“This is the best thing I did for my old age,” proclaimed Gale McCallum, age 91, about her little cottage in The Hamlet. In 1971 Gale and her husband bought a house on the South End of Lopez – a big old Victorian on Alec Bay Road. They moved there permanently in 1986, when they retired.…
One afternoon in the summer of 2009, Lisa and her father, William, walked into the Lopez Island Historical Museum, a small building with an old fishing boat in front, nestled in the middle of Lopez Village. William absolutely did not want be there. He had spent quite a bit of time on Lopez as a child,…
Ah, the simple life. Pigs with abscesses. Ewes that die at birth. Sheep with mastitis. Rows of lettuce plagued by wire worms. Allergies triggered by the ever present dust and pollen in the fields. Though they make it look simple, life on Horse Drawn Farm for Ken Akopiantz and Kathryn Thomas is anything but. I had lunch the…
If you asked most Lopezians what they consider to be top essential services that keep the island running day-to-day, responses would probably include: OPALCO, The Washington State Ferries, the grocery stores. Ok, maybe Holly B’s and Isabelle’s Espresso. Most probably wouldn’t put the Lopez Children’s Center at the top of their list. But they should. I…
When Blossom Grocery moves into its new location in early 2016, it will at once be the newest and oldest natural foods grocery store in San Juan County. Since Jeff Nichols opened Blossom in 1977, Lopez has watched the store grow and change – along with the consumption habits of the island. When I recently asked Blossom co-owner,…
“I love entropy.” This is how my conversation started with Nikyta Palmisani, the Outreach and Education Coordinator for the Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District (LSWDD, aka The Dump). I scheduled coffee with Nikyta expecting to learn a few data points about Lopez Island’s garbage habits. I left that conversation with that and an entirely new perspective on human…
“You’d be hard pressed to find an event with so little impact that brings as many people and raises as much money as the Tour de Lopez.” That’s what Becky Smith, lead organizer for the Tour de Lopez, had to say after a few days to reflect on this year’s annual ride. If you experienced…
It was a sunny morning on Lopez Island, Aug 23, 2001. Jeff Nichols and the staff of The Galley Restaurant and Lounge were scurrying around making sure everything was set for The Galley’s reopening under new management. Jeff was nervous. Not entirely confident that The Galley was ready for business – especially at the height of tourist…
Several years ago, the Chief Marketing Officer for a large software company in Redmond, WA called me in a panic. Her company’s reputation was in a tailspin. Her marketing materials were full of technical jargon. And, if customers told stories about her company over social media, they’d talk about the last time their computer crashed.…
Most people, after a long, successful career, choose to turn things down a notch. Even though retirement doesn’t look like it used to, if people keep working, they’ll choose not to work as much; or they’ll focus on more leisure activities like golf or traveling. Doug Benoliel and Tamara Buchanan are not like most people.…
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