More on the Edison Apartments

I just checked on the story about the killing of the landlady at the Edison Apartments. There was a candle light vigil for the landlady there that was attended by 100 people or so. She must have been a remarkable person to have had so many people care about her. I didn't read about any calls for vengence for the poor demented man who killed her. I hope he is getting the help he needs and that the system he slipped through is being reviewed.

I'm staying with cousins Joanne and Gordon for a few days. We, of course, talked about the events at the Edison. She located an old Everett News newspaper saved by our grandparents dated October 2, 1928. The first page headlines were, Edison Apartments are Sold." Here is what the text says. I'm copying it in case we lose the copy of the paper again.

Colby Avenue Apartment is Purchased by J.A. Mathews (misspelled)
New Brick Building Erected by Rudolph Hartmann in 1926.
Property Changes Hands for Figure Between $55,000 and $60,000

Negotiations for the purchase of the Edison apartment house at Colby and 24th Street by J.A. Matthews, who already owned an apartment at 2606 Rockefeller, have been completed, according to announcement made yesterday. Mr. Mathews will take possession of the property on November 1.

The Edison was sold by Rudolph Hartmann who built it in 1926. It is a three story and basement brick veneer structure and contains 18 apartments. Everything modern was put into the Edison by Mr. Hartmann and it has been tenanted to the limit ever since it was completed.

The purchase price was between $55,000 and $60,000.

Mr. Hartmann also is the owner of the Windsor apartments on Hoyt, adjoining which at 2620 is his home.

In the same block he is now razing a frame structure at 2614 Hoyt, which is one of the old landmarks of Everett.


My grandparents had such high hopes going into the business! Imagine the trouble that followed just one year later with the great crash of October, 1929. Joanne, who is 11 years older, remembers my grandmother talking about the heartache of trying to keep the business afloat. She said the teachers who stayed there really helped them because of their steady income. Apparently my grandfather had lost his pension from the railroad and became a dedicated Republican over that experience. Somehow the family made it through the Great Depression and kept the Edison. My grandparents sold it to my parents, who owned and operated it until they retired. My family members owned the Edison for close to 50 years.

Joanne and I are going to look at wedding dresses next. Barb from the Museum of History said that she is interested in a mother/daughter exhibit of wedding dresses. We want to put together documents and photos to go along with the dresses.

Transformation-Surprise

This has been a week for me to think about how to handle stress. Larry and I have had to get ready for the pest control folks to come spray our townhouse for the mite invasion. We were instructed to wash all of our clothes and textiles and seal them up in bags in the garage. They also suggested that we keep them there until after the second pesticide application in 10-14 days. It helped a little that I already had thinned down my clothes before we moved. Larry did the same. I also donated old towels and bedding. However, I sew and have a fabric stash that has been stored one wall over from "ground zero"--the site of the most obvious infestation of mites. That meant that I needed to wash all of it along with our clothes. I needed a good laundromat to make a success of it. To my surprise, I found the perfect place! Just a couple of miles away from us is a very special laundromat called Transformation-Surprise,. It is run by followers of Sri Chinmoy, who blessed it himself during a visit a few years ago. It is full of positive energy. The woman who works there helped me unload my car, figure out which washers to use for what, how much laundry powder was needed, and which dryers were best. The place is very clean, which I appreciated when I dropped clean clothes on the floor. It has free vegan cookies and filtered water and pleasant, soft music playing in the background. I couldn't have imagined a nicer laundry. I left there with a feeling of gratitude.

This experience of 2 solid days of doing laundry led me to think through successful ways to handle stress. I found that it helped to break the job down into smaller parts, instead of focusing on the whole job. In other words, I tried to focus on the "now" instead of what I had to do for the rest of the day. At the laundromat, I got to know some of the fellow customers in addition to the lovely attendant. We helped each other pass the time and make light of the work. I had an enjoyable conversation with a women doing a month's worth of clothing for her family. She had just moved to town and finally got around to finding a laundromat. She told me about her challenges and dreams. In most situations, you can find something positive if you look for it.

In addition to "living in the now" as a good way to cope, I also asked family for help. We couldn't stay in our house after spraying for at least one night, maybe two. Both sister Penny and cousin Joanne were happy to issue invitations to us. Larry decided to stay in Seattle with Penny, while I left town for a stay with cousins Joanne, Gordon, and their grandson Charlie. On the drive up to LaConner, I had time to decompress and think about all the textiles I handled. I decided that I should give myself a special birthday gift--I will give away 60 more things to celebrate turning 60. It should be easy. I don't need all my fabric stash and clothing. Instead of moving it upstairs again from the garage, I will donate 60 pieces from it. It is nice and clean now. I want to keep living with less.

Still Itchin'

Suzy said she wanted pictures, so here you go! It's my upper back after 3 days of treatment with anti-inflamatory medication. Actually, today (day 4 of medication) my back looks better. Today another pest control specialist came to look at our situation. He agreed with me right away that we have mites. They are tiny spiders about the size of the dot of this "i". They bite people and crawl all over the place. These critters probably came in along with the birds that were nesting in a vent before we moved in. I didn't think about it until I started getting bit. At any rate, now we know for sure what the problem is. Our property manager seems willing and ready to help. The owner is obligated to pay for the treatment and related expenses and hasn't given us any grief over it. Tomorrow another company is coming to size up the situation and make recommendations. They can possibly start treatment on Wednesday. I will probably go stay with sister Penny for a few days until the fogger or whatever they use settles. I'll be glad when the situation is resolved. It's become the major thing in my life right now and there are so many other fun things I could be thinking about, such as cleaning out our self-storage unit or sewing a new outfit for Larry's Special Invention Award Banquet in Sept. In spite of the infestation, I still like our townhouse and love the neighborhood. I woke up early this morning and went for a brisk walk to the vegan doughnut store. What a way to start the day!

Itchy Worries

Now that we are all moved into our beautiful townhouse in an exciting neighborhood, wouldn't you know it that an unexpected problem would come up. I either have a skin rash or have been feeding insects. Perhaps both! I have had red bumps like insect bites over much of my body since about the time we moved in. I had an exterminator come to look at a couple of insect samples I caught and to check for bed bugs, but he didn't find anything. He said to consult with my doctor as a next step. I really do have at least 100 of the red bumps and they itch like crazy. I saw my doctor, as the exterminator recommended. She prescribed prednasone to reduce the inflamation. I also switched detergents to a mild perfume free one and double rinse my clothes. That seems to be helping a little. I was all set to let my mind rest about insects being the cause of my trouble. Then this morning, while wearing my glasses, I noticed a few tiny dot-like creatures crawling on my skin. One was engorged with blood. When I was troubled by fleas many years ago, the fleas were larger and seemed to jump. I have saved a couple of samples by sticking them with tape. I think I'll call another exterminator on Monday. I know that my problem might have multiple causes, but I hope we figure out what is going on pretty soon. I miss having a good night's sleep!

Wells Fargo vs BECU and Fainting Goat vs Molly Moon

Yesterday my cousins Joanne and Gordon came to visit. We showed them how much progress we have made in unpacking and setting up our house. They acted impressed. We sat down for a visit. Joanne and I, of course, had to talk about the murder at the Edison Apartments. The Edison was part of her life, too, since our grandmother and great aunt lived there. I have some compassion for the murderer. He obviously was mentally ill--a paranoid schizophrenic. I'm guessing he really did not have control over his actions and needs to be institutionalized again. He did attack another landlady many years ago and attacked a man after that. He was on medications and appeared stable according to recent evaluations. It's hard to say if anybody is to blame in this tragedy. Sometimes the system just doesn't work. With the loss of such a good person, the urge is to blame someone. I don't know if there will be any actions taken against social services in this case. I'll be looking for follow-up, though. The landlady herself sounded like a person I would like to know. She was devoted to her family and friends and was kind and helpful to many people. She will be missed for a long time.

As a side note, this poor, troubled soul who murdered his landlady was not the only paranoid schizophrenic who lived at the Edison. My aunt Eva also lived there, where my mother patiently looked after her as best as she could. Eva wasn't diagnosed until I was in high school. We all knew that she wasn't playing with a full deck for most of her life. She married a man who ended up sexually abusing her daughter and she was not able to care for her two sons when they reached adolescence. They both ended up living in foster care on farms in the area. At any rate, she started thinking that the Russians were after her and would be afraid to stay in her apartment at times. She was mugged when she went to Clark Park to get away. She then went to a nursing home, where she died not too long afterward.

My parents also helped care for another schizophrenic--a next door neighbor who became ill after childbirth. She lived with her mother and would become violent at times. My father would restrain her to prevent her from harming her mother until the police came. He did that several times, as I recall. Maybe seeing my parents care for the mentally ill with kindness, but also with confusion, led me to study psychology.

This is turning in to a long post. Joanne told me that she read my blog recently, so I wanted to be sure to write about something. Today I had some thoughts on what is in the neighborhood. I have started really appreciating my new neighborhood bank, Wells Fargo. In Bellevue, Larry and I needed to deposit a large amount of cash and first tried doing that a BECU. The staff, who are very nice, said that they couldn't take the cash deposits themselves, but could help us use the cash machine on the premises. Larry had just had a bad experience with a cash machine eating a check he deposited and didn't relish feeding money to a machine. We rememebered that he had a joint account with his deceased aunt at Wells Fargo, which was close by. We went there, where a friendly manager was delighted to update accounts for us and took our cash, no funny business. It turns out that our nearest Wells Fargo branch in Wallingford is a block away. I don't bother using the cash machines there. I just walk in and have a friendly teller take my deposits. It's great. I have nothing against the people who work at BECU. I just don't like always having to use a machine. I'm becoming a Wells Fargo fan and am getting to know several of the tellers by sight.

Another comment on Wallingford institutions. There are two hot places to get cool ice cream/sorbet: Molly Moon's and Fainting Goat. Molly Moon's is more famous and almost always has a line of 20-30 people at the door on a summer evening. Fainting Goat also typically has lines, but not as long. Larry and I tried Fainting Goat the other night. I had sorbet and thought it was good. Larry had gelato and liked it also. Tonight we went to Molly Moon's at 5:45, thinking it would be too early for a lineup. I was right. At my age I can eat dessert first, or only, if I feel like it. Larry agreed to my plan. There was no line. He had chocolate ice cream and I had strawberry coconut milk ice cream, or is it sorbet? We thought it was pretty good, but may actually prefer Fainting Goat. Actually, I like the vice cream (vegan, made with cashews) that I make at home. It's easy and fast and no line. I'm sure we'll try both places again. Maybe my opinions will change. I should have mentioned that we had a very nice vegan coconut milk frozen dessert at Sutra, just across the street from MM. They don't do just desserts only. You have to get it with the whole meal. Still, Sutra does well!

I just found my camera and battery charger, so I will be able to take photos again.

Murder at the Edison Apartments

I have been remiss about blogging recently, ever since our house was sold for real this time. At first I didn't want write about the sale because I thought I might jinx the deal. Then when it was obvious that the deal would close, we were so busy organizing the move that I didn't sit down to write. I kept thinking up good titles for my blogs, though. They include Sunny and Hot, Mazes and Skeletons, Good-bye to Spiderman, He Was Playing Real Good for Free. Sunny and Hot was the week of the move. The weather was quite warm, and we felt sunny meeting the buyer who seem to care so much about our house. He walked through the landscape with us taking notes and even said he hoped that we'd leave the basketball hoop (which has been looking a little ratty). Mazes and Skeletons would have been the day that I packed up things I saved from Cliff and Phil. They both did a series of plastic plates and cups when they attended The Little School. Cliff liked to draw mazes. Phil loved skeletons. Those plates really brought back the memories. Good-bye to Spiderman would have been the blog for the day Larry sold his comic book collection to a buyer (Terry)from CA. Terry spent a couple of days with Larry in the self-storage room going over his collection and explaning his valuations. Larry ended up feeling fine about selling. He Was Playing Real Good for Free would have been my blog for the first Sunday we were at our new townhouse in Wallingford. I was unpacking and organizing the kitchen (a huge job). I had the windows open and started to hear a neighbor playing jazz on his trumpet. What a fine experience--I knew that I wasn't in Bellevue anymore. I really like my new neighborhood. Just walking around is a treat.

Now to the experience that made me sit down to write. Murder at the Edison Apartments!! That is the apartment building in Everett that my grandparents, then parents owned and operated. I grew up there. It was always full of tenants who seemed to get along and were like family. It came as a shock to hear that a tenant (my age) got in a fight with the landlady and stabbed her. I will follow up after I learn more.