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Living in Washington State: Pine Trees
April 15, 2016 /My mother never let me shirk trash duty. No matter how much I begged, no matter how much I railed against the Machiavellian family dynamics that forced me to take out the trash every night after dinner, my mother remained unmoved. “Listen here, buckaroo,” she used to say, pointing at me with a wooden spoon. “I just spent half the day slaving over dinner and the least you can do is take out the trash. Besides, it’ll build character.” “But Mom!” I wailed, “Coyotes will eat me!” “Fine. Take Emily Dickinson with you.” (Emily Dickinson was the name of our basset hound, a pitiful creature who waddled through life in a remarkably portly and morose fashion. Her companionship was little consolation.) Before you scoff at my cowardly reluctance to finish my chores, it’s important to understand that our house was surrounded by a vast forest of pine trees. When I took out the garbage, I wasn’t blithely strolling to the end of a suburban driveway; instead, I was venturing out into utter darkness, into a wilderness rustling beneath a web of stars. Taking out the garbage at night was less like performing a mundane duty and more like participating in…Read more
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Living in Washington State: Coffee
April 8, 2016 /I’ve drunk a cup of black coffee every morning since I turned 16 and, apart from the occasional spasm of anxious twitching, I don’t seem to have suffered any permanent damage. It might seem strange that I graduated to the Black Coffee Stage at an age when most folks are still dilly-dallying with milk and sugar, but you have to understand that I am a native of Washington State, and for me, that means black coffee. I grew up in a household of obsessive coffee drinkers, a world of bleary-eyed adults shuffling groggily through each morning, clutching mugs of java like partially drowned sailors clinging to life preservers. My mother and stepfather were especially avid coffee drinkers, people who brewed a cheap and rugged beverage in a dented percolator during the wee hours of the morning. For them, coffee was an Everyman drink, a drink for the Average Joe that ripped enamel off our teeth and boiled in our guts, emboldening us to persevere through nine months of rain and cold and darkness. It was an unspoken rule in our house that talking was not permitted until we’d had our coffee. Each morning we’d sit around, clad in slippers…Read more
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Issaquah Highlands: Homeownership Made Affordable!
April 8, 2016 /Doesn’t it seem like everywhere you look there is new construction these days? The Seattle area is swiftly growing into a hub for industry and innovation, and the rapid employment growth has lead to an increase in demand for housing. It seems like new developments are sprouting up overnight to support the burgeoning population, and housing prices are continuing to climb to impressive heights. In an effort to maintain housing affordability, King County is helping to manage growth and development through a program called ARCH. A Regional Coalition for Housing, or ARCH, is designed to provide affordable housing in East King County cities. Through a partnership between King County and member cities, ARCH offers the support and resources needed to serve a wide range of housing needs, including affordable ownership. What buyers should know… When a home that is part of the ARCH program goes on the market, buyers with a household income at or below a max guideline are given first priority. For the first 60 or 90 days an ARCH home is listed, only buyers who meet this income requirement can make an offer. ARCH also maintains affordability by setting max resale values for each of the homes…Read more
