People around the island….

If it's a bookstore, it must be Serendipity - it was Dilys Goodman's birthday this weekend - she and Carol Jackson celebrate with their brand new San Juan Update calendar for 2010 (come by & get one - I have one for you, too!)

What have folks been up to? Let’s check around the island:

Allison and Kate

• Homecoming: Sure was nice to run into Kate Longley with her mom Allison last night at the store…she’s working at a library in San Diego these days, and playing club soccer. Kate was a part of the first FHHS girls’ soccer team back in 1995, when she played as a steady defender for the Wolverines before going to Evergreen State. Good to see her!

•Birthday weekend: Both Mark & Mica at Friday Harbor Espresso (the little yellow place on the corner of Spring & Mullis that used to be Uptown) went to Seattle this weekend to celebrate both their birthdays, and to see Taj Mahal…they happened to stay at the Sheridan with Beckham & the USA’s Landon Donovan, too, who were in town for the MLS Cup.

• Speaking of tough gigs, Darren & Lisa of San Juan Islands TV are shooting (sailing/working, too) in the British Virgin Islands for their Latitudes & Attitudes TV show since the 12th – they’ll be back in time for Thanksgiving, though…

Things are looking up for the swim teams....that's Iskandar & Lilis' girl Yasmin on Saturday.

• The intramural swim meet was a blast – here’s more from Sam at San Juan Fitness:

The San Juan Island Fitness Swim Team had their first intramural swim meet on Saturday, November 21 at the San Juan Island Fitness pool.  Events consisted of 25 yard freestyle for the younger group to a 200 yard freestyle relay and most everything in between.  The meet comes three weeks after practice began and was designed to give the kids a experience the excitement of competition.

“The meet went really well” according to Jen Durgin, head coach of the Orcas.  “We need to work on our turns, touches and endurance but some of the kids really surprised me (in a good way)” she added.  The two teams are the Dolphins, for newer swimmers and the Orcas, for those who have been in the pool a bit longer.  Both teams are comprised of kids from 7 to 16 and open to the community regardless of club membership.

Next up for the team is a trip to Anacortes on December 5 for a dive clinic and again on December 12 for their first off-island meet with Mt. Vernon YMCA.

Lighting up the night...

• Keeping the street brightly lit – that’s Aaron at the Palace Theatre replacing a couple of bulbs in front of the movie house. I had never noticed how many lights there are in that stretch – check it out! And … Aaron says the Sandy Bullock movie “The Blind Side” and “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” will be here next week as well as this week.

• Yvonne from the Post Office says they have a new interim postmaster to replace Dan, whose last day was Friday as he left for Oak Harbor – the new guy is Randy.

Meanwhile she says the results seem to indicate that our little post office (the little post office that could) has sold the most breast cancer stamps of any district in Idaho & Washington. That means we bought ’em (yay for us!) ’cause they sold the most (yay for them!) which is one more step towards research that will nail down a cure (double yay for THAT!)

And…holding onto the crown will be tough – Yvonne says that Dan promises Oak Harbor will give us a run for it next year.

Sure was good to see how much little Kaya has grown, as proud papa Jamen took her for a walk last week....

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