Lifestyles - Whidbey News-Times

Dragon boat transforms paddlers

After Dan Tonge steps into the dragon boat, he listens for his coach to the give the call and for the cadence of the paddles pounding the water. “That’s my cue to lean forward and get in sync,” he said.

Tearing up as our flag passes by

I cannot offer an adequate explanation for the flood of strong emotions that overtake me when I see our nation’s flag or watch a Navy jet fly overhead, but my reaction is completely predictable. I look forward to those hand-on-my-heart, tears-in-my-eyes reactions at the start of each Fourth of July parade here in Oak Harbor.

On top of the hill: Island musicians finally have a place of their own

While Oak Harbor’s music scene hasn’t suffered from a lack of talent over the decades, there have been few discernible live venues for talent to thrive. Some options for local acts include an occasional gig at the International Order of Odd Fellows Temple, a set at a festival, or playing for the Pioneer Way bar crowds -— assuming the band is out of high school.

Whidbey Weavers move library to art school

Whidbey Weavers recently moved the organization’s lending library and meeting place to the Pacific Northwest Art School on Birch Street in Coupeville.

Deals abound at Coupeville Garage Sale

A throng of penny-pinching shoppers searching for the best deals on Whidbey Island will venture to Coupeville Elementary School this weekend. Shoppers will line up at the starting line eagerly awaiting the horn to blow that kicks off the annual Coupeville Lions Club garage sale. The annual garage sale takes place June 27 and June 28 in and around the school's multipurpose room.

Getting Sirius on the radio

I am a member of the Sirius/XM satellite radio nation, and have been for some time now. My brother was the one to introduce such programming to me years ago when he was a cutting edge listener and I a channel switcher between songs to avoid the commercials. Eventually I purchased a car with the service and I’ve been a devotee ever since. I particularly like how I can hurry out the door and listen to the same international news feeds I was watching on my TV while getting ready at home. I also like the fact that with one stoke of a preset button I am catapulted back to the 70s, where the sounds of James Taylor, The Rolling Stones, or the Bee Gees take me to a time when I was a teenager and music filled my world. My parents would say it was constant and loud back then. I would say it was essential and expressed the sentiments of my generation.

Whidbey Navy base offers family campout fun during deployments

Greenbank artists display work at farm

The Race Road Fire Station in Greenbank may seem like an unlikely place to find painters, but for the last 16 years, a group of women have met there each Tuesday to create a diverse brand of art.

Painted green, green grass of Oak Harbor

With summer heat turning lawns brown, city of Oak Harbor employees are experimenting with something new to make sure grass along a roadside curb remains a lush shade of green. Workers spent Monday spraying green paint on the grass on the side of the recently completed addition of Barrington Drive to cover up the brown grass.

Take time to smell the wild roses

The nondescript bushes are overlooked 11 months of the year on Whidbey Island, but in June the flowers pop out and suddenly we’re decorated with wild roses.