That's Dinner Island in the background...

Sunny skies, fair winds, and smooth seas as the poppies start to bloom, looking over the beach from near the gravel pit.

That's Dinner Island in the background...

Sunny skies, fair winds, and smooth seas as the poppies start to bloom, looking over the beach from near the gravel pit.

Paul Hopkins at San Juan Fitness has more:

Weight Loss Challenge Kicks Off May 22

San Juan Island Fitness will be the headquarters of the first annual, county-wide weight loss challenge competition.  With only vague similarities to the popular television program “The Biggest Loser”, this program will be based on support, information and encouragement and is open to any county resident.

To qualify, individuals must be at least 10 pounds overweight as defined by body composition testing (provided with entry).  Categories will include individuals and teams of four.  Prizes will be awarded for the top finishers in each of 3 categories, percentage of body weight lost, gross pounds lost and percentage of goal weight achieved.

The Weight Loss Challenge begins May 22 and runs 13 weeks to August 15.  Results will be announced immediately following the awards ceremony for the annual 8.8K run at the San Juan County Fair.

The 13 week program includes before and after photo, body composition testing, weekly weigh-in and tracking, nutritional information, beginning and intermediate workout agendas, group accountability and recognition for achievement. An interactive website is being developed to assist with tracking and support.

Registration for the program is $75 per individual and $280 per team of four.  Registration runs to May 20th.

For more information, contact San Juan Island Fitness’ Sam Leigh at 378-4449 or visit our website at www.sanjuanislandfitness.com

Gina & JJ....

That’s Grandma Gina with daughter Jill Sandwith’s new baby JJ – Jill & Cody Feliz welcomed him to the world last Friday, and she dropped by the school district office to show everyone how great he is!

Amy Traxler from the Network has more:

The San Juan County Marine Mammal Stranding Network (SJCMMSN) is currently recruiting volunteers on all islands in preparation for the upcoming stranding season.   Members of the Network respond to calls of both live and dead marine mammals that come ashore or wash up on local beaches.    Amy Traxler, Coordinator of the SJCMMSN, says that “even though we do response work year-around, June through August is the busiest time due to all the harbor seal pups that come ashore.”

There will be a mandatory training class for volunteers (old and new!) on Tuesday, June 9, in Friday Harbor.  The class will be held in the upstairs classroom at the fire station across from The Whale Museum from 9:30 am – 12:00 pm.

We are also TENTATIVELY holding a training class for Lopez Island volunteers on June 16 on Lopez.  (Please contact Amy for confirmation of date and location.)

If you’d like to reserve a space in the class or would like additional information on what’s involved in being a volunteer, please contact Amy at The Whale Museum at 378-4710 x27 or via email at [email protected].

It’s coming up this weekend – Joyce Sobel from the Family Resource Center has more:

GRAND OPENING PARTY!
Experience the NEW Children’s Learning and Activity Trail  at the Family Park at the Fairgrounds!

Join the Born Learning festivities on Saturday, May 23rd from 10-11 a.m.

Play!  Laugh!  Sing!  Read!  Imagine!  Skip!  Wiggle!  Listen!  Learn!  Fun!  WOW!!

Learning happens where ever a child goes, whatever the child does, but often parents, grandparents and caregivers may not always know how to support that learning.  The Born Learning Trail is a series of learning activities that any adult or older youth can play with young children.

Based on the latest early childhood research, the trail is designed to help adults interact with children to boost both language and literacy development and to help them understand how to best support early learning in outdoor everyday moments.  Together, they will be guided by trail signs to play fun games that will help the child come to school ready to succeed.

Join the San Juan Early Learning Consortium this Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Family Park at the Fairgrounds for “ribbon cutting”, trail exploration with Mr. Jim from the library, ice cream and a couple of surprises. For more information call Joyce at the Family Resource Center (378-5246), Laura at the public library (378-2798) or Janice at Children’s House Montessori School (378-5255)

Marie welcomes mom Shelley to town...

It’s always great to see Shelley when she’s back in town – after serving as a sheriff’s deputy here for ages, she’s now working in Chicago doing something (can’t tell ya what; she said something about if I knew, she’d have to do me in.)

She came by to see daughter Marie, who’s been back on-island & working the past 2-3 years at Key Bank.

A lot of people enjoy being dead. But they are not dead, really. They’re just backing away from life. Reach out. Take a chance. Get hurt even. But play as well as you can. Go team, go! Give me an L. Give me an I. Give me a V. Give me an E. L-I-V-E. LIVE! Otherwise, you got nothing to talk about in the locker room.
Maude, in “Harold & Maude”

FHHS athletic director Rod Turnbull just sent you & me the update of where we are in the playoffs, after a lot of success this last week in different sports. Here’s the picture at a glance:

–Boys & Girls Golf have six individuals who qualified for the Tri-District event on May 19, at Eagle Pride golf course in Tacoma. Megan Cuomo and Jordyn Taylor enter the event as District 1’s top seeded golfers.  Each earned the top seed by winning their respective District 1 qualifying event.  Individuals qualifying from the Tri-District event will move on to the state tournament May 26 & 27, in Richland.

–Baseball won both of their games at their Tri-District event. They now enter the State Tournament as the Region 1 # 1 seed.  They will play in Anacortes at Volunteer Filed this Saturday, May 23.  Game time TBD.  A win in the first game and they would play again in the afternoon at the same site.  Two wins on Saturday, and the team would qualify for the finals in Yakima on Friday and Saturday, May 29 & 30.  A loss in any of the games would end their season.

–Softball won their play-in game vs Coupeville on Friday 8-7.  The game ended on a dramatic two run double in the bottom of the seventh inning with two runners on base, and two outs.  The team played again on Saturday in the double elimination round of District at Janicki Fields where they won 1 of 2 games to advance to the Tri-District tournament at Janicki Fields this Saturday, May 23.  Their first game is at 12:00 and they will need to win three games to advance to the state tournament the following weekend.  A loss in any of the games would end their season.

–Boys Tennis will continue play from the fall for those that qualified.  Our # 2 doubles team will play in a feeder game on Monday, May 18 at Coupeville.  A win will advance them to the Quad-District Tournament at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle on May 22.  Our # 1 singles and #1 doubles players have already qualified for the Quad-District Tournament.

–Girls Tennis completed their District 1 event on Saturday, May 9.  Friday Harbor placed 1st in singles, 2nd in singles and 2nd in doubles.  These players will now advance to the Tri-District Tournament being held at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle on May 21.

–Track qualified 9 participants at the District 1 Track meet for the Tri-District Track meet to be held at Kings High School on May 21 and 23.  Otto Schmidt qualified in 4 events, and Kayla Short qualified in 3 events.  All of the participants will be trying to qualify for the state track meet at Eastern Washington University on May 29 & 30.

Just past the gravel pit, around the little spit there...a quiet harbor.

Yesterday was the kind of day that reminds you this is a good place to live…I got a chance to take a walk around Pear Point Loop, and the flowers were out, the blackberries are starting to do their pre-blossom thing, the poppies are blooming, and it was a glorious day.

That reminded me of this thing that Maude says in “Harold & Maude” – “Dreyfus once wrote from Devil’s Island that he would see the most glorious birds. Many years later in Brittany he realized they had only been seagulls… For me they will always be – glorious birds.”

And…here’s that house that was completed this spring which has plants for a roof…it’s just across from where the Duffy House used to be, about a half mile past Jackson’s Beach out Pear Point. It’s sure colorful this time of year, don’t you think?

The flowers & plants on the roof....

Exploring sea life is a hands-on experience....

One of the quiet treasures of this island is the Friday Harbor Marine Labs, which puts its work on display once a year at their Open House.

This year the weather was perfect – just cool enough, just warm enough (baby bear’s porridge-weather), with the addition of the marimba band (Stone Soup) playing, and most of the labbies saying they were counting over 500-600 people passing through.

Brightening up a Saturday morning...

I asked Tawny if I could shoot a photo of her nails for you – you could see ’em a mile away as she was selling fish at the Market on Saturday… seems she told me the color was “roses without thorns neon” or something. Love it.

Danielle & Livia, doin' the Market

It was great to run into Danielle & Eric at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday with two-month-old Livia, who looked bright & happy in the morning sun.

Danielle & Livia, doin' the Market

It was great to run into Danielle & Eric at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday with two-month-old Livia, who looked bright & happy in the morning sun.

Alyssa & MacKenzie were on duty, selling the goods

Saturday’s 4-H Bake Sale did the job – when I dropped by and visited Alyssa & MacKenzie at Marketplace, they still had some great stuff to sell…here’s more from Cathy Cole:

Hi Ian,
Big thanks to you and Josie for stopping by the 4-H Country Critters (Rabbit, Cavy and Poultry Club) Bake Sale today at Market Place! It was a great success and we made over $800. The money will help pay for educational activities for the club members, clinics and shows on and off island and supplies needed for the San Juan County Fair. We appreciate the support of our community in helping provide these opportunities for our 4-H kids!
Cathy Cole
Club Leader

Victoria and Lily, doin' the Open House....

I hadn’t seen Victoria Compton with her Lily for a few months, and it was awesome to run into them at the Open House at the Labs over the weekend – she’s getting big, and smiley & bright like her mom…