Island Events – April and May 2012

April 5 – 29: “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me” is the spring production by Island Stage Left. Plan to catch a performance of this powerful show that celebrates the resilience and the human spirit – “the profound faith in human happiness to triumph over despair.” Director Helen Machin-Smith reports “The audience last night howled with laughter and quietly teared up, so bring your sense of humor and a Kleenex from now until April 29th!”

Island Stage Left Spring Production: Someone Who'll Watch Over Me

This professional theatre company believes that everyone should be able to enjoy top quality plays, regardless of their financial status. All of their productions are free of charge to all islanders and visitors, though donations are certainly welcome. Island Stage Left rarely disappoints.

Playing Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30, Sundays at 4:00, at the San Juan County Fairgrounds.

April 7 – Spring has finally arrived, in all her glory, and the San Juan Island Farmer’s Market begins Saturday, April 7^th at the Brickworks, right next to Coho Restaurant. Running every week through the summer from 10:00am – 1:00pm, the market features a colorful array of island goodness.

April 14 – Sea Shepherd Cove Guardian volunteer, Erwin Vermeulen and  Sea Shepherd’s Director of Intelligence and Investigations/Cove Guardian campaign leader Scott West will speak regarding Vermeulen’s 60-day imprisonment in a Japanese jail and landmark acquittal by a Japanese judge after being accused of “pushing” a Dolphin Resort employee while documenting the annual dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan.

Presentations are from 6:00-7:15pm at the Friday Harbor Grange, 152 First Street, immediately followed by “Meet and Greet” at the Sea Shepherd Gallery 7:15-9:00pm, 155 Nichols St. Reservations recommended, donations requested. See www.seashepherd.org/upclose for more information.

Inn Guests Frank and Marie Morley Lend a Hand in the 2011 Great Island Clean-Up

April 21 – The Great Island Clean-up organizers are at it again, mustering up volunteers to pick up litter on beaches and roads. Don’t for a moment think that all this litter comes just from islanders; besides what locals may toss, it washes up on beaches from distant shores far and near, and travels in with vehicles from off-island, creating an unsightly blight on the landscape and deadly consequences for the unsuspecting animals, birds, and marine life who ingest it.

Friends of the San Juans’ Jana Marks, who has been handling the beach clean-ups for the last 10 years, believes that overall, we are getting better, as she has seen slightly less litter than in past years. Her thought is that perhaps people all over the world are just getting better at managing their waste, and are more conscientious about picking up. Another factor is that boating standards have become stricter and she’s seeing less debris from docks such as chunk of Styrofoam. She also believes that more people are simply picking up trash that they see, rather than walking by it. Whatever it boils down to, as Jana says, “We are the problem, and we are the solution.”

The Great Island Clean-up is the day before Earth Day, Saturday, April 21, from 10:00 – 12:00. Volunteers wills attempt to clean all major county roads, beaches, and the Town. If you would like to turn your San Juan Island getaway into voluntourism, contact Stephanie@tuckerhouse.com for details. ”Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good action; try to use ordinary situations.” – Jean Paul Richter, German novelist.

April 22 – “Rabbit Tales” A fireside chat about the history of rabbits on San Juan Island from the 1930s to the 1970s. This will be a casual, informative and entertaining gathering of island families sharing stories about the bygone days with rabbits. Historian Boyd Pratt will present a slide show on the history of island rabbits and then moderate the story-sharing portion of the program. Please bring your rabbit tales to share, and any historic island rabbit-related photos or memorabilia.  3:00 – 5:00 pm at The Grange Hall, 152 North First Street.

Friday Harbor Labs Open House 2011. Photo By Shigeko Ooishi.

May 19: The annual Friday Harbor Labs Open House is where kids (and adults) get to tour the Labs, meets the scientists and students, and check out the reserach facilites. In other words, it’s a cool place for kids to get excited about marine life and the study of marine eco-systems.

From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Labs will be open for self-guided tours; scientists and students will showcase their marine science research, answer questions, and provide demonstrations. It’s a hands-on day for kids, and a great way to inspire budding scientists and naturalists. For more information, see their website: http://depts.washington.edu/fhl/events.html#openhouse

A Day At The Inn: Guest Becomes a Real Winner

The clean air and gorgeous surroundings of the islands beg visitors to get out and enjoy nature while they’re here. That may include whale watching, kayaking, bicycling, hiking, or even a leisurely sail. But one of our recent guests took that a bit further by enjoying the scenery while running the Run Ladies Run Half Marathon. Not only did Maron Resur run – she came in first place!

Maron Resur - First Place Winner!

You might think she had been training for years, but Maron tells us a different story, one to inspire even the staunchest couch potato. She ran cross country in high school, but “was really bad!” She picked it back up last July at age 32, and without the pressures of high school peers and competition, she simply found it fun to do.  With her maximum running distance at 2.5 miles, Maron enter her first half marathon in November, and couldn’t believe she could actually run that far! Her sense of accomplishment compelled her to run in the Vancouver and Bothell half marathons, and within seven months of starting to run simply to feel good, she became the first place winner of the race here on San Juan Island. Asked what was going through her mind during the race, she said “I couldn’t believe no one was ahead of me.”

Maron says it’s the air quality that made the difference in her performance. Raised in the Midwest, she feels the pollen and industrial dust contributed to her lackluster performance in high school. Here the air is much cleaner, and the encouraging organizers had the race route and aid stations set up very efficiently. “The people were SO nice!”

Running 13.1 miles in 1 hour and 50 minutes, “the worst girl on the cross country team” became a real winner on San Juan Island!

An Island Character

Sometimes small communities can produce some pretty outlandish “characters,” and like them or not, they become a part of the “flavor” of the island. But there’s one character here that casts a spell on pretty much everyone who meets her – she’s our beloved dromedary, Mona.

Mona - Photo Courtesy Kathleen Ballard

Actually, she doesn’t belong to us, she belongs to islander Steve King, who bought her after seeing an ad in Little Nickel, but she’s become a favorite of every island resident and visitor alike. And there’s the problem:

People want to show Mona how much they like her, and the only way they know how to do that is to feed her. But this winter, Mona developed a skin disorder, due in part to diet. Her caretaker, Gregory Scherzinger, suspects there are other factors at play with local wildlife, particularly deer. None-the-less, now that Mona’s hair is growing in again, we would like to caution all of Mona’s visitors to please use sense when giving Mona treats: nix the popcorn, hotdogs, potato chips, candy and all other junk food. According to Gregory, “She’ll pretty much eat anything (hats are a favorite grab) though she would only eat that if she was really hungry. As camels are grazers, good grass is what does best for her. She loves apples and potatoes, though I don’t feed her more than one or two apples when I do, as they have a lot of sugar in them and [are] not that great for her in quantities. Carrots are good.”

Gregory also cautions that Mona is very friendly, but “one should always be conscious of her. She is a big animal and has her own mind. If she doesn’t like something she can grab pretty hard with her mouth, so anyone feeding her or posing for a picture with their back turned while facing the camera needs to be aware and just pay attention.”

If you haven’t met Mona yet, she’s usually hanging out in the pasture on Roche Harbor Road across from San Juan Vineyards. Bring carrots!

You can visit Mona online, https://www.facebook.com/MonatheCamel. To read how she came to San Juan Island, see the San Juan Journal article http://www.sanjuanjournal.com/lifestyle/27133819.html

Island Events For the Holiday Season

The town is always lovely in December, with storefronts decorated and lights twinkling everywhere. There’s no trace of the hustle and bustle of mainland cities – a peaceful calm fills the air, and there is truly a sense of joy everywhere on the island.

Free Tickets!

No one likes to pay taxes, but here’s a chance for you to recoup some of the lodging tax that you pay on hotel rooms. Thanks to funds received from the Friday Harbor Lodging Tax Advisory Committee, the Whale Museum is able to offer free Vacation Passes to our inn guests. The pass is good for

Are There Ghosts in Friday Harbor?

Does the spirit of one of these women linger with us still? We’ve had guests tell us they heard strange sounds while staying in the Victoria’s Flower Garden suite in our historic 1898 Tucker House. One even told us she heard a nice, grandmotherly voice, clear-as-a-bell, tell her “It’s time to get up, sweetheart.”

Four Orca Calves Receive Names

After several weeks of public voting with more than 6,500 votes counted, four Southern Resident Community Orca calves have new names! The newly named babies are: Notch (J-47), Saturna (K-43), Mystic (L-115) and Finn (L-116).

Historical Home Tour

Wouldn’t it be cool if inanimate objects had a voice?  Like old homes for example; think of all they could tell us about the families they sheltered. 

More Than Just Whale Babies in these Waters

Our local orcas are so magnificent, it’s hard not to place all our attention on them.  But there’s more to these waters than orcas.  Whale watch captain Jim Maya regularly gets lovely photos of all kinds of wild life, as seen in this shot of a sea otter giving her pup a ride.

Tribute to Ruffles

J1 in Admiralty Inlet on November 4, 2010; photo taken by Susan Berta, courtesy of Orcanetwork.org

As the summer season nears it’s close, we would like to take a moment to honor the memory of Ruffles, the oldest living male orca in the Southern Resident pods.

San Juan Islands #2 on New York Times 41 Places to Go

The New York Times introduces its 2011 recommended destinations list with “From the beaches of Mexico to the wilds of Kurdistan, the places on this year’s list take you to the end of the world and back.”  We are very proud to say that the San Juan Islands of Washington are listed in the #2 position on this world list, published January 7.

Textile Activities at Our Bed and Breakfast on San Juan Island

Last month San Juan Island members of the San Juan County Textile Guild looking for a place to set up their equipment found a home at Tucker House Inn.  Our living came to life with the soothing sounds of their spinning wheels as the members worked on their project for this year’s upcoming Sheep-To-Shawl demonstration at the San Juan County Fair.

The process of hand-crafting yarn from shorn sheep is an ancient and slowly-disappearing art in this age of high technology and warp-speed schedules.   One of the members, Annette Dysart, raises the sheep here on the island.  The sheep are shorn annually and the resulting fleece is examined and sorted into the most useful parts for spinning.  Then the fleece is gently washed in hot water and allowed to air dry slowly.  After the tedious process of picking through the fleece to remove all grass, short ends, and seeds, it can be dyed if desired.  In this case, it was colored a brilliant turquoise blue, representing the ocean.  Dried and dyed, it’s now ready to be carded – combed into straight lengths – (with a machine), and turned into Roving, which is the step they were working on in our living room.

Estimating the amount that can be spun in a two hour stretch is highly variable, but 100 yards of singles (that’s once through the spinning process) is probably average.  But it goes through the wheel again with two strands to “ply” it, that is, twist it in the opposite direction into a usable yarn.  (The yield of 100 yards of singles would be 50 yards of plied yarn.)  This particular yarn will be woven into a lovely shawl, to be raffled off to some fortunate fair-attendee.  Overall, it takes about 800 yards of the 2-ply warp for one 22”x72” shawl, and an additional 450 yards of two-ply for the welt, a total of 1250 yards – all made by hand.

You can watch the spinner in action every third Thursday at Tucker House Inn; or at Krystal Acres Alpaca Farm on  Sunday, July 18, where they plan to make a “practice” shawl with some alpaca added to the wool during the carding step.  You can view the finished shawl at the San Juan County Fair, Wednesday August 18 to Saturday August 21, and can even buy a raffle ticket for it.

The San Juan County Textile Guild has been in existence for over twenty years.  Classes and workshops are held in a variety of fiber arts including knitting, spinning, crocheting, weaving, basketry, tatting, felting, and dyeing.  The Guild supports community education and conducts activities at local schools and senior centers.

For recipes and more information on what’s happening around the island, or about fresh, seasonal foods grown locally, check out the blogs on Harrision House Suites, Coho Restaurant and Experience San Juan Island.

Annette Dysart turns fleece from sheep she raised into yarn

San Juan Island, Washington – Friday Harbor Things to Do

The Center for Whale Research discovered J-46 on November 11th born to J-28.

(Photo Courtesy – Center for Whale Research)

Lodging and Dining Friday Harbor, WA San Juan Island
Harrison House Suites and Tucker House Inn
Coho Restaurant

San Juan Island Washington Lodging

I was perusing Mark Gardener’s web site and came across this photo. Just as the whales, light houses and beautiful vista’s are San Juan Island, this photo also says San Juan Island. It characterizes the diversity of our Islands. Heritage Farms, San Juan Island.

Lodging and Dining Friday Harbor, WA San Juan Island
Harrison House Suites and Tucker House Inn
Coho Restaurant

Lodging on Friday Harbor – Thanksgiving on the Islands

Many of our guests are choosing to spend the holidays on the Islands. Several restaurants including Steps Wine Bar & Cafe and Friday Harbor House will be serving Thanksgiving dinner. Some of our guests are going to prepare their own dinner in their suites and cottages. There is plenty to do on the Island – hiking, biking, kayaking, and whale watching – weather permitting. We had three guests take a bike ride this morning! If the weather is showering us with Northwest Sunshine, there are plenty of indoor options. Griffith Bay Books and Serendipity Used Books are the best places in town to find that perfect book. Then you can come back to the Inn and curl up in front of your fireplace. You might consider sipping a cup of lavender tea with some short bread at Pelindaba Downtown and for your evening entertainment- Stage Left is presenting Doubt, a mystery at the Roche Harbor Pavilion through December 1st.

Friday Harbor B&B Hosts Pilots Fly In

San Juan Island Hotel – Fall is in Full Swing at the Tucker House

This week we are enjoying beautiful fall weather. One of our guests went kayaking and enjoyed a private tour! This is the beauty of the fall. While we can’t always guarantee perfect summer weather, guests have the hiking trails at the state and national parks, kayaking tours, and whale watching trips virtually to themselves. Today, two of our guests went whale watching. They had the rare experience of seeing the superpod – this is when all three of the resident pods J, K & L come together – upwards of 90 animals feeding and frolicing in the water.

Fair Week 2007 – August 15-18

Tonight is the last day of the San Juan County Fair. It is always a grand week with music, food, and friendly competition. The Inn took two blue ribbons for its Carrot Cake and Flourless Chocolate Torte. Both recipes can be found in La Cucina Anna Maria: Good Life Recipes from San Juan Island. The 4-H kids do an amazing job and we so enjoy visiting with their live stock and watching them compete in the equestrian events. Tonight is the big steak dinner featuring Misty Isle Beef. It is always a bitter sweet time….we have to wait another year for the fair! It will give us plenty of time to test new recipes for next year’s entries.