RICK LAWLER has had a crush on Whidbey for some time, ever since gazing at the cliffs of Ebey’s Prairie from across the Strait of San de Fuca. He thought living here would be an unattainable dream. He and his wife ALICE were vacationing at Birch Bay and when they got home to California, Whidbey was still on their minds.

They checked out a Web site for recommendations on the best places to retire and both got the same answer: Oak Harbor. So, they bought some land, later sold it and bought a house, making the final trip from Sacramento about a year and a half ago with their daughter Sara and son Sean.

Rick spent over 20 years at the University of California Davis and was eager to spread his wings. He was into photography in his 20s and he noticed his trusty Nikon 35mm SLR was just sitting there, gathering dust. He sold it on eBay and bought a refurbished Nikon Coolpix 8700 digital camera.

It came back to him almost immediately. “I started snapping away and it wasn’t long before I was up to speed.”

He has a new book of photographs, being shipped from the printers as I write, containing 40 pages of color photos he calls “Whidbey: My Eye.” He expects they will arrive in time to fill Christmas orders and he will fill orders by first class mail. The book costs $12.95 People can call him at 360-240-9059 or e-mail minref@gmail.com. For a quick look at some of the photos, visit www.minref.com web site.

Lawler, a former newspaper reporter, has published “Owner to Owner: A Guide to WorldMark Ownership.”

“It helped finance our move to Whidbey,” he said. “WorldMark is a vacation ownership program (based in Redmond) that my wife and I purchased back in 1995. It’s similar to a timeshare, but instead of owning a unit at a resort for a week, WorldMark owners collectively own all the units in all the resorts and can stay at any of them whenever using annually renewed vacation credits.

“When we bought in 1995, WorldMark had 16 resorts. Now it’s over 60.”

Sales of his book started taking off in 2004 and this year reached 55,000 copies.

It is not surprising to learn Lawler is also a poet and fiction writer. “I won the Whidbey Island Writers’ Association Spirit of Writing Contest fourth place last year for a poem called ‘A Slow Horse’ plus a short story called ‘Back to the Moon’ about an overpopulated world. This year, I won second place for non-fiction for ‘Rebate Hell.’”

Readers may get in touch with him at 240-9059 or write to him at minref@gmail.com.

Once a Wildcat …

ROBIN STANEK, Oak Harbor High School Class of 1982, reports receiving a phone message left during halftime of the Oak Harbor/Bothell game on Dec. 2. She wasn’t there to take the call because she was at the Tacoma Dome, watching the game as it unfolded.

The call came from Atsugi, Japan where her sister BOBBIE FIELDS, also an Oak Harbor grad, and her husband LT. CMDR. DAVE FIELDS of VAQ-136 are living with their sons. Thanks to a sling box connection to her mom TRUDIE DUNAWAY’s computer in Burlington, they got to watch the game live.

“Debbie shouted into the phone that the score was 14-7 at half-time. She was so excited,” Robin said. Her daughter BREANNA STANEK, OHHS Class of 2007, is captain of the varsity cheer squad and was shown live during the broadcast that saw the Wildcats take state.

Purple and gold run deep in this family. Also attending the game from were Bobbie’s older brother DAVE JOHNSON, OHHS Class of 1988, and older sister KELLY JOHNSON, OHHS Class of 1981.

The flag waves back …

A silent drill takes place at the Oak Harbor Post Office early every morning that few residents ever get to see. At the appointed time, several postal workers assemble at the base of the flag pole and hold a ceremony simply known as Colors. They stand at attention, hands over their hearts.

This tradition has been carried on for over 20 years, and currently DAN “BIG D” MILLER is the principle coordinator. Others rotate according to their days off, and they are RANDY BENNETT, MIKE HOBBS, CINDY SHIRLEY, NAOMI ELLIS, RANDY WILLIAMS, ED SMITH, LEAH DUQUE, KIRSTEN OLSON, DALE HOLZBOOG, LARRY CORWELL, KEVIN TURNER and ADAM DAVILA.

Francis Scott Key would be proud to see such a sight.

I’ll have more news of North Whidbey on Dec. 20. Call me at 675-6611 or write to lifeonwhidbey@yahoo.com.