Between going to Christmas plays and concerts, and cozying at home with my family, it just doesn’t get much better than this. Orcas Christian School’s Christmas play… Crow Valley String Band’s dauntingly great performance at Orcas Center… And my favorite, the gift of home… The Christmas Eve candlelight service at …
I can’t believe it’s a few days from now! If you need some last Christmas gifts, there’s a pop-up shop where Sequel used to be, next to Ray’s Pharmacy. Painter and photographer Deb Jones, cardboard illustrator and beach trash artist Brook Meinhardt, and basket weaver Maria Bullock have their beauties …
Meet Jan Pliler. I just did in Darvill’s Bookstore. You may have met her over the course of your life here. She and her husband honeymooned here, they came here every year with their kids, her kids grew up paddling across Cascade Lake to what they call “Gummy Bear Bridge” …
I just love this. I gave each child in my youth group a ball of clay, a manger scene figurine to mimic if needed, and 20 minutes to sculpt. That’s a really short time to make art, but that’s what we had. The next week, I gave each child paintbrushes, …
Last year I homeschooled our boys in conjunction with the OASIS program, which meant our younger son was able to attend Mandy Randolph’s beautiful Farm-to-Classroom program, assisted by garden keeper Colleen Stewart. Wow. Mandy has endless creative hands-on ideas for the kids. I was so impressed. I wish our kids …
This is a post my cousin recently put on Facebook, worthy of being repeated here… “Makes me so sad to see adults on television and on Twitter and Facebook posting news articles and sources calling out and trying to discredit or demean a 16 year old girl who was selected …
I had no idea Martha Farish painted all of those beautiful pieces I pass all the time at Outlook Inn; I had no idea she painted at all! Nor had I heard of The Huntress Guild! Those are just a few things I’ve gleaned from the website about this new …
Thank you, Michele Rodriguez! You have made my recent Saturday afternoons a blast! I’ll always be a kid at heart, and I’m sure loving roller skating at the new old gym! What a blast to spend THREE HOURS skating with my kids! Michele says that a prerequisite of the rebuilding …
After a hungry hike up Turtleback and down, we arrived at the Lum Farm on Coffelt’s Farm Preserve borderline hangry, trying to fit too many things into the day without enough meal planning. Had we filled our tummies adequately, we would’ve loved to enjoy the wintry farm feeling, the lovely …
I’m a daily walker. I like to cover a good distance and take it all in. But our dog is quirky. She doesn’t like to walk in certain places. She stops. It’s gotten to the point that I have to carry her for half of my walk until she goes …
The night before I went into labor with our firstborn, I asked my husband a really embarrassing question… “Will you give me an enema?” You see, our baby was several days past due and kept growing by leaps and bounds in utero. The skin of my stomach was beyond taut …
Eastsound is a tiny little town. Here’s a quick time-lapse my son took while skateboarding to his church youth group this morning. This will give you a swift idea of how the place is laid out if you’ve never been here before…
This family makes music that will stun you. We just got our tickets for their December 20th performance at Orcas Center, and we rarely miss them when they play. Between Crow Valley String Band (the family) and Brograss (their teenage sons), you can’t believe their talent. We’ve been watching them …
The Annual Children’s Christmas Market was a beautiful thing. Almost 60 kids participated, and their creations and displays were beyond impressive. It was a lucrative day, too, for many. Here’s a photo tour of some of the carefully crafted items for sale… I do my best to avoid showing children’s …
Now that the Christmas season is upon us, make sure you stop in the library this Saturday (November 30th) between 11:00 and 2:00. Local kids have been busy this month building up their stocks of creations to sell at the Annual Children’s Christmas Market. If you haven’t been before, it’s …
Our family’s Thanksgiving tradition since moving to Orcas Island is to luxuriate in a few days free of cooking and walk over to the Oddfellows Hall for their late afternoon Thanksgiving potluck feast (and come home to a clean kitchen!). Turkeys and potatoes are donated by local businesses and cooked …
Our tech-loving teenager saved the money he earned from working for Orcas Island Youth Conservation Corps this summer in order to buy a 3D printer. It just came three days ago and he is more than thrilled, as he’s been designing, printing, and painting a chromium atom for a school …
…at Troller Point Fisheries.” That’s what his wife, Daphne, wrote on Facebook. If you don’t live here, Troller Point Fisheries is a family fishing business, and a boat comes over to Orcas Island a couple times a year to sell their beautiful, conscientiously-caught fish from Alaska. A lot of us …
In my teens I used to wonder if people ever sat around reading the bible. I grew up in a Catholic family. We were taught to be loving and good, but we never opened a bible together, so I didn’t know if it was ever done. If people were actually …
You’re oh-so-familiar with the ferry landing if you live here. If you don’t, here’s a look at where you land when you reach Orcas Island, and where you depart from when you leave (unless you fly). My son was helping someone with their devices, so I walked around capturing the …
Except for an hour-ish walk by myself each day, my every moment since the birth of our first child has been filled. Until now. It’s been a wonderful thing, all these years. I’m all or nothing, so I was never interested in doing my own things when it meant I’d …
When I look out our windows at home, the colder November sights I see are always accompanied by the sounds of A Winter’s Solstice or Celtic Christmas by Windham Hill – a few series of CDs I’ve played since college. In my junior year, one of my roommates was playing …
At night, all is quiet in a way you can’t really comprehend unless you’ve been here. It’s so quiet you can stand out in the forest, look up at the stars twinkling through, and feel like you’re the only one in existence. Sometimes you feel like your normal speaking voice …
Clay Cafe is a pop-up ceramics-painting workshop in the public high school’s art room that happens twice a year in November and April. It is hosted by art teachers who are volunteering their time to raise money for the A-OK program. You go in, choose a blank bowl, plate, tea …
A walk around the neighborhood…
This is the last photo taken on the way home from the team’s final meet of this Cross Country season, crossing the Deception Pass Bridge after South Whidbey Island’s district championships. Sighhhhh…. What a nice team; it’s sad to see it already ending. Girls, we need some of you next …
I just love the morning fog and the sun’s rays that characterize the dawn skies in the interior part of our island. You’re almost always guaranteed some amazing sights if you venture inward between Fowler’s Pond and OrcaSong Farm.
The other day in the library, I was admiring a very professionally carved pumpkin that was sitting on the counter. “Who did this?” I asked. “She’s right over there,” pointed the librarian. The artist happened to be a few footsteps away. Her name is Laura Hanks and I asked her …
I love these photos taken on Halloween by Denise Thomasin! Great idea, girls!
Actually, the day began with pouring, blowing, sideways rain, unlike the usual pitter-patter of Orcas. In the middle of a morning walk, I ducked into Darvill’s Bookstore so as to avoid getting soaked, but realized I’d be camping out for quite some time. I accepted the idea of being drenched, …
I am “mainstream.” I don’t live in an off-the-grid yurt clad with solar panels. I don’t grow my own food. I live in a house, use my heater in the winter, and own a car. I learned these things from birth from my culture, which taught me to live easy, …
As my siblings and I were carrying our mom’s things to the U-Haul for her move to Texas, a big, beautiful buck walked up to her window and looked right at her as if to give her one last gift from this magical place. Deer are everywhere, but this doesn’t …
Some of our common sights…
I’m starting a new series of quasi-interviews in which I email questions to a local person I’d like to know more about. Here are Michael Armenia’s answers, in his own words… Edee: I see you around town and in the library a lot – what do you do and what …
Reminiscing about our children’s younger years has brought me to photos of our fall fun at Mimi and Steve Diepenbrock’s farm five years ago… Thank you so much for the memories, y’all!
As we all know here on the island, anything you want to do on the mainland will mean an all-day trip no matter what – a 45-minute dermatologist appointment, a 25-minute 5K run on the Cross Country team, a dive into Costco for needed supplies, a haircut, a movie, you …
Walk in nature for an hour or so with my husband, blend up a kale-banana-peanut-butter-date smoothie once home, set it in my bike basket along with my computer, bike down to the Co-op to buy a warm loaf of Endswell Bakehouse sesame or wheat and brown sugar and oats bread, …
There’s no place like Orcas Island in the fall. Here’s a glimpse of Salmonberry School’s celebration of it when our kids were five years younger. Oh so magical.
I’ve been looking at our family photos here in the islands from Octobers past. Here’s a glimpse of early fall…
One of the perks of homeschooling last year was seeking out dreamy opportunities. My son happened to notice the 3D printer at the Funhouse one day when he was at Running Club, so he asked if we could stop by sometime and ask if anyone was allowed to use it. …
It feels like eons since I’ve posted anything. My computer has gotten so elderly that it no longer allows me to access my blog. But as fall tends to bring, change is in the air, and the blog (or “blob,” as my mom thinks it’s called) has been set aside …
You’ve probably noticed a big change when you drive by Orcas Christian School on Enchanted Forest Road – the green, grassy field in front that used to be the play field is now a permaculture garden in the works, bursting with color and edibles. The brainchild and design of Alex …
Three years ago, I was trying to figure out some kind of short-term mission trip we could take as a family to help people. The point of it would be to find some talent our kids have that they can use to benefit other people. I mentioned to a friend …
My mom turned 85 in July and it’s probably the last birthday I will get to celebrate with her. She lived out her dream of moving to Orcas Island, and she will soon be moving to Texas to have closer proximity to health care and assisted living situations near three …
A Different Kind of List You Won’t See on My Resume… I have deep memories of how I felt for my first love at 13. I held my beloved dog on my lap as she slowly and convulsively died. I loved a guy with every cell of my being for …
I love that people come together at The Village Green in the middle of Eastsound for all kinds of very Orcas-y gatherings, from Saturday Farmers’ Markets and Sunday night music concerts all summer to open-air movie nights with lawn chairs and blankets. The Orcas Island Film Festival organized three such …
13-year-old’s entry fee: $5 corn dog, elephant ear, and cotton candy: $19 three rides on Gravitron: $15 vomiting at 2AM: priceless (…if you remember the MasterCard “priceless” commercials)
My mom moved here about six years ago, thanks to a rental literally hanging over the ocean. It’s the bottom floor of a beautiful home and the madrona trees hold it in place on its breathtaking precipice. My mom always said she wanted to live in the forest and look …
Kids on this island are so fortunate because the world comes to them. We were recently treated to a planetarium show in the public school cafeteria, thanks to our library and the Pacific Science Center. We entered this mobile, inflatable dome, which became the night sky complete with constellations and …
Exo has been gone for some time now, but I’ve finally taken the time to upload some videos of his Parkouring with Orcas folks. Enjoy…
This is Exo. Super nice guy. You may have seen him flipping off walls here and there around the island, followed by burgeoning parkour enthusiasts. What’s parkour? It is “the activity or sport of moving rapidly through an area, typically in an urban environment, negotiating obstacles by running, jumping, and …
Last week our local Community Church put on our annual Vacation Bible School. This year’s “Roar” African theme meant decorating all of the church’s rooms with appropriately patterned fabrics and rattans, sunset silhouettes of giraffes and rhinos, and colors galore. It was my role as a “safari guide” to accompany …
My mom and I were just reminiscing about my brother’s first visit to Orcas Island five years ago. She happened upon a tiny journal he kept while here and then left for her to have. It encapsulates all the unique and magical summery things every tourist and local revels in. …
I asked my husband, who used to be the cartoonist for his college paper (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), if he’d draw something that was on my mind. Here it is… It’s too small to read, so I’ll break it up for you… Thank you, husband. Well done.
Devices and video games are so prevalent that some kids can’t imagine a day (or sadly an hour) without them. When we were traveling in the Cook Islands, we met a woman who works with addicts and some of her main clients now are parents of screen-addicted kids. Some of …
I’m proud of Island Market! They are now, as of today, charging 25 cents per paper bag. Hooray! Get sewing, ladies and gentlemen! All the bag money they do receive will go toward critical needs here on the island. Thank you, corporation, for making sensical change! Keep it up!
Cathy Ellis is a firecracker of a lady. You’ve seen her biking all over the place, living life like a 20-year-old. You’ve probably signed petitions she’s shown you on the ferry in order to protect the Orcas. Perhaps you went to her talk a few years ago about her volunteering …
Do we really get to live here? Taken at 9:21 tonight on Turtleback Mountain. Thank you, Jude Nash, for permission to post this. Dreamy, fairytale, heavenly, speechless.
I love when I am given complete freedom to create. I also love hearing the stories of missionaries; they are celebrities in my mind (along with doctors, teachers, etc.). The missions group at our church lets me design the mission board, and I have such a ball doing it. The …
We don’t have a human mayor here on Orcas Island. It can be a dog, a cat, a whale, a donkey, just about anything. Our current mayor is Tinker, a rabbit. (Lucky us, he’s our neighbor.) Soon, we islanders will choose a new honorary mayor by voting with our dollars, …
Dear Children of the World, Be encouraged by our president. He is proof that you can do anything in the world that you want to do, regardless of how you choose to live. His life was not lived morally, and he now stands for truth and justice. His ego was …
It’s now over, but thanks to Susan Slapin’s colorful photos, we can relive our locally-made Cirque-US a little bit longer…
I love that on Orcas Island, you can pick just about any stunning place to go on a beautiful day and you’ll be some of the only people there. Our younger one decided he wanted a birthday party in the woods. We planned plant-potting, woodsy-house-building, bouquet-making, scavenger hunting, and edible-plant …
I’ve been trained by my culture to be mindless. I’m retraining myself. Will you join me?… STORE BAGS About 10 or 12 years ago, I started bringing my own bags to the store. At first, I’d forget them in my trunk, wander the aisles, and remember to go back to …
It’s an all-day affair for an Orcas Islander to simply go to a doctor’s appointment on the mainland. Ferry line at 6:15, arrive in Anacortes at 8:15, drive to Burlington, Bellingham, or Seattle, then barely make it into Safeway before getting back in the ferry line for the voyage home. …
WOW. I went to Cirque-US the other night at Orcas Center. Talk about DYNAMIC! Probably the best show I’ve ever seen here on Orcas Island. It was NONSTOP, BIG entertainment – WILD costumes, FABULOUS makeup, COOL freakiness, IMPRESSIVE choreography, and people stepping out of their comfort zones to do AMAZING …
There are a lot of sources of goodies here on the island – a lot – but one thing we lack is a little, affordable bakery with good muffins, cookies, and donuts. People often open businesses here that you just know will go under within months. Tragically, we watch it …
Bread was seen as evil in my house growing up. We never seemed to eat it much. I think it was thought only to bloat and plumpify. That’s fine, I guess. Most of it’s crap – white, bleached, dead stuff. Unless I’m eating warm garlic rolls at an Italian restaurant, …
Every now and then when the weather is gorgeous, we opt to catch the 15-minute ferry to Shaw Island for the day. We walk on, get the kids an ice cream cone at the little General Store, and then we spend the afternoon walking a few miles to the sandy …
Most people experience it when their children are young, but today is the first day in almost 14 years that both of my children have gone to school all day. It’s Test Drive Day at the Christian School, so they’re getting a feel for what 3rd grade and 8th grade …
A few days ago, it was hot summer. Yesterday was chilly fall. Today was half and half. I’m sure the garden is a little mixed up. So am I. Either way, I’m loving spring and visiting Lorna’s nursery a little too often. Our garden under the forest canopy has made …
One life-changing hour…
Scenes of Orcas Island in this beautiful spring weather…
Yesterday I was running into the Island Market to get some dinner greens. In front of the store was a mouth-watering spread of goodies to raise money for 3rd-8th graders from Orcas Christian School for their end-of-the-year trip to Victoria. It’s a common thing here on the island to walk …
For years I’ve wanted to make a stunning costume out of junked materials for the Trashion Fashion Show here on the island. While I didn’t have time to devote to it this year, I nevertheless contacted the woman who makes it happen – Asifa Pasin. I thought that perhaps I …
Things are warming up here on Orcas Island. Not just the weather. Flyers and sandwich boards are proliferating with events and quintessentially Orcas kinds of things. I just love the talent shows here – Orcas Has Talent for adults, Whale of a Show for kids, and now this – the …
This past Sunday at 1:30 was the annual Spring ROAR at Camp Orkila. (ROAR stands for Rogue Obstacle Adventure Race.) It’s a really short, fun, family-friendly race that Orkila started hosting several years ago. Everyone has a blast doing it. You’ll probably recognize a lot of faces…
Yesterday Time for Three, a super dynamic and charismatic trio, performed for the Orcas Island Public School kids at Orcas Center. Double bassist Ranaan Meyer, violinist Nick Kendall, and violinist Charles Yang wowed us all with their combination of skill, improvisation, and easy humor while playing classical and modern mixes …
When I was 12, I wrote National Geographic and asked them what it would take to be a National Geographic photographer. They actually responded with a fairly thick packet of information. The cover letter was written expressly to me, or so it seemed, and in a nutshell, it basically said, …
I love the way Bob and Iris Eastman love each other. When you marry, it’s about the two becoming one. While it may be hard for some people, Bob and Iris do it naturally. They complement each other and fill in each other’s gaps. They help each other and support …
Out of respect for Anthony the Dancer, who choreographs the Island Inspiration All-Stars, I will not show you snippets of what happened tonight at Orcas Center. He prefers that audience members refrain from taking photos. It was fantastic. As usual. What especially stood out to me were the songs sung …
Done. Yay! Bucket list item – check. 8:03 – 8:16 PM. 50 questions. 15 seconds each. Enough time to read and type an answer. Not enough to retrieve things long buried deep in the brain. Answers like Amy Tan, saturated, March Madness, Tolstoy, possibly Pinochet, and oh so many I …
“Mom, no more grafting, lambing, or farming classes from now on,” said my older son in a playful tone as we pulled up to the Orcas Island Historical Museum. “Besides, I already know how to graft.” True. Lost one. He walked home. Younger one and I walked in to join …
It’s been rainy and gray lately, so I have a few recommendations for your entertainment. Upon watching The Secret Life of Walter Mitty the other night, the one by Ben Stiller (it’s $4 on Amazon if you have Prime), I realize I am the female version of this guy. Or …
I’ll never forget taking a career assessment in high school. After filling in all kinds of bubbles pertaining to my skills and interests, the computer thought about it and spat out an answer. Biologist? No. Environmental Scientist? No. Photographer? No. Acrobat. That was my deeply-computed destiny. All those good grades …
One of the wonderful things about Orcas Island is its talent shows. I just love them – A Whale of a Show, Orcas Has Talent, and Seniors Have Talent. Competitions they are not; celebrations they are – people blossoming into the things that give them joy as the rest of …
I grew up watching Jeopardy! every night with my parents. I loved it. It was a bump up from Trivial Pursuit – I could answer a lot in the latter, but few in the former. When I was about 27 years old and living without a TV, my mom called …
In case you missed the Annual Science Fair now held at the Public School cafeteria (instead of the Funhouse) and open to any children on the island regardless of where they go to school, here’s a glimpse…
I can’t remember a time in Eastsound that was more forest-clearing and construction-y than right now. Walk a 20-minute circumference around the town and you’ll see a lot of change. Go hug your favorite tree today; it might be gone tomorrow.
That is always the question. For me, at least. When we moved here, we knew the hardest thing we’d be leaving wouldn’t be the year-round sunny weather but the school our older son attended. It was a small Christian academy where students were expected to work hard and have absolute …
Tomorrow the cast of Mamma Mia! will begin their second round of three weekend musical shows at Orcas Center. By the end of next weekend, they will have done 11 total performances. By around the eighth, I think my mind would get so loopy in deja-vu land that I wouldn’t …
This is our fifth day of spring. When it comes, you wake up one day to a whole new season – new birds singing, sun shining, blue sky, warm air, new scents, and a giddy feeling that overwhelms your being and pushes you out in the beauty. It happened Saturday …
According to the bible, the Sabbath day begins at sundown and ends the next day at sundown. The Sabbath is meant to be a day of rest (the Hebrew is Shabbat, from the verb shabat, which means ‘to rest’). It’s God’s fourth command in the Ten Commandments: “Remember the Sabbath day …
We left for a lunchtime walk and came back covered in snowflakes. It kept on until an hour or so after school pick-up. Silent, beautiful, and serene. It had almost all melted by 7 PM. It’s relatively rare here, so I savor it every time.
Art and my brother Jack go hand in hand. He’s always done it, always been good at it. Everything he’s tried has been impressive. He thinks in a way that I don’t, and always has an angle to a situation that I’ve never thought of, and that’s how his art …
Wow. Did we ever participate in an unforgettable Lambing and Kidding workshop this weekend. A friend of ours recommended it to us because she knows how much our younger son loves animals. I signed us up for it, not really knowing what it would entail. Though we were total fish …
We just took a paper folding class on Friday afternoon at Orcas Center from Bradford Hansen-Smith, who has been folding circular paper for decades, learning about an art that seems to have little to no history. How cool to find out that he is the brother of my friend Vicki …
We were out of town during the dramatic snowstorm that shut down the schools and the town and trapped people in their driveways, so we went out searching for leftovers at Mountain Lake and Cascade Lake…
About 23 years ago, I was sitting in an Anthropology class at UCSB called Romantic Love on the Island of Mangaia when the professor inserted a quick comment in her lecture. She said something like, “By the way, I’ve been everywhere in the South Pacific and if you want to …
We missed all the snow drama of the past two weeks, arriving back on Orcas Island late last night to a light covering on the ground at our house. We got word that school was called off for the past week, as well as almost all activities on the island. …
I can’t believe the sky was perfectly clear. We’ve had beautifully crystal-clear nights (and days) this winter. We watched intently from our back patio as the earth’s shadow slowly covered the moon. About a half an hour later, the clouds began to cover the moon as it started moving back …
The internal nature of winter here on Orcas, aside from bringing out our creativity, provides a wonderful excuse to cozy in and watch lots of movies. It hasn’t really been a tough winter, so the sun has actually pulled me outside much more than previous winters. But my mom and …
I love my life. I am grateful that I happened to be born into a loving, middle-class family in a free country. I never missed a meal, a night of sleep, or an educational opportunity. I am now 44 and the ways of living that I learned aren’t feeling right …
There are a lot of things that happen on Orcas that don’t happen anywhere else. Or at least I never experienced them until moving here. One thing that’s “so Orcas” is the monthly Community Dinners at Orcas Christian School every January, February, and March. These are not potlucks. They are …
The other day the wind was whipping and the ocean was crazily choppy. Not the kind of conditions in which you’d expect to look out your window and see someone kayaking out in the middle of the Sound. Alone. Dwarfed by whitecaps. My older son got out the binoculars. “I …
It’s mid-January. I’m having to remind myself of that all the time right now. Usually by this point in the winter, it’s been dark and gloomy for months on end, no sun or blue sky in sight for another month or three. Usually by now, I’ve gotten sick a few …
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 …
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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 …
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 …
I love the winter season here on Orcas Island because everything changes – not just externally, but especially internally. Life goes from constant outdoor gardening and athleticism in the sunny summer to indoor creative proliferation and exponential educational explosiveness in the brisk, perma-gray winter. Our younger son has listened continuously …
It’s Christmas Eve and we’ve just left a wonderful dinner at our friends’ house. It’s an hour before a beautiful candlelight service at our church and I’m sitting on my cold bathroom floor in front of the wall heater. Our kids have asked me repeatedly if I’d get the pickle …
As we near the end of the year, I am reminded of my worst parenting experience. Two years ago on December 29th, after hearing that the road going up to our highest point on the island – Mt Constitution – was closed due to snow, I decided to take the …
Here on Orcas Island we have several school choices, plus the option of homeschooling. Our family has done a random mix of things, based on what seemed best for each year. Our older son and I were sitting at the kitchen table learning about the Presidents a couple years ago …
We Orcas Islanders know how to celebrate. And we never go hungry either. Last Saturday I put a list of six events for us to go to in my pocket. That was just one day’s events. So far in the last three weeks, we have been to the Holiday Artisan …
He can’t eat. He can’t sleep. Sometimes he can’t think about anything else. He daydreams about all the time he wants to spend with her and all the things they’ll do together – the fantasies they’ll dream up, the worlds they’ll traverse. We go on a family walk together but …
Yesterday morning I dropped the kids off at school at 8 AM, drove to the ferry landing to sit the required half-hour in line, crossed the ocean for an hour and a half – with a stop for more travelers on Shaw Island – then drove another 45 minutes from …
One of the unique things about living on Orcas Island is that the power can go out unexpectedly. It happens a few times each year, which is why we all have back-up wood and dozens of candles for light. When it happens, it’s an immediate halt to whatever we may …
Time slows down the minute you get in line to wait for the ferry to the island Natural beauty surrounds you wherever you are Long, winding roads through the forest lead to beautiful harbors and docks The community genuinely cares about each other All your errands can be done within …
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 …
Step out of your door and you will see and hear animals everywhere you go here on Orcas Island. Deer amble through your front yard. Quail peck through your neighbor’s grass. Eagles soar above (with a call more appropriate for geriatric chickadees), and crows and ravens caw and glurb to each …
I couldn’t let another year go by without capturing one of our island’s festivities that sets it apart from everything else in mainland USA. Down the forested, aptly-named Haven Road sits the Oddfellows Hall, overhanging the ocean and glittering inside with year-round fairy lights and huge paper lanterns. Every year …
“It’s ridiculous how much I love my life,” Maura Lynn says, as she’s picking colorful pumpkins and squashes from their vines and piling them into a wheelbarrow. Our younger son and I had chosen this particular fall-y-feeling morning to take her up on her offer to visit the farm where …
