Island Senior is a reg­u­lar col­umn on the San Juan Update writ­ten by Peg­gy Sue McRae… It is August on San Juan Island. The roads are dusty and the traf­fic is wild. This time of year dodg­ing mope­ds and nav­i­gat­ing around long lines of bicy­cling tourists can fray an islander’s nerves. If you are tempt­ed how­ev­er  Con­tin­ue Reading

Island Senior is a reg­u­lar col­umn on the SJ Update writ­ten by Peg­gy Sue McRae… With a move in my future it is good tim­ing for me to have the Mullis Center’s Park­ing Lot Sale on August 24 as fur­ther inspi­ra­tion to selec­tive­ly pare down my belong­ings.  I often think about culling my clut­ter but some­times it  Con­tin­ue Reading

Island Senior is a reg­u­lar col­umn on the San Juan Update writ­ten by Peg­gy Sue McRae… Most Islanders do not need to be remind­ed to appre­ci­ate the beau­ty of nature. It is why we live here. And yet, if you live here 24/7 you know that even our island par­adise is not immune to the stress­es  Con­tin­ue Reading

Island Senior is a reg­u­lar col­umn on the San Juan Update writ­ten by Peg­gy Sue McRae… A new book club is start­ing up at the Mullis Cen­ter. If you would like to be there for the launch of the new club, the first meet­ing will be held in the Mullis Cen­ter library on Mon­day, July 29  Con­tin­ue Reading

Island Senior is a reg­u­lar col­umn on the San Juan Update writ­ten by Peg­gy Sue McRae… If you can breathe you can do yoga. So they say and I believe it. One of the most use­ful things I’ve learned in yoga class is the long, deep, yoga breath. To do it, you fill your lungs slow­ly  Con­tin­ue Reading

Island Senior is a reg­u­lar col­umn on the SJ Update writ­ten by Peg­gy Sue McRae… Artist Thrin­ley DiMar­co is offer­ing a col­lage work­shop at the Mullis Cen­ter on June 15 and 16. Says Thrin­ley, “The mys­tery and mag­ic of cre­ativ­i­ty is sim­ply see­ing what every­one sees but think­ing what no one else has thought. Out of the  Con­tin­ue Reading

Island Senior is a reg­u­lar col­umn on the San Juan Update writ­ten by Peg­gy Sue McRae… With the pop­u­lar com­mu­ni­ty lunch pro­gram at the Mullis Cen­ter expand­ing from two to three days per week, now Mon­day, Wednes­day and Fri­day, a few oth­er changes have been made as well. Now, the Mullis Center’s month­ly Pan­cake Break­fast will  Con­tin­ue Reading

Island Senior is a reg­u­lar col­umn on the San Juan Update writ­ten by Peg­gy Sue McRae… Seek­ing role mod­els for pos­i­tive aging led me to the British stage and four out­stand­ing actors and great friends each who have been award­ed the title of “Dame” by the British Empire for their ser­vice to dra­ma.  Dame Mag­gie Smith, known  Con­tin­ue Reading

Island Senior is a reg­u­lar col­umn on the San Juan Update writ­ten by Peg­gy Sue McRae… What a relief it is to fix a stamp onto that enve­lope addressed to the IRS and send it off in the mail. Phew! I’m sure I am not the only one who finds fil­ing tax­es both mys­te­ri­ous and stress­ful.  Con­tin­ue Reading

Island Senior is a reg­u­lar col­umn on the San Juan Update writ­ten by Peg­gy Sue McRae… Begin­ning April first (no foolin’) the Senior Lunch pro­gram at the Mullis Cen­ter is expand­ing to three days a week, Mon­day, Wednes­day, and Fri­day. As our island com­mu­ni­ty gets old­er and costs of hous­ing and health­care keep going up, this  Con­tin­ue Reading

Island Senior is a reg­u­lar col­umn on the San Juan Update writ­ten by Peg­gy Sue McRae… If you are car­ing for a loved one, an aging par­ent, a spouse or child with spe­cial needs, a neigh­bor or a friend and if you are not a paid care provider, the Mullis Cen­ter is offer­ing a free, six-week  Con­tin­ue Reading

Island Senior is a reg­u­lar col­umn on the SJ Update writ­ten by Peg­gy Sue McRae… If sour­dough rye, pick­led her­ring, Ice­landic yogurt with blue­ber­ries, or sug­ar snap peas and gar­lic pota­toes sound good to you, you may find the Nordic diet a sat­is­fy­ing choice. Sim­i­lar to the Mediter­ranean diet but focused on a Scan­di­na­vian lifestyle this  Con­tin­ue Reading

I was stay­ing at Sakya Kachod Chol­ing, the Bud­dhist Cen­ter on Mt Dal­las, when I learned that my friend Ben’s can­cer had spread into parts of his body that changed his sit­u­a­tion from fight­ing for his life to accep­tance of his death. A Bud­dhist Cen­ter is a good place to be at a time like  Con­tin­ue Reading

Island Senior is a reg­u­lar col­umn on San Juan Update writ­ten by Peg­gy Sue McRae… Last Thursday’s Senior Lunch at the Mullis Cen­ter was espe­cial­ly fes­tive if also bit­ter­sweet. It was Wendy Stevens, our Coun­ty Senior Ser­vices Manager’s Farewell Retire­ment Lunch. Things got off to a rous­ing start as Garth She­bek led a cho­rus of Let  Con­tin­ue Reading

Island Senior is a reg­u­lar col­umn on the San Juan Update writ­ten by Peg­gy Sue McRae… You’ve prob­a­bly heard of the Mediter­ranean diet.  It has long been rec­og­nized that a typ­i­cal, tra­di­tion­al lifestyle from the Mediter­ranean with a diet rich in olive oil, whole grains, fresh fruits and veg­eta­bles, beans, legumes, fish, and shell­fish can con­tribute  Con­tin­ue Reading

Island Senior is a reg­u­lar col­umn on the San Juan Update writ­ten by Peg­gy Sue McRae… The New Year begins and after the indul­gences of the hol­i­days many of us enjoy the oppor­tu­ni­ty to take the old cal­en­dar down and give our­selves a fresh start. Instead of res­o­lu­tions, I know some peo­ple who pre­fer to start the  Con­tin­ue Reading