All along the Kitsap Peninsula, it seems the Sugarplum Fairy has sprinkled a little magic sugar dust to bring smiles to kids and grown-ups alike. After all, who doesn’t like a little chocolate, bonbon or peppermint wrapped in a big bow this time of year? To find a special treat, explore the sweet shops of […]
Josie Emmons Turner
Josie Emmons Turner lives on a beautiful estuary feeding into Gig Harbor where an abundance of wildlife greets her. She is an avid gardener, amateur French cook, writer, poet and former Tacoma Poet Laureate. She has been an educator, has worked in the arts and has served on panels for the Washington State Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Posted inPeople & Places
The Rebirth of Port Gamble Theater
How does a nearly 120-year-old building become the center of a community, an arts center and a gathering place? Start with great architectural bones, a fascinating history and incredible financial support, and the result is the Port Gamble Theater. Let’s go back in time, way back to the days when the captains of Northwest industry […]
Posted inPeople & Places
Olalla Bay Market
Most people know that Washington became formally recognized as a state in 1889 and members of the Puyallup, Skokomish and Suquamish tribes had thriving communities in and around the Kitsap Peninsula for thousands of years prior to immigrant settlement. Yet, how many people think about what places like Port Orchard, Poulsbo or Olalla were like […]
Posted inGarden
A Colorful Palette for Neighborhood Joy
When Cora Reuter was a little girl, her school bus passed a blooming flower garden every afternoon. “It brought me such joy,” she recalled. Middle school years were hard for her, and the garden, full of bursting colors, made her neighborhood brighter. Now, Reuter pays it forward, giving her neighbors, young and old, a happy […]
Posted inHome
An Interplay of Light and Art
Henri Matisse. If one has ever visited the Matisse Chapel in Vence, France, the first, perhaps most important element that overcomes a visitor is the light. Prisms embrace morning yellows and blues and become rainbows across the altar and flooring, resulting in a magical, mystical, spiritual experience. Exactly what the artist wanted. Artists are obsessed […]
Posted inGarden
Gardens — An Invitation to Happiness
Perhaps one of the best joys of gardening is when a gardener finds that new struggling little sprout that’s choking under too many weeds and she frees it — and within a day, it’s growing straight, reaching into new summer sun. Little joys like this one are abundant stories coming forth from the gardeners of […]
Posted inGarden
A Garden of Pure Joy
The American poet Theodore Roethke stated, “Great Nature has another thing to do / To you and me; so take the lively air / And, Lovely, learn by going where to go.” When you wander into Donna and Tom Torrens’ Gig Harbor garden — with its breathtaking view of the harbor and Mount Rainier, even […]
Posted inPeople & Places
The Magic of Youth Making Music
For the three initial founders of the Peninsula Youth Orchestra, Karen Luke Fildes (then Karen Pew), Mary Manning and Stuart Hake, the idea was a giant dream, a “who knows if this will work” dream. Yet, that dream is nearly 27 years old and flourishing. As Hake says, “There was magic when it started in […]
Posted inPeople & Places
A Family Pharmacy that Loves Community
Most people cannot remember a time when doctors made house calls and prescriptions were delivered for a sick child or grandparent. It kinda goes back to the day when there was a thing called a “party line;” a child could pick up the phone in the kitchen to hear Mrs. So and So gossiping with […]