Life In The Pacific Northwest
An evening stroll
As I’m often want
To do.
These sidewalks, older than me
My memories stretch back
Decades.
Once, my dream,
Distant travel.
That has waned
My love for this area
Grown to significant
Proportions.
This path I’ve trudged
At least a thousand times
Changed for biredom
Now is home
This is an alarming thing to read:Sheriff’s office investigating human remains found at Picnic Point. At this point, there’s so very little to go with. All we really know is that it looks like the body had been there some time. Was it something nefarious, or a sad accident? No way to even guess.
Do we need to worry about a psychopath wandering about? Any of that kind of thing? Though our fears drive us towards reaction. Yet we need to wait. One of the great challenges of 21st century life: patience. We’ve become terribly used to instant responses. A whole day?: Painful!
I’m sure the examiner will get us information quickly. Then we’ll have know how to react and move forward.
So, deeply sad stuff. I want to know more. Actually, as far a this sort of thing, I’ll say need..
I’ii update as this story as things progress. Until then, be safe Lynnwood, Edmonds Mountlake Terrace friends.
Be safe. .
Poking around the internet I found this fun piece:
American Girl Hotel Stay Package at Homewood Suites Lynnwood, WA
Though I have a son, and wouldn’t have been much in a place to take part in such, the writers do point out that the hotel is pretty kid friendly.
I just love that the American Girl store at Alderwood Mall and Homewood Suites thought to build something like this. I think it’s actually quite brilliant.
Love my little town. Well, I guess Lynnwood isn’t that terribly “little” any more. But that’s another blog post.
A few blocks from my house in Lynnwood there’s this beat up home that screams bank-owned to me. The front window is broken out, there are two abandoned vehicles in the front yard with their windows broken out. However, this is a decent neighborhood, close to Daleway and Lynndale parks. The main drawback to the house: it sits on a busy street. Outside of the recession, though, this is quite an unusual state for houses around here.
The homeowner on this one, Marcos Santiago, struggled quite bit. Per county records, the house was in danger of foreclosure, but, if you review the court records, it looks like he managed to negotiate a loan modification back in 2010/2011. Now, though, they received a notice of trustees sale back on November 4 of 2013, which hasn’t been released.
Sadly, Mr. Santiago passed away just a few weeks later on November 20, 2013. The closeness of his death to the foreclosure made me wonder if his death was a suicide, but I don’t see any information supporting that. And I’m not feeling curious enough to pay for a copy of the death certificate.
Another tidbit about this home: Marcos’ son, Marcos Jr., a level three sex offender, actually had a community meeting to address concerns about him living at this home. Shortly after the meeting, he ended up in trouble with the law again. Clearly, a troubled young man. I’m not sure what happened to him after this. He didn’t appear in the sex offender database.
But back to house. It’s again in distress, with a sheriffs levy filled at the end of 2016. US Bank is the entity acting here. I wonder if this will come on the market as an REO (stands for Real Estate Owned, the accounting description for an asset owned by a bank). It was sold with a conventional loan, I don’t expect it to come on the market as a government held one, either. It could sell on the courthouse steps, too. Hard to gauge at this point.
I know how slow these processes can take. As the property is vacant, I expect the heirs don’t feel any great motivation to engage with the process. If so, it’ll be protracted. But, someday, it will be sold and someone else will take this home’s story and make it there own. I hope it will be a happier one.
I came across this at the Seattle Times: “Alaska Airlines will start passenger flights from Everett’s Paine Field”
This has been hinted at for years, and then boldly stated (“Paine Field wins FAA’s approval for commercial airline flights” from 2012 and “Snohomish County OKs plan for commercial passenger terminal at Paine Field” more recently, in 2015)…at least that this was a plan. But, aside from Mukilteo’s battles, we seem to be moving this way. It’s definitely happening, and there’s a timeline: flights starting fall of 2018. The likelihood that this will be stopped is quite small (though Mukilteo hasn’t fully given up the fight yet), though I’m hardly an attorney. Delayed: sure. Stopped: hard to picture that happening.
Anyway, I see this as a mixed thing. I’d much rather travel out of Paine Field than driving down to Seatac. I’ve sworn on a few occasions that the next time I fly, I’ll travel out of Bellingham. But I haven’t yet. So, convenience is nice. And bringing in air service opens up events and conventions to the county, through Everett and Lynnwood. It also opens up the south Snohomish County region to businesses that depend on access to airports. At least a little.
I expect that service will start small and light, slowly expanding their operations. I believe the negotiations that have established a 22 flight max and the near normal business hours as sincere, but there will be pressure to increase capacity…and probably as soon as flights start. Especially since Seatac seems to be pretty near capacity and demand is still increasing.
This will bring more traffic to the area. And then there’s the aircraft noise. I’m glad Mukilteo is working with the entities at play to mitigate as much as we can. However, it will come. It will come. I’m also glad that we’re looking at significant infrastructure upgrades to the area (check out the Harbour Reach Corridor Project, for one).
It is interesting that this is just two weeks after a plane crash in the neighborhood. From a PR perspective, it’s a good thing this media cycle played out as it did. Well, for the proponents of this it is.
I’ve always tried to focus on the practical, the effective. It looks like we need to adapt to the new reality. As I see Snohomish County growing more urbanized over the next few years. This is the reality I’m referring to. My little piece of suburbia is moving away from a semi-rural feel to a far more urban structure. And this will fuel it.
​Spent the evening with my folks celebrating Mothers Day. I love that I’m physically close to them, so can keep an emotional closeness. Though, at times, it’s surreal to be back in Lynnwood, within sight of the home I grew up in.
Many, many memories can and went. Stories told with my son, developing the generational connections. So much of my life took place right here, within a short drive of my folks’ home. So many transformative memories flowed through my mind today.
Most of the day I slept. Fighting some kind of virus, wakefulness was elusive.
Yesterday we went to the Reptile Expo at the Monroe Fairgrounds. Then down to the old Woodway highschool for the Edmonds Heights production of Addams Family. The reptile expo was cool, opening my eyes more to herpetological fans, and what they see in their fine scaled friends. And I thought the kids were wonderful.
Now I’m on my couch listening to St. Mark’s compline service on KING FM. So many rich memories here. I was a member at the cathedral for many years. I’ve so many memories of the halls there. And many evenings, sitting in the darkened gnave. Surrounded by this microcosm of Seattle. Wealthy socialites, broke college students, street kids, the roughest-edged folks, all crammed into the cathedral every Sunday evening.
The tranquility I’ve felt there has rarely been equalled. Someday I need to take my son down and introduce him to this ancient worship style. It holds deep meaning​for me.
Swung by the Lynnwood Albertsons this evening. Needed some staples. Well, the store renovation is solidly underway. Tiles are ripped up and shelves are getting shuffled around. The layout is different enough to make getting around the store challenging. No work yet on anything structural, so I expect more changes. I’m looking forward to the store being brought into more contemporary styling.
Now, I’ve been told it will be rebranded as a Safeway. And I actually don’t care that much. Not sure the decision process on that, but I wasn’t part if it. There’ll be an updated store very close to home. That’s what matters to me, in the end.
I must admit that there not being an Albertsons in this door does tickle something. There’s always been one here. ALWAYS! I have no memory of anything else. That will probably hit me at some point.
But not now.
Today’s weather was certainly quirky. Earlier in the afternoon, it was nice enough in Marysville to get a 20 minute walk in.
Not too much later the thunderstorm rolled through. My son and I planned to hit the gym, but the weather knocked the power out there. So, we went out for a little ride.
Now, it had cleared up as we were gearing up. But it started to pour as we headed out. We opted to keep going. It was my son’s first real rain ride.
I’ve become a fair weathered cyclist over the years. So it was nice to get out and get wet on the road. I love riding so, and need to get back in the saddle more.
I want to push my fitness higher again. Not get my fitness back. Rather, adapt and create a new life, with a solid center of fitness.
Besides riding, I want to get into kayaking. I’ve a fair amount of experience…and I want more.
Also, during the winter I want to get deeper into cross-country skiing. That’s one I really miss.
Perhaps you, like me, has a medicine cabinet filled with expired medications you have had no idea what to do with. The garbage, as well as the toilet, we know are terrible.
So, here’s a solution: the National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day this Saturday, April 29th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.
In south Snohomish County, we can head to Mountlake Terrace’s police department located at 5906 232nd St SW, Mountlake Terrace.
If you don’t live close to Terrace, this link will help you find a closer participating location.
Today was pretty delightful. First, got to sleep in…always a boon.
My wife and I hit the Brook’s Tent Sale. Though I’m no longer a runner, my wife and son are. And I’m something of an avid walker, so good shoes are valuable to me.
Next stop, a friend of ours, who makes killer cinnamon rolls, made some killer cinnamon rolls and shared some with us.
We then went and walked around the Edmonds waterfront. One of our favorite places. Calm, peaceful, and people who will actually politely greet each other.
On our way home, we stopped at Mel & Mias, a gem of a bakery/coffee shop in the Perrinville neighborhood of Edmonds/Lynnwood. Charming, delightful place. Light and inviting aura, and excellent treats. Oh, and coffee that’s quite unique. Today got to try a monsoon coffee from India. I’ve never had Indian coffee, so that was a delight in-and-of-itself. The processing for this is unique. They basically cage the coffee beans and let the rains clean away the husk and pulp of the cherry. It had mild citrus and berry notes which paired well with our cherry tart.
For dinner we went to help celebrate our favorite Mexican place’s (La Raza) 8th anniversary. Though we had to leave before the mariachi band arrived, it was great seeing the good folks there having a deserved good time.
Nothing monumental or life changing. Mostly, just life affirming and charming. The sun shone brightly, which was a pleasant change. All in all, no complaints.
Here’s wishing every one of you a blessed Easter, no matter which faith your practice. May we all find peace and joy…in the small things.