Since its beginning in 1921, the Center for Spiritual Living Seattle has been a “welcoming, inclusive community, honoring all paths to the Divine, teaching universal spiritual principles and practices that inspire and empower.”

Having recently relocated from their longtime Sand Point home to 6318 Linden Ave N near Green Lake, they have created a monthly conversation series with Rev. Abigail Schairer, Stephanie Anne Johnson, and a special guest held on Wednesdays April through July. You can see the entire schedule here.

“While most of us would rather not talk about race, gender, sexuality, and size in spiritual spaces, it is necessary. Why? Because every single one of us is living this life in a body. Our skin color, size, sexuality, and gender impact how we move through the world, including spiritual spaces,” relayed Rev. Andrea Weatherhead, Staff Minister and Marketing and Communications Strategist at CSL.

The first conversation is tomorrow, Wednesday, April 19th from 12pm-1pm on Center for Spiritual Living Seattle’s Facebook Page. This month’s guest is Rev. Dr. Kelle J Brown, Senior Pastor at Plymouth Church United Church of Christ in Seattle. She is a vocal presence for justice in Seattle and beyond. Kelle is a Theomusicologist of the Poor People’s Campaign and invites those she meets to follow Howard Thurman’s sage wisdom: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

Join PhinneyWood’s own socially conscious jewelry store, Aide-mémoire, in celebrating motherhood, family, and caregiving with their Love Makes a Family event on Mother’s Day weekend. When you purchase a Circle of Love Pendant, you’ll receive a complimentary mini-photo shoot on May 13th, captured by talented photographer, Bri McDaniel.

During the photo shoot, mom or the guest of honor will adorn the Circle of Love Pendant, surrounded by loved ones of their choice – children, family members, or friends. Along with your pendant, you’ll also take home a mini-bouquet of fresh flowers and receive an email link to your keepsake photo.

The Circle of Love Pendant, designed by Aran Galligan, is inspired by the concept of nesting. The pendants come in various sizes, with smaller circles nestling inside the larger ones, like a warm embrace. Each shape has its unique and distinct quality. You can choose different precious metals for each pendant, making each Circle of Love charm truly unique, just like the individuals in your caregiving circle.

As a mother, photographer Bri McDaniel understands the significance of capturing precious moments with your children. Often, mothers and primary caretakers are the ones behind the camera, so this event is a unique opportunity to document this fleeting time in each family’s story and celebrate all the hard work of mothers and caregivers. Bri hopes this event will create lasting memories and make mothers and caregivers feel seen and appreciated.

Place your order for the Circle of Love Pendant by April 29th. Post-purchase, you’ll receive an email with time slot options for a complimentary mini-photo shoot at Aide-mémoire (7003 3rd Ave NW) on May 13th.

Bake Sale Seattle is a team of professional bakers working in bakeries in Ballard, teaching classes in PCC, and alumni of Seattle Central’s Breads and Desserts Program. Their vision is to make a positive change one cake at a time, and organize events and classes for charitable causes. This year, they have raised $7,780, and with the help of a matching fund donated $11,100 to charity causes supporting Ukraine and Puerto Rico. 

Next up is a Pierogi and Cake Sale for Ukraine. All net proceeds will be doubled and donated to NOVA Ukraine to help with providing medical and humanitarian aid in the ongoing war in Ukraine. Organizers kindly ask to pre-order by Thursday, April 20 here. Pick up will be available in Greenwood Seattle, Sunday, April 23rd, 11am – 2pm and the address will be provided in your order confirmation email. 

Donations will be taken in cash or Venmo.

Bake Seattle’s team created a seasonal menu filled with delicious desserts featuring Ukrainian, American and Latin American classics – and of course traditional Ukrainian varenyky (pierogi). There is also strawberry buttermilk cake, ginger biscuits, honey cake, chocolate chip cookies, tres leche cake and more.

Some of the past projects could be found on instagram and their web page.

Come to a free Homebuyer Education Class to learn about the home buying process and set yourself up to find your first home with confidence. Designed to educate and empower, the class will cover an in depth review of the real estate purchasing process, financing considerations, and programs designed to offer support to first time homebuyers.  

Taught by Phinney Ridge realtor Kristen Adams, from Windermere Greenwood and lender Edee AhYat with Fairway Mortgage, class will be held online on Thursday 5/4 from 5 – 7pm. Once registered, you have the opportunity to schedule individual consultations after class.  

Kristen and Edee both have a background in education, and share a passion for educating aspiring homeowners and supporting their financial literacy and well-being.  Through their classes and consultations Kristen and Edee have supported hundreds of aspiring homeowners in the Seattle area, and look forward to answering your questions and speaking to your specific home buying goals.  

RSVP to secure your spot today 

The class will be held online via Google Meets and the event link will be emailed to you after registration.  If you have any questions, contact Kristen at (206) 940-6771 or [email protected]

Photo by Soroush Karimi on Unsplash

This is a monthly contribution to the Blog by Greenwood realtor Doron Weisbarth

Slowly but surely, we entered the spring sale season. As a reminder, year-over-year comparisons might be misleading, as the market last year was red-hot and out of control. Instead compare the current dataset to that of the past few months. What you’ll find is a market that is continuing to pick up speed. You can see the full report online at PhinneyWoodHomes.com. 

One parameter that needs to be put into context is the ‘Sale Price’. To help increase density, the city is allowing more homes to be built per acre, while also limiting the size of those homes. Many of these homes are then condominiumized. The net result is that most of the homes that are being built in our PhinneyWood neighborhood – and there are a lot of them – are smaller and sometimes classified as condos. So, an important parameter to track is ‘Price per Sq Ft’, which I added to the report starting this month. You can clearly see that the ‘Price per Sq Ft’ has been rising faster and longer than ‘Sale Price’, both for SFHs and for condos.  

Overall, the market remains active and strong, aided by declining mortgage interest rates, strong demand, and weak supply.  

Thinking of selling your PhinneyWood home, or buying a home in our neighborhood? Find out how the PhinneyWoodHomes data can guide you to make better decision. For a free, no-obligation consultation, call Doron Weisbarth at 206-779-9808. 

On April 15th, our neighborhood art Center Dabble will clear away their furniture and let the paint fly! Bring your own canvas (or other rigid painting surface) up to 5’ x 12’ to spread out on the floor and paint. Canvases can also be purchased from Dabble.

Paintings must be taken with you at the end of your session (even if they’re wet – and they will be). Price includes house paint, stirring/flinging sticks, brushes, plastic booties and other materials for flinging paint. You can work on one giant painting or several small pieces all at once. Max 4 people per group and all ages are welcome. You can book your session here.

Before the event, you can bring your old house paint to Dabble to be turned into art. Donations will be accepted until the day before the sessions. Please come during drop in hours (W-F 10am – 8pm, Sa 10am-3pm). Do not leave paint outside. Must be water soluble latex – no enamels, laquers or stains.

Splatter Sessions and Paint Recycling at Dabble
306 N. 83rd Street
April 15th, 10am – 3pm

Versatile Arts, our local PhinneyWood aerial arts school, is now open for summer youth camp registration. Established in early 2007 as Seattle’s first full-time school dedicated to aerial arts, Versatile Arts teaches a structured curriculum that stresses safety and control at all levels of instruction. Their mission is to “provide a creative, safe, supportive environment where circus artists of all levels can learn, train, perform and be inspired.”

The summer youth camp will run from Monday July 17th through Friday July 21st and will focus on circus arts. Each day, students will cycle through classes in aerial arts, ground acrobatics, and juggling. A variety of aerial apparatuses will be offered, and students will be organized into small groups based on aerial experience. Camp is open to all levels of students, including intro-level students and those new to circus. Each day will be divided into three 50-minute classes with short breaks in between providing opportunities for snacks and socializing.

Learn more and register here. If you have questions about camp week, please contact [email protected]

As news began to spread about the possible demise of the Couth Buzzard, an immediate reaction from their community has spurred new hope. According to the GoFundMe site “Save the Couth Buzzard“,

“Our answer to this news is, Not On Our Watch! We are the “Friends Of The Buzzard,” a group of people who love the Couth Buzzard and whose lives have been changed by the bonds and friendships we’ve made there. We make music there. We meet with fellow writers there. We attend amazing concerts there. It’s a balm for loneliness and isolation. It’s a place of acceptance and caring for anyone who walks in the door. We want to imagine how the Couth Buzzard can do more than survive from crisis to crisis but thrive and grow. We don’t know what that looks like yet, but we want to buy time to create a map and a business plan for a reimagined Couth Buzzard.”

In addition to being a used and new book store and coffee house, the Couth Buzzard is also an essential venue for numerous music, writing and social groups who depend on the space for their work. Per Doug Plummer, one of the Friends of the Buzzard organizers, “I like the metaphor of the Couth Buzzard as a keystone species in an ecosystem. Remove it, and the system starts collapsing. The glue that holds us together in community starts to fragment and weaken. The society is sicker without places like the Couth Buzzard.”

If you would like to be a stand for music, books, writing and community, please consider donating to the Couth Buzzard relief efforts here. If you have any questions or can offer assistance or resources to this effort, please contact the organizers at [email protected]