- 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!
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
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.
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