By MARGARET WALTON

Back in May, when I was working on a column for Whidbey Recipes, I realized I’d been doing the column for the South Whidbey Record for 27 years! I was momentarily shocked, but it was then that I started thinking that it might be time to move on, try something else I’d had in mind for a while. I told editor Justin of my thoughts and agreed to write a farewell column.

Well, it was harder than I anticipated, so I just decided to let it happen, fade away quietly and probably unnoticed, and get on with my new project.

It obviously was and is gratifying to hear that some readers have been asking why no Whidbey Recipes column have been published, and I got quite a few e-mails and phone calls about whether I’d quit writing the column or what was going on.

So, here it is, my farewell column.

Before I sign off, however, I want to tell you how very, very much I enjoyed doing that particular bit of writing, every week until some years ago, when we cut it back to once a month. It kept me on my toes, thinking and paying attention to what was going on around us so I could come up with anything pertinent each week. The recipes were never a problem; I’ve been cooking and collecting recipes since I was 10 and you don’t even want to know how many recipes and recipe books I have in my collection.

Which brings me to the main reason I’m now going to devote my writing time to my next major project.

For four years or so, my five granddaughters have been bugging me about doing a cookbook for them, a “family” cookbook, which they hope will contain anecdotes and background history and stories about the grandparents and great grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, etc. the ones they did and do know, as well as the ones I knew and loved but they know only from family album photos and talk during our family gatherings. And of course, they want recipes to go along with the background. The more they talked about it, the more I knew I wanted to do it for them. Little did I realize how much time it was actually going to take.

So, now I’m off on this new venture and must say goodbye to Record readers, which isn’t easy, my friends. I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed the feedback from many of you, both emails and phone calls, and occasionally even letters to the editor (I’ve been through four of them). It has been one of the more satisfying endeavors of my life and I know I’ll miss it often, (but not those times when it was deadline time and I was sitting in front of a blank computer screen).

Thanks, once again, to all our readers, and most of all thanks to the Whidbey Record for giving me such a fine writer’s venue in which to enjoy myself.

MARGARET WALTON, retired

Editor’s note: Thank you, Margaret, for such a mighty contribution to The Record. The paper won’t be the same without you.