The sunny but still reasonably cool weather beacons, and plants very much need water (none from above in sight, unfortunately). The grass inside my anti-deer fences is so high that I can barely see some of the trees I planted at so much effort. My herd of white 5-gallon weeding and rock buckets need rounding up, weeds need to be pulled, vegies need watering, raspberries need to be staked.
So why am I inside? I wanted to take a few minutes to write something all by myself. Since Saturday morning, I’ve been working with Mike McKenzie to set up a new (as simple as possible) website/blog to support the Fund Beach School initiative. It’s mostly up & ready. I hope it’s useful in helping to raise funds we need. Mike’s been great to work with, very patient with my initial bumbling (modifying text that I shouldn’t) and occasional glitches with WordPress, which insisted on backsliding to earlier, incorrect versions of some pages & posts. Thanks, Mike. No worries 
I don’t know why I feel so compelled, sometimes, to Do Something to try to help out in the community, but I do. I guess it’s all the Lummi Islanders who are working so diligently on keeping various parts of our community going. While I did (or tried to) contribute to my past-life academic community (Northwestern Univ. Med School), I’ve never before participated in ‘regular’ community activities. As I’ve said before, the community Bill & I perceived to be here was one of the big draws for moving to Lummi Island. But it’s a double-edged sword that many islanders feel — it’s really easy to get over-committed.
But boy, have I ever learned a lot since moving here — about the Lummi Island community, about myself (mostly), about how people interact (or don’t), determination, the (sometimes) rush to controversies or The Dark Side, working styles, our local government, about how people who care very deeply about some issue may or may not be interested/willing/able to dig in and work productively to achieve what they care about.
It’s extremely interesting, but (once again, as with some previous situations) I’m about tapped out, in need of a change. So, I’m headed outside to use body parts other than the sitting/typing bits while, I hope, helping some of my “standing people” (tree) fellow residents to grow strong and healthy (it’ll be good for me, too.)
Filed under: Community, Island living, Schools | Tagged: Beach School, Community, lummi island living
Thanks, Wanda . . . wynne
(“Hmm,” wondered the cranky old lady. “Could this be an ego-boosting bribe to get me to show up again for volunteer planting at the ferry dock every Saturday AM?”
Just a quick note before I head outside today as well. I want to say thank you Wynne for all that you do for our community. For one, the Watershed Enhancement Committee and it’s Ferry landing Nearshore Enhancement Project would have folded its doors long ago If it weren’t for Wynne’s continued support and encouragement. She has spent countless hours volunteering her time doing office work ( writing minutes, grants, blog updates etc), helping out when ever and where ever needed through all stages of this community project, as well as showing up for manual labor every Saturday morning for our volunteer work parties. She has also spent years (yes years) helping to make our Lummi Island Sub Area Plan a better document that will help protect our Island lifestyle and limited water resources. Not to mention all the countless other things she does for our community. We are surely blessed to have Wynne (and Bill too) as neighbors and active community members on our Island. Thank you for being here.