CONTENTS 6/13/2020
This Thursday!!!!!
Revised Elizabeth Park Summer Concert Schedule
Senior Motor Parade
Chalk Update
Restaurant Masks Revisited
Found A Kitty?
Hornet Correction: Better News
Park Parking
Radio Free Fl!p: Libba Cotten
REVISED ELIZABETH PARK SUMMER CONCERT SCHEDULE
THIS THURSDAY!!!!!
Thanks to the partnership of The Eldridge Society for History and Preservation and Bellingham Parks and Recreation, as well as the support and friendship of VARVID and KMRE-FM 102.3, you can still watch or listen to the Elizabeth Park Summer Concert series this summer.
The concerts are a mix of Live and pre-recorded performances and will be live-streamed on the Elizabeth Park Summer Concert Series Facebook page. You won’t need to have Facebook to watch it there. If you do have a Facebook account, think about hosting your own “watch party.”
Or, you can listen to the livestream broadcast on KMRE-FM 102.3, every Thursday from June 18 until August 20.
Either way, turn up your speakers!!
There have been some changes to the schedule since I sent out the original lineup earlier this year. It’s been a long three months. Thanks for your understanding.
ELIZABETH PARK SUMMER 2020 LINEUP
DATE BAND GENRE
06/18/20 Free Harmony
Classic folk-rock harmonies
06/25/20 CraigO’s Planet Groove
Grateful Dead meets New Orleans Funk
07/02/20 The Sweet Goodbyes
Folk/Pop
07/09/20 High Mountain String Band
Bellingham Based Progressive Bluegrass Band
7/16/20 Free Harmony Classic
folk-rock harmonies
7/23/20 4TENS Band
Fun Classic Rock Party Music
07/30/20 Di Young/Fruit Cocktail
Sultry Jazz and Pop Ensemble/Eclectic
08/06/20 Fossil Rock
50’s and 60’s Hits
08/13/20 bandZandt
The County’s Best Dance Band
08/20/20 CraigO’s Planet Groove
Grateful Dead meets New Orleans Funk
SENIOR MOTOR PARADE
Sincere thanks to Natalie and Chris Wermus for organizing today’s Graduation Parade. It was glorious!!! I got a little teary-eyed over it. What a lovely idea. And all those decorated vehicles really felt like a parade! Thank you everybody, and congratulations to all our graduates!!!
CHALK UPDATE
I have pastel children’s chalk to distribute now. The bright colors will arrive in about a week and a half. I’m happy to let people come pick up chalk early, but I beg you to save it for July 4th. We still have a shortage. And if you can get your own, that would be great! Dakota Art 360-676-8918 on Cornwall, Launching Success 360-527-2641, and the Toy Garden (360)-714-8552 in Fairhaven all have or recently had chalk.
RESTAURANT MASKS REVISITED
Just thought I’d add to the mentioning of restaurants and workers. Restaurant staff does earn minimum wage now, not a living wage for sure, so generous tips are always appreciated. The entire staff at the Hearthfire Grill are wearing masks and taking every precaution to keep everyone safe. ~ Cindi Nutter
I just wanted to quickly comment about the restaurant mask issue. I completely agree with your approach; legally restaurant workers are required to wear a mask and anyone who sees otherwise should ask to speak with the manager on duty. We are in this together and businesses that do not follow the rules put our economic reopening at risk along with people’s lives. I also wanted to point out that stating that restaurant servers are making less than minimum wage is simply incorrect. Every official worker in the state earns at least $13.50 per hour. There is no server or tip wage in this state. ~ Chas Kubis, Lynn St
Thanks Cindi & Chas! I guess it’s been a long time since I waited tables. I’m glad the situation has improved. Does anyone know if agricultural workers count as “official workers?” I would hate to try to live on $13.50 an hour. Please, everybody, wear your mask when your server comes to your table, and tip generously. OK? ~ Love/Fl!p
FOUND A KITTY?
Today on Nextdoor, someone posted a picture of a kitty and asked if anyone was missing it. This may have been my daughter’s missing kitty and we freaked out because he’s been gone since October. They fed, held and photographed the kitty before letting it go. By the time we got there, he was gone and we were both in tears.
~Keri Clark, 3119 Meridian St
It’s a heartbreaking situation, since your kitty has been gone since October and there were no photos of him posted online to let your neighbors know he was a Missing Kitty. How could you have dreamed to keep reposting after so long?
A lost pet is likely to be thin or bedraggled, and appear distressed and often disoriented. My suggestion for neighbors is, if you find what may be a stray cat, every vet in town will check for a ID chip, for free. Even the 24 hour emergency pet clinic. That’s step #1. And for humans possessed by cats, get your pet chipped ASAP, and if you move or change phone numbers, make sure you update your contact information. There are so many tears this can avoid.
Beyond that, if you find a pet, check all the local lost pet posting spots, and post photos of your guest in all of them as well. Off the top of my head, I think first of Craigslist, Columbia Neighborhood Facebook page, NextDoor.com, and me. It really helps me if you post to one of the others first, with a photo, and send me a link to flip@columbianeighborhood.org. It helps if the subject line reads Lost or Found Cat (or dog, chicken, parakeet, bunny etc…Does anyone remember Romeo?).
On the other hand, I have certainly known, and even been possessed by, cats who kept multiple humans, just out of general friendliness, or perhaps to be sure there was always plenty of food available. So I would not imprison a guest who wasn’t in obvious distress, at least not if the weather was fine, beyond a trip to see if there was a chip. You could also make a collar out of a strip of paper, and write your name and phone number on it, to help the cat’s other family (families?) know where their cat disappears to.
And then there are feral cats. Many of them have been trapped, neutered and released back into the wild. This keeps the feral population down. Such cats will have been “tipped” – the tip of one ear removed for identification from a distance. These cats will keep their distance.
HORNET CORRECTION: BETTER NEWS
Along with many other Whatcom County residents (I’m sure), I’ve been reading up on the giant hornets. This article, along with other sources, confirm stings from these insects are extremely painful, but death from a sting is rare, unless someone is allergic or is stung dozens of times (not 3-4). I figured some of your readers might rest easy knowing 3-4 stings aren’t typically lethal. ~ Janae Brewster https://www.google.com/amp/s/api.nationalgeographic.com/distribution/public/amp/animals/2020/05/why-asian-giant-hornets-have-painful-stings
PARK PARKING
Our parks department limited parking last month at many local parks to limit overcrowding. They also activated Parks Ambassadors to remind people to social distance. Even as the situation in our parks has eased a bit as we have learned more about the virus and transmission, enforcement of the local parking code, once ramped up, has remained stricter. Official rules that have rarely been enforced in the past are now being enforced. The city believes that rules, to be fair, must not be selectively applied. At least one resident who lives along Lorraine Ellis Park thinks the rules don’t fit everywhere and don’t always make sense. I’ll let him speak for himself:
I just talked with the Parks Department, and while it’s true that they are limiting parking at parks, that is not the case with Lorraine Ellis Park. They’ve decided that parking on the grass is illegal. And the funny thing is, well a dog does more damage & bicycles are not allowed on the grass per the Bellingham Municipal Code for the parks. Just wait until little Billy down the street gets a ticket. Same fine as a car. I just don’t think they can enforce part of the BMC and not pick & choose. ~ Dave Lind, Lorraine Ellis Court
RADIO FREE FL!P: LIBBA (ELIZABETH) COTTEN
Oh, Babe It Ain’t No Lie
My beloved “guitar grandma.” – I first heard Libba play in 1968 and that one evening’s concert changed my whole life. Her music went in somewhere so deep that my heart filled up and spilled over into tears. She made it sound so simple (hah!) that I went home and turned off my radio and starting trying to figure out how she did it. You may have heard her song Freight Train. Pepter Paul and Mary recorded it. In the 1970s and 80s I used to host concerts here in Bellingham for Libba. She would come stay with me and she’d sit on the couch and play her tunes with me, the same tune for hours, up to speed and complete, while I tried to figure out what she was doing. Upside down and backwards. She took a standard guitar, tipped it over and played it left handed. I learned how to listen. And as she shared, she modeled for me taking the time to love. Love takes time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhQLxGmU4QA
I’m going to see if I can post an old photo of the two of us. Wish me luck!
http://flipandzeke.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/libba-and-flip-2.jpg
Love/Fl!p 360-671-4511 flip@columbianeighborhood.org
If you want to ask me to post something, just email me. If it’s urgent, phone. If it’s a real emergency, call 911.