Spring certainly has arrived in Washington State. Hosts of flowering trees line streets. Evergreen trees that cover so much land in the state is interspersed with lighter greens of the deciduous trees leafing out. This morning I had time to monitor about a quarter of the terraced gardens in my yard and plant marigolds, geraniums, and a daisy called osteo..something-or-other. I will tackle another quarter tomorrow after dealing with my writing tasks.

The San Juan Islands between Bellingham WA and Victoria BC  enjoy such a benign climate that foxglove four feet high grow wild. Wild strawberries are coveted by islanders. Of course, shell fish thrive on beaches, a portion reserved for native American harvesting. Because the islands are surrounded literally by the North Pacific Ocean, even if it is within a huge inlet and outlet, sea life abounds. Orca whales are residents, and gray whales sometimes thread through the island channels during migration.

 One morning my young teenage son, an avid fisherman, returned from an early foray, his eyes wide and voice up an octave. He told us of seeing a large weird-looking sea creature next to his small boat. It was, indeed, an unusual sighting for this area of an elephant seal. Perhaps it was because sea otters were hunted so mercilessly by early explorers of the northwest coast, or perhaps other factors prevailed, but in the SJI river otters are commonly seen on island beaches. A fresh water or river variety they have adapted to salt water with ease.  One day at a marina my four-year-old daughter was lying on her stomach peering into the sea, when a young sea otter popped up in the water just inches away.

The lore of settlers who came to this semi-remote and lovely world entertain readers in the book: San Juan Islands: Into the 21st Century.