Ahhh… Seasons

Moving from Santa Barbara, California, to the San Juan Islands off the northern coast of Washington State gave us one of the biggest changes we coastal Californians had ever experienced – seasons! While summer here is sunny, stunningly beautiful, and very external, fall and winter bring a very palpable internal change.

The body goes and goes and goes from May to September while the sun permits. There are kids’ camps galore – aerial acrobatics, circus camp, sailing camp, farm camp, rocket camp, you name it camp. All on little 57-square-mile Orcas Island, which has a population of around 5,000.

There’s enough to do for a lifetime in all the natural beauty around every corner here. Swimming across the lake, hiking to the top of the mountain, playing in the YMCA pool that tickles the seashore, fastening driftwood planks to raft to nearby islets, kayaking the crystal waters… we’re always out adventuring, finding whatever the natural world drums up for us. Sometimes it’s jellyfish, sand dollars, and squid eggs. Sometimes it’s tadpoles and owl pellets. Sometimes it’s waddling baby geese, squawking flicker nestlings, or abandoned collared doves. No matter what, we seem to come across something different and fantastic every time we step out of the door, and our younger child amasses a collection of something every time.

We’ve spent our lives on the beach below the view you see in the photo at the top, which is a five-minute stroll from our house and a mainstay view on our walk to school. Every time I pass it, I think, “How is it possible that we get to look at this every single day?” Not just on our way to school, either. The market, the library, the church, the bank, the pharmacy, the doctor’s office, the book store – they’re all just down the road from us, all snuggled together in the quaint little three-street town of Eastsound. It is a magical, storybook place; I often think it’s too amazing to be real.

Then, as the clouds roll in and the daylight lessens, the body begins to slow down, to sit, to be, to chat, to ponder, to dream, to paint, to write, to bake, to create, to build, to sing, to listen, to sleep. And oh, how good that feels. Rest for the body and fodder for the mind never felt so good.

Hot cider at fall farmers’ markets, soul-filling festivities at the community Thanksgiving potluck, choirs of singers and plays with local actors at our charming performing arts center, beautiful goodie spreads at the holiday library tea, Celtic Christmas concert sounds emanating from the sparkling candle-lit Community Church, cozy warmth and joy inside the annual Children’s Christmas Market – the people of this little place never stop dreaming up celebrations to honor life, love, and community, whether in sun, rain, sleet, or snow.