May 17th, 2013, by Margie Doyle
I can hardly wait to be in Kaleidoscope’s Pet Parade on May 25!
Saturday, May 25 Registration at 10 a.m. in front of the Elementary School
The 23nd Annual Pet Parade will be taking over the streets of Eastsound on Saturday, May 25.
Kaleidoscope Preschool and Child Care Center is at it again, preparing for the island’s furry friends parade. The starting location is School Road in Eastsound at 10 a.m. for judging. As usual, the parade will start at 11 a.m.
Participants will mosey down School Road to North Beach Rd, take a left on A Street, right on Prune Alley, right on Main Street, then back on North Beach Road to the Eastsound Village Green Band Shell. Rumor has it that Children’s House Mayoral Candidates will be campaigning so come schmooze with your friendly, furry politicians.
And new this year, parade participants will be divided into 2 categories:
1. Children and pets that WANT to be categorized and judged for trophy award to be presented on Eastsound Village Green
2. Participants want to be eligible for Pawki’s Best ADULT Entry Gift Certificate and are there primarily for the parade experience.
All participants will register, get photographed by Pawki’s and get goodies of their choice from Pawki’s. Entries will NOT be allowed to enter either judging line after 10:45, so make sure you are not on “island time.” This new system will reduce the time it takes for the judging and awards, and increase the enjoyment of the parade experience for ALL.
BIG thanks to the island businesses that are sponsoring 17 exciting categories for this year’s pet parade. The local business support is always encouraging, with many sponsors saying “YES” before they are even asked!
Also available at the end location will be kid friendly food (donated by The Lower Tavern) and customized Kaleidoscope T-shirts.
Any questions, call Kaleidoscope at 376-2484.
May 17th, 2013 |
May 16th, 2013, by Margie Doyle
The funnest job at the 4-H Fur and Feathers Dinner last night–dishwashing!
By Margie Doyle
The 4-H club (Head, Heart, Hands and Health) is alive and well on Orcas Island, and its “Fur and Feathers” contingent again hosted a sold-out dinner at the Senior Center last night.
The club is led by Kathy Morris, and club alumni helped host the four-course dinner of garden salad, carrot soup, pulled pork/ macaroni and cheese and rhubarb crisp dessert. The guests in the Lundeen Room were served by active members of Fur and Feathers, mostly elementary school aged kids.
Orcas Island 4H also offers the Orcas-Island-Trailblazers program for equestrians; Fur and Feathers Club is for small animals, crafts, cooking, etc.
For more information call 376-5999 or go to the Fur-and-Feathers-4-H Facebook page.
Orcas Island 4H is part of the San Juan County 4H program through the WSU Extension.
May 16th, 2013 |
May 15th, 2013, by Margie Doyle
The Orcas Island Public Library, Orcas Island School Library, and Orcas Island Park and Recreation District are collaborating to develop interesting and engaging summer programming for children in grades K-12.
We need your input as soon as possible — preferably no later than Tuesday, May 21. Please click here to take the survey: surveymonkey.com/s/Orcas_School_Summer_Library_Use
Our goal is to provide opportunities for all school-age youth to use our school library as a place for fun and interesting activities this summer. Please help us choose great activities for Orcas children and visitors!
We invite adults to respond as well, if interested in serving as a coach or volunteer.
If you have questions or comments please contact Orcas Park and Rec at 376-7275 or marciaw@oiprd.org. Thank you for your time. We look forward to sharing the results with you.
Phil Heikkinen, Orcas Island Public Library
Marcia West, Orcas Park and Recreation District
Barbara Kline and Kyle Freeman, Orcas Island School District
May 15th, 2013 |
May 15th, 2013, by Margie Doyle
By Pat Gogerty
Crosscut.com
Congress passed legislation at the end of April to put air traffic controllers back on the job, providing valuable insight into what our representatives, and by extension us, care about.
As it turns out, the most important thing in our lives is convenience.
Out in Spokane, there is a man named Jim. Jim is 90 years old. Jim fought in World War II. He was never rich, but when money was around Jim spent it helping his neighbors buy diapers, food and pay their rent. Though he remains fiercely independent, Jim’s limited sight, hearing and Parkinson’s disease have severely reduced his mobility. Today Meals on Wheels delivers Jim a hot meal every day. Without someone to prepare that meal, he would not eat.
The sequester subtracted a million dollars from senior nutrition programs here in Washington. The delivery portion of the program is carried out by tens of thousands of volunteer drivers. It is a great example of government cooperating with the general public to fill a service that allows people to maintain a shred of dignity during their last years.
(To read the full article, go to crosscut.com/2013/05/14/social-services-necessity-convenience)
Pat Gogerty is the founder and former Executive Director of Childhaven, a program for the care and treatment of abused and neglected infants and toddlers in King County. He has a 35-year background pioneering treatment for abused children and breaking the cycle of violence. He has seen firsthand the role our political system plays in the successes and failures in treating abuse.
May 15th, 2013 |
May 15th, 2013, by Madie Murray
Knitting Club members are each knitting numerous squares that will be joined together for a warm original blanket. Right to left: Greg White, Willow White, Alana Kelly, Uma McMurray, Sue Silvernail and Ingrid Hanson
By Madie Murray
The walls and tables in the Four Winds Camp main lodge will once again be filled with amazing student art at this year’s Orcas Island Education Foundation’s Food for Thought Benefit being held on Saturday, May 25 from 6 to 9 p.m. Several featured and available for auction are currently on exhibit for all to admire at the Orcas Center during the month of May.
Since the venue of the Benefit is surrounded by a beautiful, lush forest, the inspiration for the artwork comes from the theme of this year’s event, “A Woodland Feast.” Objects reflecting this theme are being made by students with the help of Island artists and teachers such as a chair made of cedar collected from local beaches, split and worked with hand tools then fastened together with bronze ring nails made by OASIS K-8 Science students with Brett McFarland which was a study of force, pressure and inertia. Another is a “magic rotating lamp” of forest images made by Sharon Harvey’s third grade class along with Gus McMurray.
5th graders Joseph Brewer and Maya Heikkinen apply their art to a woodland mural which also includes bark from Mexico for texture and a real woodland feel, says artist Michele DeLong.
Live auction items will include some highly sought-after and rare items like a dinner for six prepared by The Secret CookBook Club, a wooden bowl making workshop, and featured will be a stunning table crafted by woodworker Jonathan Loop. All monies raised by this major OIEF fundraiser goes specifically to support and maintain important public school programs and student scholarships.
The casual, picnic-style dinner will feature mouth-watering BBQ brisket (in ample supply this year), pulled pork sliders, vegetarian baked beans, various salads, Abby Rueb’s famous chili-corn pudding and several yummy desserts.
All this and an exciting, casual and comfortable gathering of friends is just $40 per person. Tickets may be purchased ONLINE at oief.org, at the Elementary School Office or the Chamber of Commerce Office. Free childcare will be available at the Camp during the event, but parents are asked to provide dinner for their children.
May 15th, 2013 |
May 13th, 2013, by Margie Doyle
Special session blues: may the best budget finagler win
By John Stang fpr Crosscut.com
The state Legislature begins its 30-day special session today. The question is whether much progress has been made in two weeks of closed-door negotiations.
Gov. Jay Inslee believes some progress has been made, but did not want to publicly discuss the talks last week because that would violate an agreement to keep the negotiations confidential, said Inslee spokesman David Postman.
“We still have a ways to go,” said House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan, D-Covington.
When the legislative session ended May 2, the Republican-oriented Senate and the House-controlled House were far apart on what the 2013-2015 state operating budget should be. Sullivan said the current talks have been focused on budget matters. Sen. Andy Hill, R-Redmond and the Senate’s lead budget negotiator, could not be reached last week for comment.
Last Thursday, 15 people from Hill’s 45th District — who also belong to the Washington Conservation Voters and Environmental Priorities Coalition — gave him a petition with 5,000 signatures that asked him to eliminate a use tax exemption for extracted fuel, which covers a factory or commercial operation’s byproducts that are used internally as fuel….And an extra $40.8 million would go to the state in 2013-2015. The petitioners want that money to go to education.
The petition is just the beginning. Both sides, not to mention Inslee, have lists of blocked bills that they want passed this session — with everyone expecting eventual horsetrading.
(To read the full article, go to crosscut.com/2013/05/13/olympia-2013/special-session)
May 13th, 2013 |
May 9th, 2013, by Margie Doyle
By Kristina Bayas, Volunteer Program Coordinator,
WSU Master Gardeners
Calling all islanders interested in composting and recycling!
Join WSU Extension and San Juan County Solid Waste in this county-wide training of Master Composters/Recyclers. Participants will learn all the ins and outs of composting, vermicomposting, soil building and recycling in this four-week program, including one field trip. Trained volunteers will be expected to provide 20 hours of expert advice and answers to community questions at events and workshops.
Classes will take place on the following Thursdays from 9am to 12pm: May 16, May 23, May 30, and a field trip to Mt. Vernon on Thursday June 6.
Class will meet at Skagit Valley College on San Juan Island, and at the local library on Orcas and Lopez to attend via videoconferencing.
Call WSU Extension at 378-4414 to sign up or to get further information.
May 9th, 2013 |
May 9th, 2013, by Margie Doyle
Orcas Music Students, from left Paris Wilson, Olivia Brunner-Gaydos, Emily Toombs, Maggie Page, Devon Mann, Michael Chesher and Evan Tidrington, with Strings Director Pamela Wright in back.
From Kristen Wilson for Music Advocacy Group (MAG)
Seven musicians from Orcas Middle School and 6th grade were accepted at this year’s Junior Honor Festival which took place on Saturday, May 4, at North Whidbey Middle School in Oak Harbor. Presented by the San Juan Music Educators Association, the Festival hosted some of the top musicians (233 students from 23 area middle schools) at an all-day rehearsal, concluding with a concert.
Devon Mann and Maggie Page participated in the Junior Honor Band conducted by Parker Bixby, Band Director for Mercer Island High School. The Honor Band prepared three selections: “April” by Aaron Perrine, “Adrenaline Engines” by Randal Strandbridge and the beautiful “Earth Dance” by Michael Sweeney. “This is an experience that our kids will not soon forget,” said Martin Lund, Orcas Band Director. “To play with an 80-member band, and to be a part of that big sound – it’s life-changing.”
Olivia Brunner-Gaydos, Michael Chesher, Evan Tidrington, Emily Toombs and Paris Wilson were selected for the Junior Honor Orchestra, conducted by Anna Edwards, Music Director at Roosevelt High School in Seattle where she has built the orchestra into a nationally-recognized program. They played Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto, No.3” and three movements from Norman Leyden’s “Serenade for String Orchestra.” “Anna Edwards is a wonderful conductor,” said Pamela Wright, Orcas Strings Director. “Our students learned so much!”
The Orcas School Music Program was additionally honored by the Conductor’s selection of violinist Paris Wilson as the Concertmaster for the 63-member Honor Orchestra.
May 9th, 2013 |
May 6th, 2013, by Margie Doyle
From the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival
May is National Chamber Music Month!
The Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival will be featured on the Chamber Music America website and announcements during May, joining the celebration of Festivals and music education offerings across the nation with local special events and concerts. Formal Proclamations were heard and unanimously approved by the San Juan County Council and the Board of the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival in honor of the positive impact of chamber music in our island communities.
The Chamber Music Festival’s May Calendar includes:
- Singing Pied Pipers, island musicians Sharon Abreu and Anita Orne visit our four Orcas preschools weekly.
- Musician-in-Residence Rachel Buchman, Shepherd School of Music, leads music times with our island preschoolers and teachers plus classroom visits to the k-3rd graders and music teacher Pamela Wright.
- Pianist Jon Kimura Parker’s solo performance and CD Launch party Tuesday, May 7 at The Grange. Several tickets available.
- Sonata+ Donor Thank You Concert by The Miró Quartet, Aloysia Friedmann and Jon Kimura Parker on May 18.
- Aloysia Friedmann, violin/viola and Jon Kimura Parker perform in concert at the Lopez Theater on May 19. Tickets at www.lopezcenter.org
- Book signing at Darvills with author Deborah Rambo Sinn for her new release, Playing by the Notes, a Pianists Guide to Musical Interpretation. Oxford University Press. May 22.
- Musician-in-Residence Monique Mead visits Orcas Public School Music classes and offers Master Classes for strings from May 29 to June 3.
- Violinist Monique Mead performs as guest soloist with the Orcas High School Orchestra, Vivaldi’s “Spring!” May 30.
- Salon Concert at a home in Deer Harbor featuring Monique Mead, violin and Deborah Rambo Sinn, piano, June 2. Tickets available.
For information about any concerts or events please call the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival Office. 376-6636.
Proclamation from the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival: May as National Chamber Music Month:
Read more…
May 6th, 2013 |
May 3rd, 2013, by Martin Taylor
By Martin Taylor
There is still time to attend the Orcas Island Rowing Club’s dinner on Saturday.
This is a fund raiser, but the emphasis is on good food, drink and pleasant company. Please contact Martin Taylor by phone or email: 298-2086 or martin@orcasdigerati.com.
If you are making a really last minute decision you can just turn up at the door. You may not get your first choice dinner entree but they have food to spare so you will be OK. Be sure to bring some friends for maximum enjoyment.
Just come on in to Orcas Center on Saturday. The bar opens at 5:30 and dinner is served at 6:30 p.m. Dinner is $35 per person and you will be well fed. Entree choices are salmon, chicken or vegetarian lasagne.
May 3rd, 2013 |
Janet Brownell 
Carol Owens 
Judy Whiting, Doe Bay 
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Phil, hard to believe there is something our wonderful library is NOT doing. Thanks for asking for our opinions; the library is there to serve the community, and we are fortunate to have you and your excellent staff and volunteers.