The San Juan County Land Bank’s recent purchase of Vern and Sidney Coffelt’s Farm on Orcas Island has helped ensure a future for local agriculture. The 185-acre working farm spans Crow Valley, connecting Fowler’s Pond and Turtleback Mountain Preserve, and encompassing an expanse of scenic open-space, habitat resources, and productive agricultural land.
Diana Bower’s hands tell of 50 years of using ancient techniques to create words and images. She’s carved over 100 linoleum blocks, spending thousands of hours working with X-acto and gouging knives. Many four-inch by six-inch blocks convey pastoral scenes. Others are half that size, including a series of six she carved in intricate detail in 1981 to depict the jail cell of a fellow nuclear weapons resister.
WSDOT Ferries Division launched its summer 2008 ferry schedule on Sunday, June 22, with additional vessels, sailings and service hours on the more popular tourism routes. The increased service levels will help locals and tourists alike take summer trips to the San Juan Islands, Whidbey Island, and Vashon Island. The summer schedule runs through Sept. 27.
Have you ever wondered about the details of the death process? Of course you haven’t! That kind of thinking is left for disturbed people, the sort that slow down on the freeway hoping to see the details of a car wreck. You spend your day reflecting upon the beauty and wonder of the world while leaving the sadistic and morose details of life to the sick and morbid ... your doctor. On the other hand, if you happen to be a connoisseur of highway carnage, read on.
Have you ever thought about raising a few chickens in your backyard? Talking with Todd Goldsmith and Diane Dear of T&D Farms, who have 88 Barred Rock laying hens, I learned that raising chickens is one part worry, one part daily chores and one part entertainment.
David Tucker is deputy managing editor of the New Jersey “Star-Ledger” and has been a reporter and editor at the “Toronto Star” and the “Philadelphia Inquirer.” He was on the “Star-Ledger” team that won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news. Mr. Tucker was awarded a Witter-Bynner fellowship for poetry in 2007 by former U. S. Poet Laureate, Donald Hall.
Marlyn Munter has spent most of her life on Lopez Island, working, gardening, raising a daughter, and making art in spare moments. In recent years her work has begun to get more time and attention, both from Marlyn and the world at large. Her art can be seen at Gallery 10 in Lopez Village, and her studio will be featured on the 2008 Annual Studio Tour, Labor Day weekend.
Carole Terry’s career as a renowned performer and pedagogue of the organ and harpsichord has taken her to many cities and universities throughout the United States, Europe and the Far East.
Young audiences will delight in an interactive puppet show coming to Lopez Library.
It’s a time-honored tradition to chuck the rat race, move to the islands and become an artist. Steve Ruegge, a former computer network support technician, seized the opportunity to do just that, fulfilling a dream by moving from Renton to Lopez in 2005. Since then he’s been developing both his artistic abilities and a place to work on his woodsy south-end property.
This Memorial Day weekend, Orcas a Cappella will give a concert of choral music featuring three American composers who have made their homes in the Northwest.
Summer Reading Program begins June 16
In this endearing short poem by Californian Trish Dugger, we can imagine “what if?” What if we had been given “a baker’s dozen of hearts?” I imagine many more and various love poems would be written. Here Ms. Dugger, Poet Laureate of the City of Encinitas, makes fine use of the one patched but good heart she has.
When he was young and considering careers, Richard Singer thought he wanted to be a dentist.
In celebration of our local, organic farmers, a community screening of the documentary “The Real Dirt on Farmer John” will be shown Saturday, June 14, 7-9:00 p.m. at Lopez Center. A dessert from “Farmer John’s Cookbook” will be served; the 83-minute film begins at 7:30 p.m.
National Book Award finalist Deb Caletti will visit the Lopez Library on Saturday, June 28 at 11:00 a.m. to talk about her latest book, “The Fortunes of Indigo Skye.”
With his infectious, youthful enthusiasm, you might never guess that Chuck Pope is an eminent physician, researcher, and educator. He’s a Professor Emeritus of Medicine at the University of Washington, internationally known and respected for his expertise. To chat with him about his specialty, the esophagus, is to gain a new appreciation for that part of our anatomy.
“Come to the Open House on Sunday, March 30 from 1 to 4 p.m. and see our gorgeous facility,” said Lopez Housing Options (LOHO) Adult Family Home (AFH) Committee President Nancy Luebke. “There’s nothing else like it in the State of Washington.”
Have you ever wondered where this magnificently beloved, highly addictive substance called “refined sugar” came from and how it came to be so much a part of our everyday consumption?
Baby goats, baby animals of any kind, are so cute. Watching them frolic about this time of year, it’s easy to assume that everything else about them is just as carefree.
Discover innovative farm management practices that have produced positive environmental and financial results for the owners of Sweet Grass Beef Farm on Lopez Island.
Spring is in the air and new growth is all around. Check out the latest gardening and tax books available on our “Spring, Sprang, Sprung!” display. The library is also looking for new growth ideas for the library from our patrons. Please complete the library survey so we can better meet your needs. Copies of the survey are in this newspaper, in the library, on our web page (www.lopezlibrary.org) and at various locations around the village. A completed, signed survey enters you for a prize drawing (local merchant gift cards, mugs, t-shirts, etc.).
by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate, 2004-2006
The story “Sugar, my love” by Julienne Battalia, published on April 8, 2008, had an error.
“Father, don’t be so severe! If I can’t drink my bowl of coffee three times daily, then in my torment I will shrivel up like a piece of roast goat.”
Every now and then we’re approached by locals and off-islanders with comments, questions and suggestions regarding the lake. So, we’ll try to elucidate and be factual as well.
by Leta MarshallJan O’Bryant, Lopez IslandIt’s not too hard to figure out…
Deep breathing, slow movement, and good balance are primary elements of Tai chi chuan.
Tobacco use in youth under the age of 18 is motivated by curiosity, peer pressure, family example, and influence by media, such as films, ads, and TV.
Remember when we were little kids and the neighbor’s kids had chickenpox? If we hadn’t had them yet, our mothers would take us to the pox infested household, where we’d share cups and play with our sick friends. This was all done in the interest of good health, much akin to electric shock therapy. The moms would hope the exposure would cause us to get chickenpox while we were still little and hopefully not have to miss much school.
Are you having a body part removed or altered in the near future? Here is a brief, pre-surgical primer to help you. All surgeries have some risk, but the degree really depends on two things: the severity of the surgery and the condition of the patient at the moment before the knife is drawn across the skin. Low risk patients are young people who have no medical problems. Low risk surgeries are those that do not involve expeditions into a major body cavity. The very highest risk is a combination of an emergency surgery involving a major giblet on an older person with multiple, unstable, medical illnesses. Happily even high risk patients can be made to be safer if there is time before the surgery.
Couple therapy goes by many names. Whether called couples counseling, marriage counseling, or relationship therapy it can be helpful to all couples, married or not, gay or straight and at all stages of life. Couple therapy can help newly committed partners get off to a healthy start, can guide a couple through many of life’s challenges, can rebuild a troubled partnership, or can help a couple decide to separate in a way that will be healthiest for themselves and their children. You don’t need to have a troubled relationship to seek therapy. Healthy couples can receive skillful support to strengthen their bond and better understand one another.
The following is from the Puget Sound Blood Center.
A look at what's happening in the art community around the San Juan Islands.
A mysterious sighting of a Loch Ness-type monster on Hummel Lake was observed by many passersby Tuesday, April 1.
