Life On Orcas Island

One Day at a Time on Orcas Island

2011-03-23T21:12:00.001-07:00

I like to celebrate the small things. Like the daffodils and my one orange tulip blooming. I talk to my tiny lettuce and chard plants that I am sprouting in the south facing windows each morning.
I bask in the sunshine on our window seat when it finally arives in the spring.

On Monday, Ken and I went off to the River Farm to begin the process of teaching the horses how to pull a forecart. It was such fun to have him with me, and he had a great time putting the equipment together and seeing what needed to be done. The mares were very very fiesty, and it took a while to figure out why.. and then it dawned on me.. the biggest full moon in many years, spring moon, and quess what - they were in season! So the day with the horses did not go as smoothy as it could have, but that's horses for you.

On Tuesday that same moon gave us record low tides. So I convinced Ken to go to our friends'
beach to gather oysters. Yum.. Huge old oysters.. such a find. Cassie our 15 yr old Golden Retriever loving being at the beach, digging for stones and wading in the water.

That night we had a date with the Otters, they also had been gathering oysters from one of Teri's Jin Shin Clients who has a oyster farm.. so we feasted on dozens of oysters drenched in galic and butter and others in hot sauce.. Howard and Sheila joined us and brought an apple crisp from their apple trees. I got to hear more stories of their years in the Arctic teaching native children.

Today I worked with my horses, getting them ready for teaching this spring and summer. It was sunny and they really would have prefered to nap. I have been on Rascal about 6 times this spring and on Black Elk about 3 times. They need work.. Black Elk needs to get the steering down, and I need to stop worrying that he'll buck me off!

The Otter's Call

2011-03-09T10:06:00.000-08:00


Captain Don Murray- Author of Pie in the Sky Adventures and Recipes

Last Thursday the sun peaked out and I got a call from the Otters. Now, they aren't really otters... Ken and I just call them Otters, 'cause they like to play. Today they were luring me with their siren song to the water - 'come play- come tootle around on the water with us- come out, the sun is shining!'

First Mate and Co-Author- Teri Murray

What's an old kayak guide to do? I love the water, just being on the water, even when it's cold and raining... but, I had work to do... didn't I? Ken and I discussed it and decided that Jack, my water-loving father, would have said: 'Go! Go play on the water!'

So, down to the Dock in Deer Harbor I went, carrying my snow pants and wearing my mucklucks. Don and Teri, the Otters - had just arrived, loaded down with warm hats, scarves and hot coffee. Once again they were off on a Pie in the Sky Adventure! This pair are professionals at having a good time, good food and good friends. Their lifetime of living and sailing on boats made my job so simple - just relax and have fun!

Off we went from Deer Harbor out towards Jones Island State Park, over to Stewart Island and then we were hailed by the friendly Coast Guard. They were out training their boys, who didn't look old enough to be out of high school, but obviously were. They put us through the routine and while hauling out life jackets and flares and important paper work, we were reminded why keeping a boat 'ship shape' is a good idea. The Fire extinguisher felt full but said empty, so we were kindly escorted to Roach Harbor. It was not until then, I thought of my camera...


Roach Harbor, San Juan Island

A nice little walk through Roach Harbor, a bit of fuel, a new fire extinguisher, and back on the water. Don was off to find his long time crab fisherman friend, hoping for a crab feed that night. He wasn't hard to find, hauling his pots right off the harbor.


Dungeness Crabs from Roach Harbor-Yum!

Mission accomplished, we were off to return to Orcas, running ahead of the rain clouds.

And then running a bit faster...

We arrived back at the dock in Deer Harbor just as the hail began to fall.

Within an hour we were cooking crab at Don and Teri's...

What could be better than fresh crab caught hours earlier gently steamed and served with homemade cornbread?


Cracked Crab cooling with Ice Cubes

Ken was obviously born under a lucky star, as he waits for crab found by Otters.

Looking for a slice of heaven on Orcas Island? - give Ken a jingle at OrcasDreams - he should be working!

Horse Training at River Farm

2011-02-24T14:16:00.000-08:00

Monday found me on the ferry on my way to the River Farm in Deming, to resume my training and teaching. It was cold and dry in the morning, but the weather was supposed to turn later in the day. It's about 90 minutes of 'pedal to the metal' to Deming once you get to Anacortes. I had a good ride over on the ferry, studying my Jin Shin and doing some treatments on my feet, which tend to get tired when I train and teach most of the day.

River Farm is an Intentional Sustainable Community east of Bellingham on the Nooksack River. The two horses are Sally and Sadie, who are progressing very nicely in their Natural Horsemanship Training.

These Halflinger/QH cross mares are very sweet- just loook at those eyes! Holly and Rosie had done a good job keeping them tuned up over the winter, but now it was time to start making some progress again.

We reviewed the Seven Games, and worked on Companion Walking to get the horses really tuned in to me. It's like a dance and very relaxing for both trainer and horse. The horse gets really responsive and soft and the trainer/leader gets into the right mind set. While working on this we wandered down to the River, where an eagle sat perched in a tree. I reflected on how lucky I was to be working outdoors in such a beautiful place, with eagles and horses and such great folks.

I was so absorbed in my engagement with Sally, I did not see Holly and Sadie come up behind me. Sally was so tuned in to me, she did not even fuss with her pal catching up with us! Holly and I worked the horses on the River for a while, reviewing what we had done last summer and fall.

It was hard to believe that one day last summer Rosie led Sadie (pictured here) into the River and they swam together!
From the river, we went on to ground driving, as our goal is to get the horses pulling this summer...It was a good thing we started early in the day, as by 4 pm, the rains and then snow started. Brrr...it was cold!
Turns out all that Jin Shin really worked and I went home tired, but my feet did not hurt at all!

Healing on Orcas Island

2011-02-02T13:32:00.000-08:00

Orcas Island Ferry

Orcas has long been known as a healing place. I felt it as soon as I stepped off the ferry almost 25 years ago! Last Saturday, I took out some real estate clients and almost the first thing he said was: 'Orcas feels so healing!' This couple from L.A. had come to Orcas to see if it was the right place to move their family of four children. Several times they mentioned how healing it felt just being here.

Orcas is tranquil offering stunning views of the Cascades!

I have sold real estate for over 20 years and will continue to do so, but it is not all that captures my attention. I have been practicing Jin Shin since 2003. Not many people know about Jin Shin, but it is a Gentle Healing Tradition from Japan that is like acupuncture and is based on feeling pulses and using meridians. One of the major differences is that there are no needles involved.

Jin Shin uses Energy to heal. It can re-establish harmony in the body and increase vitality. It supports your body to heal itself. It can never hurt you, and everyone I have ever know to have had a Jin Shin session reports feeling better - physically, emotionally and/or spiritually.

For me, I have resolved my sleep apnea, asthma, jumpy legs, fatigue, back injuries and grief issues. I have helped others with depression, back pain, racing heart, hip pain, acute anxiety, exhaustion and much, much more.

My daughter Heather is a massage therapist, she and her life-long friend Kimmy Clancy are opening a massage studio in Eastsound, WA. this week. At ISLAND MASSAGE STUDIO, I will be offering Jin Shin.

Marsha, Heather and Kate

I invite you to call to learn more about Jin Shin, to schedule a Jin Shin session or massage while on Orcas Island. Heather's mother in law, Marsha Segault will be offering a wide array of facials. I can be reached at 360-376-4642. Island Massage Studio is a Healing Place!

The Gift

2010-07-13T16:24:00.000-07:00

After three years of a sluggish economy and little action in the real estate market, Ken and I needed to rethink how we spend our days. Yes, we are still Realtors. We LOVE real estate! But, it's not the ONLY thing we love to do, and until the market improves, we need to find, as they say, 'other streams of revenue'.

My passion for years has been training horses, gentling wild mustangs, riding dressage. Folks frequently asked, "Do you teach?" For years I said, "No". Then people seemed to just come by and need horse time, The Little Wrangler's for example. They so much wanted to learn about horses and horsemanship and so... I began.

This summer I decided to take myself more seriously and advertise 'Horsemanship for Horse-Lover's of all Ages." The students began to call, and sign up and then one lesson a week turned into two, and sometimes week long intensives. I love it! It is making me think and evaluate what works for each person and each horse.

Then I got a call from a woman over in Whatcom County - we talked about my philosophy and methods and she asked me if I would come work with her two Halflinger/Quarter Horse mares. It's a long haul to her place, "The River Farm" but I said yes. After four hours with Holly, her daughter and the two horses, the horses were truely listening, leading well and were relaxed and calm. In Holly's words, "It was awesome!"

She also told me, "You have a Gift". I have been told I am a good teacher, but somehow this 'you have a gift' really got to me. Gift, I thought... well the gift is I get to do what I LOVE yet again! Yes, how lucky is that! What a gift I have been given. And in the process I get to teach people to understand, bond, communicate and train horses. This work is heart opening and healing. It teaches love and mutual respect and demands focus. It teaches boundaries and limit setting and how the relationship has to take priority over the immediate goal. It's for the good of the horse, and in the end, it's what is best for the people as well.

Orcas Island Yurt for your Island Vacation

2010-06-26T16:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Yurt on Orcas Island for Rent

Our Yurt is now available for visiting Orcas Island. This is an OFF THE GRID experience. That means you can excape from TV, Computers, Phones and truely wind down and re-connect with yourself and your loved one. It's quiet out here at the end of the road in Deer Harbor. Frogs will sing you to sleep.

You can snuggle down under a down comforter in our Queen Sized bed and truely rest.

There is a table and chairs and candlelight for romatic dinners together.

Bottled water and a one burner propane stove for heating up some tea or a small meal. A warm shower can be found at the Deer Harbor Marina about 1.5 miles away. You can also launch a kayak or rent a kayak there, or go whale watching. (See my blog about Deer Harbor)

Soft light will glow inside the yurt and you can see the leaves gently moving in the breeze.

Love Bird Watching? This is a birder's paradise! Heron Rookery, all types of water birds, gold finches, eagles, hawks and lots of owls.. the list is too long to mention!

Formerly wild mustangs can be watched while playing and eating in the nearby meadows.

This very affordable get away is $55/night if you stay 2+ nights, and $65 for one night.
Give us a ring or drop us a line, if you want to reserve a stay at our yurt! We look forward to meeting you!

360-376-4642 or Cell: 360-298-2082 Kate Wood

Eating Local on Orcas

2010-05-17T21:22:00.000-07:00

Ken and I are doing our best to eat locally. That's why we garden and raise chickens and rabbits. We believe in sustainability and taking responsibility for what you are eating. That meant last winter we pretty much lived on venison. Too bad it was a tough one. Our solution was to cook it... sometimes all day long, at a low tempeature; 285 degrees. I generally saute some onions, or chives which I have tons of in my garden, add some store bought celery and then brown the meat. We have this natural clay pot from mexico that for some reason cooks so much better than any others we have, and I put all these things together, cover with water or broth and slow cook. About an hour before eating I add carrots and potatoes. This winter we'll have our own potatoes! Ken has planted about 25 pounds of Yellow Finn potatoes..our favorite!

One of our favorite meals is braised rabbits. We cook our rabbit pretty much the same way as the venison but for about 2 hours, but we always add bay leaves. It has a very subltle sweet flavor, not at all gamey and very tender. There is something about the food that we raise or grow that is so satisfying. We are never left wanting something else or eating too much. It's as if the body can tell that food is truely nourishing and it's all it needs.

Sometimes we eat it with mashed blue hubbard squash from our garden. This squash keeps really well and we were still eating it a few weeks ago!

Isn't this the most glorious color. These were stored on the steps to our attic... very forgiving.

Some mornings I try to eat mainly from our garden. Here I have chives and beet greens for an omelet, and mint for morning tea.

Living on an Island gives us opportunities to forage for oysters. If you do this too, always check the red tide hotline and be sure to harvest ones that are away from any marinas or potential contaminants. We generally just broil them till they pop open and eat them right out of the shell!

These guys were huge and meaty! Yum! Happy eating!

Living Lightly on Orcas!

2010-05-10T13:46:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted a yurt. I can't tell you how many times I have said.. 'Well, we can live in a yurt!'. Truth be told, that sounded like fun to me. The difuse light, low impact on the earth, hearing the night sounds, close to nature, living simply..

So, when a chance to help a friend by buying his yurt came up.. we jumped on it. Our young friends Jay and Megan, who had lived on our farm a few years back had been saying to us how they just wished they could move back to our place.. They were such great help with the horses.. so Jay and Megan will help us on the farm, and live in the yurt.

It was such fun watching the yurt go up. The hard part was building the platform. Ken was very resourceful reusing some 4X4's that had been used for composting bins in the past, and using salvaged concrete form pannels for the flooring. Nice and stiff, and good slick surface! Those came from cleaning up a dump area on a property we sold.

I love the open weave of the basket that forms the yurt. It's like a giant play pen~!

If the kids are good, we will let them out from time to time!

The first thing on is the roof.. It's like a flower.

Then you wrapped the walls around the frame.. it takes a few hands.

The high side was the most challanging. Must be easier on the Plains of Mongolia, where the land is more level. I do have a thing for those Mongolian horsepeople.. living on mares milk and traveling with their herds. The children riding before they can walk. And those horses.. not pretty and practically wild!

Now the lovely view of the Marsh will only be seen from the windows..

Ken built a sink.. of course no running water, but we will have a tank..and below a bucket!

And voila! A home all set to go!

Now, I wish all our houses were this easy to build!

If you are looking for a home on Orcas, drop us a line! We're full of ideas and solutions!

kate@orcasdreams.com

Gardening on Orcas Island

2010-04-19T15:11:00.000-07:00

This may be the best spring for gardening I have ever seen on Orcas. Here are my tulips, this was taken about a week ago.. and behind the tulips are my peonies.. those bushes had as many as 75 blooms each last year! The secret to my success.. well it's 100% pure, organic, composted Mustang Manure! Yep, and we can supply some to you to- just give us a jingle.

See the heads coming on this Peony already? So early, weeks early. Back east in Ringoes I had two Peony plants they were on the south side of my home and I loved those babies, I nurtured them, I fed and watered them and they gave me about 5 or 6 blooms a year. Here on Orcas I put manure on top of almost solid clay and they flourish!

Perfect Tulips everywhere! Tulips thrive in the Pacific Northwest, that is why the Skagit is full of them, the cool nights and warm days make for perfect growing conditions and the blooms last for weeks. Today it's in the mid 60's and feels hotter in the sun. My lettuce are just starting to come up as are our beets and spinach. I have decided to only drink tea I can grow, no more imported tea, so I drink mint tea from the garden. Changes..

My peas are up and this am I ate a veggie omelet from my garden.with beet greens and chives. If you are looking for a gardening spot on Orcas drop me a line! kate

Spring would not be complet without the return of the Hummingbirds! Today is the birthday of my most glorious grandson Caleb. Happy Birthday dear one! He's seven!

Living on Orcas Island

2010-04-14T11:55:00.000-07:00

Today as I stood in the arena lunging Black Elk, I watched a pair of Eagles engaged in a mating dance. Their cry was completely different from what they normally sound like, and I stood watching them tumble and fall straight up above me, then over the marsh, up into the woods and back again. I thought this is why I live on Orcas!

And when I went to Coffelt's for eggs and saw these wonderful photo ops. Wheelbarrows in a pile, shovels and pitch forks, a lake rimmed in pastels.

Perhaps it was the joy I felt when looking down the driveway and seeing Ken and Jay and Megan all digging holes for the yurt platform. Jay and Megan will have housing for the summer, our farm is growing. Our neighbor, Dan had helped Ken design the platform it and then carved out a path lined with old logs with moss intact.

Perhaps it was the felling of connection I felt this afternoon I saw two friends who I helped find their homes on Orcas. Jim had me over to talk about the market and how to prepare his house for sale. We brainstormed about his next tranisition and swapped a few tales. Then I ran into Tom at the Post Office. He owns Deer Harbor Charters - and takes people whale watching. He had a fire in his home and yet was so happy with the changes he made with the home he invite to stop by and see his remodel. We chatted about his winter which he claimed was colder in Florida then here on Orcas!

I think it was watching my grand-daughter, Trinity learn how to handle the wheelbarrow that made me happy to be on Orcas.

Or maybe while watching her sleep...

Perhaps it was the long emails I got from a new friend assuring me that going virtual in our Real Estate Business will work just fine, and her warm invitation to join a oil painting class.

Lots to be thankful for; the beauty and the people and of course the gift of living on this very special Island.To see what kinds of properties are for sale on Orcas Island go to: www.orcasdreams.com

Spring Training on Orcas

2010-04-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

I am back to training my horses. Black Elk and I have been walking the trails both on line and at liberty. We're getting back in shape. We have also been working on his giving to pressure in the arena, learning to leave a bit of a loop in the lunge line as he trots his circles. This spring he's learned to curve his whole body as he goes around and around, tipping his nose in and listening. He is very soft and very attentive. While last summer he could barely manage to canter his big body in the arena, now he can canter part of a circle.Yesterday he was trying to buck and canter while playing and he looked like a baby moose! We were in hysterics laughing.

Rascal has gotten so beautiful in his maturity. Now everyone says he is the most handsome of my horses, but this was not always so. You can see the changes that the slow dressage work have made in his body, which was once rather lumpy and awkward.
Dressage = the athletic development of the horse. He is still not as graceful as the others in some regards, like backing up is hard for him, but put him on a lunge and you'd think he's a Lippizan! This spring in one session I taught him to bring in his nose while trotting, as if he had on side reins. He is such a smart horse, he got it right away. I often wonder how he even knows what I am asking for.. he is one of those horses who keeps offering things. and then when he gives me what I want.. I let out my breath and sigh.. YES! He slows and comes in, drops his head and is happy. His other big improvement is being able to canter a 10 meter circle on the lunge, he is also getting so much better at not having to brace as he changes gaits from a canter to a trot. He is a serious hard working guy, when he is working. The rest of the time he is a ham!

I have adjusted how I lunge my horses, and now try to become the pole that they circle around. Black Elk found this so much easier to keep the proper distance and to make the circles really round and accurate. The Vaqueros used a pole and it is said that 30 days of lunging around a still point in the center will develop the horse as much as 90 days of riding dressage. Accurate circles is the key says Jane Savoie too.

On Wednesday I had Abby come over to ride Shaman. With my ribs still sore, I wanted the wonder girl to ride any surprises out of my youngsters. She is so agile and athletic as well as having nerves of steel, I feel so lucky to have her help.

Shaman even got a bit bored while Abby took a phone call!

He had not forgot a thing. Abby was quite surprised, but I know these musangs - teach them something and they have it down. He was so happy to see her and always welcomes the attention. He stood quietly for mounting and walked around without any issues, making turns and stops.

We kept it short..ending on a happy note.

Since things went so well with Shaman and we still had a bit of time, I saddled up the Elk and had her pop aboard. He stood like a rock (something I feel is VERY Important) and was just fine. They walked around and backed, he offered some very fancy side passing. She commented on how he was much more fluid and lighter, giving to pressure so much more readily. I was happy to hear that the ground work was showing up in the riding so soon. My plan was to have her ride him a dozen times.. but already I am itching to get on.. my memory seems to be blessedly short! I am back to training my horses.
If you are looking for a farm on Orcas take a look at our site: www.orcasdreams.com

Coffelt's Farm on Orcas Island - For Fresh Eggs and More!

2010-03-29T17:12:00.000-07:00

We are egg snobs. In fact we are food snobs. Maybe I should say we are slow food advocates. Now that sounds better. When it comes to eggs, I only want fresh locally produced eggs from contented hens who get to run around and scratch for bugs and have a 'real life'. So, when I want eggs I go to Coffelt's farm. Since we eat a lot of eggs.. that's pretty much every 10 days or so.

I love going there, just as an excuse to drive down their lane and see what is new. Like I LOVE these Jersey cows.. I think they are so beautiful. Some day I will paint cows again..

Or the lambs that are less than a week old?

Happy mamas in new spring grass..

Now how many places are there where the sheep graze among the flowers? What a life these gals have. The daffodils are in full bloom here, and the tulips are starting to bloom as well. Looking for your new home on Orcas? Go here: www.orcasdreams.com

Coffelts Farm has a Farm Stand, you go in through this gate and get to check out more of Sidney's flowers.. and there you will find the eggs! Farm fresh eggs..and meat in the freezer, fresh milk sometimes, plant starts, wool from their sheep. Yep, it's the real deal here on Orcas Island. My friend and client Lucy was at the Coffelt's one day when I was there writing an article for a food magazine. Lucy, a screen writer in L.A. and her husband bought a waterfront home to on the West Side of Orcas from us a few years back. Here is the link to her story: A Ram's Life

Inside the gate leading to the goodies..

Sometimes I feel a bit sad, for by next fall I won't have my weekly excuse to go for eggs, as we will be collecting them on our own farm. Ken's got a brooder in my horse trailer and is raising Black Java Chickens.. If you want to know more about them you'll have to check out his Black Java Chicken blog!

Aren't they homely??

Cottage for Sale or Rent....

2010-03-11T12:12:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been to Coupeville? It is on Whidbey Island and it is one of the oldest towns in Washington. Many of the homes are on the Historic Register and the downtown is along the waters of Penn Cove looking across to the mainland. There antique shops and speciality stores, restaurants featuring seafood from the local waters and art galleries are to be found. It's a great place for a lazy stroll along the water and don't miss the huge ice cream cones sold at Iskreme at the north end of town for $2!

Well, we have a little home there. It was built in 1910. Last spring and summer we worked on it for months redoing the gardens, putting up a picket fence, tearing out the old carpet and sanding and refinishing the 100 year old fir floors. We also had the entire interior scrubbed and painted. Ken installed new energy efficient baseboard heating, and new cabinets in the kitchen. This may be the house your Grandmother had! It is surrounded by mature gardens with hundreds of bulbs, twenty foot high deep purple lilacs, a prolific old pear tree and a graceful curly willow. This two bedroom home has an ample living room with big windows and high ceilings, a panneled and wall papered dining room, an old fashioned kitchen and laundry area.

We just listed it for sale for $199,000. It is not currently rented, but we rent it for $850 per month. Ken is scraping and painting the exterior of the house now. We plan to paint it shades of green.

Somebody is going to get a really sweet deal! From the house it's a few minute walk to the waterfront, and one block to the bus station. In town living! Near the County offices, which make for quiet neighbors.

Give us a call if you think this may be of interest for an Island get away, a retirement home, or investment property. Drop us a line kate@orcasdreams.com. or check our site for other properties: www.orcasdreams.com If you are a first time home buyer don't miss the $8000 tax credit! 360-376-4642

Visiting Orcas Island?

2010-03-02T14:30:00.000-08:00

If you are planning a visit to Orcas Island, don't miss the flowers blooming in the Skagit. If you are traveling from Seattle coming North on Interstate 5, take the Conway Exit towards LaConner so that you can see the Daffodils in bloom. These photos were taken on Sunday by Ken who was down in Conway picking up hay from another Realtor. I was at home teaching horsemanship, so I did not get to see these lovely flowers which were just starting to bloom last Wednesday when I was off Island.

While the Skagit is known for it's Tulips and the Tulip Festival which is held in April, not everyone knows that it is also famous for other bulbs. From LaConner you can again travel north towards Annacortes and pick up Rout 20 to the San Juan Island Ferries.

While traveling also watch for the thousands of Snow Geese and Swans that over winter in the Skagit in the fields and deltas.

Today my friend Bonnie sent me pictures of the snow in Asheville, and I sent her pictures of the snow geese and flowers blooming in the Skagit.

Hey, if the cold and snow has got you down, why not check out my website OrcasDreams

and see if there is a home here for you! Or better yet, shoot me an email

Gotta go and plant my peas..

Community on Orcas Island

2010-02-21T22:12:00.000-08:00

Things seem to be changing in our neighborhood in Deer Harbor and all over Orcas Island. I see more people struggling to keep their homes and to make ends meet. Construction is down, real estate is very slow, even the tourists are spending more carefully. But it's not all bad. We all have more time. Time to visit, time to rest and regroup and time to create a new way of living.

Folks are drawing together, sharing more, being more neighborly. I noticed the change when I was down with my broken ribs and so many people visited. Maria Bullock and her children came over almost daily for weeks. She lives with her extended family on a Permaculture Farm across the marsh from our farm in Deer Harbor. Sometimes she brought friends with her, and we talked of Midwifery, Guatemala, Women's Issues, Children, Homes Schooling, Psychology, Horses and Gardening. My dear friend Moriah brought soup, Shelly sent poems and flowers, Yvonne taught me to knit, Mary came by to swap stories, my son brought cookies and movies.

A delightful woman came to rent our little cottage last week. She brought her three dogs and a wooden boat which she masterfully parked next to the encrouching blackberries and nookta roses. She offers her help with the horses, she is becoming a part of our life here. We see her walking her dog along the creek carrying a cup of coffee, and the past two mornings she cleaned the arena where our horses like to play and nap. We plan to have gardens together and build a chicken house. This afternoon, we sat together in the sun at the Westsound Community Center during the Seed Exchange and talked with her friend Margarite. Community, that is what many of us were looking for and now more than ever I see it happening. Looking for community? Check out my website: www.orcasdreams.com

The Seed Exchange was a big success with much generous sharing. Bring your seeds and starts to share and help yourself to what others had to offer. We came home with everything from Spinach to Raspberries to Cilantro to Dalia tubers. People were excited and serious. The Island is changing - and this is one of the good ways. Want to know more about Suistainable Living on Orcas? Drop us a line!

Late in the day, my young friend Aurora came over for a ground school lesson with Shaman. She is 12 and longs for her own horse, but it is not just horses she is learning about. These are life lessons about using your energy, maintaining good boundaries and paying attention. For a young woman it is about finding your voice and being heard. I remind her she is in charge and help her to find that place. She is learning about body language. The horses are masters of that art. She likes to work with Shaman, who is crazy about her. When she arrived, Shaman got up from his nap and came and stood at the gate watching her, then went over and rolled the barrel in a circle at a canter..(surely this will get her attention!)

As the sun set, I planted my raspberries along the garden fence and Ken finished up his Incubator for the baby chicks which are due to arrive tomorrow. I came inside to warm squash from our garden which had been baking all afternoon. Rich, sweet and deep orange.

I Lost Christmas!

2010-01-21T17:40:00.000-08:00

Christmas of 2008- Horses in the Snow

It's true, I lost Christmas this year. On my son's birthday, December 18, I got bucked off my sweet Black Elk. He bucked?? I know this is not normal Black Elk behavior.. Maybe he was feeling frisky, maybe my foot hitting the barrel we were going around scared him..maybe.. well, I have had lots of time to speculate. I broke 5 ribs on the left side. Ohhh.. not fun! I don't really know what happened those precious seconds prior to hitting the ground, but I knew I hurt. I was lucky that Ken was home, when I gathered my breath, I gave a big holler.. and a few minutes later he came out to help me into the house.

Kate and Rascal in the snow 2008

By the time I was on the porch, I was begging for pain pills. This is 'miss natural', natural childbirth, organic foods, never take pain pills.. well I was begging for them! He cut off my sweatshirt, and got me on the couch and there I stay for the next week. I couldn' t even eat! He canceled the family Christmas party, my cooking dates with my grandchildren, putting up the Christmas tree.. Of course, I couldn't of enjoyed any of it.. but how do you recapture Christmas??

It will be 5 weeks tomorrow since I got bucked off. I am still quite friendly with the couch, but up a good part of the day, and can finally sleep in the bed again. I am taking mile long walks and today started some floor exercises. I am healing..

Kiger Shaman - Snow 2008

There have been some wonderful perks.. Ken has been doing the cooking and after weeks of venison stew, he got bored and now has gotten quite creative. Last night we had scallops seared in butter with salmon caviar over steamed rice with sour cream. WOW!! That was amazing! Friends and neighbors have come to visit. Our family doctor, David Russell called every day that first week to check on me, and his wife, Shelly sent me flowers. My neighbor to the east and her two children have come to visit the horses and have tea with me almost daily. My dear friend Yvonne came and taught me to knit, Janet brought chocolates, my son came numerous times bringing me home made chocolate chip cookies and a big stack of movies, visiting for hours. And it was with my son and daughter in law that I spent Christmas day, just visiting..

Saint Francis of the Marsh and Ken 2008

I called friends and family back east, and had all the time in the world to catch up. I heard lots of broken rib stories. In fact my brother broke his ribs on black ice and the next day flew from NJ to Kansas to go deer hunting. The next morning after climbing a tree he began to wonder how he would ever get down. He spent the rest of that day laying in the back of a truck in 20 degree weather. He is much tougher than me!!

Ken-My Snow Angel!

I am counting my blessings for I have been loved and cared for tenderly these weeks of healing, Ken says that a few broken ribs are just the price I pay for having an adventurous life. I think he's right.

P.S. These pictures are from last year.. this year along with the ribs..my camera broke!

The Heart of the Salish Sea

2009-12-05T21:55:00.000-08:00

Orcas is one of a kind. I know, I searched for many years. At age 18, I fell in love with Martha's Vineyard. I remember vividly sitting on the bow of my family's boat after a long day at sea, and seeing the cliffs of Gay Head in a bright array of colors. It took me 4 years to manage to move there, and 18 months to see we did not have the skills to survive on the Vineyard. That was the 70's.

It was there that I met my friend of a lifetime, Cecily. She was scalloping for a living with her husband. She washed their clothes by hand, drying them on the line where they would freeze long before drying. For years we have joked about 'Clem the Hired Hand', which refered to the frozen red long johns blowing stiffly on the line outside her cabin. They were true Islanders, I envied them.

Fast forward 20 years. Ken and I were living in the most unspoiled county in NJ. The Amwell Valley Hunt galloped through our backyard on mist-shrouded mornings. The master of the hunt rode a 17 hand dappled gray warmblood. We were surrounded by small farms and almost half of the land was in conservation. Former members of the USET retired here to raise and train horses. It was beautiful; but 20 minutes away were malls, congestion, Route 1 and the Jersey Turnpike. And worse of all, the sprawl crept closer as each day passed.

We wanted to live in a more rural area, more wildlife, fewer people, cleaner air, better weather. We never wanted to go to a mall again, sit in a traffic jam or watch fields sprout condos. We could not afford the Vineyard, Nantucket, Aspen or Jackson Hole. We felt out of place in West Virginia, couldn't see how we'd survive in the mountains of North Carolina. We wanted like-minded folks; artists, writers, philosophers, entrepeneurs, free thinkers. We also needed to work and make a living. We wanted a safe, healthy place to raise our daughters. We needed to be surrounded by nature. It was a tall order.

It was a typical hot, muggy and buggy summer in NJ. Summers were NEVER what I hoped them to be in NJ. Temperatures in the 90's and often up to 100, with high humidity, and did I mention the gnats? Ken and I were renovating houses that summer. I actually set up a fan outside by the table saw, so that when we were cutting boards for siding the house, the gnats would not get in our eyes! We were slathered in 'Skin so Soft', we were sick of bugs, heat and humidity! When the local grocery store offered tickets for $79 to anywhere in the US with a purchase of $200 in groceries, we began dreaming of a trip west.

We had heard about the San Juan's. I loved Islands, and best of all it was cool there in the summers. We needed cool, ocean breezes and in 'Let's Go, The Pacific Northwest' they said there were no bugs! My cousin, Lisa who grew up sailing on the east coast and San Francisco Bay raved about sailing in those protected waters. My parents loved how green and how charming the islands were when they stopped on their way to Victoria, BC. It was remote but close to both Seattle and Vancouver. There were snow capped mountains and whales. Ken also had a family reunion in Sandpoint, Idaho. All good reasons to head to the northwest corner of the US.

We took the 4:30 am bus from Seattle to the Ferry Terminal in Anacortes. But, even at that hour it was light! I wore a flannel shirt and we carried backpacks. Mist hung between the islands. It was magical and so very green! As the breeze came up the mists cleared. We watched seals, heard an eagle cry, Mount Baker glistened white with snow. The water was cold, clear and green. People were friendly. But, still I was not prepared for what I felt when I put my foot on Orcas Island.

"This is it!" I said. "What do you mean?" questioned Ken. "This is it, I NEED to live here!" 'How do you know? You haven't even been here!". "I just know!"

For some people it just happens like that. Orcas feels like home. It can feel more like your home than where you were raised or where you live. It's one of a kind. And if it fits, you'll know it! Just listen to your heart. I had found my home in the heart of the Salish Sea.

The Wild Ones

2009-11-21T14:53:00.000-08:00

All my life I dreamed of owning a wild horse. Growing up in Princeton, NJ made that seem pretty unlikey but I loved the stories of Flicka, The Black Stallion, Misty. Wtih no wild ones in sight, I rode Throughbreds off the track, retired Starndardbreds, jumpers and hunters. I exercised polo ponies and was given seasoned Pony Club horses. I specialized in rehabilitating the hurt and the emotionally damaged. And then, I had years where I gave up my love affair with horses. I was too busy raising my children and attending to my birth center, horses had to wait.

About 10 years after relocating to Orcas Island, I again looked for a horse to 'rescue'.

Red, a retired jousting horse came into my life. His show name with the Seattle Knights was 'Jester'. He was a beauty! But, oh so sad. I looked forward to giving him a happier life, and hopefully doing lots of cantering. He seemed like a really steady guy to help me get back into riding. After all he had seen everything, right?

Red had other ideas. He had deceided he would retire. He was done working. This would be his post-career life. He'd get to explore all the things he'd never had time for before. Like the girls in the herd. Perhaps he'd learn to do watercolors. He was fond of grazing.

He never wanted to canter again. How he held it together jousting was beyond me. The horse was an emotional wreck. We went slow, had our good days, and worked in dressage. He was a sweet guy, but what he really wanted to do was just hang out.

Then one day, at the Horse Expo in Puyallup, I met a mustang. There were Warmbloods and Andulusians, Quarter Horses and Rocky Mountain Horses, but it was a Kiger Mustang stallion who seemed to put them all to shame. His name was 'My Tiger Kiger' owned by Kim Kellog. He did not act like any stallion I ever knew, he was so personable, friendly and well adjusted. It appeared that Kim could do anything with him! He seemed to be emotionally healthy and he was beautiful and perfectly conformed, with small hard feet, big eyes and small quick ears.

With all of those hurt and hurting horses, I made a lot of progress, but frequently there were remaining glitches, some problems that never completely went away. What if I started with a clean slate? A horse raised in an intact family, in a herd, the way nature intended? What about a horse who had been gathered from the wild, and would not be able to go back, one slated for adoption. One like 'My Tiger Kiger'? The BLM had thousands of horses needing to be adopted.

Soon my husband and I were making pilgrimages down to the corrals in Burns, Oregon, where we would spend days dreaming of the day we would adopt our own horses. We frequently fell in love. We talk of many of those horses to this day, horses from the past ten years: Dog Solider. Jester, Double Eagle, Wild Girl, Sooty Face. Often, we wondered why we would spend two days traveling only to stand in snow and frozen mud, our collars up around our ears in the cold winds to watch the wild ones. But we did, again and again. It called us, and we went.

How about the Buttermilk one?

Dog Soldier I would bet came from the Army Remount program.

We called this pretty little mare 'Hippie Chic"

I desperately wanted 'Hippie Chic'. Of course, she was a bossy piece with a mind of her own. A redhead, again! And as you see here, her ears are always pricked paying attention to everything! The wranglers kept suggesting other horses..by then I was listening..So, this pretty little filly did not come home with us.

Thanksgiving Potluck in Deer Harbor

2009-11-15T12:03:00.000-08:00

Pond in Deer Harbor

Friday night was my favorite potluck in Deer Harbor. Our November potluck is a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner with all the fixings and I don't have to cook! No stress about getting the house clean, who's coming or not coming, or if everything will be just right. No, just show up and bring a dish to share.
There must have been 80 people there, mostly locals from Deer Harbor. The turkeys were beautifully cooked and all cut up, lots of rich dark gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing, but for some unknown reason no mashed potatoes. No matter, we all had a grand time.
Ken and I sat at a table with our Accountant/Artist friends; Jerry and Mary. Mary is this incredible artist and has just started a blog: anordinaryartist.com. She's way too modest! Also at the table was Nancy Southern, she specializes in energy work, EFT which is Emotional Freedom Technique. This is a form of acupressure that is easy to learn and highly effective, and works well for both physical and emotional issues. Heidi was at our table also, she lives 4 doors down from us, and makes granola and sells it under her friend Rob's label: Local Goods. She told me in the summers she sells 100 lbs a week. Wow that's a lot of granola! Local Goods can be found on Orcas, Lopez and San Juan Island. She told us about her six week trip to an ashram to southern India. A the end of the table were Megan and Bob Harris. They have actually moved from Deer Harbor where they lived for years to OPAL in Eastsound. OPAL provides affordable housing on Orcas and is where over 30% of the school children on Orcas live. They have several communities with common grounds and very sweet homes. You would never guess this is considered affordable housing. Bob was an architect and he and Megan moved here years ago from Santa Fe. Megan was an avid gardener and for the 20 years they lived in Deer Harbor, I believe they lived out of their garden. They are also published authors.
So, who lives in Deer Harbor? Authors, Artists, Architects, Accountants, Cooks, Gardeners, Travelers, Energy Workers, Realtors, Builders and Horse Trainers!

We Painted our Green Built Home- Green!

2009-11-07T19:35:00.000-08:00

Renovating a home, as my husband the builder has told me countless times, can be full of surprises and lots more work than you ever imagine. I don't like to admit it but he was right. Renovating this simple cottage seemed to take forever and of course cost more than we'd hoped.

After barging from Sidney, BC and landing on Orcas our little cottage made a perious journey down the road to it's new home on Orcas Island. There it was set up on steel beams until the foundation was poured for the house and the new master suite addition. After approval by the county, it was lowered to it's new foundation. Then the fun began!

Ken and crew began tearing things out; like the kitchen, the pergo floors, the boring doors, the skinny trim, the carpet, most of the bathroom. Well, you get the idea, it was a top to bottom redo. The planning stage, that's the most fun when creativity surges and the ideas flow.

Our goal was to have a Craftsman-inspired Home with as many sustainable products that we could manage. We hired local carpenters, electricians, plumbers and painters. The cabinets were made on Island. We used wood from the property that we had milled. We both believe in details and high quality workmanship and were aiming for a jewelbox! Sustainable in style with low maintanence exterior, single story living, and sited for sunshine.

Split cedar rails enclose the small garden by the entry. (Cedar from property)

Oak Fumed Entry Door.

Suistainably harvested Bamboo Floors. A bank of windows faces west in the living room.

Hand crafted mantle on Blue Stone propane fireplace.

The view from the front door.

Glass vessel sinks in bath rooms on Island made cabinets.

Italian Tile in Master bath.

Cork floors in Kitchen, High end Stainless Steel Appliances and locally made cabinets.

South facing bank of windows for solar gain in new master suite.

South facing porch off of living room.

Yes, we painted it Green! Three tones of green on Hardiboard planking. That will last forever and never grow moss! There is a small detail of deep red trim, but you can't see it in the pictures. This home on two level acres is just one mile to town. You can keep chickens here or a few sheep. There are horses in the neighborhood. It is a great place to garden as the soil is deep, rich, dark and well drained. Soil like this is rare on Orcas, mostly we have clay and rock! All the surfaces are new in this home, and everything has been done with love and care. If you care about the planet, this home is one to look at. Available for the right folks for $479,500.

For more information about homes that may suit your lifestyle drop me a line!

Kate@orcasdreams.com

Passport to Adventure

2009-11-03T19:39:00.000-08:00

I needed a new passport to go to Mexico with my daughter, Felicity. It was a sign of the times that in order to pop over the border to Mexico or Canada, you now need a passport. I couldn't find mine. I always kept it in the same place, why wasn't it there? I called the Court House in Friday Harbor, where luckily you can get a passport. This was much better than going to Seattle. Friday Harbor is just a short ferry ride away.

After tearing apart my desk and sorting through thousands of photos and very important papers, I remembered I had put it in the glove box of my car. Just in case. Like I popped into Canada or Mexico without a plan? I doubt it! The last time I was there was for a Horse Expo, it was exactly one year ago.

I woke to the sun reflecting off the golden russet of the madronas outside our window. Another beautiful day? How could this be, it is November!

I put together this week's ad for the paper and then went down to Orcas Landing to catch the ferry. I watched the commuters, all dressed in sensible shoes and polar fleece. Oh, the Northwest culture is so comfortable.

Some folks were commuting via bike, that too will become more common as gas prices inflate again. I remembered my days of getting up at 6:00 am to catch a train from Princeton Junction to NYC to work at Bloomingdale's and Lord and Taylors. It took over two hours to get to work, and the trains were packed, with some people standing the whole trip. As a manager at both those stores, I did not get to wear comfortable shoes or comfortable clothing. It was still in the days of heels, pantyhose and dresses. I suffered, my feet hurt, I rarely saw the sun, and I returned on the train at 7:30 at night.

View of Turtleback Preserve and Deer Harbor.

Now, I get to travel by ferry, gliding quietly through the Islands, the air cool and fresh, an eagle overhead. I feel so fortunate not to be in a car racing down a freeway at breakneck speed, every nerve tense.

This type of travel is human scale.

Children get to play and enjoy the trip.

Friday Harbor has lots of historic homes and buildings.

Once in Friday Harbor, I was off to Radio Shack, where a nice gentleman took a good photo of me in about 1 minute, and I was out of the store, on my way to the Courthouse. There I did not have to wait in line, but was helped immediately and given lots of free advice on how to be sure I'd get this new passport in time. In and out in about 20 minutes, I was off to look at the shops and grab a bite to eat.

In a Sporting Goods Shop, the woman who owned the shop, launched into a story of how her youngest was born on Orcas, 16 years ago. She was in labor going via ferry to Anacortes. Her labor was progressing so quickly that they put her off the ferry when they got to Orcas. There she was met by Melinda, our local midwife. They drove to the clinic, she gave birth and was back on the ferry home in an hour and a half. Her daughter is the 7th generation on Friday Harbor, except for the fact she was born on Orcas!

Can you make out the outline of Mt. Baker?

Two hours later, I was homeward bound. On the boat, I saw Melinda. This is one of the joys of Island life, you get to connect with people as well as see the connections. We chatted a bit and I mentioned the woman in the Sporting Goods Store. She nodded and said ' oh, yes, but what I remember most about that night was the Northern Lights. It was the first time I had ever seen them.'

I loved how I had seen both mother and midwife in this real life drama, and I felt a bit of nostalgia for my own midwifery days.

Halloween on Orcas

2009-11-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

Saturday was sunny and warm. Perfect for Trick or Treating. The kids were anxious to get going, so it was still light when the tricksters began to show up.

We were ready! Dressed as a cowboy (Ken added the neckerchief and put on a new white shirt) and a cowgirl. We were ready for the crowds! And crowds there were.

First to arrive was our little tribe. Caleb's cute face is hidden by Darth Vader's mask. For us this is one of the highlights of our year, our kids on Halloween.

Here is our youngest with her little Lula ready for a hula!

There were witches and fairies.

All carefully supervised by parents..or were they looking for their candy cut? Hey, that's Phil in the hat, he's our librarian! We sold him his land. Wonder which of those characters is his?

Drinking coffee to keep up with his kids, is our local surveyor, Greg White. With all the work we send him, he should be bringing us candy!

Clearly this one is a little devil! I think he's in Caleb's Cub Scout group.

This little fairy godmother blessed me with her wand.

See, we wern't the only ones longing to be a cowboy, or girl|!

The witches came and the witches went..

My outfit was sent to me by my dearest friend Cecily on Martha's Vineyard. It's made by Cattle Kate. Just so you know, in case you want one too.

This little devil told me her mom made her costume! I think she was really an angel.

Like a lot of Islander's this young man must be questioning authority!

We voted him 'Most Creative'!

Talk about a cute kitty!

After this very classy little witch, we called it a night.

The moon was up in the clear sky and as full as one would could ask for this Halloween night!

Walking Eastsound Part 2

2009-11-01T21:09:00.000-08:00

Eastsound serves the 5,000 folks who live on Orcas Island. The tree lined streets are lovely in the fall, the shops warm and inviting.

Eastsound Square offers everything from children's clothing and toys to handmade chocolates. Pictured above is Leapin' Lizards. This shop was started by a friend who was once a therapist and who is now learning Reiki and animal massage. Sometimes she spends time with my horses and they exchange gifts of energy.

Olga's has clothes and gifts for women.

Hand made Chocolates on Orcas? You bet! Hey, the sky is clearing!

Oh, it's painful to look at this sign! Painful because once again I have sworn off sugar. Not that I go there for sugar, no, I go there for the Chocolate Royal Cookies. UMMM, chocolate chip cookies that have nuts and coconut. Oh so good! But alas, I have told myself that the urge for a cookie will now be satisfied by a nice glass of water. I have done it before, I can do it again! The Sunflower sits on the corner of North Beach Road and Main Street, it serves us chowder, crab cakes and home baked goods and of course all kinds of coffee drinks.

We made it, now we are at the Episcopal Church Parish Hall. It looks out over the water to the south over Eastsound. This is where we have our monthly meetings. Lots of things go on here, like Latin classes, Tai Chi and a grief support group.

Our friend Matt was married here a few years back. Matt moved here and reinvented his life, from working at Hewitt Packard to learning carpentry by working with Ken. Since I couldn't help him find a job, we finally gave him a job. It was one of the best things we ever did. Now he is a foreman with one of the local contractors, found a lady love and has settled in for the long run in a little home over looking the water.

The Episcopal Church is next door surrounded by lovely gardens. This historic building I think is one of the focal points of our town. We have all kinds of churches on Orcas, but this church is the prettiest and the oldest.

The Episcopal Church

Looking South along the beach at high tide.

The view from the Parish Hall

Orcas Islanders are avid readers. We love books! Darvill's is our favorite bookstore with lots of books about the Pacific Northwest, the San Juan Islands, sailing, kayaking, crabbing and cooking. They have all the latest fiction, poetry and a fabulous children's section. In the winter each month we will have an "Island Read". That way everyone can talk about the same book instead of the latest issue in the news.

See all the socks in the window? Darvill's has more than books.

Crow Valley Pottery is our next stop, featuring lots more than pottery. There are lovely oil paintings and pastels of local scenes, blown glass and jewelry. Orcas is famous for it's pottery and Crow Valley Pottery is just one of the galleries on the Island.

Flowers in front of Crow Valley Pottery, and reflections from across the street.

Glass flowers at the street corner.

Looking for a 4 Star Restaurant? Or just a burger on the water? Your choice!

Men's and women's clothing, books, music, gifts, jewlery and more can be found in the Spirit of the Northwest. Long time Islanders, Bob and Meg Conners are neighbors of ours in Deer Harbor. Nicer folks you couldn't find!

Ray's is a full service pharmacy owned by Marlyss Fowler and her husband. They raise horses and their two little boys. She has just about everything in the Pharmacy: clothes, toys, cosmetics, chocolates, stationary supplies, even some linens.

Looking for a small business? Laura's is for sale.

Yes, we like our food fresh, organic and local!

Rick Doty started The Homegrown: our Organic Food Store on Orcas. Here you will find lots of local produce, sushi twice a week, vegan baked goods, herbal and homeopathic remedies. They make two soups every day and my favorite chicken cashew salad. Rick is still on Island, but now does Structural Integration at the Healing Arts Center. That building was my very first sale on Orcas. Here a group of alternative healing practitioners have joined together as a cooperative to share a space, providing massage, acupuncture, therapy, EFT classes, yoga and lots more.

Vance makes beautiful jewelry. It is where Ken often buys my Christmas gifts.

Lots of knitters on Orcas

The latest yarn that they have is made of seaweed. Yes, seaweed!

Enzo's - great coffee, baked goods, quiche, fresh chowder daily and an Internet Cafe and Gallery. They are the only place on Orcas that makes homemade Gilato, every flavor you can imagine.

Hey, here's our office OrcasDreams- Island Properties! We are at the north end of town. Notice I have carefully left out any sign of any other Realtor. Well, why would you go anywhere else?

This is not all that Eastsound has to offer. There is lots more. But not tonight! Some other day!

Come back soon!

Walking Eastsound - on Orcas Island.

2009-10-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

Eastsound is the heart of Orcas, where the east and west lobes of Orcas Island join in the middle. Ken, my favorite cowboy and I were on our way to the Orcas Island Association of Realtors' monthly meeting. We were off to hear Richard Fralic, our County Commissioner talk about the proposed tax levy and give us an update on the Critical Area Ordinance.

Ah, so I am not always just having fun! It's true! I too, work for a living. Selling Real Estate on Orcas Island requires I stay current on all kinds of issues. The tax levy is needed because our Orcas real estate market has been slow, and construction is really down, and they have generated much of our county's income in the past. San Juan County is small but we have fantastic services: from EMT and exceptional medical services to an extensive library, services for seniors and children, parks and recreation. I'll tell you more about services on Orcas later.

On the way to the meeting, I had a great time taking photos in downtown Eastsound. It is a walking village, perfect for meandering and visiting with neighbors.

This is Teezers, where locals meet for a great cup of coffee and warm chocolate cookies sold for just one dollar!?

Hey, there's that guy with the cowboy hat... he's out in front of Bilbo's, maybe he's looking for care asada? They serve Mexican food.

People always ask: "Do you have DSL on Orcas?" Let me tell you we are connected! With the most educated population in the northwest living on Orcas, we are on the Internet! We may live on an island, but that does not mean we're out of it! We are a well-traveled, politically active, liberal group, who believe in expressing our opinions and letting others do the same.

Here is one of my favorite buildings in town. It houses a trendy little dress shop called 'Tres Fabu'. Owned by Nicki who instead of becoming the therapist she had planned to be, began making hats which grew into this boutique. She, like a lot of Islanders turned her passion into a new way of life.

Remember the Farmer's Market in Eastsound? Well it's held in the village green, which has a beautiful pavillion built by local artists and craftsman for concerts in the park. Like the Island itself it is quiet here in the fall. The music has moved indoors for the time being.

Next to the village green is the Historical Museum. It has been selected by the Smithsonian as a site for a project called 'Journey Stories', which will begin next summer. A perfect venue for our Orcas Island Characters.

Orcas Islanders are obsessed with Halloween, with all the shop owners dressing for the holiday, and kids and adults alike trick or treating and making merry. How about an adult Fairy costume.

Ah, here's Ginny Lu's Wood's Cove. I wonder if she is a long lost relative? I did sell her house a few years back, now it is lovingly know as 'Beachyhead' by our friends Jerry and Mary. They have an accounting business. When they relocated from the Carmel area, they just continued to work for their clients in California, here on Orcas. Well, they are accountants! Bet that they knew that with no state income tax and low property taxes, they would save lots of money by relocating to Orcas. Why not? There's no traffic, and not even any stoplights!

We are not even halfway down the street. For a small town, we have a lot to offer. Come back tomorrow and I'll show you more of Eastsound!

I love Sundays!

2009-10-26T23:00:00.000-07:00

Sundays are great.

We generally stay home, unless we we are out showing real estate to a client. This time of year, or at least this year, things are pretty quiet, so yesterday we were at home. Yesterday's sunrise over the marsh was beautiful in pastels; pinks and lavenders. In the Islands, often the first hour of the day is clear, with clouds moving in later. That's what happened on Sunday, it clouded up and a light rain began to fall.

We watched the buck visiting our apple tree. The deer have been hard on our fences this fall!

When the rains let up, I went out and tacked up Black Elk. Prior to working him, we shoveled the area, he followed me around with the lead rope over my shoulder. This would be his fifth ride, and he is doing great. I always lunge him first and check out his steering and does he remember that pressure on his nose means to stop?

He's looking pretty handsome!

Hey, check out the ears! This is supposed to be a sign of a dependable horse!

Black Elk has the longest stride, tracking up 3 hoof prints at an easy walk.

Black Elk and kitty Theo have taken a liking to one another.

Well, he is kinda big!

Yum...

We have two little apple trees inside our fenced garden area. These tiny trees have produced about 100 apples. We are waiting for a frost before picking them, to bring up the sugars. Orcas is the perfect climate for growing fruit trees.

We went inside for a warm dinner of venison stew and mashed squash, a warm fire, and long talks about life, blogs and real estate. It was a typical Sunday for us.

Building Green on Orcas - Part 2

2009-10-26T17:44:00.000-07:00

Just like with any new home there was lots of prep work prior to getting the houses to Orcas. We needed plans for the additions, approval from the county, excavation for the foundation, clearing of the land, putting in the foundations, building driveways. Throughout all of this, we made our best effort to save the biggest and best of the trees, using the existing clearings for the building sites. We stacked the logs from the trees we did cut down and later milled them for lumber, using some of it on the houses. We chipped rather than burnt in response to Al Gore's movie; An Inconvenient Truth.

Ah, remember the house on the barge in the previous post with Mount Rainier in the background? Well, for us in January, it was a tad different. For one thing it was pitch black and 4:30 in the morning. That was when the tide was high for unloading the barge.

In the dark, we waited for our new houses.

Soon they were here and being unloaded!

It was a gray day after about 10 days of rain.

It seemed rather precarious while unloading!

Then there they were, at the end of North Beach Road on Orcas Island!

Now the fun began! We needed to get the houses down North Beach Road, under trees, while moving electrical lines, and in the process not destroy anyone's property. Then there was a 90 degree turn to go down Bartell Road. Slowly we proceeded! One house at a time!

That's me in front of the blue twin house, which we named the English Cottage.

Want to know more about bringing a home to Orcas Island via barge?
Give us a ring! Wonder which piece of land would work best? I'd say we are the experts on this topic.
So, drop us a line at OrcasDreams-Island Properties
or email: kate@orcasdreams.com

to be continued in a later post....

Building Green on Orcas

2009-10-23T19:46:00.000-07:00

It was a wild idea, born of the frustration of high building costs and a desire to recycle and reuse. We had been tossing it around for years. We kept looking for the right piece of land and the right house. The land had to be here on Orcas and the house would come by barge from Canada. You also had to be able to get the house down the road and our roads are narrow and winding, with many overhanging trees. So the house had to be narrow. NO, we did not want a prefab! NO, we did not want a manufactured home! We wanted to save a quality, stick-built home that was "in the path of progress" and slated for destruction. We were going to recycle a whole house!

Nickle Brothers in Victoria was our resource. Over the years we had made friends of Jeremy Nickles and Jim Connley, looking at houses that were to be 'scrape-off's'. Jim and I shared a love of old homes that had good bones and charm, wood floors and framing made of fir that would only be used as trim today. Ken was looking for something a bit more practical, and would require less work.

Then we found the land! It was level, sunny and it was just one mile to a potential barge site and town. There were huge old Big Leaf Maples. There were Cedar trees that were three feet across, Black Willow, Red Alder, English Holly and many beautiful straight Douglas Firs. The land had the most beautiful well drained soil, black with fertility, perfect for gardens that so many Orcas Islanders want. There were natural meadows, ready for a horse of your own.

We chartered a small plane and flew to Sidney were Jim picked us up. He had two homes there that he said would fit our needs, narrow enough to go down the road and just one story, as so many of our buyers wanted a home all on one level. They were twin houses, in good shape and Ken thought they would be perfect for our project. Then Jim took us over to a little stucco cottage. It was not hard to imagine it on the moors of Ireland, built in 1910.

It had glass door knobs.

It had real plaster and lathe walls!

It had old oak floors-in great condtion!

It had old fashioned wood windows!

It had the right look for an Island Home.

I could see it already...

on it's barge coming to it's new home on Orcas! Well, if we were going to get two homes, why not three??

Ken thought it was a good plan!

Talk about saving the trees!

With a one thousand square foot home we would save one hundred trees! With three homes we'd save three hundred trees! Wow, that felt like a good thing to do.

Down at the Deer Harbor Dock

2009-10-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning brought the sun back. Everything was washed clean by Saturday's rains. We had grandson Caleb for the night, and he wanted to go to the dock looking for seals. Ken was busy scraping the corrals with the tractor and once I was done putting the 6 loads of soaking manure into the compost bins, Caleb and I went off to the beach and the dock.

It is hard for me to tell who loves the beach more, Caleb or Cassie! Caleb rolled in the sand, jumped from the dock to the beach, danced and pranced! Cassie hunted things under water and watched Caleb and his antics.

Deer Harbor is the most maritime of the

hamlets and towns on Orcas Island. It has two marinas, both of which offer live-aboard slips. The easiest access from Orcas Island to San Juan Island and the Gulf Islands is from Deer Harbor. It is a south facing harbor and is very protected. In addition, Deer Harbor gets the most sunshine and the least rain of any location on Orcas. It's a great place to live but there are fewer homes for sale in Deer Harbor than in some other areas of the Island.

Here is the map, on it you can see how convenient it is to sail to so many places. It's a short run to the charming Canadian city of Victoria, which is more British than London! You can tie up at the city marina and have high tea at the Empress Hotel!

If you are kayaking, take a day trip around Reef Island out to Yellow Island, owned by the Nature Conservancy and carpeted with flowers each spring.
Spend the night on Jones Island and look for cactus. I promise they are there! I will tell you all about these Islands in a future post. I was a kayak guide for many years, and Deer Harbor was my favorite place to paddle.

On the dock, is a small grocery store.
It has all the necessities: eggs, milk, bread,
chips, chocolate and coffee. You can get a
bowl of chower or chili, a burger and fries.
Caleb and I got peanut M&M's.

There are all sorts of boat; this sailboat happened to be my favorite of the day! Our friend, Dave Lutz, has a charter business called Emerald Isle Charters. He takes small groups on his lovely sailboat around the San Juans and up the wild side of Vancouver Island. Dave worked in Bristol Bay, Alaska flying a small plane spotting for the herring fishery. He is a great story teller and knows the waters all the way from here to Alaska.

If you are thinking of living aboard, you may want to consider this tug. It's for sale! There are showers and laundry facilities, gas, food, and even DSL at the Marina.

Can you tell what this is a picture of? My little grandson, has great eyes and he spotted these shrimp. Can you see them?

Reflections - living on an Island gives you time for reflections; time to see the changing leaves, time to admire the colors, time to write poetry and reflect on life.

Orcas is a Magic Island; people often come here to heal... the surrounding water making so many people feel safe and protected. Time passes more slowly here and your attention can at last be turned inward. The native Lummi Indians considered Orcas a Sacred Place.

There are wonderful homes in Deer Harbor, beautiful places to live. Here is an old Craftsman that in the 1970's was a boarding house, run by a friend of ours, Dave Page. It has been restored and is now a very fine B&B.

Our mission was complete when we found our seal! We were so lucky to have him get so close and to catch it on my camera!

You'd be happy here too!...

Bubbles in the Puddles - Rain on Orcas Island

2009-10-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had showers, today it poured. Ken and I sat on the window seat overlooking my dressage arena and it was raining so hard it made bubbles in the puddles. I had never seen such a thing. We checked the rain gauge. Yup, it had rained buckets overnight. Our rain gauge said over an inch of rain! How could we complain, after such a beautiful Indian Summer? It was 59 degrees out, so it wasn't even cold! We needed the rain to make our Island green again.

Now, many people believe it rains here all the time. The truth of the matter is that is rains about half as much as it does in Seattle, or Manhattan, or North Carolina. We get about 24 inches of rain a year in Deer Harbor. At the east end of the island they get about 28 inches of rain. On the Olympic Penninsulia, it can rain up to 200 inches each year, and for every mile that you go east from Anacortes, it generally rains one more inch. There are many pilots who have moved to Orcas Island, and what they all say is that there is a blue hole over Orcas. We get just enough rain to have a green island and never any flies or mosquitos. After growing up on the east coast, I think I have found heaven!

Our rain is usually more like mist. For years I never owned a raincoat, I just wore wool or polar fleece. Even while leading kayaking trips, I never owned a raincoat. But, today you needed one!

I don't want you to think I only go into the office when it rains, but that was where I was today.

While in the office, our daughter, Jeni and granddaughter, Trinity stopped in to give us Trinity's school picture and treated to some ballet moves! We got an offer on a parcel of land, we had listed. Yahoo! All cash - that was the good news. Ken had a date with our grandson, Caleb, to work on his Pinewood Derby car for Cub Scouts.

After work, I went to the market and as usual had several in-depth conversations while shopping. I must have been in there over an hour to get one bag of groceries! That is something I find so special about Orcas Island, all the little interactions, the rich conversations over the produce, at the post office, or library. In fact, it is not uncommon to stop your car in the middle of the road to exchange a few words with someone you needed to talk with, who was walking by. It's the web of interconnection that is so richly satisfying here.

As I drove home that evening, the sun came out briefly lighting up the trees. This often happens at the end of the day, an hour or two of sunshine, even on the darkest of days. About a mile from home, I saw Ken and Caleb walking down the road saving newts. Living next to a marsh there are thousands of newts that cross the road spring and fall. Walking with Ken then is very slow, as he has to carefully pick up and move all the newts to safety. Caleb seems to share this passion.

Rescuing Newts

Our walks, this time of year

are interrupted - by Rough Skinned Newts

fearlessly treading ancient trails
back to water

now crossing the county road
littered with the slow
and the unlucky

I want to save each one
regardless of merit
so,
our walks go slow.

K.A.Wood

Black Elk's First Ride!

2009-10-16T23:15:00.000-07:00

Black Elk's first day on Orcas, just being together.

It's a long road from getting a horse out of the wild to actually riding him. First, he needed to let me touch him, we had to become friends, and he had to accept me as his leader. He needed to learn I could be trusted. I took it slow, no need to rush, I would not ride him for a year at least, as he was much too young.

What a huge change for Black Elk, from the mountains of Nevada, to the corrals in Utah, to a little valley on Orcas Island. At least he had horses in the next corral, and lots of hay. Nevertheless, I really felt sad for him, losing his life in the wild. I would try to give him the best life I knew how.

We spent a lot of time together, just hanging out, or my moving him around with body language. He was so attentive to every nuance. Eventually, I used a clicker and fine tuned lots of little communications. When he was not sure of what I wanted, he put his nose on the back of my hand and stood quietly, not nosing me, just waiting. I loved his quiet nature, and his intensity, and I loved watching him move. He would nicker each time I came out of the house, and snort if not sure of something new. Like my mustang, Rasacal, he was a talker!

Pretty soon, he was out of the round pen, and into the arena. He learned about lunging and leading. Then, this summer we started walking the trails together, often at liberty without a lead rope.

Now this was more like it, he says!

Then, we were ready. He seemed mature enough to be ridden, and I was anxious to begin! The first ride is always so exciting. Well, actually it was so simple and so easy and calm. That is what I always try for, no big surprises, no big upsets. I rode him in a halter, with a rope for reins. We walked around in a few circles, we turned, we stopped, we even side passed. Sounds rather dull even to me. No buck, no snort, no worries.

True to his name, it felt a bit like riding an elk, as his stride was so long and loose.

Many thanks to my young friend Abby for her help with my first ride.

Black Elk Comes Home to Orcas

2009-10-13T19:38:00.000-07:00

We have mustangs. I was a horse crazy girl. Now, a horse crazy girl all grown up. We have adopted four mustangs over the past six years and Black Elk is my newest horse. He came from the Robert's Mountain Herd Management Area in northern Nevada, near the Shoshone Mountain Range. In the winter of 2008, there was three feet of snow in the mountains, and the horses were living on twigs and sticks, the snow too deep to find any grass. The BLM did an emergency gather. The wrangler said they smelled like Elk, not horses.

At 16-2 hands, Black Elk is an unusually large mustang. He looks and moves like a warmblood, like a dressage horse. Loose, long strides with his butt tucked under he is stunning at times! I saw him on the Internet. He was being held in the BLM corrals in Delta, Utah, and when I called there, I ended up talking to one of the wranglers. Now, usually these are old crusty fellows, who like horses, not people. Now, usually they are not much on talking. Not this wrangler; Eric was young, computer savy, liked to talk and his wife Lisa, who did the PR was a great photographer. I wanted more photos..she sent them, I wanted to know more about this horse and he was willing to tell me. He started out with the statement "In the 10 years I have worked for the BLM, I have picked out two horses that I wanted, this is one of them." Why?" I asked? "Temperament", Eric says, "this horse has the best temperament, unruffled, and he's big, and he moves real easy-like." He went on to say," I am also a farrier, and this horse has perfect feet and perfect legs." He'll stay sound. Oh....I was getting hooked but good.

"Does he really look like those photos?" I asked. His wife sent me some more. There were some where he looked like the awkward 2 1/2 year old colt he was, but not many. This is Black Elk in the corrals. This was not your average mustang, I knew, I'd been looking for this horse for years.

I really did not NEED another horse, not really, it's just that I never got to pick out my others, and this was a long standing dream. So, I gave it one last try, I told the wrangler, well the corrals in Burns will haul the horse 400 miles for me, and you're a long ways from Orcas. He said he'd meet me in Burley Idaho, if I wanted the horse. If I did not like him when I met him, he'd just take him back.

That weekend, we hitched up the horse trailer and headed for Burley, Idaho. Nervous? It was like getting a mail order husband! I was alternately ecstatic and sure I'd made a mistake. We drove to our favorite place in Pendelton and spent the night, ate at the Stetson steak house. The drive was beautiful in mid October, just about one year ago. By noon we had gone through Boise and were close to Burley. I thought well, maybe I call him 'Burley'. Then we were there.. standing in a small pen was a very laid back, very big, dark brown mustang.

What a beauty!

Well, you guessed it, we loaded him up and headed back west. He traveled perfectly, no bucking, moving around, eating hay as we barreled down the highway. In Baker City we stopped at the Majestic Hotel for dinner. What a great place to eat! The colt was so quiet in the trailer, eating and drinking water, we decided to sleep in Baker City and finish our trip home to Orcas the next day.

We wanted to be home to unload him in the light, but that was not to be. So, he was unloaded in the dark, calm and quiet as if he'd done it all before.

Here is Black Elk in his new home, wondering what's next?

Fall on Orcas Island

2009-10-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

Sailing in West Sound, Orcas Island.

The crowds of August are gone. We have the island to ourselves, except for the avid bicycle riders and a few intrepid travelers. It's stunningly beautiful dressed in golds and reds of fall and it's quiet. Don't let the quiet fool you, there is still lots to do. Finally, there is enough wind for a good sail, for example. We have Friday night sailing races in West Sound. There is a Sailing Foundation on Orcas where you can learn to sail and use the boats for a very modest fee.

The high school students have teams and sailing classes as well. When I first moved to Orcas, I taught for the Sailing Foundation, spending my days on the water with young teens and women wanting to master the winds. Pretty soon I found myself in charge of the sailing program! This is how things go on Orcas. First you volunteer, then you end up on charge. I feel like I got to know some of those kids in a way that was unique, bobbing around in the water on hot summer days. It was idyllic!

The trails in the Park our ours again, golden with fallen leaves from the big leaf maples and willows. In the off season there is rarely a sign of any litter. The park is quiet, with some weekend camping, but lots of great campsites available. My grandchildren spend almost every day in the summer in the park, swimming, playing on the playground, being with their friends and families.

Many Islanders are avid gardeners, and right now we are all harvesting our gardens and fruit trees, it was an abundant year. Right now, pear butter simmers on the stove, Ken brings in some madrona for a fire, and later, we'll bring out our books to read. We have a TV, but no hook up. We, like many islanders, have NETFLIX only. No mass television media entering our homes. It's a different way of living. I have heard a that the average family has four TVs on the mainland. We don't have stoplights, or golden arches, or subway or K-Mart. We have small locally owned stores like times past, but we do all LOVE the Internet! Yes, we have DSL! A nuber of folks I know are lucky enough to tele-commute.

Every year we harvest hundreds of apples from our 100 year old King apple trees. Orcas was the fruit basket for Seattle prior to the Columbia being dammed and water becoming available to Eastern Washington. There are trees dripping with succulent fruit literally everywhere. If you have dreams of having orchards, this is the place! My friend Bonnie marveled at the flowers everywhere. saying; " I struggled for years to get that to grow..and here it's 5 feet tall!" This is true, it is a gardener's paradise.

We had such fun with our grandson, Caleb picking apples in the horse pasture. He was old enough to climb the ladder and toss his grandma apples. This year we hope to have the whole crew here to harvest. Kings require a cold snap to bring out the sugars, but the horses don't care! They like them just fine anytime.

Ken and I are so fortunate to have three of our chilren here and four grandchildren as well. People often wonder how do young people make a living? Well, in our family: one is builder, one a schoolteacher/gardener, one works at the Olga Store, one at the Hardware store, one is a massage therapist and personal assistant, and one is a landscaper. Like most islanders, they all have adjunct occupations as well, like fixing cars, pet sitting, child care or organizing homes. When we first moved here, within the year, I had 4 part time occupations. Ken had a real job building homes. You've got to be creative if you need to make a living and want to be here. Some folks laugh and say: "Orcas makes you pay your dues". The amazing thing is, that it is rather self-selective, you have to WANT to be here. But because it's not so easy, the folks here tend to love their home, and that makes it special.

As Ken and I drive the road from Deer Harbor, through Crow Valley to Eastsound to go to OrcasDreams in Eastsound, we take the time to appreicate how lucky we are to be living the life we live. If you think you might like to make a change to Island Life-drop us a line!

The Farmer's Market on Orcas Island

2009-10-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

September saw the end of the Farmer's Market in the Park for this year. We have this beautiful green in the center of Eastsound, where we have the Farmer's Market, the Library Fair, the Bite of Orcas the Fourth of July celebration. It is the heart of Eastsound. Sunday nights we have Music in the Park. Now that fall has come, you'll have to wander over the Oddfellows Hall on Saturday's for your fresh greens, squash and tomatoes. Oh and flowers! Don't forget your flowers. This was a great year for squash..I grew about 150 lbs of Blue Hubbard..and the tomatoes thrived in the unusually warm and very long summer. Here is Rhonda, she runs a farm called The Campesina Project. I heard her speak at the Orcas Island Garden Club and thought she could be running the country.

Not everyone knows this, but I had a jam company when I first came to Orcas. First of all I am a Capricorn..so that means I like to work, I hate waste and I need to earn money. Twenty some odd years ago, work was pretty scarce, and as my work as a kayak guide slowed down in the fall, I began picking blackberries. Did you know they grow everywhere here? They are thick, lush and prolific. So, I picked them- two handed- five gallon buckets at a time. OK..so it was a bit extreme..Then I made jam.

Soon we were overflowing with jam. Ken says: "Honey, what are we going to do with all that jam?' Lord knows I didn't need that much jam..so I sighed.."well, I guess we'll have to take it to the farmer's market!" That was the birth of The Orcas Island Jam Company. We spent Saturdays at the Farmer's Market. Ken and I would set up our table, send one of the girls over to Rose's to get fresh baguettes and offer free samples of bread and jam. It was a blast! All the little kids loved us. and every cat sitter on the west coast got some of our jam. I expanded to apple butter, pear butter, plum jam.. almost all the fruit was wild crafted or would have gone to waste. I used a receipt with low sugar and it tasted like pure fruit. So..I have connections with the Farmer's Market.

Our market is not just veggies..no, we have Flo's Tie Dye! We also have jewlery and pottery, in fact here is Bob. He used to be a kayak guide too, now he does pottery with his wife Ginny.

Mostly the Farmer's Market is fun. Everyone gathers on Saturdays, eats oysters or fresh pizza, sausage or sushi, and visits, listens to music, watch the kids play. It is festive and friendly. Sometimes while wandering through the market, or in town people confuse me with Brenda, who has Black Dog Farm. Here we are .. as you can see Brenda is thiner, but my braid is longer!

That's me with my OrcasDreams hat on!

Watching for Whales in the San Juan Islands

2009-10-08T09:44:00.000-07:00

In mid September, my friend Bonnie and her daughter Tucker came for a visit. Bonnie, who is a writer, came to the Orcas Island Writer's Festival. She is working on a memoir and spent the week happily engaged with her peers. Tucker, who is a marine biologist and works on a tall ship similar to the Adventuress. jumped at the chance to visit Orcas Island. There are lots of great ways to get to Orcas, they choose Kenmore Air's float plane. It comes from Lake Union, takes an hour and arrives in Deer Harbor, West Sound or Rosario. Your choice! The sightseeing is worth the price of admission..But pack lightly..as it will cost you if you don't.

Bonnie and I worked together to start the Birth Center in Princeton, she was the Director of Nursing, I was the Director of Marketing. But the fun part was assisting at births together! Tucker was born at the center, as was my daughter, Heather.

Tucker's one wish was for her mom to see whales. Since she would only be with us for two days, early the next morning we headed off to San Juan Island's Lime Kilm Park. Ken chided me: "how do you know you'll see whales?" "Oh, I always do, so I'll just think positively." This is true, I have never gone looking for whales and not found them. One time my friend Tom Averna, who owns Deer Harbor Charters needed someone to crew..and asked me if I was free..so I went along as 'crew'. That day we saw the superpod! Over 90 whales greeting and breeching with gusto. What a sight!

So, off we went on the inter island ferry to see whales..On the ferry we met my friend, Deb, who works as a naturalist on another whale watch boat. We got to ask her all the important whale questions! We were already having a lucky day!

It was one of those foggy mornings at Lime Kilm, and we just about had the place to ourselves. While waiting for the whales to arrive, we looked at birds, and starfish, talked and admired the lighthouse..

Then about 40 minutes after we arrived..there they were! Orcas! In groups of 3 or 4, a total of 18 before the day was done! Spectacular!! There is something so very magical about living where there are whales! In the San Juans there are 3 resident pods, about 90 whales, who are primarily salmon eaters. You can often see them off of the west side of San Juan Island , as the channel is deep and there are lots of salmon there. I try to time it to when the tide is turning..so it's not all luck!

We left Lime Kilm due to hunger and headed for town, where we picked up a picnic of smoked salmon, fresh baked bread, humus and pears..then headed off to American Camp for lunch. The sun came out, and we lazed in the sun, no longer needing our sweatshirts. Back to home to Orcas on the ferry..with whale tales to tell...

We Own a Real Estate Brokerage on Orcas Island.

2009-09-25T09:36:00.000-07:00

We own a Real Estate Brokerage on Orcas Island. It was Ken's idea. Not that I don't have big ideas..but more of that later....That's him with his mustang Ranger with Turtleback in the background. This is a bird's eye view of the islands where we 'work'!

I had been licensed as a Realtor since 1986 and winning awards for being a 'high producer' since 1984. This was back in Hopewell NJ. Being a 'high producer' in those days meant you sold in excess of $2M in Real Estate. Wow, how times have changed. He joined me in 2001 at Coldwell Banker, where I was still winning awards. Being from a family where literally everyone owned their own business, he could not see why I'd work for a agency other than my own. He prevailed and we started OrcasDreams - Island Properties. His background is in construction. He's been building homes forever, first in NJ and then on Orcas as well as the out islands. We love working together and although many couples find it tough, we would not have it any other way! Here I am in front of our office on North Beach Road. It's near Wildlife Cycles and Teezers Cookies.Life as a Realtor has it ups and downs. Like this past two years. Well hold on to your seatbelt, 'cause if you think being a home owner has been tough, you should try real estate. Lots of agents have left the business, and I can understand why. Being any kind of producer sounds good right now. But, this is what we do, and frankly, we love it. We get to meet folks on the 'Orcas High', and share our lovely Island home with them. We get to help people with one the biggest decisions of their lifetimes. Where to live. Where to retire, where to raise their famies, and in that choice comes: how to live their lives. It is great fun, very challanging and a great honor.

My earlier life path was to found a free standing birth center in Princeton NJ. I had a passion for midwifery, and wanted to help families have the experience of a lifetime when birthing their children. I believed that giving good support, education and genuine caring would make a difference in the world - or at least to the families that came to our center. It would help families grow closer, and provide a loving and safe environment for a new life to begin. OK, so it was a rather large goal! I spent 12 years building this center from the ground up with an amazing group of women, assisting at births, promoting the center and educating families and professionals about an alternative to hospital and medicated birth.

It was the time of my life. I had a ball!

Well enjoying what I do seems to be a prerequisite for my work, and finding those family homes seemed like a logical next step. I had done the baby thing , it was time to send my kids to college and I needed to make more money. So, I became a Realtor. I sold homes in Princeton and Hopewell, I sold the Chocolate Factory in Hopewell, I helped many of the families I knew from Familyborn, our Birth Center, find their first home. Then the Stock Market crashed, my daughter went off the U. of Miami and my son to Martha's Vineyard, to get to know his Dad, and Ken and I wondered what the next step would be.

We came west on vacation in 1988, and made a bee line to Orcas Island. We were escaping the heat, the gnats and the crowds in NJ. We were backpacking and camping. I felt it would be more of an adventure that way. And..I was right! We slept in the youth hostel in Seattle after a dinner of dungeness at Pike's Place. We had bunk beds. I would not recommend it! Up at 4 am to catch a bus to Anacortes and the ferry to Orcas Island. The morning was foggy and wet and as the boat wove it's way through the islands, the fog lifted and the sun came out. I was enchanted!

It was like a fairy tale- Puff the Magic Dragon Land. We pulled into the ferry landing, the water was crystal clear, green and cold. the air was cool and salt, the sun warm on my cool skin, the island emerald green. . Before the cars unloaded, we walked off the boat. When my pink sneakers hit the ground, I exclaimed ' this is it!' "This is what?" said Ken. "This is where I want to live!" I had found my new home. " How do you know, you haven't even been here? " I laughed and said: "I just know!'.

Sailing To Stewart Island

2009-09-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, our friends John and Yvonne from Crane Island, picked us up at Cayou Quay Marina in Deer Harbor to spend the day sailing over to Stuart Island. It was a perfect day once the morning fog lifted; sunny and warm, the end of the summer here in the Pacific Northwest. Our friends moved here ten years ago, when I sold them a home in Deer Harbor.

The Lighthouse Keeper's house.

Two years ago, I helped them sell that home to move to a waterfront home on Crane Island, where they could have a more maritime lifestyle. In order to get home, they take a boat, their own boat, rain or shine, wind or fog. They love it. Yvonne has taken up crabbing with a neighbor who lives in a small cabin on Crane, she has promised to take me with her next time. I was an avid crabber back east on the Jersey shore where I grew up, finding blue claws on the pilings, never really caring how big they were, it was the thrill of the chase that hooked me! But, here the reward is big- Dungeness!

John and Yvonne from Crane Island

Yvonne and I sat on the bow of the boat while sailing past Jones, San Juan, and Spieden Islands to Reid Harbor on Stuart. We had planned on lunch prior to hiking to the light house on Stuart. Just a mere 5 miles. They failed to mention the 127 steps (Ken counted) that reminded me of Bridalveil Falls in Yosemite, or the long uphill grade that went on forever...both directions it was mostly uphill-truly.

Can you imagine an island with no cars? Dirt roads used as walking paths, huge maples and firs on either side, vistas looking down golden meadows to a pristine bay with the mountains beyond?

Here is the path to the lighthouse from the dock.
We hiked to the lighthouse and the lighthouse keeper's home. Traditional red roof and white walls, it was charming, a big porch across the front over looking the water. It made me yearn for this life- even simpler than ours on Orcas. More in touch with nature. I had a chance to revisit that thought when Ken told me that in 1948 one lighthouse keeper moved to the island and then spent two months without power and had no running water, finally busting into the cistern to get fresh water under two feet of ice, which he hauled by the bucket full for drinking. The pay was $90 per
month.

Sitting on the dried grasses by the lighthouse, we shared two peaches from Coffelt's Farm on Orcas and a chocolate bar. Idyllic! We watched a porpoise swim in tune to his own music, the kelp waved in the changing tide, boats sailed by. I feel so very lucky to be living this life, surrounded by nature and the gentle climate of the San Juan Islands. Clear skies all summer, gentle rains in the winter, exceptional people as friends and neighbors. Yes, I am one of the lucky ones!
Stewart Lighthouse
As the sun set, we sailed home eating a picnic of sushi and crackers and cheese, sharing a bottle of good wine and stories about life on Orcas Island.