This afternoon was our last day before winter break, so after doing several hours of store math and nutrition at Island Market and the Co-op – comparing the prices of fresh versus frozen green beans of the same weight, hunting down the foods highest in sodium, recording the names of …
This is a fantastic 21-minute video… Interestingly, it has come into my life at the very moment that my 12-year-old MacBook has become too outdated to allow me to access my blog. I’m borrowing our son’s computer to type this. I’ll be on the lookout for a used, refurbished laptop …
For the past year-and-a-half, our older son has been helping senior citizens use their technology at the Senior Center. Once a month for an hour, he meets with up to four people in one of the community rooms and does his best to answer questions, fix problems, and navigate mysterious …
Summer here is external. You’ve gotta enjoy every ray of sunshine while it lasts, and they last until almost 10 PM. Winter here means that life goes internal. Aside from the last few days, the sun has remained remarkably steady through November and December here, which is an oddity in …
If you live on the island, you know of this phenomenal brother duo, whether you’ve seen them jamming with their also-talented parents at the pub, on the Village Green stage, or on the ferry as they’re headed to a bluegrass festival that’s highlighting them. If you live elsewhere, you may …
Wow. Did the kids on this island ever blow everyone’s minds with their creative wares this year. The Annual Children’s Christmas Market gives kids a chance to make and sell to the community whatever they dream up in order to earn their own spending money for Christmas. Here’s a glimpse …
Here, Santa comes by boat. Early. Weekend before last, Santa arrived at the Deer Harbor dock to a hoard of happy onlookers of all ages. He parted through the sea of people, Ho-Ho-Ho-ing his way to the island fire truck, which deposited him at the door of the Deer Harbor …
Eating, ugly-sweater-cookie-decorating, fir bough-ing, and overall Christmas enjoyment…
Each year, the Odd Fellows Hall sparkles with reds, greens, and glittering lights among vendors’ beautiful handmade wares for the weekend sale. Here’s a glimpse at some of this year’s eye candy…
Tomorrow is one of my favorite Christmas events – the day that island children sell the wares and goodies they have personally made in order to earn their own money for Christmasing. Its new location this year is the library, and it will be from 11-2 PM. All kids are …
Thank you very much for reading this blog. I really appreciate you. I started it figuring that even if no one read it, I’d enjoy writing it. I can’t add to it everyday in a consistent manner in the way that I’d like to since I’m serious about spending my …
Russel Barsh is one of the most fascinating people out here on the islands. He studied at Harvard, lives on Lopez Island, and is the Director of Kwiaht (Center for the Historical Ecology of the Salish Sea), but most of us on Orcas know him as the man who is …
The Christmas season is upon us, which means that here on Orcas Island the magic continues. Saturdays, especially, begin to fill with all kinds of activities that are unique to our island. Today, for instance, we’ll be headed to the Santa Ship in Deer Harbor, which will deposit Santa on …
Life is now going internal here – cooking, art-making, reading, documentary-watching, jewelry-making, creative dreaming. Somehow, the weather has still been amazing. The sun hasn’t yet gone away for the 5-month gray-out. And it’s not really fireplace-cold yet either. Nevertheless, we’re enjoying potato soups, clove-orange pincushions, Spartan apples (thanks Theresa!), varieties …
We’re so impressed every year when Camp Orkila puts on a Fall Festival for the Orcas Island community. It’s an enjoyable all-day experience out on their land, rain or shine, and it’s completely free. They cook huge pots of pumpkin soup, chili, and vegetarian chili. They press hundreds (maybe thousands!) …
I have been one of the slowest to come around to buying local, organic food. On the contrary, I tend to eat whatever produce is on sale. Avocados are two for a dollar? Then it’s guacamole for a week. Fuji apples are less than a dollar a pound? Then it’s …
click here for a short story
Homeschooling takes every ounce of my being, but today I had a few amazing, relaxing hours all to myself. Our older one was hanging out with a friend around town and our younger one had a Granny date. I criss-crossed them all a few times as I rekindled my love …
The local paper might print a few articles on the same subject over time, but when there’s an article every week about a different orca ailing or dying, you take notice. And according to some of the authors of those articles, orca deaths are indicative of the many other species …
Of the 34 or 35 films this year, I saw half of one – Yomeddine. The first half was great. It was a date four of us girls had planned weeks before, but on the night of, my son was sick and I felt like I needed to be home, …
Today was another one of my favorite things here on the island – the Annual Orcas Island Farm Tour. After an optional $15 breakfast at The Kitchen (they make fantastic fresh, healthy food from the ground) from 8:30-10:00 AM, the self-guided farm tour was between 10:00 and 4:00. You pay …
We will be going to this Monday night’s talk at Sea View Theatre by New York Times best-selling author Frans de Waal about his book, Are We Smart Enought to Know How Smart Animals Are? It starts at 6:30 and is free. I don’t normally post things before they happen, but …
Tonight was one of my favorite annual events on Orcas Island – the kids’ talent show called Whale of a Show. It’s not a contest. No one is judged and no one wins. It’s a night devoted to kids who have the courage to perform any talent they choose, up …
I wish I had a photo of it. Do I? Somewhere? I had found a very long piece of driftwood. I brought it inside to the kitchen table and had a ball painting it. I colorfully and glitteredly wrote, “God please bless the garden” (I didn’t leave enough room for …
It wasn’t until I married an avid triathlete and Tour de France fan that Lance Armstrong became a common household name for me. Had he not made the choice to cheat and then lie repeatedly about it, this morning would have been a very different thing for us – excited …
Just returned from camping on Sucia Island before the weather gets iffy. Our younger boy’s summer birthday wish granted a tad late. A perfect three-day window of perfect air, perfect temperature, penetrating sunshine, and the island almost all to ourselves. Three full days of sun book-ended beforehand by a full …
Cussing, lewdness, condescension, and lying are not welcome in our home; nor on my blog. I find it ironic that the one post that includes all of these comes from the mouth of the current president of the United States… “I did try and fuck her. She was married…I moved …
Every island here has its own flavor – things that make it distinct from the others. One has more farmland. One has the highest “mountain” on the islands. A lot of them lack electricity. Most of them lack stores. Canoe Island is distinct because it is synonymous with French Camp. …
I have a very distant memory of being outside late at night under the moon’s light in between some lit buildings where nuns were bustling around doing something very productive for the sake of other people. I was there with my mom and I remember thinking that night, ‘I don’t …
Go no further in this post if your life is a chair of bowlies. Because you won’t understand. A friend of mine from high school once told me that she never confided in me from afar (we live thousands of miles away from each other) because she assumed that everything …
This is one of the most beautiful times of the year to kayak along our coast. The air isn’t chilly yet and the water is crystal clear. On the right day, it’s pure perfection. The smoke of the past month has mostly cleared. The thick orange mass of lightning-fast-multiplying microbuddies …
Here’s a little visual tour of the San Juan County Fair, which happens every August on San Juan Island… And I look up and see this. Hmmm…. Still not sure what to make of this poocchini mobile… Zulu dancers from Mombasa, Kenya… Something I’ve had on …
Last summer I tried Zumba for the first time. Alyson Stephens is the instructor and she makes it what it irresistibly is – a totally joyful experience. You dance moves you didn’t know you had in you, you laugh at yourself when your body is first catching onto them, and …
For over 50 years, Leo Lambiel has been collecting mostly local art – some of it very expensive art – and displaying it in his home. Now it is all coming to an uncomfortably abrupt end. He started out with a little 24′ x 24′ cabin and built on it …
Yesterday the power went out around 10:00 in the morning. While in the library, I heard from a frustrated woman that it would be at least six hours before they’d get it fixed; she was very upset that she couldn’t use her cell phone for the day. Maybe she was …
How often do you get invited to 34 artists’ studios to see what they make and watch demonstrations? Here, where most roads are marked private, you rarely even see how others live, so this is a double whammy of a tour. Leading up to this fantastic annual 3-day weekend event, …
The moment we stepped foot on the property, Kandis’s husband Bob whisked us over to his yellow plum tree to share his bounty. A humble man with kind eyes and a generous spirit, he then walked us over to his mulberry bush for samples off the branch. I bet he …
Our stop at Sean’s ceramics studio was brief, unfortunately. I love meeting the artists and listening to their stories, especially if I’ve never been there before, but this was an in and out kind of thing. An immediate potty break was needed by my little companion, so my visuals will …
Feng-shui-wise, this was one of my favorite studios to spend time in. Something about the color of the walls, the lighting, the music, and Anusha’s warm, genuine, inviting personality. All combined, I felt like I could hang out in there for awhile. Our little boy must have felt the same …
This guy is way far out. At least physically speaking. It’s one of the farthest drives from town, and sometimes very entertaining, literally, depending on when you happen to show up. Inside his blacksmith shop, aside from thousands of tools, is a full band set-up. A few years ago, we …
Barbara’s studio was a new stop for us this time around. In fact, I chose to stop there based on the tiny picture next to her name in the tour brochure. When there are 34 studios, you have to figure some way to whittle it down. Her art studio, connected …
Michael Yeaman’s studio was a must for me and the boys. We had visited it in the past and the boys appreciate geology and the big-ness of Michael’s specimens. Perhaps it’s the allure of what seems impossible to them – having such immense beauties right in the backyard. He is …
My mom often reminds us of the only time she saw our older boy cry. We were visiting Orcas Island as tourists one summer eight years ago and Zackarya Leck was demonstrating his skills at the Farmers’ Market at the Village Green. Our son, who was four years old at …
Driving out to Peg’s studio meant traveling to some nether regions that I had yet to experience until the art tour. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the chance to meet Peg; you know, three solid days from 11-5 is a lot of time to meet and greet people at your studio, …
Sharon and friends opened a studio in Eastsound several years ago, and I’m vicariously loving that she – a mom of 3 boys around the ages of our sons – has carved out her own time and space to live out her passions in the midst of raising children. Her …
Something I love about the studio tour is the enjoyment of seeing new neighborhoods and new vistas. Barbara Bentley’s studio overlooks Crescent Beach from an eagle’s point of view – it’s a sweeping look at the sea below that I’ve never witnessed before. Absolutely breathtaking. When we entered her studio …
Warm, grounded, and full of youth, Mary Jane is a neighbor of ours, and we have the pleasure of running into her all the time. She teaches classes from her wonderfully inviting studio in front of her house, she sells her ceramics in Orcas Island Artworks in Olga, and she …
All-around nice guy, Bruce Wilson is married to Mary Jane Elgin, and they are quite the artistic duo. Here is Bruce demo-ing his wax technique. He makes his own oil and wax cakes and melts them on a hard canvas board. Sometimes he completes them in a day, sometimes in …
Rosemarie’s studio is in a gorgeous wooded setting in front of her house, nestled in a little neighborhood on the road just outside of Eastsound. Her warm, bubbly granddaughter, Karoline, greeted us and explained that art made by their three generations of women was being shown in the cozy little …
You drive into a gated area leading to a plane-hangar neighborhood right on the air strip here on Orcas Island, and you’ve arrived at Kim Middleton’s studio. I love the diversity we experience on this tour. Kim’s dazzlingly colorful paintings of birds convey her love and knowledge of the avian …
When fall comes I’ll be homeschooling both boys. One of my ever-favorite things is the planning – gathering various resources from all ends of the earth and envisioning the different subjects we’ll wallow in. In the past, I’ve asked God to sew it all together as we go so that …
My mom rents the bottom floor of a house that hovers over the ocean about a 5-minute walk from our house and she spends her days overlooking paradise, keeping up with the news, and reading gobs of books. She’s in the library’s monthly book club, so she passes the good …
Every now and then on a special occasion, our church invites Dr. Stephen Newby of Seattle Pacific University to Orcas Island to fashion a choir out of us average Joes. He’s incredible. This past weekend, our church celebrated a 50-year Jubilee in its present location (and 134 years on Orcas …
One of the big surprises when we were deciding to move here was the Community Church. We’ll never forget the first time we attended it as tourists. It was unlike any church experience. A fairly small church; a fairly small congregation compared to the one thousand or so that we …
If you picked one of these up in Eastsound, you found the right website…
One of my favorite simple pleasures is picking fruit off of trees and eating it. We’re like bears when the blackberries are in season. We just picked our first bowls full this morning. For most of the year, the bushes are a thorny nuisance, but worth it to me for …
Every summer has its own flavor. One summer we built lots of makeshift rafts out of driftwood and paddled out to Indian Island. Some summers our kids did lots of fun camps. Other summers we hiked a lot. This summer we’ve been going to the lake over and over. We …
It isn’t just people who get here by boat. Sometimes it’s their house too. This company brought the boat to North Beach at 9 PM with the plan to work all night getting it off the barge, on a mega-trailer, and transported up to its new home street. It can …
Before we moved to Orcas Island, one of the first things we Googled was summer activities for kids. We found a few websites but wished we could find a one-stop site that listed everything. Since moving here six years ago, our kids have done some of the most interesting camps …
Everything’s a little different on an island…
Saturday Farmers’ Market Farmers’ Market is in Eastsound at the Village Green from 10-3 from May to September. In the fall, the cool weather pushes it indoors to the Odd Fellows Hall, which feels warm, cozy, and homey. Summer Solstice Parade Beginning at 12:00, it might only last 15 …
Parenting isn’t easy, but this is new territory we never learned to navigate through our parents’ examples. Will play dates involve actual playing or virtual playing? Will going to the library result in browsing for great books or salivating over the shoulder of another boy playing Roblox? Will owning a …
When you visit Orcas Island there will be several places you’ll seek out in town: A basic grocery store – Island Market A local/organic/non-GMO grocery store – The Co-op A pharmacy and place for everything from cheap readers and Depends to cards, toys, and gifts – Ray’s Pharmacy A coffee …
It’s only June but it’s that time of year. Wood seasons over time; it can’t be freshly cut if you want a good, hot fire. We might not have been as on top of it had we not won an auction item at a shindig benefitting the Orcas Island Museum. …
For most of my young life I figured I had to exercise vigorously every day in order to be fit. I did sports, I jogged, I hiked, I biked, I did just about everything except boring myself at a gym. Then one day I made the connection that one of …
I love that our 12-year-old loves to photograph flowers. His photography prowess on his weightless iPod is fast exceeding mine on my heavy Canon. He has a ripe portrait studio in his garden plot of catnip, lilies, lupin, lavender, oregano, snapdragons, a maple tree he nurtured from a seed, a …
We moved here six years ago for the peace. The tranquility. The relative isolation. Orcas Island is slow paced and visually stunning. Unadulterated natural beauty is what makes it so unique, unlike most of the rest of the world that is busy building and building. We’ve realized that Orcas isn’t …
The local Orcas Island Food Co-op offers some of the most interesting classes. Last year the boys and I went on a walk through Eastsound with botanist and cell biologist Ryan Drum to find local edible and medicinal herbs right in our midst. A few months later we learned to …
We moved to Orcas Island six years ago, and we visited the island for six summers before that. One of the first places we were familiar with was Howe Art, the residence and workplace we passed each day when we walked or drove up the road to the bed and …
I love that Orcas Island has a lot of second-hand options, and The Exchange really brings it home that nothing is worth paying retail prices. Dream up anything you need around the house, the garden, or the tool shed, and you just might find it on any given day at …
There are opportunities on little Orcas Island that are unlike anything we’ve experienced in other places. One of our family’s favorites is Young Eagles Day. Once a year in June, a bunch of island pilots with small planes volunteer their time to take kids 8-17 years old up in the …
You’ll notice some structures overgrown with ivy or eroding on the lapping shore near town. They are lime kilns. Our boys have had a sudden interest in them, so we’ve visited the three we know of a few times now. They reek of mystery and intrigue, but their past is …
My parents dragged me to the symphony every few months when I was growing up. I was bored out of my mind every second of it. The only thing that saved me was the thought of getting bubble gum ice cream at Swensen’s on the way home. I’d sit in …
The other day on the way to school at noon (I homeschool our younger one in the mornings), we noticed that the tide was at an extreme low. That means a trail called a tombolo emerges from the water that leads from the beach to a little island right off …
A-newting we have gone, A-newting we have gone Heigh-ho, the derry-o, A-newting we have gone.* Newts are abounding in ponds around our island this time of year. It’s a child’s fantasyland. And an adult’s! *The ASPCA and The American Humane Society declare that no newts were harmed in the following …
All kinds of opportunities come our way, living out here on these islands. We and a bunch of other families from Orcas Island signed up to board and ride a tall ship off Whidbey Island the other day. The enthusiastic, kid-friendly, knowledgeable crew showed us skills, explained navigation tools, taught …
Every April and November there is a one-day pop-up paint-your-own-pottery day called Clay Cafe set up in the high school art room. Anyone can come and choose a piece of pottery to buy and then paint with glaze. It’s a drop-by kind of thing but we love spending every minute …
The skies are finally opening up after a long winter of gray and rain – mindbendingly long this time – and we’re having our third day of blue, cloudless skies. When the sky is able to be cloudless is when I feel like Orcas has finally made the turn into …
We always walk into an adventure when we’re out exploring nature here on the island. A bike ride on our first sunny day in a long time led to a walk out on the Indian Island tombolo revealed by an ultra low afternoon tide. (Tombolo: a sand or gravel bar …
We – the boys and I – returned a few weeks ago from our 11-day adventure to Kenya – 3 days of it spent in planes, ferries, buses, airports, and cars. No complaints there, as it isn’t every day that you fly over Greenland or eat Stroopwafel cookies in the …
A compilation made by our 12-year-old…
Back in October, I had strep throat. I don’t usually go to the doctor unless a sickness gets to the point that I can’t handle it. My throat got unbearably painful, I went to the doctor, and came out so grateful for modern medicine and antibiotics. A few days later, …
Orcas Island abounds with unique events throughout the year. The Paper Airplane Contest held in the public school gym is nothing frilly. Simply a lot of kids with five sheets of paper each, forming planes for three contests – distance, time aloft, and accuracy. First-, second-, and third-place winners in …
For most of my life I have tried to eat healthily. Aside from living mostly off of leftover brownies and garlic bread as a river guide, I’ve typically enjoyed things like fruit and granola rather than ice cream and chocolate sauce. I’ve read food books, I’ve watched food documentaries, and …
Living on Orcas Island is the antithesis of living in Hollywood. We cherish our space. We love our peace and quiet. Our wardrobes reflect function over fashion. And anonymity is king for many. We haven’t had cable for years but I know how much my mom loves movies and watching …
Sometimes when we walk over to my mom’s house for a visit, she’s watching Highway Thru Hell on the Weather Channel. If you’ve never watched it, it’s a show documenting the rescues and tows of big rig crashes and wrecks that happen in thick snow and perilous ice on the …
We pass Karl Kruger on the road all the time, just as we do every other Orcas Islander. And just like every other Orcas Islander, Karl has quite a story. Last summer, Karl entered what’s called the Race to Alaska, or R2AK. Anyone can enter it as long as there …
I love that even though I may not feel the subtle changes in the air or in my body, the natural world is moving right along in its cycle of rebirth. Gray clouds loom, snow has recently fallen, and I’m still wearing my down jacket in the house all day …
Though some people travel to the tropics during their kids’ one-week mid-winter break from school to escape the four-months-and-counting of gloomy weather here, I often feel that our kids have this week off for nothing. We have no such plans. They may as well be in school if it’s going …
Yesterday it snowed. It was a beautiful, quiet, heavenly sight watching the flakes slowly flutter to the ground all afternoon and into the evening. I went for a longer-than-normal walk this morning, taking in all the sights and capturing pictures of all my familiar walking places now donned in white. …
Today we awakened to a clear, endless blue sky. The sun was out all day, so we were too. We haven’t had that much solar exposure for months on Orcas, so we don’t take even an hour of it for granted. We don’t get a lot of snow here either, …
If I were the superstitious type, I might see this past week’s happenings as omens. My husband has recounted the last several nights as he was sitting in bed. One jerked with a quick, jarring earthquake – a little 3.1 whose epicenter was 10 miles away. Another night the lights …
Wow. Like heaven opening after a prolonged pause in purgatory, our one day of sun was glorious.
As an average kid growing up in a hot, concrete suburb of Dallas, Texas, National Geographic was a revelatory introduction to the world that was somewhere out there. I’d browse through the magazine each time it appeared on our coffee table and by far the most engaging photos were of …
If the upholstery in our car gets wet, it’s no problem; it will dry in April My bath towel before a shower is often only a little less wet than it was after the previous night’s shower Golf umbrellas (which are huge) enable my daily walk to continue; at least …
Dan and Katie have been on my mind since creating this site because they are intentional about every single lifestyle choice they make. I respect them for that. As I sit cozy inside my heated house writing this, I’m alternating between watching a National Geographic documentary called Before the Flood. …
Did you know that? We didn’t until we lived here. Because we have wall heaters, we don’t have to heat our house with wood. Our neighbor down the way only has a fireplace, so they start burning wood in October. We don’t have a wood stove sitting out in the …
I’m on the last leg of my walk when I feel it. Oh my gosh. It’s a sensation every pubescent girl and adult woman has felt many times. I don’t mean a release of blood. I mean a release of blood with no catchment system in place. Dang! I’m so …
Well, here we are folks. It’s late January and we have one more month of gloom, if not more. We haven’t seen much sun for quite some time now. Our faces are pasty white, we’re lacking in Vitamin D, and some of us have dark circles under our eyes. My …
I always refer to Orcas Island as Little House on the Prairie in modern times. Not only are we surrounded by nature and genuine friendliness, we also have landmarks along the road that are testaments to honesty. In the summer especially, you’ll pass roadside duck and chicken egg stands, gorgeous …
Summer beauty here is big and loud. Winter beauty here is often small and subtle, and usually in the palettes of grays, browns, and dark greens. Look closely enough and you’ll see a spark of orange. If you walk, as with any place, you often see what would normally be …
The Orcas Center is often our lifeline to the rest of the world when the gloom takes over and we begin to feel isolated. As the performing arts hub, it’s a place where creativity never stops. Especially in the winter. Plays, performances, art shows, lectures, films, dance and aerial silks …
I noticed a contest published in the paper near the end of summer. Orcas Power and Light Co-op (OPALCO, as we call it) wanted ideas of what to name the underwater cable they were installing. The person who submitted the winning name would get a free day trip to go …
This is one of my favorite memories that my husband just happened to capture from our bedroom window last year in February. He made a mini-movie out of it unbeknownst to us. Our little boy and I went out to sled and just couldn’t stop. We flew down the hill …
The Orcas Island Film Festival has been in full swing now for several years. This past summer we decided to attend a showing of Ai Wei Wei‘s documentary about refugees around the world called Human Flow. It was 2 hours and 20 minutes of sweeping scenes of desperation, loss, and hopelessness. …
I remember passing it on a telephone pole – a flyer that said, “Make thousands of dollars this summer, travel across the country, and have lots of fun.” I was in my second year of college and I’ve always been up for an adventure, so this got my curiosity going. …
I don’t post things for any other reason than for the pure enjoyment of photographing something beautiful and writing about it. I just had to get that out of the way before bragging about this island business. It all came about because I walked into Girl Meets Dirt a few …
When we moved here, I realized that Orcas Island is a place where a person’s talents and skills can blossom and flourish. Often, if you’re good at something and people hear about you, you will have gobs of opportunities to shine. Our community is incredibly supportive. We islanders have watched …
