Every seven years it seems like Homer goes through the Great Churn. All of a sudden, people who have lived here since Brother Asaiah was on the Homer City Council and held the same job since Jim Hornaday first wielded a gavel as judge, not mayor just up and leave. The executive director of the Homer-Foundation-on-the-Arts-and-the Center-for-Alaskan-Historical Studies goes back to get her Ph.D. in nuclear physics. Then someone else does that, and another, and quicker than you can say Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith and Love, it seems like every senior management position in town gets filled by a new guy, what's his name, from Peoria, you know, the one with the canary yellow Prius.

Kachemak Bay does this every spring and fall with those big 23-foot plus tides, the ones that bring in rafts of driftwood that hasn't seen shore since that big storm on the Spit rearranged Bob Cousins' historical fishing boat collection. Big storms reorganize the world regularly, lopping off another 10 feet of bluff here or moving the Beluga Slough mouth another 50 yards there. A bunch of 200-year-old spruce trees dive back down to ground, and you think, "Huh, I didn't notice that view of Poot Peak before."

We adapt so quickly, those who survive, that after the Great Churn settles out in a few months or so, people who still have Utah plates on their Hummers seem like they've been here forever. It's like there's a secret guidebook with useful factoids: "Brother Asaiah: spiritual father of Homer, he who coined the phrase 'Cosmic Hamlet by the Sea'; see 'Barefooters.'" Soon enough when some old timer says "the old blue bank building," the new folks know to go to the building on the corner of Lake Street and East End Road.

Go with the flow, Homeristas. Change happens, and even those who could never imagine living anyplace else than Homer get a hankering to sail around the world in a Chinese junk and never make it back. Even when we think we've settled in, there's someone new to town. So make some new friends, welcome them to Homer, and show them what's wonderful hey, maybe with these Best Bets:

BEST BIG WET BET: We all love the sea here. Return some of that love at the "Save the Ocean Boogie," a fundraiser for the Alaska Marine Conservation Council from 6-10 p.m. Friday at Alice's Champagne Palace. Kids are welcome for the seafood chowder feed with music by Big Sky. Tickets are $10 a person at the Homer Bookstore, Captain's Coffee or Latitude 59.

BEST BIG WIG BET: If you missed the 87 showings of Hedwig and the Angry Inch last summer, you have one more chance to see the Camp Hedwig Revival Band playing some tunes from the way-way off Broadway musical. The show starts at 10 p.m. Saturday at Kharacter's on Pioneer Avenue.

BEST BIG GIG BET: Don't throw out those old juice boxes save them for some haute couture, like the fashions to be shown starting at 1 p.m. Saturday at Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center for EcoLogical's Recycle Fashion Show. EcoLogical is group of five Homer girls entered in the Lexus and Scholastic EcoChallenge. See story, page 1.