Here’s a thought…
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
ANNIE DILLARD
“ART UNLOCKED” show at Orcas Center postponed until Spring
||| FROM KATHY YOUNGREN for ORCAS CENTER VISUAL ARTS COMMITTEE ||| Due to the COVID related closures of many events at Orcas Center, the Visual Arts Committee is postponing the “ART UNLOCKED” show until a later date, in early Spring. Artists, please use this gift of extra time to finish
School board spotlight | Ayn Gailey
January is School Board Appreciation Month ||| FROM ORCAS ISLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT ||| Ayn Gailey (left) with husband Samuel and daughter Gray. Ayn moved to the island in 2016 with her husband, novelist Samuel Gailey and their daughter, Gray, who is president of her junior class as OISD
Latest statewide COVID response updates
||| FROM STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH ||| Newest numbers. The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) reported a total of 971,422 confirmed cases as of 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 17. There have been 10,230 COVID-19 deaths in Washington. For the most recent number of cases by county, demographics, and more, visit
Unvaccinated islander is first COVID-19 related death in SJC
||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS ||| A San Juan County resident has recently died, and the cause of death has been attributed to COVID-19. This was an unvaccinated islander who recently contracted COVID, was hospitalized and unfortunately passed away due to the illness. This is the first recorded COVID-19
Place your order for free at-home COVID-19 tests
||| FROM PEGI GROUNDWATER ||| Residential households in the U.S. can order one set of 4 free at-home tests from USPS.com. Here’s what you need to know about your order: Limit of one order per residential address One order includes 4 individual rapid antigen COVID-19 tests Orders will ship free
Master Gardener’s spring plant sale on hiatus for this year
||| FROM DIANNE MACONDRAY for MASTER GARDENERS ||| It was hard to conduct our plant sale online the past two years while observing COVID protocol, so we have decided to take a year off, hoping that by 2023 we will be able to have an in-person sale. We know there
CWR encounter #2 for 2022 | J Pod in Swanson Channel
||| FROM CENTER FOR WHALE RESEARCH ||| After receiving a report of a large group of whales heading south off Moresby Island, Katie, Kelley, and Dave met at Snug Harbor and left in the boat at 1102. Since the report was an hour and a half old by the time
Guest Opinion | When did questioning behavior at OIFR become personal?
||| FROM AMANDA MONTAGUE ||| I feel compelled to respond as a former OIFR Commissioner and someone who cares deeply about the Department to the "Firehouse Foundations" piece written by Mia Kartiganer and the comments that followed her post. Through my tenure as a Commissioner from 2016-2020, I was honored
UPDATED! Candidate for Congress Jason Call to visit Orcas and San Juan Islands
Jason Call will be on Orcas Island this coming Tuesday [new time at 1:15 p.m] at the Village Green ||| FROM DAVID TURNOY, CHAIR, SAN JUAN COUNTY DEMOCRATS ||| Progressive candidate for Congress Jason Call. There has been a fair amount of interest expressed locally in progressive candidate
Lopezian author’s new novel featuring orca now available
Time is running out for the iconic killer whales of Pacific coast ||| FROM GENE HELFMAN ||| Orca families have been decimated by humanity's greed and folly, their food supply wiped out, their infants dying from starvation and tainted mother's milk. In a new novel from Lopez islander Gene Helfman,
In Memoriam | Andrea Hendrick
||| FROM WENDY HENDRICK HIESTER ||| Andrea Hendrick Andrea Hendrick passed away peacefully at home on Orcas Island on June 10, 2021. Andrea was raised on the East Coast and went to art school at Syracuse University and George Washington University. She married Hugh Hendrick. Andrea and Hugh
Sun Days on Orcas | Inspiration
||| SUN DAYS ON ORCAS by EDEE KULPER ||| Even after living on Orcas Island for almost a decade, I’m still not accustomed to one very all-encompassing aspect of life here… Constant rain naturally drives people indoors. Especially kids. This isn’t coming from someone who is easily discouraged by dreary
Letter to Editor | Check out this presentation on Ranked Choice Voting
||| FROM SHARON ABREU ||| I encourage you to tune into FairVote Washington's NW Chapter's one-hour online presentation on Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) happening on Jan. 27 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. I've been a supporter of RCV since I first learned about it back in 2004. I realized at that time
Soroptimists now accepting applications for women’s educational and training awards
||| FROM HEATHER SPAULDING for SOROPTIMIST FRIDAY HARBOR ||| Soroptimist International of Friday Harbor is now accepting applications for its women’s educational and training awards, to be given in the Spring of 2022. Two types of awards are available for women residing in San Juan County, each with differing eligibility
Throughout history, pandemics allowed geniuses to flourish
Centuries ago, the plague forced people into quarantine for years. Isaac Newton and Galileo used the time to revolutionize the world. ||| FROM BIG THINK ||| As we begin a new year — and a third year enshrouded in the COVID-19 pandemic — tempers are running short and frustration is mounting. A
Hey, we had a Tsunami Advisory this morning
||| FROM DAVE HALLORAN for DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ||| Good morning, in the news today is a volcanic eruption near the Tonga Islands. The Tsunami Warning center (tsunami.gov) has issued an Advisory for the outer coast of WA and the coast along the Strait of Juan De Fuca. The
