Helping out!

News of the good deed for the day, from the Family Resource Center’s Joyce Sobel:

Hey, Ian!

Here’s a photo of the Brownie Troop upon completion of their philanthropic service learning project at the Family Resource Center. With funds raised from cookie sales, the girls purchased “goodies” for our Welcome Home Baby bags. Then they spent their afternoon meeting last week at the FRC and stuffed the bags for us to deliver to the new babies who return from the hospital after their birth. Welcome Home Baby bags are co-sponsored by the Friends of the Library who purchase the bags and the board books contained in the bags.

Thanks for sharing!
Joyce Sobel

Slinking in to check out the boat...

Ace whalewatcher & killer whale photographer Monika Wieland saw minke whales this week off the west side & posted them in her blog – here they are – check them out!

Nancy Adkins

Nancy Adkins, 74, passed away at her home in Anacortes July 15, 2009 surrounded by her loving family. Though she was diagnosed with melanoma in 2001, Nancy never let that slow her down. As recently as 2008, she drove across the country visiting friends and family as far away as Tennessee. She will always be remembered as a unique woman with a fascination and fervor for life.

Nancy was born April 28, 1935, to Ingvald “Tommy” and Jean (Cushman) Bergeson in Everett, Wash. She grew up with her brothers, Neil and Ted, and sister and best friend, Kay, in Marysville. From a young age, Nancy possessed a vivid imagination and passion for learning, beginning her creative endeavors with classical violin and piano.

After graduating from Marysville High School in 1952, Continue Reading

Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.
Dr. Seuss

My opinion is that anybody offended by breastfeeding is staring too hard.
David Allen

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.
F. Nietzsche

Lady Washington at English Camp last weekend...photo by Janice Peterson

Last weekend, the Lady Washington dropped by as part of the Encampment activities, and lent a regal 1859 air to the proceedings.

The re-enactors spent the night at British Camp over the weekend... photo by Janice Peterson

Chris DeStaffany keeps the troops in order...photo by Janice Peterson

This was the twelfth year of the living history presented by the encampment last weekend, and it was complemented for the first time by the arrival of the Lady Washington.

All weekend long, there were exhibits & activities, nature walks, the discharge of era-vintage firearms, and more.

Here are a bunch of photos from the last couple of years (click here) ans well as a detailed description of this yer’s event. Pretty sure they’ll be posting this year’s photos soon.

The mayor...

It was a good day for Friday Harbor when David Jones was elected mayor – he runs a civil, balanced, and efficient council meeting, and brings his intelligence & good heart to bear in each decision his office requires.

Good guy to have around; good guy to have on our side.

Michelle Esteban from KOMO News did a story on him the other day which reviews the way he’s dealing with Parkinson’s, and she did a good job.

I called her & asked if she minded if I shared her story with you, and she said no prob. Here’s the story.

Common murre

That’s a common murre that Jim Maya photographed over the weekend….

Donna Pritchard with her new book

Donna Pritchard wrote to tell me she’s coming next week to promote her new book, which she wrote under the pen name of Donna Savage…here’s more:

DONNA PRITCHARD’s first book signing is scheduled at Island Studios on August 8 from 2:30-5:00.  Drop by and say hello!

The Man and The Shark: A Modern Day Fable of Awakening and Rebirth is the powerful telling of one man’s awakening to his inner voice, with compelling ocean and wildlife photographs (by her brother Daryl Pritchard) providing backdrop to the story.  A Limited Edition, this 54-page full-color work of art was written, designed and published by Ms. Savage, an accomplishment she sent out to achieve when she left her real estate career in Friday Harbor in 2005.

During those 4 years, Donna and her “travelin’ cat, Roxy” have lived in Sun Valley, Idaho; Boston, Puerto Vallarta, & her hometown of Kingston, TN.  Besides these moves, she has driven cross-country from Newfoundland to San Juan Island & from San Juan Island to Puerto Vallarta.

Donna is available for book signings or presentations for book & writers groups, organizations, and private gatherings.  She welcomes invitations to share her “story behind the story” in either a casual or formal setting.  Her power point presentation, “Live Your Dreams, Find Your Purpose,” tells her experience of  “letting go” of control to allow a dream to manifest.

Signed copies of the book are available at Islands Studio and Griffin Bay Bookstore, and directly through Donna.  If you see her, she has books with her!  Go to www.donnapsavage.com to read her reviews.

Hugh Gilbert, Author & International Lecturer,  Alberta, Canada : “Donna has masterfully woven a simple yet profound tale of how the future will be won, not by learning who we are, but by remembering who we are.”

11:11, A Magazine Devoted to the Journey of the Soul: “[In] “The Man and The Shark”…many readers will recognize their own story through the passages of life.  For those that tend to resist that voice from within, there will be a resonance to the words that unfold, allowing for a trust and knowing to once again dawn.”

Beatriz Velilla de Tobón

(To read this in English, click here.)

Servicio conmemorativo para el jueves 30 de julio a las 5 PM., en la Iglesia de San Francis para Beatriz Velilla de Tobón en la ciudad de Friday Harbor, WA

La Sra. Tobón falleció el pasado 25 de julio. Ella tenía 64 años

Su familia la recuerda hoy como una persona que amó a los niños, amó el bailar, las fiestas, y gozó de la compañía de amigos.

Ella nació un diciembre 10 de 1944 en la ciudad de Medellín, Colombia. Ella tuvo un almacén de ropa y un par de fábricas de confecciones

“Ella siempre deseó venir a los Estados Unidos porque era un sueño de ella el vivir aquí, “Teresita Tobón, su hija dijo que: “El Haber vivido en la isla era muy importante para ella.”

Ella y su familia inmigraron a los Estados Unidos en 1991 y se establecieron en la isla de San Juan. Aquí, su amor para los niños fue manifestado en la “Universidad para el Cuidado de Niños,” un centro del cuidado para niños que ella fundó.

“Ella amó demasiado a los niños. Los niños eran su vida, “Teresita dijo. “Ella vivió para la música y sus hijos. La familia era muy importante para ella, especialmente sus nietos.

“Ella cantó en el coro en la Iglesia de San Francis, y se deleitó jugando al bingo en la “Legión Americana.” “Ella gozó de la compañía de amigos,” su hija dijo. “A ella le fascinaba cocinar para todos. Ella amaba las fiestas, bailar y cantar. Ella era muy enérgica, una mujer asombrosamente feliz hasta su ultimo día.

“Beatriz y su marido gozaron de un deseado largo viaje a España en el 2004.”

La Sra. Tobón amó la Isla de San Juan. Últimamente, ella permanecía con su hija en la ciudad de Snohomish, de esa manera ella podría estar cerca de tratamiento en el “Centro de Investigación de Cáncer de Fred Hutchinson.” “Ella extraño a sus amigos en el bingo. Ésos eran sus compinches, “su hijo, Juan Pablo Tobón, expreso.

Ella nunca se quejó de dolores, dijo Juan Pablo. Pero como el final se acercaba, ella nos hizo entender que ella deseaba volver a su casa en La Isla de San Juan.

Ella falleció en presencia de su familia. Su familia participó más adelante ese día en “La Carrera por la Vida”

La Sra. Tobón la sobreviven su marido, Juan Rafael Tobón, de Friday Harbor; su hija, Teresita Tobón, de Snohomish; su hijo y nuera, Juan Rafael Tobón y Yudy Ochoa, de Boca Raton, FL; su hijo y nuera, David Tobón y Bianca Benavides, de Friday Harbor; su hijo, Juan Pablo Tobón, de Friday Harbor; y sus nietos, Juan Pablo Tobón, Alexandra Tobón, Rikki Tobón, y David Tobón.

A ella también la sobrevive su hermano, Víctor Velilla, de Medellín, Colombia; su hermana, Ana Catalina Velilla, de Medellín, Colombia; su hermana, Claudia Velilla, de Miami, FL; su hermana, Pilar Velilla, de Medellín, Colombia; su hermana, Patricia Velilla, de Bogotá, Colombia; y su hermana, Victoria Velilla, de Weston, FL

A ella se le adelanto una hermana a la hora de la muerte, Alma Velilla.

La familia prefiere contribuciones conmemorativas a la “Sociedad Americana del Cáncer, c/o Danielle Anderson, 728 134th St. SW, Suite 101, Everett 98204. Escriba en el cheque que la donación es para “Friday Harbor Relay for Life in memory of Beatriz Velilla de Tobón”

Many a man fails as an original thinker simply because his memory is too good.
Friedrich Nietzche

Almost everywhere I go off-island, most folks don’t seem to have heard that farmed salmon are a problem. A huge problem. Not just for the killer whales (why would you want to deplete their salmon stocks on purpose?!?) but for humans as well.

One of the more articulate folks in the farmed salmon discussion campaigning against it is Alexandra Morton who lives on the northern end of Vancouver Island. She’s been studying killer whales there since the ’80s, and she’s in touch with the dangers of farmed salmon. 

Here’s a write up of her campaign in the New York Times, and here’s her website. This is stuff you oughta know, both for saving the killer whales AND saving the humans (whom I like, ’cause they’re my species….)

Almost everywhere I go off-island, most folks don’t seem to have heard that farmed salmon are a problem. A huge problem. Not just for the killer whales (why would you want to deplete their salmon stocks on purpose?!?) but for humans as well.

One of the more articulate folks in the farmed salmon discussion campaigning against it is Alexandra Morton who lives on the northern end of Vancouver Island. She’s been studying killer whales there since the ’80s, and she’s in touch with the dangers of farmed salmon. 

Here’s a write up of her campaign in the New York Times, and here’s her website. This is stuff you oughta know, both for saving the killer whales AND saving the humans (whom I like, ’cause they’re my species….)

What cannot be achieved in one lifetime will happen when one lifetime is joined to another.
Harold Kushner