COLUMN BY MATT PRANGER

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Lederhosen, league championships and falling leaves

posted 10/04/00
Some islanders bemoan the signal of summer's end -- less light, damper days, a mound of firewood to split -- but there are plenty of reasons to be smiling. These include:

• Turning leaves add some yellow and red to our predominantly green vistas.
  
  
• The lawn will soon go dormant.
  
  
• The best of the harvest -- sweet corn and the many crisp varieties of apples and pears -- is now ripe.
  
  
• Several hours of toiling in the yard is rewarded during cool nights. Perfect weather for sawing dream logs.

The general pace in the islands is slackening. In inverse proportion to the increasing rainfall, the river of tourists dwindles. (Hopefully not to an arroyo, but a steady stream.) More islanders have time to help one another and have fun.

This Saturday -- Oct. 7 -- is a perfect example. San Juan Island residents can choose from a full day of activities. They can pick their own pumpkins at Guard Sundstrom's Harvest Festival. Driving down San Juan Valley Road you can't miss the pumpkin patch at his farm.

Burn off the spoonfuls of Guard's homemade honey by walking in the first San Juan County Breast Cancer Awareness Walk. Participants can select three different walks: a 10-mile hike from Roche Harbor to Friday Harbor begins at 9 a.m.; a 2-mile jaunt from Carter Beach to Friday Harbor starts at 10:30 a.m.; and a promenade for four blocks down Spring Street begins at 12:30 p.m. Participants can collect pledges based on miles walked or straight donations or simply walk to promote awareness of breast cancer. Call Scout at 360.378.5371 for more information.

Nap in the late afternoon so you'll have some energy to polka at the Sixth Annual Oktoberfest, slated for 5:30 to 10 p.m. in the Main Building at the San Juan County Fairgrounds. This family-oriented event benefits the Medical Center Guild, San Juan Lions, Friday Harbor Kiwanis and the San Juan Island EMT Association. Blaskapelle, a 14-piece Bavarian band, and San Juan International Folk Dancers are back again along with other performers. Emcee Doug Bison always provides some chuckles and of course there will be plenty of German food, wine and special-brewed beer.

I'm searching for some lederhosen -- which means: geeky leather shorts with suspenders that guys wear just to embarrass their wives. The wives usually forgive their hubbies after a liter of lager. Actually, I'm not exactly looking for lederhosen to irritate my bride. Donning my ancestors' traditional garb is a preemptive move to keep her from pulling me on the dance floor. Some friends are cringing at the image of my pale, chicken legs extending from shorts, blinding the others during the chicken dance. Don't worry, I'll wear full-length leather pants. I'll save the real leiderhosen fright for October's month-ending festivities. There's my frugal German roots -- one costume, two parties.

Fall is also this sports fan's gold-medal season. I didn't see as much of the 2000 Olympics as I would've preferred, but I'm still proud of the U.S.A. athletes. Of course, I'm not as proud as Doris Blinks and John Blinks of San Juan Island. They were in Sydney watching their daughter Susan and rest of the U.S. Olympic Equestrian Dressage Team win a bronze medal. Susan, the dressage team captain, also finished 11th in the Individual Dressage event on her horse Flim Flam.

Sherry Wilson, daughter of Warren and Joyce Jones and Romona Jones of San Juan Island, also won an Olympic contest. She correctly answered three questions in Pontiac's online Olympic 2000 trivia contest and won a Montana mini-van. Sherry, a longtime San Juan Island resident, now lives in Anacortes with her husband Jim, who often commutes to work on San Juan.

And I was thrilled about the U.S.A. Baseball and Softball teams driving home the gold.

Fortunately it's still baseball season. Given the Hawkeyes' and Packers' play so far this season, I'd like to see the baseball season extended into January. That won't happen but I'm hoping the Mariners and Cardinals will play until there's a hard frost. Both clubs boast classy players and supportive fans. A World Series in Budville and Latteland would give a new meaning to Brew Crews.

Even if my teams don't make the World Championships, there's still plenty of fall prep sports to watch. Soccer fans will want to grab a jacket and blanket for a twinbill under the lights this Friday, Oct 6. Friday Harbor High School's teams host league rival La Conner. The girls play at 7 p.m. and the boys follow.

Starting Oct. 14,2000 I'll be aiming to publish Centerline every Saturday. If you have something to share -- Division Series, League Championship Series or World Series tickets for example -- e-mail Matt Pranger at news@sanjuanislander.com

SAN JUAN ISLANDER © 2008

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