Jean Davies Okimoto is an award-winning author, retired psychotherapist and local Islander. She is also a dear friend. So writing about her new novel, “Walter’s Muse,” means I am not one to deliver an unbiased review.
Raven Pyle-McCrackyn joined me for coffee at Minglement one gray afternoon in December. She walked over from the office building next door where she works as an accountant for Williams + Callan. Before setting her cup down at my table, Raven stopped to greet several people. My first impression was of a woman who makes a strong connection with others. As the interview progressed, that first impression began to make sense. The words connection and community peppered many of Raven’s answers. By the end, it became clear they were at the heart of her story.
To step into Shane Jewell and Emily Pruiksma’s home in Paradise Valley is to enter a world made by hand — their own hands.
From Bruce Haulman’s geranium-filled deck overlooking Tramp Harbor, low tides reveal vestiges of Vashon’s first ferry boat landing, circa 1916. Were it not for an island-wide vote in 1921 to move the dock to the north end, Haulman notes, he might be watching the comings and goings of the Issaquah or the Tillikum from his cedar-shake house perched above KVI Beach.
Like any good entrepreneur, Islander Richard Lipshay understands the necessity for seed money to fund a new business venture or bankroll an innovative idea.
Emily Burns fell in love, quite by accident, in 2002 — with a charming two-story farmhouse on Vashon Highway. “I never intended to live on Vashon Island,” said Burns, an asset management strategic advisor with the Seattle Transportation Department. “But when I drove up the driveway and saw the house, my heart started beating really fast.”
