Around the island…

Surrounded by snow-capped mountains on a clear day - Jim Maya was three miles south of Point Roberts when he took this picture Tuesday, with the Cascades in the background....

The sunny skies & summer-like weather continue this week (that’s news, since summer took so long coming this year!)….let’s looks around at what’s up:

Brook

• Remember Brook Visser who used to teach Pilates when she & Piet & the kids lived here? They’re in Andorra now, and she has a chance to win the Pilates Anytime Instructor Contest if you vote for her (and you get to see a video of her & daughter Emma as part of the deal!) – check it out here.

• Jody Price has a garage sale this weekend – it’s Saturday from 9am-3pm on Treeline Drive off Portland Fair.

• New baby! The Center for Whale Research announced yesterday that K27 has a new male calf, K44 – here are pictures on their website! The CWR reported they saw K27 with her new calf, and she rolled under her baby and lifted him as CWR photographed, so they were able to see right away that it was a boy!

Meanwhile, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer posted this nice writeup by Candace Calloway Whiting about the celebration for Granny (she’s the oldest whale around, and turns 100 this year!) last weekend – Candace is a volunteer this summer at CWR, and captured the event with photos & a reminder that efforts to recover the killer whale populations have to include salmon recovery as well…

Mike

• Living history: Mike Vouri makes history come alive in his presentations, and I feel like I learn something new every time I hear him.

Tomorrow night at the Library at 7pm, Mike  explores the impact of the American Civil War on San Juan Island, the soldiers and sailors stationed here. He also touches on how the secession crisis affected Washington Territory and the Pacific Coast before and immediately after Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter.(He’s the San Juan Island National Historical Park historian, by the way….but you already knew that.)

• Monday was a great day for a 5K, and a record crowd turned out for this year’s fifth annual Firecracker 5000 – here’s more from Paul Hopkins:

Temperatures near 60 with beautiful sunny skies greeted the record 123 participants in this year’s Friday Harbor Firecracker 5000, a 5 kilometer or 3.1 mile run/walk following the same course as the annual Turkey Trot.

Bellingham, WA resident (and part time island resident) Brent Molsberry took top honors among the men’s division with a time of 16 minutes, 8 seconds.  The 32 year old then headed out to Roche Harbor to compete in their 5K where he placed second with a time of 15:07.   Rounding out the top 3 were 16 year old Lucas Rydberg of Pinetop, AZ with a time of 16:17 and 17 year old Dan Dobras of Royal Oak, Michigan with a time of 17:44.

Karen Steen of Olympia, WA won the women’s division.  The 47 year old had a time of 19:03 and placed fifth overall.  Briana Nute and Heather Hyland were the next top women with times of 21:20 and 21:57 respectively.

The event is produced and managed by Island Athletic Events, LLC with special thanks to San Juan Island Fitness and Best Western-Friday Harbor Suites.  For full results visit www.sanjuanislandfitness.com or www.sjmarathon.org

The Soroptimists installed their new officers for the coming year: Front row, left to right : Patty Brightman, Heather Spaulding, Lori Stokes, Robin Jacobsen, Carolee Maya. Back row, left to right: Laura Tuttle, Julie Hanks, Michelle Lyons, Kim Galton, Marcy Hahn.

• The officers are set for next year – here’s more from Barbara Sharp:

Congratulations to the new officers of Soroptimists of Friday Harbor!  The officers for 2011-2012 are: President, Laura Tuttle; President Elect, Heather Spaulding; Past President Patty Brightman; Recording Secretary Kim Galton; Corresponding Secretary Robin Jacobsen; Treasurer Julie Hanks; Membership Treasurer Lori Stokes; Directors Carolee Maya and Michelle Lyons; and Program Coordinator Marcy Hahn.

The new officers were honored at the Soroptimists’ annual Installation Dinner, held at an elegantly decorated Mullis Center on June 26.  Members and their guests enjoyed dinner orchestrated by Becki Day and her hardworking committee, then danced to tunes supplied by DJ Dave Rhine.  The karaoke machine was also popular, with many aspiring rock stars taking the spotlight.

Soroptimists are looking forward to another busy year of service projects and community activities.  Watch for another great Bunko Night in September to benefit the Cancer Treatment Transportation Project, which provides ferry tickets for island patients travelling to the mainland for treatment.

Sororoptimists meet at noon every Wednesday at Vinnie’s.  For further information, go to www.sifri.org.

That's Steve Dyer adjusting the sound at open mike at the Rumer Mill for Cameron and Ian the other night....Steve does an awesome job of directing the show & the flow for the evenning.

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