A couple nights ago Chris borrowed a puzzle from the game area of the dining hall. It’s an old puzzle, judging from the faded picture on the box with women wearing 1960s clothing in a Tudor town in England. Melissa and I have no time for such things at home – we have never worked on a puzzle together and can’t even remember the last time either of us worked on one before we knew each other (working on Everett’s puzzles doesn’t count) so we didn’t think we would get very interested, but this has become somewhat of an obsession. After 3 nights we are about 75% done. Everett helps us put in pieces from time to time and follows up by pounding his hand on the table and saying “Boom! That just happened”, which undoes the piece he helped put in and a few others around it, providing an added level of difficulty.

This morning Chris got up around dawn and went to the dock to experiment with raw photography like this (I’ll put more on the website gallery soon).

Then off to school. After saying goodbye to Chris, Everett turned and engaged with his new friends, resulting in the lowest drama dropoff since we arrived.

There are two people named Mark Billington on the island and during his previous visit in 2004 Chris got to know both of them. He met the first Mark Billington at the ferry terminal in Anacortes, and the second at Wescott Bay Sea Farms on the north end of the island when they graciously allowed us to hunt for nudibranchs from their docks. Of the two Chris got to know the former a lot better and the two of them met for coffee today at The Doctor’s Office. Mark spends a lot of energy writing about various things: the island and its history, lunar calendars, children’s games, unification theory. He gave Chris a copy of his book in 2004, and during this visit he provided an updated version along with a book he wrote in both Spanish and English on the history of the island. He also gave Chris a copy of a lunar calendar. Recently he has started submitting some of his writing to the Friday Harbor Now website.

After work we drove to the southern tip of the island to hike on the beach.

On the way home we were about a half mile from the house when a deer ran right in front of the car. We were going about 20 mph and Chris hit the brakes fast but we still made contact and knocked it off its feet, after which he jumped up and ran into the woods. It was upsetting but not terribly surprising – as we mentioned a few days ago the deer on the island are plentiful and fearless. We didn’t think Everett saw and quickly decided not to tell him about it but within a couple minutes he was asking questions like “Was there an animal in front of the car? Did it have horns?”. There seems to be little that escapes his notice.

Yesterday was a pretty full day so we ran out of time for the daily blog post. Last night they had all faculty and academic visitors give a two minute talk after dinner on their research. This went pretty well, though a few people were off by about a factor of 10 with regard to the length of their presentation, so it ended up taking about two hours in all. Chris presented the following slide to summarize how Friday Harbor has affected his life:

Everett REALLY wanted to hear Daddy talk and was a trooper, staying until the end. He passed the time by playing with his new friend Tessa at the train table in the dining hall, then leaving for the playground for a while and finally investigating the game collection. He seemed very engaged when Chris gave his short presentation. Afterward on the dock we found about five or six Pycnopodia in a short period of time.

This morning we went for a walk to the beach, stopping at the playground on the way at Everett’s request.

During the talks someone mentioned that there are 50 (or 150, I can’t remember) different species of jellyfish in the area that seem to appear at different times of year. There is one species that we have been seeing a lot of around the dock and on the beach. I took a photo of one a few days ago. Here is another of the same species but has probably dried out since the last high tide about 10 hours ago and the different directions of the connective tissue are quite visible:

We picked Everett up at about 5:15 and then hung around the house the rest of the evening. We talked about going to the dock, but he didn’t seem too interested and we didn’t want to push it. Somehow it was still well after 9pm until he went to sleep. He has become better and better at procrastinating, thinking of innovative new reasons why he needs to get up, stand in the hallway outside his room and either talk to us or make loud sighing noises. This is usually because he needs water, needs to go the bathroom, needs a spoonful of honey (for his cough), saw a bug on the wall, etc. The other night after he reminded us about honey and water he said “You guys are forgetting lots of things.” Another way that he has started chastising us from time to time is when we talk to him at an inopportune moment and he informs us “I’m doing an experiment!” In that regard, we hope this place makes a lasting impression.

This morning we had no plans other than Sunday brunch in the dining hall at 10am. Even though we have a cottage with a kitchen, as residents of the research community we are required to eat a certain number of meals each week with everyone else in the common dining area. This is most certainly done to foster the spirit of collaboration that is a guiding principle of FHL. We awoke about 7:30am (sleeping a little later each day!), lazed around the house for a while and then walked to the rock beach to see what creatures had arrived overnight. Next, brunch was quite delicious with a variety of sweet and savory dishes. Afterward we drove to Lime Kiln State Park to hike along the water and watch for orcas. We were once again reminded that Everett’s physical abilities have expanded much more rapidly than common sense. We had several talks with him and delivered a couple ultimatums about the need to hold Mom’s or Dad’s hand when walking on rocky paths above the water. At times like this the best response is when he says “I understand you. I will cooperate.” A close second is like today when he (mostly) cooperates and entertains us with other comments, such as when we pointed out a bright yellow flower and he said “That makes my feelings happy!”. Next we saw a seal,

and then spent some time near the lighthouse waiting for orcas, which we weren’t able to find today.

Then headed north to Roche Harbor and hiked around for a while,

until realizing we had waited just a little too long to head home for Everett’s nap so headed home. When Melissa and Chris were on the island in 2004 we saw a werewolf standing on the side of the road in a rainstorm. Today we saw something almost as surprising on the side of the road:

Like most people we were surprised to see a camel on the island. Later in the evening when Everett told Gabby and Grandaddy they assumed they had misunderstood him. It turns out her name is Mona and she has been on the island for a few years.

Today was the first day that Everett decided to sleep late. On any regular Saturday this would be great, but this morning we had plans to be out the door by 7:45 for the 8:30am ferry to Lopez island to visit Peter and his wife Ann.

Peter was chairman of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Cleveland Clinic where Chris worked for a few years as a post-doc and research scientist. The San Juan Islands always came up as a discussion topic between them because of Chris’ previous trip to Friday Harbor and Peter’s desire to build a house on Orcas island. Fortuitously, we are at FHL just a few months after Peter and Ann bought a lovely house on Lopez Island, decorated with artwork from Ann’s studio. They invited us to visit and during the three hours from 10am to 1pm we managed to do quite a bit: see their house; locate and photograph a golden eagle; visit Watmough Bay for a hike; eat a delicious pizza cooked by Ann.

They were gracious hosts for all of us, especially Everett. As self-described kid people (and grandparents of four) they had a great supply of toys and interesting things to investigate. It was great to get to know Ann and catch up with Peter. The time spent with him was just as interesting and exciting as Chris remembers. With regard to the former he is working on a new book, and with regard to the latter he never seems rushed but likes to make good use of the time available. He got us back to the ferry terminal with approximately 7 seconds to spare before we had to board the boat.

After returning home Everett and Melissa rested while Chris went for a hike. He found a pole to use as a camera boom for underwater movies, then stopped by the library and confirmed the identity of the nudibranch that he saw the day before: Dendronotus rufus (note that this animal was Nudi of the Week in December 1998, which sounds a little risque and tempts me to make some really bad jokes, but I will resist).

After nap we went for a rowboat ride, then home for dinner, and then off to the dining hall to investigate the games and toys available for grownups and kids. Chris and Melissa played games and worked on a puzzle while Everett played at the train table. Our last stop for the day was back at the dock for our first bioluminescent algae sighting! Chris took an oar and dragged it through the water while standing on the dock, resulting in a wave of bright green sparkles. We need to investigate what purpose this serves.