Mother Slick (J16) is an exceptional J Pod matriarch. 1972 is her estimated year of birth – that is significant because she could be slightly younger or even older. A preponderance of photographic evidence shows that Slick is the Southern Resident Baby Mama of precious newborn female J50. In four decades of field studies, J16 is the only known Southern Resident female to give birth to a thriving calf at age 43-ish.

Friends of Mukai will present a program featuring Michael Sullivan, Principal and Historian of Artifacts Consulting, Inc. at 7 p.m. on Thursday, January 29th at the Vashon Maury Island Land Trust Building.  Friends of Mukai commissioned his firm to perform a detailed architectural assessment of the historic landmarked Mukai fruit barreling plant for Friends of Mukai.

The season of short days and long nights, of cold rain outside and warm fires inside the longhouse, was perfectly suited for the native Salish people of Puget Sound to tell stories in the evenings.  According to Roger Fernandes, “For all of human history there has been storytelling. It is the most effective and powerful way of sharing, teaching, and communicating.”

He emerged from the finished basement which had become our family’s recreation room looking like he had been threatened with immediate death. His deep brown eyes had a tinge of “wild seeking escape” to them.  His usually erect shoulders were even further drawn back.

I don’t know how you treat the transition from one year to the next, but generally I tend to try and temper disgust with what has taken some three hundred plus days to ebb and flow with a modicum of hope that the next, similar cluster of days and nights offers a chance at redemption and renewal,