How much is enough?
Category: Port Angeles
Earth Day
Today is the 45th anniversary of the first Earth Day in 1970. This event was initiated to raise public awareness of environmental issues and to encourage commitment to change and service in an effort to reduce pollution and human impacts on our planet.
So today I will introduce you to Polar Pioneer, a visitor to the Port of Port Angeles. Polar Pioneer is a semi-submersible offshore drilling rig that arrived last week from Malaysia on its way to Arctic waters off Alaska as part of Shell Oil Company’s plans to resume exploratory oil drilling there.
Polar Pioneer is riding piggyback on the Blue Marlin, a heavy-lift ship that can partially submerge to allow the Pioneer to be towed from its deck. After initial work in Port Angeles it will be towed to Seattle for additional fittings. Then it will deploy to Chukchi Sea in northwest coastal Alaska.
The rig has not been warmly welcomed in some circles. Activists cite poorly handled spills around the world to argue that exploration companies are ill-equipped to handle spills. Greenpeace temporarily boarded the Blue Marlin on its journey and activists protested its arrival here. A coalition of groups, Shellno.org plans further protests in Seattle.
Polar Pioneer is 400 feet tall. Though distance alters scale, in this shot it dwarfs the MV Coho, a 341.5 foot passenger ferry that can carry 110 vehicles and 1,000 passengers. Most of us never see these rigs up close and personal. Perhaps we should. I know there are probably many that have worked flawlessly for years. But events such as the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico five years ago are a cautionary tale that time and distance should not erase. Mother Nature is a good housekeeper but not a miracle worker.
Critter
I spied this creation in front of a house in Port Angeles. I rather liked the coiffure.
Views of Port Angeles
We had better than usual view of Port Angeles last Friday when we took the morning ferry to Victoria, B.C. Before the clouds settled on the city it was possible to see it as it climbs upward from Port Angeles Harbor. Port Angeles is about 15 miles west of Sequim.
This is a view of a more easterly residential area of Port Angeles that rests on a bluff above the Strait of Juan de Fuca. As you can see, the snowcap has returned. Our weather is gradually getting cold and wet enough that it looks as if the snow will stick around.
The Elwah Klallam Heritage Center
One of our local Klallam Native American tribes is the Elwah, a group that lived for centuries in the Port Angeles area. This is their Port Angeles heritage center, a center for local tribal and community events. Since last summer it has also been home to a small collection of artifacts from an ancient Klallam village called Tse-whit-zen.
The artifacts were discovered in 2003 during construction in the Port Angeles Harbor area. In addition to remains of over 300 people, archaeologists and tribal members exhumed 80,000 artifacts, including items with fine carvings and functional pieces such as bone hooks, harpoon points, and a spindle whorl. Fourteen of these items are on display in the Heritage Center in six display cases on each side of the main gallery. The public is welcome to view the displays although the tribe respectfully requests they not be photographed.
The community center space is very attractive and now enhanced by the return of ancestral items from a village that was occupied for at least 2,700 years. The Tse-whit-zen site has been called one of the largest and most important archaeological sites in Washington state.
The “everything store” expands
Swain’s General Store in Port Angeles is a local institution. Before we moved here DH informed me with an air of authority, “If Swain’s doesn’t have it you probably don’t need it.” The point can be argued. But for the real goods you need from day to day Swain’s has it. Tools, hunting and fishing gear, hardware, kitchenware, work, casual and outdoor clothing, shoes and boots. It’s all there. Mind you, Swain’s isn’t fancy. But when you need something and want to stay local I’m happy to leave fancy merchandising to the big city stores.
A few months back the appliance store that shared the building with Swain’s closed, giving Swain’s an opportunity to expand. The wall’s down now and the store’s being rearranged. Shifting that much stuff seems like a herculean job. But another positive thing about Swain’s is that the staff is great and most of them have been there a long time and they’re in it for the long haul.
Here’s a peek into the new area. I’m sure everyone will be happy when the dust settles.
Farewell performance
The final edition of Arts in Action was staged last weekend by the Nor’wester Rotary in Port Angeles. This was the 35th year the event was organized and offered to the community and has been the site of sand sculpture contests that many of us have enjoyed for the past 13 years. There was no competition this year, just three works of sand art offered by sculptors who chose their own themes.
Sue McGrew, left, and another worker here put the final touches on this piece. McGrew and sculptor Sandis Kondrats designed this gorgeous Poseidon tribute.
A team from Merrill & Ring created this piece. The salmon at the end of the fishing line is being grabbed by a seal which is being grabbed by an Orca whale.
I love the look on the boy’s face.
Members of the Phoenix Dragon Martial Arts School produced this sculpture of the Seahawks stadium.
A member of the Sequim Noon Rotary expressed interest in possibly keeping the event alive. The group as a whole has not discussed this.For now, the event has ended. Fingers crossed that it may yet continue.