Fun in the streets of Friday Harbor....

I found these Santa crawl folks in the street when I was going between the Bean & Pazzo Vivo on Saturday night….

Fun in the streets of Friday Harbor....

I found these Santa crawl folks in the street when I was going between the Bean & Pazzo Vivo on Saturday night….

This office on 818 Mullis Street could be yours....

Hey, I had things to tell you about things going on in our offices at the Guard Electric Building:

• Frankie & Melissa Guard have TWO offices open to rent – the one Dan & Andi Zehring were in for a long time, and mine with By Design (as part of my downsizing, I’m moving the Executive Suites into my house & wearing bunny slippers to work). Here’s the scoop – I don’t think you’re gonna find a better deal (very affordable) or better landlords (I love those guys!) And…first month’s rent is free…call now. Right now.

• Did I mention By Design is downsizing? I LOVE downsizing! So, we’re gonna have a Garage Sale/Office Sale this weekend on Saturday at 9am. Desks, computers, couch, chairs, other office stuff. Come by! I’ll probably have cookies for you, like usual.

• Joy & Denny are having their customer appreciation evening on the 16th by staying open late that night so it’s easy for you to shop….come by San Juan Cellular for that!

That's Margaret (left) & Charles, with Pat in the back & Becky....

One place you can get your Christmas tree this year is from the Nash Family…Pat & Becky and the kids (yep, you heard right – Charles & Margaret turned 17 on Sunday, and Jordan’s back from college next week) are selling trees on the front yard of what was Latitude 48 (and soon will be something else, but that’s a secret John told me not to tell you about).

Becky says they expect to be there this holiday season – so swing by!

Election night last year: John & Carol at the Rocky Bay Cafe for the victory party....

A memorial service for John Linde is planned for 11:30 a.m Saturday., at Friday Harbor Presbyterian Church, with a reception afterwards at 1 p.m. at the Yacht Club.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that a full autopsy will be conducted early this week to determine the cause of John Linde’s death last Thursday in Hawaii, while the San Juan Islander reports that a family friend said over the weekend that the cause was cardiac arrest.

Meanwhile, there has been an outpouring of feeling – there are dozens of comments on the Facebook page titled: “John O. Linde, San Juan County Superior Court Judge”…check it & add your thoughts. (Gotta be a Facebook member….)

Looking at the Facebook remarks is a good way to see the incredible reach John had with this community – his work touched so many people around the islands. And judging by people’s reactions, and tears, over the weekend, he is much missed and fondly remembered.

Election night last year: John & Carol at the Rocky Bay Cafe for the victory party....

A memorial service for John Linde is planned for 11:30 a.m Saturday., at Friday Harbor Presbyterian Church, with a reception afterwards at 1 p.m. at the Yacht Club.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that a full autopsy will be conducted early this week to determine the cause of John Linde’s death last Thursday in Hawaii, while the San Juan Islander reports that a family friend said over the weekend that the cause was cardiac arrest.

Meanwhile, there has been an outpouring of feeling – there are dozens of comments on the Facebook page titled: “John O. Linde, San Juan County Superior Court Judge”…check it & add your thoughts. (Gotta be a Facebook member….)

Looking at the Facebook remarks is a good way to see the incredible reach John had with this community – his work touched so many people around the islands. And judging by people’s reactions, and tears, over the weekend, he is much missed and fondly remembered.

Daniel Finn plays to a packed house at The Naked Bean Saturday night....

Besides the excitement of several hundred people at the Community Theatre for the Festival of Trees, there was music downtown, too.

It was great to see singer-songwriter Daniel Finn weave his magic at The Naked Bean…I love the way he takes words and makes them sing, and you end up with the chorus stuck in your head for the rest of the night. He doesn’t perform as often as those of us in his fan club would like, but when he does, he makes it count.

Bass player Grant Schwinge, in a moment of reflection (in the glass at Pazzo Vivo....)

Meanwhile, just across the street, Saucerful was playing at Pazzo Vivo. The band consists of Spring Street International students past & present: two-years ago grad Christian Carter (vocals, guitar, and some keyboards), last-year grad Grant Schwinge (playing a sweet bass), senior Zack Milkus (on drums, with a little singing), and junior Robin Lohrey (mostly leads on keyboards that knocked the crowd out, and a little guitar).

The group’s rep consists of new stuff, including their own compositions, as well as vintage Led Zepplin & Beatles (when was the last time YOU heard a bar band cover “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”? They make it a great way to pass the evening – can’t wait to hear them as they continue to grow as a group.

It was standing-room wall-to-wall people at The Naked Bean....

Maybe it’s changed, but the last time I looked at the weather report in the navigation bar at the top of this page, it said it wasn’t gonna get above freezing till Wednesday, when things fire up to 36 or so.

Throw another log on the fire.

Maybe it’s changed, but the last time I looked at the weather report in the navigation bar at the top of this page, it said it wasn’t gonna get above freezing till Wednesday, when things fire up to 36 or so.

Throw another log on the fire.

Monday night, it finally happened – longtime Paradise Lanes bowler Jim Cumming rolled a perfect 300 in league. Manager Scott Olinger says he’s glad it was Jim, because Jim works on his game, and occasionally even bowls in off-island tournaments. He also helps Scott with youth bowling, including the enrichment program at the school.

Scott says he got the first nine frames, then “put the first two in the pocket” to set up the last ten.

Others have come close (Jake Phillips & Mike Hogan come to mind – here’s Mike’s picture & the story the night he came oh-so-close with a 289, a score matched the year before by Jake.)

Way to go, Jim!!!!

Bob & Stephanie, in the time of foreclosure....

I had run across a well-written blog 2-3 months ago by & about a couple from the Chicago area that was trying to move here. Titled “Love in the Time of Foreclosure,” Stephanie Walker reviews the way she & Bob landed a housesitting gig here on San Juan Island, details their move here, and offers her observations about the life that they have moved into here.

I asked if they had a moment & wanted to meet up in town, so they came by the Naked Bean for a visit. I’m pretty sure you’ll see them around town & around the island, too, so say hey….

So, here’s their story, when they were on NPR a couple of weeks ago: click here.

And here’s Stephanie’s blog….and here’s her story about haunted places on the island.

Sophia Grace

Well, I have two stories here…both involve little babies & what they have going on in their first few days here on this plane. The stories are by Debbie from Roche Harbor Market, and from Sandy at the Town. Let’s start with Debbie:

As some of you may know, Sophia Grace Krieg was taken to Children’s Hospital in Seattle, on Sunday November 22,  with breathing problems, looking into it further; they found her to have an enlarged heart.

There is a website provided by Children’s Hospital and it is:  http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sophiagracekrieg – this is the website where you can view how Sophia is doing in Children’s hospital. The updates are very informative.  It tells her history as well as her progress to date.

If you can a donation fund has been started for Sophia @ any Whidbey Island Bank, or you can mail your donations to help support the family to: Whidbey Island Bank, P.O. Box 1937, Friday Harbor, WA 98250. Please reference Sophia Grace Krieg on your donations and thank you for all your help, these proceeds will go towards helping the family with the high medical expenses they are and will be incurring.

But most of all please keep the prayer chain going for little Sophia and her little heart….

Debbie Sandwith, Roche Harbor Market

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Baby Kiya & her sign....thanks, Marty!

And here’s Sandy’s story – you’ll remember I posted a thing last week asking if anyone could get a picture of Kiya Road for Ken – here’s how that turned out. I starts with Ken’s report to Sandy Strelou:

Sandy:

I just wanted to send you an update on my request for a Kiya “Street Sign” photo and to say Thank You for your help.

Yesterday evening I received 3 photos from a kind lady named “Marty” who responded to the notice you had placed in your online newspaper.  The photos were exactly what I had hoped for…

In fact, I’ve received a couple additional emails from the wonderful folks in Friday Harbor…  You truly have a great community of folks on the island to be proud of!

Attached are some photos of the final photo-frame and one of Kiya from a couple weeks ago.   Kiya is doing FANTASTIC – she’s now 3lbs, 6 oz. and has had all IVs and tubes removed (except feeding tube).   We can’t wait for her to be able to come home… This story is a great one (for me)…  It will be part of our family history, now, and I will re-tell it to Kiya often as the years pass.

Thank you (and the kind folks from San Juan Island) for being a part of it!

Sincerely,
Ken & Laurie Unger

And here’s Sandy’s response to Ken:

Dear Ken and Ian:

I am writing to you both at the same time because discovering Ken’s second email in my box this morning has really made my day. This is the special Christmas story for me this year.

Thank you, Ian, for posting Ken’s request on your website, sanjuanupdate.com. I had a hunch that if you posted it, someone who lives nearby would bring their camera along on an afternoon walk and take that picture. I don’t know for sure if Marty lives near Kiya Way, but I like imagining her out with the family dog, both on a mission.

To Ken, I want to say how pleased I am to have played the tiniest of roles in making Kiya’s gift happen. I have premature twins in my family, born last spring two months premature, one barely making it until just a month ago. Now both are home with their family, in time for the holidays. I’m hoping Kiya will be home as well.

And Ken, those of us who live here do believe this place is special. But it is moments like this reaffirm it. You will have to come and visit one day—and bring Kiya to complete the story for us.

Best wishes for the holidays to both of you and your families.

Sandy

Debbie

Steve Cutting asked if he could share this little write up about Debbie’s special gift for giving…I love the story, and hope you will, too:

Christmas is supposed to be about giving right? It is better to give than receive! I have heard that since I was an infant. Such easy words but not so easy to accomplish in today’s world. Oh, yeah, we all probably think that going shopping for your wife, kids, the boss, Aunt Di, Uncle Bill and the rest, spending just the right amount on just the right gift is going to keep you out of Bad Gift Purgatory.

Yeah, you feel pretty smug about giving that special gift to that special someone and all the while trying to maintain that inner peace about it’s better to give than receive.

But then it starts to creep in, I wonder what they got me???

Christmas is also supposed to be about helping the less fortunate; those that have should give to those that don’t. We pass the kettles and drop a few dollars in, or buy a new toy or some other gift and drop it off at the collection point and feel we have done our part, and for most of us that works just fine. But for some that is just not enough……….

I know someone whose Christmas spirit is on E-Bay overload. I live with boxes of mittens, bags of beanies, costume jewelry by the pound. Hand made stockings ready to fill, decks of cards, piles of socks, all kinds of small toys for all sizes of kids. Cars and trucks and spaceships, Spiderman toothbrushes, hand warmers, stuffed animals, and enough chocolate candies to make Ol’Lady See do a double take.

All year I have seen my office fill up with all this stuff. Each week brings a new bargain…”Honey, look at the bag of stuffed animals I got, can you believe 20 for 8 dollars,” or something like that.

I have heard that same line for over 50 weeks and I have to admit it’s been hard for me at times to share the same enthusiasm. I see the E-Bay correspondence about another purchase, another shipment arrives at the door, and another box is added to the office floor. I have lost my chair space to a bundle of mittens and hand warmers….

I forget the goal; I think it was 100 stockings. It started last year with about 10 or 15. She made the stockings by hand, cut out the felt, sewed them by hand and even trimmed each one with a fuzzy top. Off to downtown Seattle for a shopping trip with stockings in tow. Each was handed out with love and most were received with adoration. After that experience it was decided to up the ante, 100 stockings, some for adults, some for kids, all for the less fortunate.

With help from a few friends and a shopping gene that few possess, she bargained hunted on the net, in the mall, and networked like a Wall Street Trader. What transpired is a roomful of bounty that lies in wait for Christmas.

All this was done without a single thought of any kind of notoriety or payback. Just simple kindness in a world that could use a lot more of that. Giving for the sake of giving. Giving time, effort, money and love just cuz….just cuz….I think that is pretty cool. If fact I think that it is so cool that I wanted everyone to know even if she didn’t want anyone to know. Maybe it might make a difference, maybe it might touch a chord and we all could choose to be a little kinder…..just maybe…

The first stockings were put together the other night. After that first test stocking was completed she held it high in the middle of the living room and asked “isn’t it darling?”‘ I had to admit it was pretty darn cute. The little stuffed animals poking their heads out the top of the stocking waiting patiently for Christmas morning. As I write this, boxes full of the prepared stockings are keeping a sharp eye on me from their perch on my desk. I couldn’t think of anything better to share my space with…..whole lotta love in those boxes…

Here’s the breakdown, I had to ask the other night who, what, how many, you know guy stuff.  100 total stockings. Thirty go to the Family Resource Center here on the Island, the rest are bound for a Mission on the Mainland.

She wondered why I asked, “Are you mad because I spent so much on all this?” “Mad?” I answered. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my stimulus check…

Out of many, one....

Every so often you get an old song stuck in your head & just can’t get it out….does that happen to you?

Today’s head-sticker is “One,” a Harry Nillson song recorded by Three Dog Night…see what you think of this live version in ’81….

Rev at the Fairgrounds reports:

The San Juan County Fair will host a holiday Flea Market & Craft Fair, Saturday, December 12, in the Main building at the fairgrounds.

Craft vendors will have lots of holiday gift items on sale and there will be plenty of the usual flea market bargains. The market is open to all sellers, artists, crafts people and buyers, from 9a.m.until 1p.m.

Come and enjoy coffee, pastries and pizza from Café Demeter while you browse the great crafts and flea market items.

Come join the fun, make some extra holiday cash or find the perfect gift. Applications for a vendor booth space are available at www.sanjuancountyfair.org , on the home page.  You may also contact the Fair office at 378-4310 or email jennifer (at) sanjuancountyfair.org for information or an application to reserve a booth space.

To the top!

Have you been to the Lighthouse lately? Here’s more from Jeanne:

The 6th Annual Tours to the Top of the Lighthouse at Lime Kiln Pt. State Park.
It began in 2004 and that first year 130 people came. Rain or shine we’ll be there,
decorated for the holidays with hot cider and home baked goodies. Fun for the whole family! It’s FREE! It’s Sunday, December 6th from 1 to 4 pm at the lighthouse at Lime Kiln State Park

Enjoy: hot cider, home baked goodies, slide show of the whales from the summer
and Tours to the Top! Come join the fun.

Hosted by Park Volunteers and Whale Museum Volunteers