You can get by pretty well here on the island with the few stores that exist. But every now and then, when our food’s getting low and we’re starting to pay way too much for the basics at the local store, it’s time to devote one whole day to ferrying …
There was no gathering during Christmastime, so my sister sent all of us amaryllis bulbs. Her idea: our first annual family amaryllis race from afar – something living to hold us together in spirit and keep us in contact with each other over the life span of our plants during …
During an isolating pandemic that provides month after month of familial togetherness, what do you buy on impulse? Why, games, of course! We’ve played instruments. Bought tools. Seen movies. Tried foods. Read books aloud. Popped endless corn. Answered trivia. Exhausted Apples to Apples. Scattered our gories. But what? The board …
I’m the official barber for the three guys in our household – their hair hasn’t been cut by anyone but me. And mine, well, it usually keeps growing and growing. Until COVID. After a month of life without people aside from family, my isolation from the rest of humanity resulted …
Ten minutes into our virtual church service, and I’m wanting to post it, as each speaker is speaking from some beautiful spot on the island. (It’s recorded but we still watch it at 10:00 every Sunday so we can be virtually “with” everyone in spirit.) I should be posting the …
This is how Orcas Island would look all winter if the sun stayed out. Between the thick, lush moss at our feet and the dotting of islands out in the glimmering sea, it’s a living, breathing fairytale. Thank you, Ashley, for allowing me to capture you overlooking all of that …
It’s been a long, deep, all-day exhale. A much-needed emotional break for the limbic system. I’m not one to watch much TV, especially in the daytime, but today I needed every second of the 5 straight hours I watched. Sitting motionless with rapt attention on the raw, real, uncommentated footage …
I just had the funnest experience. Granted, I get pretty excited about anything new in these pandemic times. (Gosh, I get excited when I even see another human being!) Several days ago, a friend of mine sent me a link to Canoe Island French Camp’s bread and pastry order form …
Here’s the beauty we experience on trails that are just a short drive from our front doorsteps here on Orcas Island. Sometimes you don’t even see another soul out there. This is yesterday around Mt. Constitution.
Orcas Island goes the extra mile to keep us residents flexible! When town is already quiet from a pandemic, and political news is keeping us on our toes, we awaken one morning to silent machines and black digital clocks. Power outages in wintertime are a thing here. You never know …
Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not complaining. I am grateful for food; three meals a day; a grocery store minutes from our house with produce from around the world. But wow. With no community gatherings, family reunions, concerts, farmer’s markets, school events, or traveling, dinner has become the thing. …
I don’t know about you, but my mind is getting slow! I search for words that would normally be on the tip of my tongue. I reach for names that I’ve always known. I sound like a grandmother and I’m only in my mid-40s. Sure, we have our families to …
When I was very little, my oldest sister had a poster in the room we shared of a couple standing on a mountain, holding hands, silhouetted by an ethereal background of bright yellow sunlight muted dreamily by swirling clouds. Almost like an island setting overlooking the ocean, but I can’t …
Within moments of moving here almost nine years ago, we heard about Body Boat Blade – the kayaking pros renowned for the professionality of their ocean classes. In college, I was part of UC Santa Barbara’s Adventure Programs, in which I learned first how to rockclimb and kayak, then how …
