At the courthouse yesterday morning, Kira Sable (left) hands Susan Moon and her partner of over 35 years Karen Kuster (behind) their marriage license….Susan & Karen were the first San Juan Island couple to apply for & receive a license in the wake of last month’s state-wide initiative approving same-sex marriage in Washington. Two other couples from off-island were in line ahead of Susan & Karen as the office opened this morning….

Lots going on around town & the island….changes upon changes. Let’s see what’s up:

• The Tree Lighting & Caroling is tonight – here’s more from the Chamber of Commerce’s Rebecca Parks:

The first Friday of December every year, islanders gather for warmth, good cheer, caroling and watching the big tree down at Memorial Park light up. Last year…well…I hear the tree didn’t exactly blaze the sky.

BUT THIS YEAR IS DIFFERENT!!! We have 4,000 new LED lights, installed by OPALCO courtesy of the Town of Friday Harbor and the Chamber of Commerce. There will be caroling with the Elementary School’s Eagle Spirit Choir, a kids’ ornament-making activity by Island Rec, plus lots and lots of caroling, hot drinks and cookies.

It all starts at 4:30 p.m. with the Island Chordsmen, our local barbershop singers, who will carol their way down Spring Street. At 5 p.m. we will flip the switch and… LET THERE BE LIGHT!!!

Please join your neighbors in celebrating this festive, momentous occasion. Wear your Santa hats!

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• Yep, the Resurrection Derby starts today – here’s more.

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It was great to see the people outside around the fire singing, and the mob inside & out at the Historical Museum for its annual Christmas celebration – including the Christmas train….photo by Kevin Loftus (thanks, Kevin!)

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Dan Calohan

• It was sad to hear of Dan Calohan‘s passing (right) – the family has made a website to remember him – check it out here.

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• FHHS travels to Orcas tonight to play basketball – Mike Martin reports you can hear the girls’ game at 6pm on www.fhTinyRadio.com and 1650 AM in downtown Friday Harbor, with the Ace Hardware Pre-game show at  5:40pm.

Mike says he believes the girls are ready – here’s head coach Eric Jangard:  “Look for both teams to have a fast pace, aggressive defenses, and a high-intensity game.” Junior Tabatha Keane agrees:  “We had a great week of practice. We’re all ready to play our game with tempo and poise.”

The Wolverines are coming off an opening-game loss to South Whidbey, 33-22.

Meanwhile, our boys play at home with Bear Creek this Saturday, after last week’s 54-47 win over South Whidbey…gametime is set for 1:30pm.

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It was good to catch up with Isaac Taylor (FHHS ’09) and his friend Rayne this past week – Isaac has been working in New Orleans since graduating from diving school in 2010….part of the reason for dropping in back home: cousin Chelsea Pascoe’s wedding last weekend.

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Shann, in Arizona

• It’s been fun to follow the adventures of islanders Shann Weston & Steve Porten as they make their way across the Southwest….they’re presently near Brisbee, Arizona – here’s more from their travel blog.

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• Whoa – that’s cool! The Visitors’ Bureau’s Barbara Marrett reports that we’re #3, according to the Lonely Planet – here’s more:

Lonely Planet Names San Juan Islands #3 for Top 10 U.S. Destinations for 2013

CNN.com  announced today:

“With Lonely Planet’s Top 10 U.S. Destinations for 2013, innovative cuisine and drink, hopping art scenes and spectacular nature are available–all without a passport. They include emerging destinations, locations that have something special for 2013 and longtime favorites with something new to offer visitors.” We are very proud to convey that the San Juan Islands of Washington are listed as #3 on this list.

Dubbing the islands “The Gourmet Archipelago,” Lonely Planet author Brendan Sainsbury states, “Gastronomic movements usually take hold in cities rather than on isolated archipelagos but the San Juan Islands in America’s Pacific Northwest…have always been a little different. Between them, the three main islands support two vineyards, a lavender farm, an alpaca ranch and weekend farmers’ markets that ply everything from artichokes to marionberries.”

“Chefs of international pedigree” plan their menus around locally-sourced seafood, grass-fed meat and organic produce at restaurants such as The Bay Café on Lopez Island, Allium and Doe Bay Café on Orcas Island, Sainsbury notes.

On hearing the news, Doe Bay Café sommelier Shannon Borg stated, “We are very lucky to have so many great farmers, fishermen and winemakers in the islands. We love to share our local bounty and lifestyle with visitors who treasure the islands as much as we do.”

“We’re thrilled,” remarked Barbara Marrett, Communications Manager for the San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau. “It’s the first year for the islands to be honored by inclusion on Lonely Planet’s list. Their travel products are a trusted source for information on the planet’s most captivating destinations; it’s a privilege to be recognized as one of them.”

Now in its third year, the list is compiled annually by Lonely Planet’s U.S. office team of editors and authors. The article announcing the list is one of the most read stories on www.lonelyplanet.com every year, which receives over 12 million unique visitors each month.

Already world-renowned for stunning scenery and watchable wildlife, this latest honor supports the San Juan Islands’ growing reputation as a culinary destination. Lonely Planet editors conclude their San Juan Islands listing with: “Hop on a bike, explore the beaches and enjoy the scenery, but be sure to eat!”

To read the entire article, please go to:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/usa/travel-tips-and-articles/77583

To find out more about the San Juan Islands go to: www.VisitSanJuans.com.
For more options, see Brendan’s article on the Gourmet Archipelago.

The complete Top 10 U.S. Travel Destinations list for 2013:

1.       Louisville, KY
2.       Fairbanks, AK
3.       San Juan Islands, WA
4.       Philadelphia, PA
5.       American Samoa
6.       Eastern Sierras, CA
7.       Northern Maine, ME
8.       Twin Cities, MN
9.       Verde Valley, AZ
10.    Glacier National Park, MT

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When I first met Josie, we studied a lot about the differences between Canada & the US….she helped me understand about hockey, snow, the Winter Olympics, First Nations friends & such, while I tried to explain the Electoral College to her (failed), baseball (that went better), the ways of islanders (she already knew) & how Southerners are cool. Went pretty well, but the more interesting part was finding what folks (and we) have in common & share….”imagine there’s no countries….” 🙂

• Hey, can you drop by & say hey (and goodbye?) Some friends are hosting a little goodbye thing on Thursday next week, and Josie & I would love to see you before we take off for Victoria in a couple of weeks – here’s the notice they’re putting around. It’s open to everyone!

Drop by the San Juan Island Community Theatre the evening of Thursday, December 13th to say so long to our longtime islanders & friends Ian & Josie Byington, as they pack up & move to Victoria (eight miles away – so near & yet so far!)

Ian is known to many islanders for his work producing the San Juan Update for the past 15 years – which has brought many of us together over the years. He has handed the Update off to Tim Dustrude, so we’ll still be “in the know.”

We’ll have a little reception for them from 5:30-7:30pm, with Ian promising to sing a song or two for us around 6:30pm. Bring a few cookies or baked goods to share – we’ll have tea & coffee – and help us bid our friends “bon voyage!”

(We’re sending this to Facebook friends, but tell anyone you know who might want to come!)

Please come by & say goodbye!

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I dropped by to say hey to my good friend Kaal, who is working with his wife Courtney as the new owners, managing the BBQ Shack. They’re currently open from Thursdays to Sundays for lunch & dinner (and have specials during & after the tree-lighting ceremony Friday night!) Drop by & say hey – it’s great! They’re working with fellow co-owner Sybil & Travis Mager to offer a great dining experience!

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Put it in your datebook! See you there!

Ted Buganski in action for more than 30 years….and the island is cleaner because of it! Photo by Tim Dustrude.

Tim Dustrude continues his series with photos & stories about people around the island – here’s more about Ted Buganski and his carpet cleaning business:

You’ve probably seen his van with the red “Ted’s 3-C Carpet Cleaning” on the sides. Ted bought the company in 1981 and says, “I’ve been loving every minute of it. It’s really great to be your own boss – you want a mini vacation somewhere? Just don’t schedule any clients and you’re free to go!” An avid bowler as well…..
(Click here for the rest of the story)

Photographer Tim Dustrude has put together a series of photos & stories called This Is Our Town about folks around the island, and his work is a regular feature here in the San Juan Update. Tim has been a professional photographer for over a decade, and does great work. Check out his website.

San Juan County joins the rest of the state in legalizing same-sex marriages on December sixth…so how does that work? Here’s more from County Auditor Milene Henley:

History will be made on December 6, 2012, when same-sex couples can legally apply for a marriage license in Washington.  The approval by voters of Referendum 74 will usher in a new era of equality for all couples to legally marry in the Evergreen state.

All couples are required to have a valid marriage license to get married in Washington.  In San Juan County, couples may apply online here, in person at the County Auditor’s Office in Friday Harbor, or through the mail. Continue Reading

Cynthia in action, getting ready for the next banquet….photo by Tim Dustrude.

Tim Dustrude continues his series with photos & stories about people around the island – here’s more about catering maven Cynthia Burke:

Cynthia Burke is the owner of Cynthia’s Of Course, a catering and personal chef service here in Friday Harbor. She has been in the food and hospitality business for over 35 years, including owning two restaurants as well as catering companies. Born and raised in West Seattle, she moved to Maui with her husband Christopher Burke in 1984….
(Click here for the rest of the story)

Photographer Tim Dustrude has put together a series of photos & stories called This Is Our Town about folks around the island, and his work is a regular feature here in the San Juan Update. Tim has been a professional photographer for over a decade, and does great work. Check out his website.

Sam Carter

Samuel Alexander Carter: 1982 — 2012

Samuel Alexander Carter of Friday Harbor died Friday, Nov. 23, 2012, of an accidental drowning, sometime after 12:30 a.m.

He was 30 years old.

Born March 5, 1982, in Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada, Sam is the son of Thomas R. Carter and Nina A. White.

Sam attended 1st-12th grade in Friday Harbor, also attending Skagit Valley Community College and Shoreline Community College, where he earned his high school diploma and most of his credits toward an associate arts degree. During that time, he enjoyed rich friendships with peers and faculty, always living by Mr. Westphalen’s “Golden Rule”.

After graduation, in 2001, Sam, along with Todd Lowen, Casey Baisch, Brook Melville and Rosa Blair (mentored by Ben White), spent the next year studying for ISA certification for arbor culture, passing all but one section of the rigorous exam.

Sam balanced commercial fishing in Alaska with arborist work in the San Juan Islands for his remaining years. Finding community in three states: Alaska, California and Washington, Sam spent his summers fishing, falls doing arborist work and winters with close friends. He loved snowboarding, reading cook books, developing recipes and most of all cooking for friends.

With a kind smile and warm sincere interest, he met the world each day. The ring of his laughter as he engaged small children will echo eternally in the canopied foliage of the trees he so dearly loved.

He will be sorely missed…

Losing his mother at age 11, he never got over the pain of her absence; one of his wishes was to be buried by her side. His ashes were transported to Egegik, Alaska on Dec. 3, where he is surely now resting in his mother’s arms.

Sam found his way into many hearts in the community and his family thanks them all for their support during this time of loss.

Sam is survived by his father, Thomas Carter and wife Tamara Carter, stepmother Sarah Bergman, brother Ray Chmiel, sister Alycia Johnson and brother Christian Carter, aunts and uncles; Deanna, Jessica, Roy, Margo, Theresa, Nora and Hazel, and grandmother Margret Horton, and many cousins, nephews and nieces.

There was a small gathering at Evans Funeral Home on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012, giving family and close friends an opportunity to say “good-bye” before Sam was flown to Alaska. A funeral in the Egegik Baptist Church, with Paul Bischoffski officiating, was held Monday, Dec. 3, 2012, at 11 a.m.

A celebration of Sam’s life will be held at the Friday Harbor Grange, Dec. 23, 2012. The family encourages all who knew Sam to come and to share in the lasting joy his life gave us all.

— Family of Sam Carter

Mona needs a warmer home for the Winter

I just heard that Mona the Camel may be leaving our island if she can’t find a warmer place for her feet. Her owner Steve King says her feet get cold in the Winter at her current location on Roche Harbor Road (lots of wet runoff on that property) and it’s not good for her health or happiness. He’s looking at a “camel farm” down near San Diego but is pretty torn up about it.

“She’s really not been around other camels much and I don’t know how she will handle it,” he says. She relates to humans much better as that’s what she’s accustomed to from people stopping by to visit her. “I’ll probably have to send the alpacas as well if she goes, that’s unless I can find a place locally where she can spend the wet winters – somewhere with a rocky, dry soil with better drainage.”

If any Update readers know of a place here on the island, Steve would really appreciate a call. You can reach him at 378-8228.

It’s something you can bring the kids to….and it’s this weekend. Here’s more from Jan Bollwinkel-Smith at the Community Theatre:

Outlandish Funnyman Joins Comedy Tour

On stage: Bill Robison

The Curious Comedy Tour returns to the San Juan Community Theatre on December 7 with a new twist: comedian Bill Robison.

The Tour wowed families last year when juggler Matt Baker and magician Steve Hamilton joined forces for a one-of-a-kind variety show. This time, Robison will take Baker’s spot and share his “penchant for the absurd and reckless sense of abandon” with islanders; Hamilton will return with his marveling magic. Performing for more than 25 years, Robison’s physical comedy sweeps audiences along on a non-stop, family-friendly journey that intertwines comedy mayhem and audience participation with wacky music, characters, costumes and sound effects.

Together with Hamilton’s spontaneous magic, the two promise “one hilarious show for all ages.”

The special family night of comedy also features free popcorn and soda, courtesy of the Community Arts Theatre Society (CATS).

The Business Partner for this performance is CATS. Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for student reserved. $5 Student RUSH will be available at the door. The SJCT Box Office is open Tuesdays-Fridays, 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Saturdays 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and one hour before any performance. Call 360-378-3210, or surf to www.sjctheatre.org.

The STEM designation allows for increased science, math, tech & engineering inquiry at school….

Science. Technology. Engineering. Mathematics. The school district’s kids just got a boost from the state in these areas – here’s more from the school district’s Maude Cumming:

The San Juan Island School District has been named one of five STEM Lighthouse Districts by the State of Washington via a state-wide competition.

The Lighthouse designation acknowledges that these districts have developed the best  STEM programs in the State. As a STEM Lighthouse, our mission will be to serve as a resource and example of best practices in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instruction to all other districts, especially small districts for which quality STEM programs are especially challenging. Continue Reading

Tabatha Keane gets set to add 2 points – Photo by Mike Martin

Mike Martin checks in with some post-game wrap-ups for the Wolverine Boys and the Lady Wolverines from last Saturday’s games at South Whidbey. First, the Ladies…  Continue Reading

Our good friend Gail over at Cotton Cotton Cotton has an announcement for local shoppers:

Attention Holiday Shoppers!
Most local shops downtown are staying open late for your shopping pleasure on Thursdays in December!
Starting December 6th most shops are staying open until 7:00 PM or 8:00 PM.
Please call your favorite store to check for hours, specials and sales!
Shop local!  Come on downtown to get your Christmas shopping done!

This just in from Michelle Loftus:

Join the Legion Auxiliary Wed Dec 5th, 5:30 PM at the San Juan Island Legion downstairs. They will be packing boxes to send to the troops. Did you know they do this monthly?

Call Minnie Knych for details 378-7040.

Thank you,

Michelle Loftus

I hope the season finds you well & good, and that you’re making plans to be close to friends & family & loved ones. My little gift to you: I’d like to offer what I think is a pretty reasonable suggestion: Don’t go broke this holiday season.

For the past several years (back into the nineties, at least), my family & I have enjoyed a hundred dollar Christmas – spending no more than that. Does that mean no presents? Hardly! It means homemade candles (one year), specially burnt CDs, certificates for babysitting, log-splitting and other “chores,” home-cooked banana bread, homemade calendars…great fun.

I just noticed how many times I said “home.”

Anyway, I’ve posted this before, but I’d like to offer this essay by Bill McKibben once more as an articulate explanation of this notion – see what you think, then see what you do:

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A Hundred Dollar Christmas
A small revolt takes hold in the author’s New England hometown.

By Bill McKibben

from the November/December 1997 Issue of Mother Jones

You CAN spend less, ya know….keep it simple. 🙂

I know what I’ll be doing on Christmas Eve. My wife, my 4-year-old daughter, my dad, my brother, and I will snowshoe out into the woods in late afternoon, ready to choose a hemlock or a balsam fir and saw it down — I’ve had my eye on three or four likely candidates all year.

We’ll bring it home, shake off the snow, decorate it, and then head for church, where the Sunday school class I help teach will gamely perform this year’s pageant. (Last year, along with the usual shepherds and wise people, it featured a lost star talking on a cell phone.) And then it’s home to hang stockings, stoke the fire, and off to bed. As traditional as it gets, except that there’s no sprawling pile of presents under the tree.

Several years ago, a few of us in the northern New York and Vermont conference of the United Methodist Church started a campaign for what we called “Hundred Dollar Holidays.” The church leadership voted to urge parishioners not to spend more than $100 per family on presents, to rely instead on simple homemade gifts and on presents of services — a back rub, stacking a cord of firewood. That first year I made walking sticks for everyone. Last year I made spicy chicken sausage. My mother has embraced the idea by making calendars illustrated with snapshots she’s taken.

The $100 figure was a useful anchor against the constant seductions of the advertisers, a way to explain to children why they weren’t getting everything on their list.

So far, our daughter, Sophie, does fine at Christmas. Her stocking is exciting to her; the tree is exciting; skating on the pond is exciting. It’s worth mentioning, however, that we don’t have a television, so she may not understand the degree of her impoverishment.

This holiday idea may sound modest. It is modest. And yet at the same time it’s pretty radical. Christmas, it turns out, is a bulwark of the nation’s economy. Many businesses — bookstores, for instance, where I make my living — do one-third of their volume in the months just before December 25th. And so it hits a nerve to question whether it all makes sense, whether we should celebrate the birth of a man who said we should give all that we have to the poor by showering each other with motorized tie racks.

It’s radical for another reason, too. If you believe that our consumer addiction represents our deepest problem — the force that keeps us from reaching out to others, from building a fair society, the force that drives so much of our environmental degradation — then Christmas is the nadir.

Sure, advertising works its powerful dark magic year-round. But on Christmas morning, with everyone piling downstairs to mounds of presents, consumption is made literally sacred. Here, under a tree with roots going far back into prehistory, here next to a creche with a figure of the infant child of God, we press stuff on each other, stuff that becomes powerfully connected in our heads to love, to family, and even to salvation.

The 12 days of Christmas — and in many homes the eight nights of Hanukkah — are a cram course in consumption, a kind of brainwashing.

When we began the $100 campaign, merchants, who wrote letters to the local papers, made it clear to us what a threatening idea it was. Newspaper columnists thought it was pretty extreme, too — one said church people should stick to religion and leave the economy alone. Another said that while our message had merit, it would do too much damage to business.

And he was right, or at least not wrong. If we all backed out of Christmas excess this year, we would sink many a gift shop; if we threw less lavish office parties, caterers would suffer — and florists and liquor wholesalers and on down the feeding chain. But we have to start somewhere, if we’re ever to climb down from the unsustainable heights we’ve reached, and Christmas might as well be it.

When we first began to spread this idea about celebrating Christmas in a new way, we were earnest and sober. Big-time Christmas was an environmental disgrace — all that wrapping paper, all those batteries. The money could be so much better spent: The price of one silk necktie could feed a village for a day; the cost of a big-screen television could vaccinate more than 60 kids. And struggling to create a proper Christmas drives poor families into debt. Where I live, which is a poor and cold place, January finds many people cutting back on heat to pay off their bills.

Those were all good reasons to scale back. But as we continued our campaign, we found we weren’t really interested in changing Christmas because we wanted fewer batteries. We wanted more joy. We felt cheated by the Christmases we were having — so rushed, so busy, so full of mercantile fantasy and catalog hype that we couldn’t relax and enjoy the season.

Our growing need to emphasize joy over guilt says a great deal about the chances for Christian radicalism, for religious radicalism in general. At its truest, religion represents the one force in our society that can postulate some goal other than accumulation. In an idolatrous culture, religion can play a subversive role. Churches, mosques, and synagogues almost alone among our official institutions can say, It’s not the economy, stupid. It’s your life. It’s learning that there’s some other center to the universe.

Having that other center can change the way we see the world around us. It’s why devoted clergy and laypeople occasionally work small miracles in inner cities and prisons; it’s why alcoholics talk about a Higher Power. If we’re too big, then perhaps the solution lies in somehow making ourselves a little smaller.

You may be too late for this Christmas. You may already have bought your pile of stuff, or perhaps it’s too late to broach the subject with relatives who will gather with you for the holidays, bearing (and therefore expecting) great stacks of loot. Our local Methodist ministers begin in September, preaching a skit sermon about the coming holiday. Many in our church community now participate. So do some of our neighbors and friends around the country.

None of us is under any illusions; we know that turning the focus of Christmas back to Christ is a long and patient effort, one that works against every force that consumer culture can muster. But to judge from our own holidays in recent years, it’s well worth the effort.

I know what we’ll be doing Christmas morning: After we open our stockings and exchange our few homemade gifts, we’ll go out for a hike. Following the advice of St. Francis of Assisi, who said that even the birds deserve to celebrate this happy day, we’ll spread seed hither and yon — and for one morning the chickadees and the jays will have it easy. And then we’ll head back inside to the warm and fragrant kitchen and start basting the turkey, shaping the rolls, mashing the potatoes.

Some things are sacred.

Bill McKibben is the author of The End of Nature & Maybe One: An Environmental and Personal Argument for Single-Child Families, published by Random House.

Karrie Cooper of the Stewardship Network sends this invitation:

ELWHA RIVER DAM REMOVAL & RESTORATION: A Photographic Journey with Eric Kessler

December 6th Thursday 6-7pm at the Grange 152 First St N. Friday Harbor WA

On October 24, 2012, the Elwha River flowed free again for the first time in almost 100 years. On this overcast afternoon, the base of the Glines Canyon Dam was notched low enough that its impoundment Lake Mills ceased to exist, and the river was free. Continue Reading

Celebrate Christmas the old fashioned way at the San Juan Historical Museum!

Thursday, December 6, 5:00 pm -8:00 pm

Join us for a time honored tradition, where many of the things you remember from long ago are brought to life once again. Visit with old friends and make new ones and celebrate the spirit of the season. Delectable baked goodies, Ivar’s Clam Chowder, hearty chili, hot apple cider and good cheer for all.

Caroling, sing-a-longs and the winter wonderland train set will provide fun for the whole family. The museum heritage structures will be decorated in their holiday finery as well so mark your calendars now to attend and take a step back to a simpler time.

The San Juan Community Theater during the Fundraiser, Dec. 1, 2012

The theater had a great turnout and wonderful entertainment for their 2012 fundraiser. Check out all the smiling faces and well-dressed islanders in this slideshow gallery of photos by Ian Byington and Tim Dustrude. Continue Reading

Golden Paintbrush Planting Work Party December 5 at American Camp

Mike Vouri sends this invitation over from the National Park Service:

Stake your claim for gold—as in golden paintbrush —by joining park staff and volunteers in planting more than 2,000 seedlings in a section of the American Camp prairie from 10 a.m. to noon, Wednesday, December 5, meeting at the American Camp visitor center.

Those arriving late should look for the planting party on the north side of Redoubt Road, midway between the Redoubt and Pickett’s Lane.
For accessibility information, call 360-378-2240, ext. 2233.

Golden paintbrush (Castilleja levisecta) is a symbol of the native northwest prairies, an ecosystem that has been reduced by more than 90 percent. As with the prairie habitat that sustains them, golden paintbrush populations have decreased dramatically. Formerly found in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, the plant has been reduced to fewer than 11 populations in Washington and Canada. Continue Reading