In Celebration of EARTH DAY & the Marine Environment

The San Juan Islands Museum of Art celebrates the marine environment on Earth Day weekend with the opening of FRAGILE WATERS, its Spring / Summer exhibition.

FRAGILE WATERS is a powerful aesthetic and environmental statement, blending inspiring black-and-white photography by three renowned photographers and lifelong environmentalists:
Ansel Adams, Ernest H. Brooks II, and Dorothy Kerper Monnelly.

For details on the exhibition and special events, check out this official Press Release (PDF).

Jo Jo is this week’s Pet of the Week – Contributed photo

My name is Jo-Jo and I’m what you might call a “Diamond in the Ruff”. I get over-looked a lot at the animal shelter because I have a hard time meeting people.

I’m a little shy because people haven’t always treated me very well. I’ll let you in on a secret… I’m actually a really funny, loveable, cuddly kind of guy if you take just a little time to get to know me. No kidding. Does this look like a face that would lie?

We could be best friends, you and I… we just need to put our trust in each other. I’m willing to give it a try – how about you?

Animal Protection Society of Friday Harbor
111 Shelter Road
(360) 378-2158

Large turnout was moved from cafeteria to the gym – Patrick Minney photo – Click to enlarge

Democrats Converge at FHHS for the Caucus – Photo Peggy Sue McRae

Dateline: Friday Harbor – Roving SJ Update Reporter Peggy Sue McRae reports on today’s Democratic caucus…

Saturday morning San Juan Island Democrats showed up at the High School for the Democratic Caucus. The crowd easily overwhelmed the common room and had to move into the gym.

Standing Room Only in the Gym – Photo Peggy Sue McRae

Organizers did a fantastic job of managing the crowd and making sure all who showed up could participate. After gathering together and hearing announcements we moved into separate classrooms with our precincts to tally our votes, speak for our candidates, and select delegates and alternates who will attend the County Convention on May 1st.

Precinct 16 Tallys the Vote – Photo Peggy Sue McRae

It was great to hear my neighbors speak on behalf of their chosen candidates with such passion and thoughtfulness.  This is ground level democracy. Well done San Juan County Democrats!

J-54 confirmed male – Melisa Pinnow photo

This just in from the Center for Whale Research…

J54 has been confirmed male based on recent photographs taken by local Naturalists.

We have suspected that J54 is a male for several months but have been unable to get a conclusive photograph of the calf’s underbelly to confirm the calf’s sex until this week. On March 21st, Center for Whale Research volunteer and local naturalist, Melisa Pinnow, captured an image of the young male calf’s belly and yesterday we received another clear photograph from naturalist Heather Macintyre that confirms J54 is male.

Heather Macintyre photo

The news of yet another male in the baby-boom cohort is some cause for concern that the recent baby boom is not necessarily indicative of a recovery. There are currently eight remaining calves born between December 30th 2014 and January 18th 2016 and only one animal is known to be a female – J50, who was the first of the “baby boom” calves to be born. Continue Reading

This is the third in a series of articles about elections in Washington State by San Juan County Auditor F. Milene Henley. The County Auditor administers elections and voter registration in the County.

Milene Henley – Contributed photo

Ever thought about that signature on the back of your ballot envelope? It serves two purposes: First, it indicates your agreement to the declaration, printed on the envelope, that you are a citizen of the United States; a legal resident of Washington; at least 18 years old on Election Day; voting only once; not under the authority of the Department of Corrections; and not disqualified to vote due to a court order.

The signature also proves that you are who you say you are. Many voters are surprised to learn that every signature on every ballot envelope is verified by elections staff to ensure that it matches the signature on the voter’s registration record.

And if it doesn’t match? Here are some of the situations we see.

No signature. There are always voters who forget to sign the envelope.

“Formal” vs “casual” signatures. Some voters sign their voter registration forms and driver’s licenses neatly, using their “formal” signatures, but when it comes to voting, they dash off their signatures more casually. This can cause a mismatch in signatures.

Changing signatures. Signatures change over time, especially when people are young. The signatures of voters who register when they’re young may evolve to the point where they no longer match their registered signature. Injuries and age can also cause signatures to change, sometimes to the point where the voter must submit a new signature. Continue Reading

Track & Field events at the High School on Thursday – Ted Strutz photos

Some of the action at the Regional Track and Field Meet held at Friday Harbor High School yesterday.  It’s fun to see the kids get a chance to display the results of all their hard work in fitness and the practice needed to take part in these events.  Hats off to the teachers and coaches for their dedication and giving the kids the will and ability to compete.

Click any of the images below to enlarge:

[Show slideshow]

American Camp with Camas and Chocolate Lillies – Nancy Spaulding pastel

Local artist Nancy Spaulding shares some good news…

Dear Tim,

I recently had one of my island landscapes accepted into a show at the National Botanical Garden in Washington D.C. In celebration of the National Parks 100th anniversary. The art on display showcases the native flora of our National Parks. My pastel represents American Camp with Camas and Chocolate Lilies.

I am submitting to you a photo of the piece and a press release with more information from the National Botanical Gardens.

Best regards!
Nancy

And here’s the official press release: 

A new exhibit at the the United States Botanic Garden (USBG) in Washington, DC, displaying artworks depicting familiar, rare, and iconic plants and trees of America’s national parks includes a pastel by Nancy Spaulding depicting Camas and chocolate Lilies – a species found in San Juan Island National Historical Park

Flora of the National Parks opened Thursday, Feb. 18 at the USBG on the National Mall. Free and open to the public through Oct. 2, 2016, the exhibition features more than 80 illustrations, paintings, photographs, and other art forms ranging in size from intimate 12-inch pieces to large-scale, 7-foot dramatic panoramas that showcase key plant life in national parks across the country. The USBG is staging the show to mark this year’s centennial of the National Park Service (NPS) and to highlight the diversity of the nation’s flora protected within national parks.

Nancy’s 22” x 28” Camas and Chocolate Lilies was created as a dry pigment pastel.The artist lives in Friday Harbor Washington. She came to the island in 1978 and has created many images from the park over the years in her earlier silkscreen prints and now in her recent pastel paintings. She has led several “sketching in the field” workshops at the park sharing how she works and gathers inspiration. Continue Reading

San Juan Island Library invites all wizards, witches and muggles to a night at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  We leave from Platform 9-3/4 to enter into the world of Harry Potter.

Kids of all ages and families are welcome to join in the fun.  Meet many Hogwarts Professors including Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Dolores Umbridge, Severus Snape, Pomona Sprout, Sybill Trelawny, and Rubeus Hagrid.  And you might see Moaning Myrtle!

House sorting will be the first order of business followed by various activities including a Potions Class with Professor Snape, a Wand Making Class with Dolores Umbridge, Harry Potter Trivia with Professor McGonagall, and a Magical Creature Hunt with Rubeus Hagrid for the little ones.  Visit Azkaban Prison to have your photo taken, try your hand at Quidditch Pong and don’t miss our Hogwarts resident magician!

Come as your favorite Harry Potter character!  Costumes are encouraged and there will be Contest for Best Costumes.  The judging divisions are Pre-Kindergarten, Elementary School age, Middle and High School level, and finally the Adults. Prizes will be awarded to the best in each division.

Butterbeer and goodies from Honeydukes will be served courtesy of the Friends of the San Juan Island Library.

Estimated time: 2 hours to fully experience Hogwarts!  Registration is not required for this special event. Friday, April 1 at 7:30 PM at San Juan Island Library

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Library cards are free of charge to islanders with proof of residency. In addition to its collections of materials to loan, the library also provides public access computers and WiFi. Library hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Kevin Culmback – Contributed photo

The Animal Protection Society of Friday Harbor is happy to announce that Kevin Culmback is the Volunteer of the Month for March.

If you’ve visited the animal shelter recently, there’s a good chance you’ve run into Kevin. He’s a devoted volunteer who can often be found walking dogs, cleaning cat rooms or doing odd jobs around the shelter.

Last month he even designed and built a beautiful bench for the lobby, which has become a favorite napping spots for dogs and cats alike! We simply could not do what we do at the shelter without the help of our dedicated volunteers like Kevin. Thanks so much, Kevin!

In August 2016, residents of San Juan Island will be asked to vote on a proposition to authorize a regular property tax levy for the purpose of funding emergency medical services.

Now, before the levy level is decided upon, San Juan Island EMS is sponsoring two Town Hall meetings to encourage citizen participation in the process of establishing the levy level. The meetings will be held on April 11th at 5:30pm at the Roche Harbor Resort Pavilion, and on April 12th at 5:30pm at the Mullis Center in Friday Harbor.

EMS Chief Jerry Martin – Brook Ashcraft photo

A new EMS Chief, Jerry Martin, joined San Juan Island EMS in January 2016. He comes to us from Whatcom County Emergency Medical Services, and has been a Paramedic for 25 years. Jerry welcomes input from the community on what emergency services are considered essential and how best to pay for these. Come meet the new chief and bring him your questions and comments about our EMS service.

The current property tax levy supporting San Juan Island EMS runs out at the end of 2016. A new levy must be approved by the voters if support of emergency medical services on San Juan Island is to continue beyond the end of 2016. For more information, contact Pam Hutchins, Superintendent, at 378-2857.

This month Conscientious Projector pick

SJ Update intern Brook Ashcraft shares her thoughts after attending Monday’s Conscientious Projector Series presentation… 

On Monday the 21st, I went to the San Juan Island Library to watch the film AWAKE. Each month, Rob Simpson and the library have been having showings of different movies and documentaries, in a series called the Conscientious Projector Series.

Featured this month was a powerful documentary by Lisa Leeman and Paola di Florio, which tells the story of Paramahansa Yogananda and his journey to spread his enlightenment and spiritual practice.

Rob Simpson gave some insight on consciousness and mindfulness, both strong subjects in the film.

He also said that although Conscientious Projector will have its last showing after five years, he and the library will morph the series into a special event. For news on when these events and more are happening at the library, go to the San Juan Island Library page and sign up to become a member.

Before the film, Simpson shared a bit of information about Cleve Backster and his studies.

“Has anyone heard of the Backster effect? Cleve Backster, interesting guy. After World War II, when he was a CIA operative, he helped them develop the lie detector… so he spent ten years with the CIA and he didn’t like the direction they were taking his invention.

So he quit and offered it to law enforcement and set up a training program to teach others the proper way to use the equipment. But he just loved testing the changes in the skin response. Even though you don’t register it verbally, your body registers a change in the energy that the question [from the lie detector operator] has brought forward.

So, you may have heard this in the 70s, sometimes he started to hook it up to plants and see what happens and he was getting no results. He kept doing little tests. He would hook it up to a plant with big, large leaves. He would crinkle the leaves and nothing would happen. He would do little tests, like ‘what if I dip the leaves in hot coffee?’. Well nothing happened, the plants just being a plant, you know.

Then he says, ‘what to do? Oh, I know! I’ve got matches in the other room. I’m gonna go get some and burn this thing.’ And he looks over at his graph and its gone BOOOM crazy. He didn’t do it… he thought it. He thought it not as a concept, he thought it as I am doing this.

That really got him excited, so he spent many years testing plants for what causes a response like this? What are they tapping into, energetically, that has them responding to a very strong intention?”

Continue Reading

Just heard that the 4H Bits and Spurs will be at Ace Hardware from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm Saturday March 26 for their bake sale. They will have lots of yummy goodies just in time for Easter so you might want to get yourself on down there.

Emily Nicholson – Contributed Photo

At Balance for Life, a healing event at Brickworks this past weekend, I attended Use the Force: A Meditation Workshop. Emily Nicholson, our instructor, taught us about stress, breathing patterns, mantras, and how to incorporate meditation practice into our everyday lives.

Along with attending the class, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Emily to ask her about her life and her experience with yoga and meditation.

Emily Nicholson, originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, moved to the San Juan Islands about six years ago. She was 18 when she took her first yoga class in college. She adored it, and after college, she began to teach free introductory yoga classes and subbed in at the studio where she was enrolled for a 6 month training program and slowly worked towards becoming an instructor. Upon arrival in FH, Emily was baffled to find out that there was a great lack of yoga on the island and hoped to see more offerings in the future.

Emily taught private yoga lessons, mainly focusing in prenatal yoga and meditation healing for individuals’ psychological needs. Expanding her yogi-teachings, she instructed classes at both Lakedale Resort and Brickworks.

Here is brief bio on Emily today… Continue Reading

Dear Island Neighbors,

Spring is here and we are hoping for another great community turnout on Thursday, March 31th for the annual Dining for Scholars day. Our “Dining” goal is to raise $6,000 for our scholarship fund and you can help by simply dining out for breakfast, lunch or dinner (or all 3!) on this day. Last spring we granted twenty-three, $1,000 scholarships to San Juan Island high school graduates, so we really need your support to replenish our scholarship fund.

This year the following restaurants are graciously offering to donate a portion of their proceeds to our scholarship fund:

The mission of San Juan Island Service Scholarship is to support higher education and promote volunteerism among our community’s youth. Students who have completed a minimum of 80 hours of volunteer community service during their high school career are eligible for a scholarship through our program.

If helping to grow volunteerism in our community appeals to you, please join us March 31st. See our online ads for dining locations and times, or visit us on the web at www.sjiservicescholarhship.org. We are a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization and your direct donation is fully tax deductible.

With sincere appreciation for your support,

June Arnold
President

The NW Lions Foundation Health Screening Unit will be in our neighborhood providing free Health Screenings for:

• Blood Pressure
• Glaucoma
• Diabetes
• Sight
• Hearing

This will happen at Marketplace in Friday Harbor on Friday and Saturday, April 1st & 2nd from Noon to 5:00.

This professionally-equipped, state-licensed mobile unit is a program of the Northwest Lions Foundation and is staffed by health professionals, Lions Club members, and volunteers. It travels throughout the Northwest, providing free health screenings to the public.

The Lions Health Screening Unit is brought to you free of charge by your local San Juan Lions Club – For more information, contact the sponsoring Lions Club at:

221 Yale Ave N., #450  Seattle, WA 98109
www.nlfoundation.org in partnership with the San Juan Lions Club
(Contact Curt VanHyning at 317-8399)

Tristan and his #1 Fan Aries – Contributed photo

It was quite the morning for almost 2-year-old, Aries Unpingco, as the garbage truck pulled up to his house to get the family’s garbage.

Every Tuesday morning Aries waits for the garbage truck by the window and when it arrives, he waves frantically and shouts, “Hi, garbage man! Hi garbage truck!”

Today, the garbage man got out of his truck and knocked on the front door. Garbage truck driver, Tristan Savell, asked if his #1 fan was available to come out to see the garbage truck. Tristan gave Aries a toy garbage truck, just like the real one, and asked to take a picture with Aries sitting on the steps of the truck.

Thank you, Tristan! Aries is your #1 fan. Your heartwarming gesture means so much! You went above and beyond your job duty to make someone else’s day great.

Shared by Juan & Carrie Unpingco
Parents