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There’s nothing quite like holding your grandchild for the first time. The slight wiggle, the intoxicating baby smell, the wonder of new life filling your arms. My husband was enthralled, not just with the handsomeness of the baby, the dimples, the dark blue eyes and perfect little fingers, but even with the feeling of gas…

Whidbey Island Orchestra has been around for approximately eighteen or so years, and I’ve been privileged to conduct it for the past five years. Our mission statement says that we exist to provide an opportunity for island musicians to perform orchestral music and to bring that music to our community in free concerts. This means…

As the Delta Variant has made its way into our everyday vocabulary, we have reassessed our willingness and ability to dine with anyone outside of our bubble, and frankly, even within our bubble. Whidbey Island lies in the Puget Sound, very much a garden community of greater Seattle, and so our rainy season begins in…

So these are the friends who have saved each other from depression, misery, and frozen TV dinners during the pandemic. At the very beginning of the Covid 19 lockdown in the early spring of 2020 we took turns meeting in front of our homes, shivering in the chill wind with glasses of wine in gloved…

Here in the Pacific Northwest we’ve had several heat waves this summer. The fires burning in Canada and throughout the west have also impacted our air quality, so no one is running around outdoors the way we usually do. Nevertheless, our orchards and gardens have continued to produce, so using this time in our kitchens…

A thunderstorm came and went yesterday, quite literally in a flash. Neighbors met in the street as they stepped out of their homes to feel the few drops of rain and to smell the iron in the air. It’s a rare treat here in the summer. You can see the storm brewing in the sky…