Have you been to the Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center lately?

If not, you’re in for a surprise.

The west wing, which housed the reception area, lounge, lunch room, Thrift Shop and staff offices, is gone. Completely torn down and hauled away.

It’s a bittersweet discovery. Over the years, a great deal of laughter and caring went on within those walls. Now they’re only memories.

On the other hand, it is delightful to see how efficient and on schedule the contractors are going about the task of rebuilding the Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center, our home away from home.

Bittersweet also, is the news that our director, Jane Allan, who worked tirelessly for the new senior center improvements will not be at the helm when it reopens, with the building complete and all its programs home again.

Jane Allan took over as the center’s director after having served as assistant director. Having spent 13 years with us, it is hard to believe she will be able to stay away long.

Once retired, Jane, you will finally have the time to actually participate in the activities the senior center offers, many of which came into existence during your administration.

Be sure you’ve signed up to be a member and your dues are up to date. You’d better show up for an exercise class, or Shakespeare, or whatever else interests you.

If you’re not around for at least one shared cup of coffee, remember, I know where you live. Don’t be a stranger. Congratulations on a well-earned retirement and thank you from all of us for keeping us going through rough and calm patches these past years.

Changes at the senior center are not the only shifts going on. With the arrival of June, we’re heading into summer, which as an optimist I believe will occur, eventually. I see signs of it in the strawberries beginning to ripen on my plants and the yellow blossoms on my Stupis tomatoes. It’s time to be outdoors.

Check your latest Bugle for all of the fresh air activities the senior center is offering.

Walk in the Park now offers excursions on Monday for those who want to move more briskly and on Thursdays for walkers preferring a more relaxed pace. Each week features a different site. There is no need to sign up in advance. Just show up at the senior center by 1 p.m. Mondays or 10 a.m. Thursdays to carpool to wherever the walk will be. You can call the center at 206-842-1616 to find out where the group is going that week and learn the length and difficulty level of the walk.

If walking’s not your thing, how about a game of pickleball at Waterfront Park? You don’t need to know how to play. Equipment and instruction are available.

The group meets at 10 a.m. Thursdays and Saturdays. Call the center to get on their e-mail list. You’ll catch on quickly, guaranteed.

If tennis is your game and you are at least 50, there is a group now organizing to play from 10 a.m. to noon at the Battle Point tennis courts.

Here too, if you are interested, you should call the center to get on their e-mail list. Better yet, make it a three-fer. Call 206-842-1616 and ask to be put on the e-mail lists for Walk in the Park, pickleball and tennis. Fun in the sun all season long. What a great way to spend the summer.