Notes from the people around here…

Tom & Katie Pemberton on their way home on the ferry Sunday....

Most of this is hearsay & innuendo:

• Babies on the way: Stephanie Walker says she hit 20 weeks last week, and proud papa Tom Pemberton tells me both Elliot & Mari have kids on the way in the late spring.

Nancy shows off her brand new grandboy Desmond to Melissa Posenjak at the Chamber of Commerce meeting last night....

• Speaking of babies – it’s been great to hear that Nancy & Dave Hanson from the Toy Box are now grandparents, as their boy Joel & his wife welcomed baby Desmond last week, in Australia. She wrote me to tell me & you:

Desmond Carlisle Crane weighed 7 lb 6 oz. They live in Melbourne, Australia, so I won’t get to see him until May. Thanks to the wonderful world of technology, I do get to see him on Skype!! Grandpa David and I are just thrilled.

• Speaking of Melissa Posenjak – she’s been promoted to Branch Manager at Whidbey Island Bank. Wahoo & congrats!

• I swung by the former Ale House to see how the renovation there is coming along. Hard to tell through the windows. So far, I’ve heard maybe a dozen guesses what’ll be there when it’s done. Pretty sure it’s probably not really gonna be a Chuck E Cheese.

I hope not, anyway.

Last spring, Ricie was All-League & All-World for the Wolverines...now he's having a good run at WSU.

• Over at Washington State, freshman pitcher Richie Ochoa (FHHS ’09) is already part of the Cougars’ bullpen. (Here’s his bio on the WSU website.)

He got a couple of innings in, two weekends ago against Bethune-Cookman in Texas, with his coach saying he was a huge reason WSU won. (Here’s the boxscore.)

Last weekend, he earned the victory in relief as WSU beat Utah 10-4 (here’s the story.) The Cougs are 9-1 to start the season & flying high…

• You know, the Adventurous Wench doesn’t just bring people TO the island…she takes islanders all around the world, too. Her women-only trips rock.

The Wench is ready...are you?

Check out where she’s going….

• Ran into FHHS senior soccer player José Charupe last night & he says the team is jelling – their first game is next Tuesday with Coupeville, here. He says they’re gonna be strong up front & he likes the way the defense works together.

Meanwhile, senior Kerri Goff has a big smile when she’s describing the Wolverine softball team…she says the pitching is stronger this year (as in deeper – she says there are promising young pitchers coming along), which means she may not be asked to throw as many innings this spring. They have their opener on Saturday at Orcas.

Joel & Desmond share a quiet moment....

• Here’s another picture of Nancy’s son Joel with baby Desmond, all the way from Australia, mate.

• Hey, Kels is playing Friday at the Bean, with an acoustic evening of original music with the Kels Boreen Project. Starts at 7pm…don’t miss it!

• Oh, man – you gotta choose for Friday night! Also, it’s the Irish Music Camp Concert at the Community Theatre. It’s great – here’s more about it.

Soroptimists Lori & Lynn have fun selling tickets for Saturday's dinner & auction....

• The Soroptimist Club still has tickets for Saturday’s St. Patrick’s Day Extravaganza…this fundraiser helps fund the cool things the Club offers to women in the community, and to help provide ferry tickets to folks getting cancer treatments. What they do is great stuff…you can help, AND have a great time with the dinner & auction. Here’s more.

When I got through playing last Thursday at Pazzo Vivo's open mike, I took this quick shot of the crowd in front of the stage, from the stage: (from left): Ed (in red), Hobbes, Chuck, Canyon (in the air), Cecil, Britt, Ian, Bill & Jeff, Kirk, Donna & Donna. Thanks, guys!

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