It’s been pretty warm since last weekend, and more of it today – the forecast (see the weather link at the top of this page) is for a high of 83 today, and sunny.

Get outside & play! -oo-

Every once in a while, from outa nowhere – when you least expect it & you’re unprepared…a poem comes that surprises you. We have kelp all around us here on the island, and now a poem by Yang to go with the greenery:

Kelp
by Jeffrey Yang

How easy it is to lose oneself
in a kelp forest. Between
canopy leaves, sunlight filters thru
the water surface; nutrients
bring life where there’d other-
wise be barren sea; a vast eco-
system breathes. Each
being being
being’s link.

Aaron at the Palace Theatre tells me he has “Angels & Demons” coming this Friday, and “Up” will carryover for another week as well.

So if you take your sweetie to the movie, that would be a San Juan Update. -oo-

Aaron at the Palace Theatre tells me he has “Angels & Demons” coming this Friday, and “Up” will carryover for another week as well.

So if you take your sweetie to the movie, that would be a San Juan Update. -oo-

San Juan Community Theatre

Jan Bollwinkel-Smith says there’s exciting news on the fundraising front for the Community Theatre, which helps assure, among other things, that the place won’t leak. Here’s more:

Theatre Receives $60,000 Challenge Grant
The San Juan Community Theatre is receiving a boost in efforts to maintain its 20-year-old facility.

The Confidence Foundation of Southern California has awarded the Theatre a $60,000 challenge grant to aid in repairs to its roof and replacement of an exterior wall.

“This is an amazing opportunity for us and we are very grateful to the Foundation,” said SJCT Executive Director Merritt Olsen.  “We can now move forward to make sure we have a sound roof over our heads for the next 20 years!” Continue Reading

Pelindaba will be back in action quickly after last weekend's blaze...

After this weekend’s fire at Pelindaba Lavendar Farm, many islanders were asking – how can they do business this summer? What’s gonna happen? And, first & foremost, is everybody OK? Amelia Powell from the Farm responds, with this press release:

Pelindaba Lavender Farm Recovers and Regroups after Devastating Fire

Following the devastating fire that consumed its production, storage and administrative facilities during the early hours of Sunday morning May 31, 2009, Pelindaba Lavender is quickly getting those activities back on its feet.

“While the cause of the fire is still under investigation, all other aspects of the operation continue to run unaffected,” said owner Stephen Robins.  “The four stores are fully stocked for the upcoming season after a busy winter of production.  The 2009 crop is just starting to blossom, we are fully staffed and are gearing up for the upcoming Lavender Harvest Festival in July as well as all other activities related to our 10 year anniversary.”

“While the fire appears to have consumed just about everything in the buildings, the Gatehouse store at the farm is completely unaffected, as of course are the fields,” Robins said.  “We have sufficient raw materials from our farming operations to put us back into product production very quickly – in fact as soon as we locate additional space and get fresh supplies of packaging and other ingredients from our various vendors.

“Thankfully, no one was physically harmed.  After dealing with the natural shock of the situation, everyone today is upbeat with the recognition that we are able get rolling again very quickly by moving our production and administrative operations to another location.

“All our production, inventory and financial data are intact in our off-site backup facilities, so we have not lost those key ingredients to our success – our experience, our history and the knowledge and expertise that have helped make us as successful as we have become in our ten years of operation.  In short, despite this physical disaster, we are already moving forward with what we fully anticipate will be our most successful year ever.”

The first meeting of the club was well-attended!

Peggy Long had announced that she & Kurt wanted to get a dive club going at Naknek Charters, so I asked her to how the first meeting went last week…she reports:

Hi, Ian!

We had a great meeting of the San Juan Islands Dive Club.  17 People showed up and the ideas flowed.  We talked about everything from harbor clean-up to taking a trip to warm water.  The next meeting is not scheduled yet (summertime and everyone is busy) but we will be getting together to do some diving in the evenings.

Please let everyone know that we would love to have all local divers (and those interested in becoming divers) be a part of this group.  For more information please call the dive shop at 360-378-9297.

Thanks!
Peggy

Setting up for last Wednesday's Market....

You can tell it’s spring when the flowers come out & the weaher gets nice & the birds start singing…and the Market gets going, outside. Well, last year, the Market started to  have a Wednesday edition besides appearing on Saturdays, and that’s back in action now – here’s more from Lei Nakatani from Nootka Rose Farm on Waldron, who will be there tomorrow:

Shopping for fresh produce...

This coming Wednesday is the fourth Mid-Week Farmers’ Market of this year.  There was a Wednesday market at Spring Street School last year, but it was moved this year to the lawn on Second Street, across from the Courthouse parking lot where the Saturday Farmers’ Market is held.

It starts at 3:00 p.m and continues till 6:00 p.m.  So far, the venders include local meats from Saddle Back Ranch, seeds and plant starts from Sowing Circle seeds, baked goods, fresh pasta and eggs from States Inn, baked goods and sweets from Cynthia’s Of Course, and local, fresh produce and flowers from Nootka Rose Farm of Waldron Island.

With one stop at the Farmers’ market, you can get almost all the ingredients you need for a wonderful dinner, including bread and dessert, all from local food!  Come check out the Mid-Week Farmers’ Market this week!

Setting up for last Wednesday's Market....

You can tell it’s spring when the flowers come out & the weaher gets nice & the birds start singing…and the Market gets going, outside. Well, last year, the Market started to  have a Wednesday edition besides appearing on Saturdays, and that’s back in action now – here’s more from Lei Nakatani from Nootka Rose Farm on Waldron, who will be there tomorrow:

Shopping for fresh produce...

This coming Wednesday is the fourth Mid-Week Farmers’ Market of this year.  There was a Wednesday market at Spring Street School last year, but it was moved this year to the lawn on Second Street, across from the Courthouse parking lot where the Saturday Farmers’ Market is held.

It starts at 3:00 p.m and continues till 6:00 p.m.  So far, the venders include local meats from Saddle Back Ranch, seeds and plant starts from Sowing Circle seeds, baked goods, fresh pasta and eggs from States Inn, baked goods and sweets from Cynthia’s Of Course, and local, fresh produce and flowers from Nootka Rose Farm of Waldron Island.

With one stop at the Farmers’ market, you can get almost all the ingredients you need for a wonderful dinner, including bread and dessert, all from local food!  Come check out the Mid-Week Farmers’ Market this week!

Pay attention to poetry. Pay attention to music. Pay attention to paintings and sculptures and photo exhibits and ballets and plays. Don’t let all this go unnoticed. Your world is shouting out to you, revealing something intrinsically glorious about itself. Listen carefully. Love art, the way art loves Life.
Erin Corra

Get started...

Adrienne from the Library wanted you to know about this….hey, you were gonna read a lot this summer, anyway, right? Here’s more:

On Wednesday, June 17th, Summer Reading Starts!
Everyone can participate in Summer Reading! Adults can enter to win weekly drawings and get books from the Friends of the Library Treasure Cove – or for the avid reader, you can sign up for our centennial themed 100 Book Reading Challenge! (Yes, 100 books is a lot to read, but you can team up with your family, friends or co-workers and you’ll have 100 books read in no time!)

To learn more about the 100 Book Reading Challenge, stop by the Library and pick up a pamphlet or sign up on facebook.com and become a fan of the San Juan Island Library!

John Boyd

People help out with Relay for Life for different reasons. Over the next few weeks, let’s hear from some of the folks who are doing the Relay this year. This week, here’s what John Boyd (Sponsorship Chair) has to say:

I always thought that the Boy Scout motto of “be prepared” was an apt one.  You just never know what life may spring on you, so being prepared seems prudent.  So we put away some groceries, flashlights, and water for a power outage.  We sign up for health, auto, life insurance to protect us from accidents.  We teach our kids to “just say no” and try to prepare them for life.

But nothing I do can prepare me for when cancer comes into the picture.  For us, it was a diagnosis of my wife with breast cancer just before Thanksgiving 2007.  Continue Reading

Face painting on Saturday....

It was great to get out in the sun on Saturday with approximately seven million smiling kids at the PTA’s Carnival, behind the elementary school. There was face painting, fortune telling, dunk tanking, that bouncy thing the kids (and some mamas & papas) climb all over, food, and a lot of happy faces.

Great turnout for the Carnival....

Warm & slightly overcast...good day for picnics on the island...

Folks were taking really long picnics at Lime Kiln State Park yesterday, hoping the resident whales would come along, but the orcas didn’t come by, and Bob Otis (who spends summers tracking their journeys & noting behavior patterns at the lighthouse) told me the orcas haven’t been around for a week or more. Transient killer whales were seen over below Victoria on Sunday, however.

Pigeon guillemot

Jim Maya caught a pigeon guillemot at dinner yesterday…here’s a bit more about the cute little black & white birds & their cute orange feet.

There’s a fellow named Scott (with Nola) who puts videos together he calls “Alaska Travelgrams”…. here’s the one he made as he & Nola flew in with Kenmore Air & visited the island with one of Susie’s Mopeds cars. Check it out –  nice footage (and music) from the air, and of Lime Kiln & American Camp.