Quite early this morning Annie emailed that her dog Sammie had vanished.

He was last seen at approximately 11:15 p.m. this past evening (December 12, 2012) as my fiance, Sammie and I were getting out of the car. Sammie got out of the car with me and ran up the stairs leading up to our apartment and quite literally vanished.

Sammie is a Yorkshire Terrier (that looks a lot like a Silky Terrier). He has golden/blonde fur and dark brown eyes. Sammie only has about nine teeth. He is wearing a black harness that has white skull & crossbones on it and ID tags with phone numbers. Sammie is also wearing a black, grey and white puffy/winter style vest that has a white vinyl skull on it.

Sammie lives near Northeast 75th Street and Roosevelt Way Northeast. “If you or anyone that you know lives in this area, please keep an eye out for Sammie. If found or seen please contact Annie at 206-351-6296, or Danny at 206-604-4688 ASAP.”

Tattva’s Herbs Organics officially opened up at its new Maple Leaf location at 9634 Roosevelt Way N.E. on Nov. 19, but there’s still plenty of moving in that needs to be done.

We spoke with marketing director Dana Silverman to find out how business is going with the holidays right around the corner:

Q: How is business so far?

A: Business is great. Not much has changed since moving, because we are primarily online, but would love for people in the neighborhood to come in!

Q: What kind of products will you showcase to bring pedestrian traffic into the store?

A: We have a retail area and offer samples of Coconut Oil, anti-aging cream and oil, healing creams, Chyawanprash, and other products. We will soon have a more apparent sign hung on our awning as well.

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Thanks to voter approval of last August’s library levy, all 27 locations of The Seattle Public Library will open Sundays beginning Jan. 6.

The Northgate branch, 10548 Fifth Ave. N.E., will be open seven days a week.

In a press release, the library notes this will be the first time in at least a century that all library locations have Sunday hours, which will be 1-5 p.m. Currently, 15 branches are closed on Sunday, including the Northgate branch and the Green Lake branch, 7364 E. Green Lake Dr. N.

The Green Lake branch remains closed on Fridays, as do several others. Current library hours and locations are here.

The Sunday hours were made possible when voters approved a seven-year, $122 million levy, which also ends the week-long shutdown the library has used since 2009 to save money.

The levy is the first time the library has had a designated source of funding. It passed with 62 percent support from voters.

To celebrate the Sunday openings, all branches with new Sunday hours will host a special celebration on a Sunday from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. between Jan. 6 and May 5. Each celebration will feature a children’s craft activity, refreshments and an opportunity to participate in a Check-Out Sundays Challenge.

The Northgate celebration is April 28. The Green Lake celebration is April 7.

Additional library card designs will also be available in January. One design is especially for children, the other four feature photographs of iconic Seattle sites: the Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, Mount Rainier and the Central Library.

Patrons can swap their existing cards for one of the new designs for no charge.

When Marie Callender’s abruptly closed its doors this summer, there was plenty of pondering about the possible future for the space at 9538 First Ave N.E.

With an awkward location right on the border of Maple Leaf and Northgate, Marie Callender’s likely took advantage of its view of Interstate 5 by drawing in passers-by looking for a familiar name. The next potential owners of the space may have the same idea in mind.

According to The Seattle Times, a six-story, 174-room hotel could be the next big thing on the Maple Leaf-Northgate horizon. Preliminary paperwork has been filed by Seattle developer Gramor Development Washington to build the hotel in the same location as the former chain restaurant.

The Times adds that the city’s Northeast Design Review Board is set to consider the project Jan. 28.

Michelle emails: “This healthy cat has haunted our deck for several days - not sure if it is just out for a stroll or is lost.”

She lives near Northeast 81st Street and Eighth Avenue Northeast. If you know this cat, call her at 408-242-9162

The annual Pathway of Lights at Green Lake runs from 5-8 p.m. - rain or shine.

But, although there is some chance of light rain, snow or hail this morning, the afternoon is forecast to be mostly cloudy and a few degrees above freezing.

From Seattle Parks:

Join thousands of families, friends, and neighbors in this beloved Seattle tradition and travel the 2.8-mile path around the lake, taking in the warm glow of the luminaria. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own lights and candles to add to the ambiance.

Local musicians will perform at four sites around the lake:

• The Green Lake Community Center on the east side
• The Green Lake Small Craft Center (the Aqua Theater) on the south side
• The Bathhouse Theater (Seattle Public Theatre) on the north side
• The Arch on the east of side of the community center/pool (Sponsored by Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center)

Warm drinks and treats will be available at those locations, as will donation bins for nonperishable food items for local food banks.

Shannon emails to say her mother-in-law’s cat, Neko, has been missing from the neighborhood for the past fortnight.

He vanished from the vicinity of Eighth Avenue Northeast and Northeast 96st Street.

Cat is very friendly, named Neko; greyish/white with white front legs. He is microchipped and has a license #L11-003689. We miss him tons!

If seen, email Shannon at hokuli4 (at) gmail.com

Prepare yourself for some serious karaoke tunes tonight at Kona Kitchen, 8501 Fifth Ave. N.E.

From 7-11 p.m., the Maple Leaf restaurant and bar will be the site of a fundraiser for the Seattle Asian American Film Festival. In addition to offering space for the event, Kona Kitchen also is donating 10 percent of the bar’s proceeds to the January festival.

To learn more about the film festival, which takes place Jan. 25-27, check out the program.

If you’re curious about the education available at the Seattle Jewish Community School, our neighbors to the north at 12351 Eighth Ave. N.E., you’re invited to learn more at an open house starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11.

The event will include presentations from teachers, details about how to apply and time for your questions. The open house is intended for adults, but complimentary child care is available if you make a reservation by calling (206) 522-5212 of emailing [email protected]. A group tour of the school also will be available.

“SJCS provides a K-5 General and Judaic education that promotes Jewish identity and practice, respect for diversity, responsibility for our world, and lifelong learning,” said Jessica Graybill, director of the school’s admissions and marketing.

Mail theft appears to be ramping up with the holiday season, Michelle reports over the weekend.

“On my block this morning, I recovered a large pile of dumped mail that appeared to be stolen,” she wrote Sunday afternoon.

A Seattle police officer came by to collect the mail from me and was going to specifically return a couple of the more personal letters/photos to some houses. In general, letters with handwritten envelopes were all torn open, along with what may have been new credit/debit cards from a bank envelope and Netflix envelopes (DVDs missing).

Michelle lives in the 500 block of Northeast 104th Street, and said the mail had addresses that included Northeast 104th, 102nd and 97th streets.

A new shared tool library, serving northeast Seattle, will hold an open house from 7-10 tonight.

Jesse Card, tool library volunteer, writes:

We want to have an open house and celebrate before we start moving in tools and shelves, so come by December 1 between 7:00 pm and 10:00 p.m.

Bring a snack or drink to share, tools you’d like to donate, and see the space! There will be music and room to dance, so bring your dancing shoes!

This is a great opportunity to sign up for a membership, see our beautiful new library and workshop space, and meet current members and organizers!

The library is in space leased from the North Seattle Friends Church, at 2415 N.E. 80th St. From the Wedgwood Community Council:

The North Seattle Tool Library is a project of Sustainable NE Seattle. The Tool Library will provide free community access to tools and a wide variety of sustainable resources.

Local veterinarians and dog blogs are warning of an outbreak of potentially deadly canine parvovirus in the area - a warning especially interesting to the dog havens of northeast Seattle, including Maple Leaf.

Everett this week temporarily closed its three dog off-leash areas after unconfirmed reports that dogs had become ill after visiting the areas.

Renton-based ACCES (Animal Critical Care and Emergency Services) sent out a notice over the weekend that it has seen seven cases of parvo over the past two weeks, an unusually high number for the emergency clinic.

Currently there appears to be a community-wide parvo outbreak

The animals seen at ACCES have tested positive for parvo at both the clinic’s Seattle and Renton locations

Monitor your pet for vomiting, diarrhea, and/or lethargy

The strain has been affecting EVEN VACCINATED ANIMALS

See your regular veterinarian to have your pet tested for parvo if you notice any symptoms

Minimize your pet’s contact with other animals at this time

Contact your vet to see whether it’s advisable for your pet get a booster for parvo

The ACCES notice can be read here at the Seattle DogSpot blog, which notes it has posted three times about parvo so far this month.

The Everett release notes that the virus spreads easily and can live in the ground, in feeding dishes, on collars, leashes, hands and clothes of pet handlers for long periods of time. Dogs can shed the virus for up to two weeks before showing any signs of illness.

More about parvo can be found at Pet MD.

They won’t issue you a real speeding ticket. Yet.

Although the warning-only grace period for the new school-zone speed cameras, including the one at Olympic View Elementary School, 504 N.E. 95th St., was to expire this Monday, the cameras appear to have some glitches - they have “caught” almost 6,000 speeders in less than a month, according to our news partners The Seattle Times.

“We were surprised,” Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn told the Times. At this past month’s rate, the fines could total $2-4 million annually, the mayor said.

Because there were so many speeders, the warning-citation period that was to end this week has been extended to Monday, Dec. 10, he said. From that day on, the registered owners of vehicles caught driving faster than 20 mph in those school zones while beacons are flashing will receive a $189 ticket in the mail.

The experimental cameras are set up at the flashing-light zones outside city schools as part of a pilot program, to see if speeding falls off. There are four cameras, including the one outside Olympic View on Fifth Avenue Northeast between approximately 94th and 96th streets.

That camera definitely had setup problems: In an earlier post on it Kristin commented:

Actually living next to one of these cameras is pure hell…it went on last night and it was like living in a photographer’s studio all night – flashes constantly. It made it impossible to watch television or even to sleep. I call DOT this morning to complain as they are being set off by almost every car going by – even outside of school hours.

That’s since been fixed. From the Times:

Seattle police say the cameras are recording all day, but drivers will be ticketed for speeding only when the school-zone beacons are flashing — times when children are most likely to be walking to and from school. Like red-light cameras at some intersections, the camera shoots a picture of the license plate.

The turkey drive at North Helpline, a food bank that serves north Seattle, including Maple Leaf, Wedgwood and View Ridge, was a huge success this year. But the food bank and social service center still needs help.

“North Helpline is unfortunately suffering the worst financial condition in its history,” North Helpline says in its current newsletter.

With the instability of our local and national economy, many of the corporations and foundations who normally provide us with financial assistance have severely cut back on their giving programs. In some cases, foundations who once provided large annual gifts are postponing for two to three years before we can re-apply. This has seriously impacted our fiscal planning.

Last year the food bank saw a 63 percent increase in needy families, while at the same time losing donations. You can help the organization, at 13000 Lake City Way N.E. Learn more at their website.

As for those turkeys?

We are pleased to report our annual Thanksgiving turkey drive at Fred Meyer last Friday through Sunday was a roaring success! We blew our numbers from last year out of the water, with 170 turkeys collected and over 4,000 pounds of food donated. We want to thank our 50+ volunteers who braved the stormy weather for hours on their weekend—they were the key to our success.

You’re invited to have your voice heard by Mayor Mike McGinn tomorrow, Nov. 27, at a Neighborhood Town Hall starting at 5:30 p.m. at Northgate Community Center, 10510 Fifth Ave. N.E.

The community gatherings are taking place around the city as part of the Engage Seattle initiative.

What Maple Leaf issues would you like to take up with our local elected leaders?