Now that spring has finally sprung on our little Island, the Vashon Beach Naturalists have been active with a new season of volunteer training and beach events. Recently, the group took a trip out to KVI Beach to learn about the varied habitats there. As familiar as KVI is to many Islanders, it is in fact quite special
So I’m out walking the woman-lately-known-as-my-wife’s dog on Burton beach a week or so ago when two exceptionally nasty shore birds start dive-bombing us, and making a terrific racket. They don’t sing, they don’t call, they don’t cry. No, instead they make this crazed croaking sound, like they’d just come from screaming their little lungs out at a Seattle Sounders soccer match.
Two interesting developments occurred at the Vashon-Maury Island Community Council meeting Monday evening.
Vashon and Maury Island are special places. They feature uncommon habitat types and niches for native plants and animals that don’t occur much on the mainland. Beaches, bluffs, bays, creeks and forests all host their own special kinds of nature. Added to this are the many gardens, farms and fields that make the island such a welcoming place to live and visit. Unfortunately, the Island’s natural areas and farms are also being threatened increasingly by the impacts of invasive plants.
I have to admit that I get a warm feeling of satisfaction whenever I reach for a jar of my home-canned tomatoes, pickles or blackberry jam. Are you curious about preserving food but would like a little more direction before you invest in equipment? Maybe you came to the Food Preservation Fair the last two summers but haven’t followed through with making jam, canning fish, steaming juice or drying fruit — yet!
If you’re like me, I’m truly sorry. But if you are like me, you’re sick and tired of all the fuss about the Vashon-Maury Island Community Council.
It’s easy to feel like you can’t help. Our lives are busy, and volunteering takes a commitment. We hear about problems in the world and become desensitized — unless the story is immediate, that is, unless we feel somehow connected.
Michael Heavey says that he and others who believe in the innocence of Amanda Knox have reason for hope.
We’re living in lean times. The 2008 recession has devastated state funding for public schools. As a result, public school districts around the state are experiencing a dramatic and apparently permanent downward shift in funding. Schools administrators around the state are making hard decisions about program cuts.
This week’s Beachcomber, more than some, has a bit of a theme. There are quite a few stories that suggest we adults care a lot about our kids.
Janet Welt and I met at the Red Bike, on a rare sunny afternoon, and talked about how living on the verge has played out in her life. At 49, she considers herself a bridge builder and self-starter as well as “a doer and a mover.” Yet, as she describes it, “Once you get that Scarlet H on your chest, all your credibility is gone.”
I heard a fact earlier this year and it stuck with me. Ours is the first generation that will produce children less educated than their parents.
“Island Time: A phrase used to describe an approach to time that happens on islands, as expressed by the slow speed, long duration and delayed punctuality of Island events or Islanders.” (Source: Kevin Joyce.)
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