Gravity? No problem...

Hope you got a chance to swing by the Skatepark last weekend & see how talented the guys are…their tricks & moves in Island Rec’s Skateboard/BMX Jam are captured  in this wonderful gallery of photos by Concepia’s John Sinclair & posted at http://www.sanjuanskate.org/.

You will believe that kids can fly. Good eye, John!

Signs in Oregon show the state's dark side....

When I was driving across the country last week, I was thinking about how cool it is that we have nice, sweet names of things that people hear & want to come visit: quaint Friday Harbor, sweet Lopez Village, welcoming Griffin Bay, and so on… then when they get here, they can visit Massacre Bay (on Orcas), Deadman’s Bay & Smallpox Bay on the west side here, Obstruction Pass on Orcas…and if that gets ya depressed enough, you can slide over to Desolation Sound.

So, I was wondering how folks in Eastern Oregon do it, and found out – check out the pix. In between all that is a place called Pleasant Valley, though.

Allison has set up shop....

Over at Lynn Danaher’s Churchill House and Carter House spot on Argyle Avenue, there’s a new studio – Licensed Electrologist Allison Lance is offering electrolysis & thermocoagulation services (that means she removes hair & spots & sun spots & stuff). Drop by & see her at 470-A Argyle Avenue or call her at 298-0368 & welcome her to the neighborhood!

Also – that’s her in the movie playing at the Palace tonight…”The Cove.” She was working with Sea Shepherd helping oppose the Japanese dolphin capture…watch for her.

When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.
Benjamin Franklin

Western Prince‘s Ivan Reiff sent along this concise, easy to read article about a program to fire people up about keeping our spending money here…click here for more.

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.
Abraham Lincoln, 1864

Shane over at Orca Relief says there’s a movie tonight you won’t want to miss:

The award-winning film The Cove will show on Thursday, August 27, 2009 at 7:00pm at the Palace Theatre as a fundraiser for Orca Relief Citizens’ Alliance. The film’s director, Louie Psihoyos, will be at the showing. Psihoyos is also the Executive Director of the Oceanic Preservation Society.

There will be a reception with the director after the movie at The Bluff Restaurant and Bar at Friday Harbor House. Tickets are available by contacting Shane Elben at 378.8628 or [email protected]. Ticket prices are $15 for the movie only, and $50 for the movie and reception.

“The Cove,” a heartbreaking documentary, describes how Richard O’Barry, director Louie Psihoyos and a team of adventurers penetrated the tight security around the Taiji cove and obtained forbidden footage of the mass slaughter of dolphins… a certain Oscar nominee,” said Roger Ebert. Continue Reading

Sara and her mom Mary at graduation in June at SVC...

Over at the Rocky Bay Cafe, owner Kira Sable says ace waitress & ruthlessly cheerful food server Sara Totten is on her way to Seattle – that’s her at graduation in June at Skagit, in the photo to the right, with mom Mary. Here’s more:

Hi Ian! I’m writing to let you know that Sara’s last day at the Rocky Bay is this Wednesday. We are very proud of her for deciding to go to school in Seattle, but we are very heartbroken that she is leaving us. It will be a very different restaurant without her! So if you have a chance to put something on your site about it, that would be great.

Have a good one!

Kira

Shannon wrote to tell me that Allison & Bob Benz found the dogs – thanks for helping look for them! Jan wrote to say they had just wandered off, as dogs sometimes do…

Oregon grape berries bring color to the island's wild landscape...

You’ve seen her book of killer whales with the killer photography, but Monika Wieland is keeping up with the plants, too.

Monika

Check out her Orca Watcher blog – she’s turning out an extensive catalog of the plants around here. Click here to see the latest entry of photos ( the fourth in the series), and click here to see the series.

A society is defined not only by what it creates, but by what it refuses to destroy.
John Sawhill, former president/CEO of The Nature Conservancy

Former islanders Emma (left) and Teresa in Boulder, Colorado on a sunny Sunday morning....

One of my favorite artists is watercolorist Teresa Smith, who continues to paint & teach although she moved off the island about 6-7 years ago. I caught up with her in Boulder, Colorado on Sunday, and she reports she’s been doing great – Erica & Michelle are both high school grads while Emma is in sixth grade this fall.

Teresa’s planning one of her plein air workshops (which get great reviews, by the way) for next summer here in the San Juans – signup now!

Here’s Teresa’s website with her work as well as writeups about her workshops.

We find ourselves ethically destitute just when, for the first time, we are faced with ultimacy, the irreversible closing down of the earth’s functioning in its major life systems. Our ethical traditions know how to deal with suicide, homicide and even genocide, but these traditions collapse entirely when confronted with biocide, the killing of the life systems of the earth, and geocide, the devastation of the earth itself.
Father Thomas Berry

My friend Amar Kaur (she goes by Alicia Robinson at FHHS during her workdays) is moving to California, and asked if I could let you know about some stuff she has for sale:

Alicia ‘Amar Kaur’ Robinson is leaving San Juan Island School District and headed to school herself this fall.  She begins her Clinical Psychology program at Palo Alto University’s Pacific Graduate School of Psychology this September.

Many people have enjoyed taking Kundalini yoga classes with her in town.  Several studio items are up for sale (area rugs, lamps, saris, etc. check out a list of items here http://yogaisle.com/Store.html), and all proceeds will go to her much needed school funds.  She will miss her island home and hopes to return here one day soon!

Making her laugh....

Remember Elizabeth Churape? She graduated from FHHS in 2004 & went off to Seattle University for school…along the way she had her son & now is aiming to finish up this next school year. Good to see her & her boy on the ferry the other day!

A couple named Chris & Natalie visited the island this past weekend – here is their story, in pictures (from their blog).