I was soaking in the bathtub a week or so ago when a fabulous idea came to me. Roger and I bought Thornbush twenty years ago--in 1989. Some people have been asking just how we came to find this place. Why not do a look back over the last twenty years to explain just how we got here?

So over the next few weeks/months? I will be taking you back to the very beginning. I'll have to learn to scan some old photos or hunt up the cd (Did they have photo cd's 20 years ago?)

But to let you in on the beginning. We both knew we wanted to buy some land somewhere. I've known I've always wanted to move to the San Juans ever since college days when my roommate, Peggy Sue, brought a group of friends here to show us her island home. My other roommate, Lynn, and I had been visiting her in Friday Harbor every year since then. And when she moved to Lopez, we started visiting her there.

But Roger grew up in Longview which is near Portland, and he had very good memories of that part of the state. He had visions of a place near Skomakawa. Well we all know now who won out.

It all started with a leave of absence from work in February of 1989. We were going through a recession, and there were threats of layoffs, or in our case, sending a 1st-line supervisor back to driving a bus (god forbid). So I suggested they give me a leave of absence instead as I hadn't had a break since I began my job twelve years earlier. They ended up giving four people three- month leaves. And I used mine to start looking for property.

After several weeks of looking on Lopez, Fidalgo, and San Juan Island we put earnest money on the 26 acre DeVillez property on March 5th. We bought it knowing we would need to sell some of it in order to pay for it. And so we put out calls to all our friends and relatives to see if anyone would want to buy in with us. The property was partly in a 10 acre only zone and partly in a 5 acre only zone. So we could have up to four houses on the 26 acres all together. Only one person took us up on it, Roger's younger brother Eric.

Stay tuned for more history and even a few pictures as I take you back in time and describe how Thornbush came to be.

2008 Review in Pictures

Anita retires after 30+ years at Metro Transit at the end of January. That weekend she moves out of the little cottage she has lived in four days a week for the last 6.7 years in Fremont and joins her husband at Thornbush on San Juan Island.

They join friends in Kona on the Big Island for a week in February. They enjoy paradise and their friends' company very much. Snorkeling is a highlight.

In April, Roger and Anita celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. Anita acquires a puppy after waiting for seventeen years since her last dog went to doggy heaven. She gets a standard poodle and names her "Suzie". Her life is changed dramatically. Oh yes, and they start raising six laying hens.

Both Roger and Anita take part in the Fourth of July parade and vounteer at the San Juan Island National Historical Park. They win prizes at the County Fair for baskets and vegetables.

After a fabulous summer of fun hosting many friends and family members, Roger, Anita, and Suzie take a road trip down the Oregon Coast to the Redwood Forests of Northern California. They ride a narrow guage train near Tillamook.

Later in the Fall, they get together with Ellisons and Barrecas to celebrate a wedding, two Thanksgivings, a birthday or two, and Christmas. Anita starts a blog to record her life at Thornbush.

Christmas at Thornbush is a quiet, peaceful affair due to record low temperatures and about 14" of snow on the ground. They prepare the pond for ice-skating.

When she thinks about all the big events of 2008, both personal and in the world at large, Anita is overwhelmed. How could 2009 top a year like this last one?