Simplifying Your Life

A small island is not just a place on the map; it’s a psychological destination; a model of simplifying your life and making do with what is immediately to hand. You may not even have to take a plane or a boat to get there.

A small island is not just a place on the map; it’s a psychological destination; a model of simplifying your life and making do with what is immediately to hand. You may not even have to take a plane or a boat to get there.
 
			Dungeness Spit offers 11 miles of empty beach when you need time for rethinking life and deciding where to go next.
 
			The Ferry Ride Just the ferry ride alone is worth the price of a ticket to Friday Harbor, even if you turn around and come right back home. We stayed though – a whole two nights – enough time to visit all our old favorite San Juan Island spots. Friday Harbor Friday Harbor was comfortably…
 
			Forester and slope stability expert Elliott Menashe sent me this lovely photo of his view. He sees the North Cascades and Steven’s Pass from a tower above his Whidbey Island home. It’s a very different vista from mine. I have no mountains for one thing. For another, he had to climb a tower to get…
This is the new feed store in my neighborhood. It’s a big metal box with a lot of lights. I’m not an architecture critic, for that I direct you to sites such as Dezeen and BldgBlog. I’m a critic of the choices we make as we live along our coasts and on our islands, the…
< Esquimalt part 2 This is the part of the story where I get myself in trouble. In my last installment I enthused about the way Dockside Green is integrating nature and living spaces in an industrial landscape. Joe Van Belleghem and Farmer Construction have done a nice job on the project so far and…
WOW! Speaking of living on the waterfront. I called my daughter this morning and found she’s on vacation in Hawaii. Cell phones are almost worth the montlhy payment to keep them going. I knew she was departing soon, but didn’t know the day, so my call found her just back from a dawn walk on…