Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Not sports? Tough!’ Category

Holly Bloom

Alert the town’s deer, there’s a new sheriff at the Coupeville Farm to School program.

Holly Bloom recently replaced Zvi Bar-Chaim, who departs after an eight-year run as Program Manager.

The new face of the school system’s highly successful bid to bring together students and fresh veggies hails originally from Buffalo.

Bloom lived and worked in Truckee, California the past two years, and brings a decade-plus of educational and horticultural experience to her new position.

“I specialize in hands-on project based learning and outdoor education,” she said in a Facebook post.

She served as an AmeriCorps volunteer in 2008, then went on to charter a Farm to School program through that company.

Bloom has worked for a variety of non-profits, public, private and charter schools, as well as state and county agencies.

She earned a B.A. in Art Education and an A.A.S. in Horticulture.

“I’ve found that both the visual arts and horticulture go hand in hand and provide students with a safe space where they can connect with each other and the world around them,” Bloom said on Facebook.

“I feel most at home in the garden, where I can share my passion for the natural world and instill a stronger sense of humanity in my students through the pursuit of academic and hands-on learning.

“I am very excited to join the Whidbey Island community and to be a part of the Coupeville Farm to School team!”

Bloom, out and about.

Read Full Post »

Leslie Franzen (center) enjoys time with family. (Photo courtesy Kelsi Mottet)

There’s a changing of the guard in the world of books.

Longtime Coupeville Library Manager Leslie Franzen is retiring Mar. 1, putting a cap on 43 years of work in the industry.

She’s ridden the ever-changing waves from the days of card catalogs to a world driven by computers, always remaining one of the friendliest, kindest guardians of the written word.

A celebration of her library tenure is set for Thursday, Feb. 23.

The event, which will feature light refreshments and is open to the public, is set for 1-4:00 PM in the library’s meeting room.

The Coupeville Library is located at 788 Alexander Street.

Franzen, a CHS grad, began her library life by working as a page while still in high school.

After a stint off-Island, she and husband Derek returned to Whidbey, where they raised children Kelsi and Garrett, and Leslie was tabbed as Coupeville’s managing librarian in 1988.

Over the years, Franzen (and the library) bounced from location to location in Coupeville, with the snazzy current version being built in 2010.

Two bond measures were passed in 2008 to finance the library improvement, with Franzen among those leading the charge in stumping for the new building.

Read Full Post »

Matthew Campbell will be live on stage this weekend, carrying the banner for Wolf Nation.

The Coupeville High School sophomore held off nine other contestants to win a Poetry Out Loud competition, and now moves on to compete at regionals.

That event goes down Saturday at the Phil Tarro Theatre on Skagit Valley College’s Mount Vernon campus, with two finalists advancing to the state finals in March.

Nationals are typically held in Washington DC in late April or early May.

Poetry Out Loud was launched in 2006 by the National Endowment for the Arts, and draws contestants from all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The goal is to promote the art of performing poetry.

Washington state has a previous national champion, with Langston Ward of Spokane claiming top honors in 2013 for his recitation of “The Gift” by Li-Young Lee.

This year’s opening poetry rumble drew 10 Coupeville High School students, with Campbell, Sydney Wallace, and Cristina McGrath finishing in the top three.

Contestants memorized and performed two poems, and were graded on “physical presence,” “voice and articulation,” “dramatic appropriateness,” “evidence of understanding,” and “overall performance.”

Each performer was also checked for accuracy as they recited their poems.

Campbell is slated to perform the work of poets Jones Very and Richard Blanco at regionals.

The former, who died in 1880, was a “poet, clergyman, and mystic” who was also a huge Shakespeare fan boy, while the latter is still going strong, born in 1968 and noted for performing at Barack Obama’s second inauguration.

Read Full Post »

Ask not for whom the Christmas tree loses its needles; it loses them for thee.

But, with one quick choice, you can get someone else to clean up the mess!

Troop 4058, Coupeville’s pack of scouts, will be out and about this coming weekend hauling away holiday pines and firs for their first fundraiser of the new year.

The event, set for Jan. 7-8, runs from 9 AM-noon each day, and covers Coupeville to Greenbank, though the scouts are willing to discuss exceptions.

Troop 4058, which is open to girls and boys, is chartered by the Coupeville Lions Club, and has been operating since 1977.

The scouts typically plan 12-15 outings a year, including Camporee and Summer Camp.

 

To sign up for Christmas tree removal, pop over to:

https://www.coupevillescouts4058.com/fundraisers.html

Read Full Post »

The Compass Rose Bed and Breakfast.

Coupeville’s best-dressed innkeepers are retiring.

Marshall and Jan Bronson announced this week that they are closing down the Compass Rose Bed and Breakfast, which has operated for three decades.

The ultra-chic two-room institution, located in an 1890 Queen Anne Victorian home at 508 S. Main, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Bronsons, the most genteel customers I ever had at Videoville, are well known for tooling around town in a vintage car, rockin’ only the spiffiest of outfits.

The Compass Rose, which is decorated with antiques from around the world, was a huge step above your average Motel 6.

Guests were served breakfast on fine china, crystal, silver, linen, and lace, for one thing.

As they move into a new phase, the Bronsons released a statement on their Facebook page:

 

After more than 30 years of operating as The Compass Rose B&B, treating all of our lovely visitors into our home for friendship and love, we find ourselves at a point in our lives that we can no longer continue to act as a Bed & Breakfast.

As of December 31, 2022, The Compass Rose will cease to exist, and will become the Bronson home.

We hope to still receive visitors to experience our home and hospitality.

Much love to everyone as we see what the next chapter in our lives hold.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »