South Whidbey High School track stars Laura Barrow and Jon Poolman, teammates and close friends, take a break from training.

Purple mountains majesties: the view looking toward the Olympic Mountains from just north of Indian Point on South Whidbey.

Russell Sparkman tries out the ambience at the Langley Center for New Media: “I call it a home office away from home.”

Lynae Slinden, left, says goodbye to a friend during her going-away party in Clinton. The former South Whidbey port commissioner is leaving Whidbey for a two-year commitment to the Peace Corps; she will serve in Kiev, the Ukraine.

A pack of new rollers takes a spin around the track at the Jet City Rollergirls’ Booty Camp. The trainees, including Juliet Janeshefskie and Emily Czerwonka of Whidbey, sustained eight long weeks of “booty camp” — basic training for derby wannabees — where they’ve been hip-checked, shouldered, butted to the floor and learned about life on the fast flat track all while trying to stay upright on skates.

A boat off Scatchet Head turns back toward Cutlus Bay as the sun sets over the Olympics.

Andy Davis’ applied math class wish a good morning to principal Rob Prosch outside his office window as a way of showing support for the boycott against a planned all-school “walkout” on Thursday.

Gary Smith of Mukilteo Coffee Roasters in Langley keeps a keen eye on the darkness of a batch of beans he’s roasting.

Chantal White, a junior at South Whidbey High School, shares misgivings before the school board on Wednesday over the planned closure of Langley Middle School.

Bergan Rose of Freeland shows off a quilt she made in a class at Quilting by the Sea in Langley. It was her first effort.