April 2022 issue

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In this issue

  • Waiting to Vax

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    My daughter turned 1 just two days after Gov. Jay Inslee issued the first stay-at-home orders of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. We opened birthday presents with family on Facetime and she had …

  • Difficult Spaces

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    Spring is upon us and summer is fast approaching. The glowing faces of daffodils greet me on these longer days, while our pond is alive with the cacophony of a family of geese who have made a new …

  • Restoration to Sanity

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    I recently had occasion to read step two from a 12-Step program: “Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” I thought about those words, …

  • Resilience

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    The season of resilience and spirited hope has returned. Blankets of green moss adorn the trunks of maples, with big leaves unfurled. Early blossoming fruit trees beckon mason bees to wake before …

  • An Immodest Proposal

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    Even before I left Texas, I was pretty much a wild-eyed, tree-hugging, bleeding-heart liberal. Having spent my teaching career in schools that served singularly needy neighborhoods, my liberal bias …

  • Being Community

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    I want to thank all the teachers, counselors, various council members and pastors in the Gig Harbor-Key Peninsula area who reached out to me after reading my first column (“Being …

  • Out & About April 2022

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    The annual Two Waters Arts Alliance juried show returned to the Crandall Center at the Mustard Seed Project in Key Center March 1 after a two-year Covid-induced hiatus. The show in 2019 attracted 16 …

  • New Transitional Kindergarten Program at Evergreen Elementary

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    Peninsula School District is midway through a new pre-kindergarten, early learning program called Transitional Kindergarten that launched in January. TK is a state-funded, full-day, full-week, …

  • KPFD Boondoggle or Hornswaggle?

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    Recent actions taken by the KPFD have ignited controversy, irritation and confusion regarding its $2.1 million commercial real estate acquisition in the heart of Key Center’s business district. …

  • More Growth and Development on the KP

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    As the pandemic wanes, real estate development continues its recent rise on the Key Peninsula, seemingly despite planning restrictions limiting population density. But the rural zone designations …

  • ‘Little Food Pantries’ Invite KP to Take What You Need, Leave What You Can

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    Feeding the hungry has become more of an imperative in recent years on the Key Peninsula. Local volunteers and groups have expanded their work by maintaining “Little Food Pantries” on the …

  • Local Firefighters Climb for a Cure

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    Three KPFD firefighters donned full gear and climbed all 69 floors of the Columbia Center Tower in Seattle March 13 to raise funds for blood cancer research and patient services. The 31st annual …

  • Ostara

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    Graphic notes on local life

  • Ukrainian Comfort Food

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    Art is an extraordinary bridge capable of transcending cultural divides. Not everyone is a poet, a sculptor, a dancer or musician. Cooking, however, is a performance art practiced daily around the …

  • Legislature Funds Increased Derelict Boat Removal on Puget Sound

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    Removing derelict or abandoned boats from the waters of Puget Sound is a high priority for the Department of Natural Resources. The department’s underfunded Derelict Vessel Removal Program got …

  • Local Relief Worker Back From Ukraine

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    Lakebay resident Siu-May “Sil” Wong-Underwood, 44, returned home March 12 from an 11-day mission to the Polish border with Ukraine to assess needs and provide resources for the …

  • Longbranch Cemetery Poised to Expand

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    A walk through the gate of the Longbranch Cemetery reveals a place that invites reflection. Past and present intermingle. Some stones are covered with moss while others reflect sunlight from polished …

  • Deep in the Tree Frog's Chorus

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    At last, I find a frog. It is spread-eagled in the shallow water like a lost toy. Its throat floats before it as round and sheer as a soap bubble, pushing its head up. It looks almost pathetic as it …

  • Road Rage in the Time of COVID-19

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    Traffic fatalities across the U.S. increased 12% in the first nine months of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, the largest annual rise since 1975 according to an October 2021 study from the …

  • The Second Mountain by David Brooks

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    Many times over the last 18-plus years I have wondered why I feel so much at home and so contented on the Key Peninsula. Certainly, there are many similarities to Scotland but that really …

  • Fishing Under the Bridge

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    While drivers rattle the Purdy bridge in cars and trucks, fly fishers often stand thigh deep in saltwater below at the mouth of the Burley Lagoon, their attention fixed on a far different …

  • KP Businesswoman Makes Her Passion Her Work

    Thursday, March 31, 2022

    Laura Harbaugh always wanted to be an artist. Her father worked as professional photographer and her mother worked for the county as a conservationist, racing to protect heritage farmland in the …

  • Douglas Sylvers

    Saturday, March 26, 2022

    Longbranch resident Doug Sylvers died peacefully Feb. 21. He was 85.  Born in 1937 in Minneapolis, Doug graduated in 1959 from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Science degree in …

  • Assistant Fire Chief Wolverton Exonerated, Returned to Duty

    Wednesday, March 23, 2022

    Assistant Fire Chief Hal Wolverton was returned to duty by the Key Peninsula Board of Fire Commissioners 14 weeks after it placed him on paid administrative leave during a third party investigation …


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