When the Travel & Outdoors reporter Crystal Paul from the Seattle Times arranged to come for an “introduction” to Oysterville, I didn’t give much thought to which day she would be arriving – only that a Tuesday in July would probably be pretty typical.  There wouldn’t be much going on in the village except for the stream of tourists in and out of the church.  I was only partly right.

She arrived mid-morning.  The street was fairly quiet except for the building activity at the Hampson House next door to us and… the sound of children’s laughter coming from a line of kids in lab coats headed back to the schoolhouse.  They had been checking out swallows’ nests on the buildings around town and documenting them with their cameras.   The Oysterville Science Academy (OSA) in full swing!

I introduced Crystal to Diane Buttrell, founder of OSA, who told her a bit about this year’s group of students – nine youngsters who will be fourth graders here in Peninsula Schools next fall.  “Would it be all right to take some photographs?”  She was given the green light – parents had all signed permission slips for such a contingency.  We said we’d be visiting them at the schoolhouse after lunch.

Lunch?  After a tour of the village, we dropped by Oysterville Sea Farms.  Salmon spread and rice crackers and smoked mussels for lunch!  On the deck!  A first, of course, for Crystal and a first also for us since Dan Driscoll’s troubles with the County began seven years ago!!  Even though it was a gray day and the tide was out (WAY out!), it was fabulous! We lingered, taking in the view of the village – the fronts of all the old houses that were built facing the bay – and the gorgeous, seemingly pristine shoreline to the east.  Really fabulous!

On the way back to our house, we stopped to see what the young scientists were up to.  It was “Da Vinci Challenge Hour” and they were in the midst of a Chalk Talk – “Why do we classify things? How is classification useful?”  They were sorting and classifying buttons and talking about the binary numerical notation system.  Crystal took a gazillion photos and had a peek at their notebooks – scientific journals detailing every observation and experiment they had done thus far this summer.  Reluctantly, we had to leave before they began to apply today’s classification discoveries in a “Design Your Own Store” activity.

Wow!  For a Tuesday in summer, there was a lot going on. But… come to think of it, there usually is in Oysterville!