Sunday, May 10 at 9th & Fern. Have you taken note of spring at the Welcome Park, #1 stop on our Walking Park and entrance to our neighborhood?  On left, you'll see the parties responsible for the daffodils today, tulips tomorrow and more pleasures to come. Now, we need helping hands again to clean up the strawberry patch along Ninth, and do some sheet mulching on the east side to discourage the blackberries from taking over this summer.  Watch your Neighborhood email for details, or just show up at noon on Sunday May 10. Clippers, shovels, & gloves are good ideas! Contact Barb at barbsailor@yahoo.com. *************************************************************** And Saturday, May 9 at Midway St. off W. Bay Drive (off 4th!!). This is our Rainier View Bench -- #4 stop on the Walking Park.  Last year we dug out blackberries and morning glory, sheet mulched with black bark, installed the granite bench and solar steps.  Now we need to attack the weeds that survived and plant ground cover to sustain (there's that word!) our work and take another step toward making the spot a lovely interlude.  Watch your Neighborhood email for details, or just show up at noon on Saturday May 9. For more information contact Bethany at bethanyweidner@gmail.com.

Check out the newly-dressed Welcome Spot at 9th & Fern. More than a dozen of us showed up Sunday morning to provide some TLC to the winter-roughened plants at the "Welcome Spot" at 9th & Fern. SWONA VP Barb Day will supervise maintenance of this entry point on our Walking Park (click on People & Projects for details), with Joe Beck who lives next door serving as day-to-day "eyes on the park."  We were all pleased to see how well the park came through the winter -- no litter to speak of (thank you passers by using the trash container, and Joe for keeping it available); the sundial askew but still in place; and of course no abandoned cars or boats!  We righted a couple of toppling plants, pruned the hydrangea and some other plants, and used two loads of cardboard (thank you Ann Vandeman for the Left Foot truck and scavengers) and a huge load of chips delivered by arborist Greg Lukens to sheet mulch the soil.  This will keep water in once we enter the dry season, and hopefully discourage weeds. Thanks to Anamika, Ann, Barb, Bethany, Brad, Dan, Ed, Heidi, Joe, Joni, Matt, Rosemary, Shanna, Peyton, Wanda, and did I forget anyone??  Let me know!   Watch this space for a second spring work party to finish the mulching and weed the strawberry bed. Note:  Another workparty will be scheduled for planting at the Rainier Bench Spot.  A SWONA email will come around with specifics.

SWONA's annual meeting took place on Thursday, March 19 at 7 pm at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church. Officers elected were:  Diana Renison, President and Joni Schlarb Treasurer to fill out one-year terms (bringing us in line with our by-laws).  Barb Day VP and  Loraine Snell Secretary to two-year terms.  Meeting minutes will be posted at News and Views once they're ready.   (PS If you know anything about the bucket of seed potatoes that left the meeting room on their own...please contact Derek through swona2007@yahoo.com.

Gather at the corner of 6th and Plymouth to welcome in a new year, filled with hope for a better world. We'll have hot cider, our bonfire-in-a-barrel, and song sheets for singing together. This is for neighbors of every age...bring your imagination and your family.