosts annual meeting

The Vashon Island Growers Association (VIGA) annual meeting will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 2, at the Grange Building on the north end of the Island. There will be a potluck meal and a review of the year’s activities. VIGA will also elect four new board members. Current VIGA members are invited to run for office and/or vote in the board election.

If you have questions or have an interest in learning more about the VIGA board, contact current president Mark Timken at mtimken@comcast.net for more information or call Farmers Market Manager Joanne Jewell at 267-8146.

— Joanne Jewell

Youth-Adult Dialogues resume

We all live in an age of rapidly expanding media. Young or old, each person has a different experience of this phenomenon. We will explore and share these experiences and to see how they affect us individually and as a community.

Vashon’s Youth-Adult Dialogue is set to begin the sixth season of meaningful and fun conversations between youth and adult. This year’s dialogues will explore sex, drugs and rock’n roll. The year kicks off with “Media, Music and Madness.”

Come from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28, at the VYFS Play Space (the old YMCA building at Vashon Highway and Gorsuch Road) for a night of good food (please bring your own dish or bowl), lively discussion, songs, games and good company.

We will begin with rock ’n roll in the form of media and music and their effects, influences and gifts. We will share our experiences of these and how they affect us.

Are the differences between youth and adults so different, or are there commonalities that get overlooked? Do all adults experience popular music as noise, or are there those closeted old folk who listen to it in the dark of night under the covers? Do all adults view MTV and You-Tube as the “ leader astray,” or are there those who see them as new art forms? Are all adults “technologically challenged” or are there many who are as comfortable with the new technology as youth are? Are all youth up on the new technology? Do all youth have text messaging capability? There are zillions more questions that could be asked about media, music and madness, and we hope to explore as many as the community wishes to.

Come enjoy an evening of good food, lively discussion and good company and hopefully leave with some new information and new ways of looking at media, music and madness.

— Maryam Steffens

Recycle for Haitian kids

In support of the Bresma Orphanages in Port au Prince, Haiti, Spokane’s Answered Prayers has partnered with Planet Green to collect and recycle used ink cartridges and cell phones. Each donated ink cartridge and cell phone will provide funds that go directly to purchase food, diapers, educational materials, etc. for the many children, ages 1 to 12, who live in these two orphanages.

Many Vashon Islanders have traveled to Haiti to support these orphanages; in fact, some of the children are now members of our Vashon community.

Look for collection boxes at Thriftway, Vashon Library and the Vashon High School library.

Contact me at 463-6622 for information on this project or Answered Prayers and its mission of reaching out to suffering children throughout the world.

— Mary Margaret Pearson

Christmas bazaar set

The Vashon Guild of Seattle Children’s Hospital is busy finalizing plans for its 2008 Christmas Bazaar. There are still openings for tables for local artists, craftspeople and organizations.

The bazaar will take place at Vashon High School from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday Dec. 6. The cost of a table is $30, and reservations can be made by calling Betty Beymer at 463-2683.

Among the many features of the day will be the raffle of a Mike Spakowsky painting and the newly released 2009 Seattle Children’s Hospital mug, the third in the series, with art by Ilse Reimnitz. See the photo above right.

Guild members will also offer a tasty lunch menu including soups, baked potatoes, hot dogs and more for busy shoppers.

The guild has been active on Vashon since 1924 and raises money for uncompensated care at the hospital. They meet four times a year at Vashon Island Golf & Country Club for lunch and a business meeting.

For information, call Mary Rosenbaum at 463-9446.

— Jean Mendel

Candidates speak to Dems

This Saturday is the last meeting of the Vashon Democratic Club before the big election. Our focus will be on some of the statewide races. Come join us. All are welcome.

We are vexcited to have a candidate for Secretary of State, Jason Osgood, come speak to us. I have followed Osgood’s writings on election integrity issues for years, and I don’t know of anyone in the state more qualified and knowledgeable on this hot topic than Osgood.

The State Treasurer is currently Mike Murphy, Democrat. Murphy is retiring this term, and the Democrat running to replace him is Jim McIntire. Andrew Austin, campaign manager for McIntire, will visit our meeting to tell us about McIntire’s goals as state treasurer.

The Commissioner of Public Lands, Doug Sutherland, is running for re-election. He faces a very strong challenge from Democrat Peter Goldmark. The Goldmark campaign has designated Islander Emma Amiad to speak to us on behalf of the campaign. The outcome of this race affects Vashon-Maury Islands greatly, so come listen to what Amiad has to say.

We will also spend some time discussing some of the non-candidate ballot measures, and get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts.

If you or your group would like to make a presentation at one of our meetings, or for general information, call me at 463-0079.

Our meeting is this Saturday, Oct. 18, in the Land Trust Building: potluck social at 6 p.m., meeting from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Please help us accomplish our goal of a no-trash potluck by bringing your own, non-disposable dinnerware.

— Roger Fulton

Council airs on Comcast 21

Voice of Vashon’s television programming on Comcast Channel 21 next week will feature a live broadcast of the Oct. 20 Vashon-Maury Island Community Council meeting. The meeting will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 20, and again on the following three Monday evenings at the same time.

For the full broadcast schedule including both audio and video schedules, see www. voiceofvashon.org. If you have been creating your own video that you would like to share with your Vashon/Maury neighbors, please e-mail dans@islandimage.net.

— Dan Schueler

Unitarian bless animals

The Seventh Principle of Unitarian Universalism calls us “to respect the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part.” On Sunday, Oct. 19, the Vashon Unitarian Fellowship will be blessing the animals and exploring what animals can teach us about spirituality. All legal and well-behaved pets are welcome — birds, bunnies, chickens, dogs and fleas.

The Vashon Unitarian Fellowship meets at 9:30 a.m. at the Burton Community Church, 23905 Vashon Hwy. S.W.

Religious exploration and child care for those under 3 are provided.

Bring vegetarian snacks and “pet treats” for coffee hour after the service.

Call Silvija Paza at 567-4228 if you have questions.

— Wendy Wharton

VIPP holds garage sale

Vashon Island Pet Protectors will hold its fall garage sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19, at the Firefighters’ Association Building on Bank Road. Donations will be accepted from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17. Unfortunately, we’re unable to accept mattresses, computers, clothes, exercise equipment or large appliances.

For more information, please call me at 463-5381.

— Victoria Rohlfs

Seniors write poetry

Mel Michaels’ popular poetry writing class for adults 55 and older at the Senior Center on Bank Road has been bumped up to an earlier time: 3:30 to 5 p.m., with new meeting dates on Tuesday, Oct. 21 and 28, Nov. 4 and 25 and Dec. 16 and 23. The class is free, and if you haven’t participated before, you are still welcome to join in.

Michaels is a talented poet and a graduate student at Goddard College, where he will receive his master’s degree in fine arts this winter. Like many artists on Vashon, he is volunteering his time for this class, which will cover writing different forms of poetry. The assignment for Oct. 21 is to write your own version of Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky,” using made-up rhyming words, or rewrite Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29, “When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes” or another sonnet, “My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun.”

Call the Senior Center at 463-5173 to register.

— Deirdre Petree