Sad news from Brad Hanson of NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center: A newborn orca calf was found this morning on a beach at Dungeness Spit. The neonate was 2.3 meters (7.5 feet) long, and was found only a day or two after death. The body was taken to Seattle for a necropsy to take place  Continue Reading

Here’s a beautiful photo of Lime Kiln Lighthouse and Haro Strait by Jim Maya of Maya’s Westside Charters, shot from an angle you don’t see very often. Thanks Jim! ++++++++++ 2013 Call for Sculptures San Juan Islands Sculpture Park is now accepting submissions for new sculpture. Impartial art professionals and academics will choose sculptures by blind  Continue Reading

Introducing “Miss Kitty Carlisle”,  2013’s first Pet of the Week!  Kitty arrived at the shelter several months ago when her owner moved into an assisted living facility.  She’s extra-special due to her curly tail but mostly just because she is such a sweet girl. She’s about 7 years old but still plays like a kitten  Continue Reading

Amy Wynn passes along this notice: Help! We need a few more beginner swimmers (age 5 and up) to make the 3:15 Wednesdays swim lessons go. Register at www.islandrec.org. Class runs 6 weeks starting Jan. 9.  

Once again, a reminder that here’s your chance to channel your inner broadway star… Director Margaret Hall is holding auditions on Sunday and Monday, January 6th & 7th, for “Into the Woods”, the San Juan Community Theater’s 2013 Musical. Click here for more info.

There is a beautiful new dock in Garrison Bay at English Camp that has just been completed by the National Park Service. Mike Vouri has more on this story: FRIDAY HARBOR, WA — Boaters calling at San Juan Island National Historical Park’s English Camp unit next summer will step onto a new era when they  Continue Reading

SJC Ferry Advisory Committee Comments on Ferry Staffing Plans January 4, 2013 The San Juan County Ferry Advisory Committee (FAC) is committed to keeping the County’s citizens in touch with financial, political and operational issues that affect the County’s primary lifeline to the mainland. Today FAC chair Jim Corenman issued the following statement concerning staffing  Continue Reading

There is an emerging science of getting happy. Researchers are studying what brings happiness, and they’re finding patterns and similarities in the behaviors of happy people that can be reproduced in depressed people with positive results that are better than antidepressants, and with no expense or side effects. The old saying “Stop and smell the  Continue Reading

Chef Hobbes has another winner with this chicken sandwich…  A pounded chicken breast on a bed of caramelized red onions, with kale and cambozola cheese, on grilled sourdough buns. Hobbes says “I don’t usually mix blue cheese with chicken, but this combination works really well…”

Kevin Holmes got some great shots of a heron out at Roche the other day. Thanks for sharing Kevin!