“Island Senior” is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae. Happy New Year! As the old year comes to a close, whether you are in the habit of making resolutions or not, the Mullis Center offers several ways to gently improve your life. To bring joy and wellness into  Continue Reading

“Island Senior” is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae. Any way you look at it, 2020 has been one heck of a year. Times have been tough for many islanders. For some of us, staying at home without our usual social interactions has been the brunt of it.  Continue Reading

“Island Senior” is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae. Pretty sure Merle Haggard was not thinking about a spiking global pandemic when he penned the lyrics to his classic country song, If We Make It Through December, yet I can’t think of a more fitting song for wrapping  Continue Reading

“Island Senior” is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae. Islanders are creative resourceful people. For everyone’s health and to see our way through this pandemic, holidays will be a little different this year. That does not mean we cannot celebrate, enjoy good food, share with our loved ones  Continue Reading

Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae. How are we doing? Eight months into this pandemic and we are all tired of it; tired of staying home, tired of wearing masks, tired of washing our hands all the time. It is easy to get lulled into  Continue Reading

Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae… The concept of “blue zones” grew out of a demographic study identifying Sardina, Italy as a region with a high concentration of centenarians. Researchers who drew concentric blue circles on maps highlighting villages of extreme longevity began to refer  Continue Reading

Editor’s Note – This story is being re-posted with corrected information. The flu shot clinic at the Mullis Center will actually be on Thursday the 15th from 1:30pm to 4pm. *Not* the 13th as previously posted. Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae… As we enjoy  Continue Reading

Its wildfire season in the west and air quality is bad. Everyone, but especially those of us with compromising health issues are recommended to stay indoors with windows closed and avoid breathing the particulates in the smokey air as much as possible. You can check current air quality on the website Purple Air. In my  Continue Reading

One of the first things on anybody’s list of how to live a good life pandemic or not is to get some physical exercise. For me this can be a challenge in the best of times. Being quarantined by myself has made finding the motivation to get moving nearly impossible, nearly, but not entirely. I  Continue Reading

It may seem quiet at the Mullis Center these days without our lively community lunches, exciting senior trips, and the wide variety of social gatherings that are all on hold right now. Take a closer look though and you will see that the Mullis Center is still humming along on our seniors’ behalf. With the  Continue Reading

A new flag is flying over the Mullis Center. The flag is a gift to the Mullis Center from the family of Margret Lackey in honor of their mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Not only has the Lackey family provided the Mullis Center with a new flag, they also generously oversaw long needed repairs to the  Continue Reading

Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae… According to Wikipedia, cabin fever refers to “claustrophobic irritability or restlessness experienced when a person, or group, is stuck at an isolated location or in confined quarters for an extended period of time”. Anybody relate? They go on to say…  Continue Reading

Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae… With the pressure and stress of opening up our destination vacation island only to then slow the opening back down, the arrival of visitors with and without masks, spiking COVID numbers across the nation, not to mention prolonged isolation,  Continue Reading

Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae… It’s June and gardens on the island are burgeoning with new life. At the Mullis Center more than foliage and flowers has sprung up. Among the greenery on the east side of the building you will now find poems  Continue Reading

Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae… It is summer in the San Juans and San Juan County has moved into Phase 2 of our state’s four-phased Safe Start Washington plan. What does this mean for island seniors as local businesses slowly begin to open up,  Continue Reading

Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Island Update written by Peggy Sue McRae… Its been a few months now of staying home and staying healthy, of wearing masks and gloves to the grocery store, of staying six feet apart from friends we’d really like to hug, of meetings on Zoom. How  Continue Reading

Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae… With community lunches on hold due to COVID-19 it may seem like not much is happening these days at the Mullis Center. However, since the lockdown, the number of meals delivered to local seniors by our Meals on Wheels  Continue Reading

Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae… On Monday the Mullis Center Book Club met for the first time using Zoom. This was also my first time using Zoom so I was happy to discover how easy it was. The Book Club is facilitated by San  Continue Reading

Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae… How is everybody doing? As an introvert who already works at home having to stay home has not changed my lifestyle very much. Yet, it is different. I am aware now that I touch my face way too much  Continue Reading

Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae… Things have moved so swiftly with the coronavirus it seems like we were just watching it on the news unfolding in China then suddenly it was close to home. Now our schools, the library, churches and offices are closed  Continue Reading

Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae… One of my favorite quotes about sleep comes from former Secretary of State Colin Powell who said, “I’m sleeping like a baby… Every two hours I wake up screaming.” Hopefully your sleep is more restful!  As we get older  Continue Reading

Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae… There will be no lunch served at the Mullis Center on Monday. Presidents Day is a federal holiday; banks and the post office are also closed. Before the Uniform Federal Holidays act of 1971 we observed Abraham Lincoln’s birthday  Continue Reading