Thursday wakes, shakes, and rolls on….

Lots going on – let’s check & see….

• Sports check: The FHHS girls soccer team (7-7-2) ended their season last night in the first round playoff game at Lynden Christian (11-4-2), losing 2-0. Here’s the story in the Bellingham paper. Good season, girls!

Meanwhile, boys tennis played the first round in Seattle Tuesday night, and doubles team Parker Satin & Hayden Place beat the Vashon doubles team but lost to Seattle Academy & Overlake, and were eliminated; FHHS was represented by Swiss exchange student Sandro Meyer in singles, who beat Coupeville but lost to last year’s state champ from Charles Wright & Seattle Academy. (Looks like if we could stick to public schools, we’d be public schools champ…it’s those private schools that get us….). With the losses, FHHS has no representatives in next spring’s state tournament…congrats on a great season, guys!

• In this nice story profiling our Julie Knight & her work with the oil spill response team here, Oregon Public Broadcasting says, “In this entry, reporter Ashley Ahearn recounts her day spent with a woman she describes as ‘the beating heart’ of an all-volunteer oil-spill readiness group in Washington’s San Juan Islands.” Check it out…

I love Julie’s response to the reporter’s question:

I was thinking about your question ‘why do you do this,’ and I think that many of the people that live and work here year round feel that having a part in protecting and taking care of this place is like taking care of a family member. That is how I feel too for many reasons – the water and quiet surrounding us, the voices of the steller sea lions that I can hear at night over 8 miles away, the air that is flushed and cleaned by the wind and water as it crosses over to the islands, the clean water and all the life that covers every square foot of the solid surfaces below the water (the rocks, and kelp and eelgrass…) and the complete quiet that happens in the middle of the night during the winter (so quiet that you can feel the leftover vibrations from the day dissipating and emanating out through your ears), and the big rock boulders and cliffs that the waves crash into at the south end of the island, where there is sparkling overwhelming energy that fills you when you stand there quietly at night.

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• Jan from the middle school PTA has a reminder:

We’re having a “BOO-RIFIC” bake sale THIS Saturday, October 29 from 9 am to 2 pm at Marketplace.  This is a great way for folks to get fresh baked treats for those Halloween festivities this weekend and help us raise money for field trips and student and teacher activities at the same time! See you there.

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• Ready for ghost stories? Here’s what’s happening tomorrow:

Dear Friends of Local History and Historic Preservation:

I am writing to invite you to an interesting event taking place this Friday at 6:30pm at the SJI Library:

Ghost Stories of Historic Friday Harbor

My work involves historical research and outreach to the community about the people and events associated with the town’s historic buildings. We can’t preserve important cultural resources unless people value what they tell us about our history. Events like this one give us a chance to hear fantastic stories about these sites; stories that probably haven’t been documented. Ghost tales passed down over time become valuable as part of the “lore” of the building or site–distinguishable from what we know to be true–but still interesting.

I haven’t experienced the phenomena to be described at the event myself, so I can’t say I believe or not. What does interest me is the story behind the story: What happened to cause people to experience or imagine something extraordinary? Where is the kernel of truth and what compels others to tell and re-tell the story over time.

Ghost stories, tall tales and local lore are part of who we are as a community. If nothing else, they are another of the countless shared experiences that make our place—this place–unique. When they are tied to a building or site, they give us another reason to recall history, to wonder about what came before. This is why these stories are fascinating and why they are relevant to preserving historic buildings and sites.

I hope you will come to this first-time-ever event being sponsored by the San Juan Island Library.

See you there,
Sandy Strehlou, Historic Preservation Coordinator
Town of Friday Harbor

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• Only a week till Island Stage Left’s Blithe Spirit opens!

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• Battlefield Band is back this Saturday – here’s more from Jan Bollwinkel-Smith at the Community Theatre:

Armed with a new CD and a new band mate, the high-flying Battlefield Band brings their Celtic sounds to the Whittier stage this Saturday, October 29 at 7:30 pm.

The band, which is named after the “Battlefield” area of Glasgow, formed more than 40 years ago and has an international following.  Their first performance on the island was in the early 1990s, and they have consistently been so popular here that this will be their 14th performance!  “Friday Harbor really is one of our longest relationships,” said manager Robin Morton.  “It has always been a great concert, and the band always seems to go down well with the audience.”

That close relationship includes two songs written specifically about the area: Leaving Friday Harbor (also the title of the band’s 1999 album) and Haro Strait.

Saturday’s concert will feature several “firsts”: new tunes from the band’s latest CD, Line-Up and some Gaelic songs (from the Western Hebrides).  Also for first time at a Friday Harbor concert, founder Alan Reid will be missing.  Reid has begun touring on his own. “I know that when Alan made the decision to leave the band, he did say that he would really miss his trips to Friday Harbor and the San Juans,” said Morton.

New to the band this year is Ewen Henderson, who plays fiddle, pipes and whistles, and also sings Gaelic song. Returning performers are vocalist and guitarist Sean O’Donnell; Mike Katz on Highland pipes, small pipes, whistles, guitar and bass; and phenomenal fiddler Alasdair White on whistles, banjo, bouzouki, bodhran and both Highland and small pipes.

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• Paul says it’s time to sign up for the team:

Swim Team Registration Open

Registration has begun for the 2011/2012 San Juan Island Fitness Swim Team.  Tryouts for those who were not on last year’s team will be held on Wednesday, November 2 and Thursday, November 3.

If your child is interested in swimming this year, registration forms can be picked up at San Juan Island Fitness, 435 Argyle Ave.  Deadline for registration is Friday, November 4 at 5:00 p.m.  Due to limited pool space and time, the team is limited to 32 members.  Swim team is open to any child ages 7 to 17.  Registration fees for this year have been reduced to reflect the trying economic times in our community.

For those lacking some basic skills necessary to have a positive swim team experience, there will be a “Seals Team” available.  Seals Team will meet two times per week from November 9 to December 7.

“We’re aiming at 3 meets vs. other regional clubs, two intra-squad meets and a dive clinic and play day at the Anacortes pool.  Our big emphasis this year, aside from building strong swimmers, is to have a lot of fun,” says Paul Hopkins, Orca Coach and owner of San Juan Island Fitness.  “Amy Harold will be heading up the program and coaching the Dolphins.  Her enthusiasm, smile and knowledge are great for the kids.”

More detailed information is posted on their web site at www.sanjuanislandfitness.com or contact San Juan Island Fitness at 378-4449

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• Brickworks Plaza was alight with fabulous food, wonderful music and great company for the 4th Annual Harvest Festival October 16. We celebrated the completion of the plaza (Phase I) and kicked off our fundraising drive for the money needed to begin restoration of the building (Phase II). The evening was a success because of the many businesses and individuals who contributed. The San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild and the San Juan Farmers’ Market Association would like to extend hearty THANK YOUs to the following:

Chef Alphonsine Haslet-Phillips and her marvelous crew, Debbie Pigman, Rex and Lisa Guard of the Lazy G Ranch, Gary Gero of Cask and Schooner and Marshall Davis of Schooners North, Guard and Connie Sundstrom of Fir Oak Farm, Elaine Kendall and Ron Zee of Sweet Earth Farms, Susie Wampler, Mark Sheppard of Bakery San Juan, Ron Bates of Best Western, Rebecca Moore of Blue Moon Produce, John Hamilton, Waca Hubber and Stephanie Hubber-Keyes of Cask & Schooner, Anna Maria De Freitas of The Coho Restaurant, Cynthia and Claire Burke of Cynthia’s of Course, Gretchen Allison and Anna Lisa Lindstrum of Duck Soup Inn, Guard and Mike Sundstrom of the Farmers’ Market Meat Wagon, Paul Hopkins of Flagship Rentals, Kyle Nicholson of Friday Harbor House/Bluff, Jai Boreen of Grover’s Greens, Tom Ashcraft of Heuristic Enterprises, Sara and Nick Jones Jones Family Farms, Matt Marinkovich of Matt’s Fresh Fish, Linnea and Steve Bensel of Nootka Rose, Layne Sundberg of Quail Croft, Warwick Hubber of Relish Catering, Alejandra Zacci-Jacobson of Roche Harbor Resort, Angel Michaels of San Juan Pasta, Hawk & Susie Pingree of San Juan Distillery, San Juan Island Grange,  Yvonne Swanburg, Chris Primus and Emily of San Juan Vineyards, Susan and Peter Corning of Synergy Farms, Rob Waldron of Talking Horse Ranch, Joel and Margaret Thorson of Thousand Flower Farms, Becki Day and Julie Strang of Vinny’s Ristorante, Linda Francis, John Stamie and Lenore Bayuk of Wild Bird Bamboo, Ricarda Burnett, Mary Sly, Alison Johnston, David Halpern, Rosa Blair, Jayne Hemmerich, Alison Engle, Margaret Thorson, Nick Nicholson, Robin Blair, Jane Buck, Gourmet’s Galley, Mary Guy McCullough, Ralph Hahn, Mike Cohen, Jim Nollman, Kirk Fuhrmeister, Amanda Brast, Guthrie Tyson, Teddy Deane, Bob Freeauf, Greg Sadowski, San Juan County Fair, Griffin Bay Bookstore staff, Tim Barrette and Laurie Paul of Market Chef and staff, Peter Kilpatrick, Megan Jones, Colleen Howe-Gregory, Jane Burton Bell, Sandy Strehlou, Roger de Roos, Anna Coffelt, Maya Gordon, Paul, Nina and Mars LeBaron, Nick, Therese Finn, Tom Pence, Vivien Burnett, Cam Pennington, Mark Madsen, Kevin Ranker, Ben Goodman, Ellie and Eric Geiger, Lee Sturdivant, Kari Koski, Doug McCutchen, Peggy and Don Weir, Candace, Erik and Lucas Jagel, and Susan Key.

SJI Agricultural Guild
San Juan Farmers’ Market Association

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Categories: Around Here