We are leaving Sunday on our Grand Banks Eastbay. It's a wonderful thirty nine foot boat that is not large and draws only four feet of water. With twin Diesels it can travel at 30 MPH but our cruising speed is much less. Our route is to Port Townsend for the night and then on to Roche Harbor on San Juan Island for a couple of days. On the way home we will stop at Port Ludlow for the…
On August 7, 1919 the local Anacortes newspaper reported that William Jennings Bryan had stayed in Anacortes where he gave a lecture in a big tent. He was entertained by Will A. Lowman and his wife who drove him to Mount Vernon where he gave another lecturer. Lowman was a local well known Anacortes figure. He was an Anacortes pioneer. When the Bank of Anacortes failed his business, Lowman Manufacturing Company went into receivership and he turned to fishing for a…
The year I graduated from high school in Anacortes, Washington, my maternal grandmother Marija Babarovich died. Her story of immigration is one of great courage and sacrifice that I have described in writing about my mother. But, on the annversary of her death I want to reprint it again. I remember her vividly. A tall erect woman with hair piled high on her head, she looked regal. She spoke no English and we children spoke no Croation so communication was largely…
Much of what has happened to America since the Bush administration reminds me of an old movie. In the 1976 movie Network the main character, Howard Beale, played by Peter Finch explains his "calling" to the TV audience during the newscast. He says: "The voice said to me, ‘I want you to tell the people the truth, not an easy thing to do, because the people don’t want to know the truth’ And I said "You’re kidding. What the hell…
Last Sunday at church we were subjected to a "sermon" by the Deacon about the sanctity of life which he claimed was not a political sermon. However restrained his message,it was for me another attack echoing the Catholic hierarchy which has kept up a steady attack against Mr. Obama in particular and the Democratic party in general primarily about abortion issues. The relationship between President Obama and the religious right and Catholic bishops started out badly and still is not good. When he was a candidate he was widely attacked by…
John Carabba died Monday July 14, 2009 at the Island Hospital in Anacortes. He had fallen on the Friday before and fractured his hip. He never woke up from the surgery. He was eight three years old. Last December John had been given the Spirit of Island Hospital award in recognition of his dedication in support of the hospital in which he died. Starting in 1979 John had been a founding member of the Island Hospital Foundation. His background was…
This morning I was reading the great apostle Paul's writings in Romans 13 where he says: "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments…are summed up in this one rule: love your neighbor as yourself. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." It occurred to me that even if you were not a believer or not a Christian the idea that a…
I don’t read as many hard back books as I used to since I bought an Amazon Kindle. I got tired of packing a bunch of heavy books when I travel and I ended up giving them away on the road after reading them anyway. I am still, however, plugging away on my remaining library of books and have just finished Looking for Alaska by Peter Jenkins. Jenkins spent eighteen months with his wife and eight year old daughter living…
Well, another one of those self righteous hypocrites got caught doing what they preached against. South Carolina Republican Governor Mark Sanford has admitted having an affair. This was the poster boy for the Christian right. As state senator John Land said about Sanford's disclosure that he had a mistress even though married with four sons: "The position (Sanford) has taken the whole time he's been in office is: 'I'm smarter than the rest. I'm more religious than the rest. I'm more godly than the…
I’ve been following the bizarre behavior of South Carolina’s governor Mark Sanford who disappeared for five days and then suddenly reappeared. Republican Sanford is chairman of the Republican Governors Association and considered a leading Republican presidential candidate, or at least he was until this fiasco. This is the man who rejected millions in federal stimulus money for education and has been outspoken in trying to demonstrate his conservative Republican values. First, his staff put out the story that he was…
