Great Gifts Ideas You Might Not Think Of.

Predictability can be a good thing, like when you're making Mom's traditional recipes for Christmas cookies. But when it comes to gifts under the tree, if it looks like a shirt box, feels like a shirt box, and sounds like a shirt box, it's probably a shirt. Ditto for new slippers, CDs, and toiletries. Part of the joy of giving is the joy of surprising. Let's shake things up this year.

Refresh your gift-giving habits and delight recipients with these suggestions:

Go "green" and support local farmers.

"What can be a greener gift than supporting local farmers at a local farmers market?" Good question, posed by Holly Foster of Tacoma's Zestful Gardens. This WSDA certified organic farm owned and operated by Holly and her mother Valerie Forster, participates in 3 local farmers markets: Broadway, Proctor, & Steilacoom. "You can purchase Zestful Dollars (gift certificates) in $50. $100, & $300 amounts for your friends, family, or co-workers to spend throughout the Farmers Market Growing season at the Zestful Gardens' booth," Holly says. Email her at zestfulgardens@gmail.com to purchase a "zestful & green" gift certificate. For more information about Zestful Gardens visit www.zestfulgardens.org." Winter won't last forever, and your gift will give someone something to look forward to next spring. Other farmers offer gift certificates too.

For our neighbors to the north, Seattle Tilth is offering a "2 for 1" membership through the end of the month of December. Take advantage of this opportunity while you can, and also check out some other exciting gift ideas on their website, like the "Maritime Northwest Garden Guide planning calendar. Click here to learn more.

For bird lovers, the "Bird Watching Answer Book" by Laura Erickson, Science Editor at the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology, makes a perfect small gift or stocking-stuffer for only $14.95. It is published by Storey Publishing and available through Amazon. Get answers to questions like these: Why is a cardinal attacking my windows? (p.87) Will birds explode if they eat rice thrown after a wedding? (p.17) How can I keep squirrels out of my bird feeders? (p.37) Do birds play? (p.268) Why don’t birds fall off branches as they sleep? (p. 305) Listen to the author talk about the book on this You Tube video.

Membership in your local Audubon Society will delight an individual or entire family with many opportunities for outings, education, and fun. It also includes a subscription to their magazine full of amazing photography and articles that captivate.

Speaking of memberships, don't forget about local Museums such as Seattle's Museum of Flight. They offer so many exhibits, lectures, and fun activities year 'round, I can't even list them all. Incidentally, my connections at the museum tell me SANTA will be arriving there by helicopter this Saturday, Dec. 12, with live reindeer on the scene too.

Tacoma's Washington State History Museum is one of my favorite places, but we also have the Tacoma Art Museum, Museum of Glass and Children's Museum.

Then there are those one-of-a-kind gifts that can be priceless even when they cost next to nothing. If you're an older member of the family, write down your life story or special memories, bind simply, and give as gifts. Include copies of old photos. It's easy to go to the Kodak machine at places like Bartell Drugs and make them inexpensively.

Frame a child's drawing for grandparents. Give a little girl a treasure chest of costume jewelry you don't wear anymore, for playing "dress up." My sister-in-law gives her 94-year-old mother, who lives in an adult group home, boxes of all-occasion greeting cards, plus postage stamps. What a great idea. Consider tickets to an event. Do you have a family heirloom and know just who you'd like to have it someday? Why not give it to them NOW? If you knit and know someone who'd like to learn, give a skein of yarn, some knitting needles, and a "gift certificate" for lessons from you. This could apply to any skill. Just be sure to follow through. And those predictable old family recipes would be a great gift on a set of recipe cards or in a small binder.

Take joy in your giving. Think about avoiding waste. And remember that often the best gift of all is simply our TIME, LOVE, and ATTENTION.

Jazz, Scandinavians, Art, and Aliens - the Northwest Has it All

Anyone who dares to whine, "I'm b-o-r-e-d," doesn't belong around here, where we like to have FUN. So "get a life" and get out and about. This post on Good Life Northwest offers a few ideas of things to do this week and weekend.

First of all is the jazz. For those who read this on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009, get on down to Seattle's Pike Place Market area TONIGHT and take in a great jazz trio at the Pink Door restaurant. Wednesdays always mean a fine time there with the best Italian food and Casey MacGill's Blue 4 Trio. This week though, band members Mike and Matt aren't available so Casey has invited two other great local musicians: Ray Skjelbred on piano and Dave Brown on bass, performing with him from 8-11 p.m. If you read this too late, too bad. But you might still be able to catch the First Thursday Band (guess when) on this first Thursday, Nov. 5, at the New Orleans Creole Restaurant in Seattle's Pioneer Square. Hear Ray Skjelbred and Dave Brown again, playing in this swinging quartet while you dine on flavorful New Orleans and Creole food in one of the city's oldest buildings. Check out all the portraits of jazz greats that cover the walls.

Even if you miss these two performances there's still the Lance Buller Trio at Maxwell's, 454 St. Helens Ave. in Tacoma on Sat. Nov. 7, 8-11 p.m. He plays a hot horn, sings, and makes you laugh. A proud citizen of Tacoma, Lance is known far and wide.

Treat yourself to an exhibit at the Tacoma Art Museum called "A Concise History of Northwest Art," featuring works from the museum's collection covering the decades from about 1880 to the present. It just opened and runs through May 23, 2010. I plan to go, so watch for my review here soon.

Don't forget the exhibit called "In Search of Amelia Earhart," at Seattle's Museum of Flight. Whether or not you saw or enjoyed the movie "Amelia," you'll love the exhibit. I wrote about it here last week, and it is as exciting as promised. You don't want to miss this opportunity to see over 100 artifacts including an actual part of the missing plane. Click on the link, if you don't believe me. And there's more going on...

This Saturday at 2 p.m. the Museum of Flight offers a lecture that's "out of this world." Dr. Woody Sullivan, a University of Washington astronomer will speak in the William M. Allen Theater on several topics related to the possibility of life on other planets, including the search for Earth-like planets, the likelihood of life on other planets within our solar system, and SETI, an institute focused on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. He's been involved with SETI for three decades and is the man behind the SETI@home project. Although the interest in extraterrestrial life is nothing new, now scientists can carry out experiments and research. Check the Museum of Flight website for details. The lecture is free with admission and part of the museum's celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009.

Need some fresh Pacific Ocean air? Head out west to Ocean Shores for the "Jazz at the Beach" Dixieland Jazz Festival, with nine bands featuring the music of America's great "Jazz Age." While you're in Ocean Shores, enjoy the coast. No matter what the weather, it's always good for the body and soul to be there, hear waves and seagulls, and breathe all that oxygen.

Speaking of waves and seagulls, that makes me think of our proud local Scandinavians whose ancestors helped shape Pacific Northwest culture. My own Danish great-grandfather was a pioneer on Vashon Island. All the Scandinavian countries will be represented at fun events this weekend and next. Experience the Northwest's Nordic heritage at the Scandinavian Festival in Bellingham. Presented by the Nellie Gerdrum Lodge #41, of the Daughters of Norway, this festival draws an eager crowd every year for Scandinavian vendors, live music, a cafe with traditional foods, a bakery full of delicious pastries, and hourly door prizes. The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Fox Hall at the Hampton Inn hotel, 3895 Bennett Drive. Admission in ONE DOLLAR.

Next week you can attend another fabulous festival, the Nordic Fest in Langley, on Whidbey Island. Find Scandinavian sweaters, jewelry, traditional foods, live entertainment and more. This event is presented by the Ester Moe Lodge # 39, D.O.N. Time: 9:30am – 3:30pm, at the South Whidbey High School Commons, 5675 Maxwelton Road.

See why I call it GOOD LIFE NORTHWEST? Now go enjoy yourself.

Amelia Earhart "Visits" the Museum of Flight

If Amelia Earhart's airplane had landed safely on tiny Howland Island, in 1937, instead of disappearing over the Pacific Ocean, there might not have been a movie "Amelia" debuting at theaters here in Tacoma and all over the nation this weekend. America's most popular woman pilot would still be famous. No doubt she would have successfully completed that last leg of her flight around the world, and gone on to break more records. But on July 2, 1937, when Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, failed to show up on the island to refuel, she became the subject of a fascination that persists after 72 years.

Theater owners expect large crowds for this film, starring Hilary Swank as Amelia, and Richard Gere as her husband. But it won't be the only show in town. On October 24, the same weekend, a new exhibit called "In Search of Amelia Earhart" opens at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. Chris Mailander, Director of Exhibits, says, "This is possibly the most comprehensive exhibit about Amelia ever." He and Annie Mejia, PhD., Content Developer, spent months putting it together, gathering a vast assortment of artifacts, including some of Earhart's clothing, over 100 photos, newsreel footage, audio recordings, reproductions of newspaper articles, and much more. But the most compelling artifact is a real piece of Earhart's Lockheed Electra twin-engine plane.

How is that possible? Earhart's fatal trip, flying east, was actually a second attempt. On the first try she began by flying west. In March of 1937 she taxied to take off from Luke Airfield in Hawaii with her plane heavy with fuel, and had an accident. A member of the military named Dan Stringer picked up a piece of the wreckage and saved it all these decades. Earhart's plane was repaired and her trip eventually started over. And Stringer's souvenir eventually landed in the hands of his grandson, Jon Ott, in San Jose, California.

Mejia happened to watch Episode 706 of the PBS Television show "History Detectives" and saw the story of Ott's artifact and how researchers declared it authentic. Her excitement over this discovery, and her efforts on behalf of the museum, resulted in the piece of the plane being part of this exhibit.

After months of immersion in all things "Amelia," Mejia feels like she's come to know the real Earhart and like Mailander, eagerly awaits this weekend's openings of both the film and the museum's big event. "In the movie, Hilary Swank even wears a bracelet just like one Amelia wore," she says. But unlike the movie, the exhibit "In Search of Amelia Earhart" is no Hollywood production. It's the real thing. You'll end up feeling like you know this fascinating female aviator too.

The Museum of Flight is a "must see" any time. Even without Amelia Earhart to draw a crowd, over 400,000 people visited in 2008, according to Public Relations and Promotions Manager, Ted Huetter. He hopes this year's numbers end up even higher. "It's a Seattle landmark, a top attraction," he says, and you'll agree when you see over 150 rare and historically important aircraft and space vehicles, the Boeing Company's original "Red Barn" work shop, movies, reference library, vast numbers of photos, tens of thousands of artifacts, and more. He invites you to discover the real story that inspired the movie "Amelia" by visiting "In Search of Amelia Earhart." The thrill of aviation permeates this museum and, like Earhart, you just might fall in love with flight.

Museum of Flight
(at Boeing Field)

Phone: 206.764.5720

9404 East Marginal Way S
Seattle, WA 98108-4097

Exit 158 off Interstate 5