By Andy Valencia Most young Islanders are good at video games. The hand-eye coordination when you target and shoot, the reflexes to respond in the blink of an eye to a new threat. The ability to maintain situational awareness under stress – maybe it’s time to get outdoors, play in the dirt, and “touch grass”…
By Andy Valencia I was writing an article about some undeveloped parcels of Vashon land that are on the market. In case you don’t know, building on Vashon has a history of being expensive and fraught with regulatory delays and other surprises. People might be thinking about building, and an article on the subject could…
By Andy Valencia The next morning, the car went out on another trip, but Tom didn’t even pay attention. He could feel his body trying to push out a second flower, and he held it back even as his one flower gathered pollen and started trying to grab all his juices to form so many…
Do you need a lift? There’s a new option for those living on Vashon. A decade-plus employee of Washington State has recently left his job and moved onto Vashon to help his ailing mother. Meet Jonathan, who’s decided to also start a business providing taxi-type services to Islanders. The cost? On-Island trips are between $15…
By Andy Valencia After the night of packing, the car was already racing along as the first rays of sun woke Tom up. They were going very fast, and there were countless cars around them. As Tom watched the world go by, he wondered Just how big IS the world? The answer was: very, very…
By Andy Valencia Tom woke on the second day and got busy fortifying his position. He looked at how much energy and materials remained, and decided to push his shoot up just a bit more, and then thicken the stalk to make it stronger. If it snapped off, he didn’t have enough energy left over…
By Andy Valencia There is a weed named Tomtomtidimiddletom who lives on our property. How did he get that name? That’s a long story, and won’t fit here. But he – and all his friends – shortened the name to “Tom.” But having a name, and a shortened name, is not what makes Tom amazing….
By Andy Valencia Unless otherwise noted, all photos courtesy of CAL FIRE I was in Cafe Luna and overhead a discussion about prison inmates being forced into firefighting in California. It’s a small world, as I have a nephew – I’ll call him “Ben” because that’s his name – who was in the California state…
This might seem like a charming local story: Vashon has a practitioner whose advanced studies in psychiatric nursing are a great benefit to Islanders. But the old saying, “if you want to change the world, start locally” could not be more applicable. Just recently, Dr. Marli Parobek APRN DNP FNP PMHNP, was recognized by her…
Vashon Island, WA Weslie Rodgers, maker of smile dispensers Weslie Ann Rodgers passed away on June 23rd, 2025. Perhaps best known for her “Please do not eat animal” sign campaign, her touch can be found almost anywhere you look on Vashon. She and her husband Saul first reached Vashon in 1979, and have been permanent…