About the Author
Ian Byington

I’ve been writing this & adding to it since 1997, and it has morphed into what you see now during that time – a collaborative effort between our community and me to tell the story of what makes an island tick, and to celebrate the cool things that happen.

Recent Posts by Ian

Good morning to you…

January 22, 2012 at 11:33 am

Beautiful song by these Swedish guys – love Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen…this is the longer version:

Auditions on Sunday (that’s tomorrow!)

January 21, 2012 at 2:30 pm

A quick note from  Penelope Haskew, who is directing the middle school play this year: We got the word that school has been cancelled for the day on Wednesday, so I postponed the auditions for Charlotte’s Web that were scheduled for that afternoon.  They will now be held on Sunday, January 22 at 5:00pm at  Continue Reading

Games cancelled, re-scheduled & the show goes on!

January 20, 2012 at 11:21 am

The Winter Carnivale performance for tonight (Friday) at the Community Theatre is ON for tonight – see you there! The Friday Harbor basketball teams were scheduled to play today (home vs. Darrington) and earlier & the week with Orcas, and both were waxed by the weather… FHHS AD Rod Turnbull says here’s the re-scheduled dates:  Continue Reading

Friday notes…

January 20, 2012 at 7:42 am

Looking around the island, as the snow melts & puddles around us…. • The Third Saturday Contra Dance is this weekend at the Grange – guest band Triangularity from Seattle is coming by, and Marlin Prowell is calling. No experience? No big deal – come early & learn a bit. $10 & $5 for students….starts  Continue Reading

Hey, I have songs for you…

January 20, 2012 at 7:15 am

Besides my day work looking after By Design and The Update, I also sing, write songs & sell music (you probably already knew that….) Here’s a little sampling from the three albums that I sell, so you can hear bits of the songs & buy either the songs (to download) or the albums (to download  Continue Reading

A poem to end the week…

January 20, 2012 at 12:57 am

This is the poem that Maya Angelou read on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations in 1995…a reminder that “We must confess that we are the possible/ We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world.” A Brave and Startling Truth Maya Angelou We, this people, on a small and  Continue Reading

Photos drawn from the snow yesterday….

January 19, 2012 at 11:33 pm

It’s interesting to see & hear all the different ways folks respond to all the cold & snow – some go inside, some go outside & play, some go to work anyway, and some have the school days notion of a “snow day” so impressed on their brain that they go to work but don’t  Continue Reading

Around the island…

January 19, 2012 at 12:13 pm

As folks dig out from the leftover snow, and try & imagine what the weather report means for tomorrow, with a high of 43 & a 90% chance of snow (sounds slushy, but I guess you can’t say “90% chance of slush”), let’s look around & see what’s up: • If  you live in town,  Continue Reading

Town Hall meeting for the Capital Projects and Technology Levy…

January 19, 2012 at 11:16 am

The Capital Projects and Technology Levy next month is one of the more important levies we’ve had for a while, which you can get some sense of by checking the campaign’s website. Sarah Crosby and the League of Women Voters are setting up a chance for you to find out more: On February 14, the  Continue Reading

Benefit dinner & auction for Tina Jones on Saturday….

January 19, 2012 at 11:01 am

It was sad to hear at the end of last summer that someone as active & always-in-motion as Friday Harbor Middle School humanities teacher Tina Jones had cancer, but she tells me the treatments have gone well & things are looking pretty positive. In the meantime, several of her students who are at the high  Continue Reading

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