We’ve not met since March of 2020 but we are excited to announce that Feb. 6, 2023, 6:30 p.m., our Tillicum Woodbrook Neighborhood Meetings will begin with first-Mondays-of-every-month gatherings to discuss neighborhood goings-on! This Feb. 6 meeting will be held at the Tillicum Community Center, 14916 Washington Ave. SW. In the following newsletter, you’ll read […]
Letter: Learning Life’s Lessons
The youngster was out in front, paddling furiously, plowing the otherwise placid surface into a mini frenzy of ripples into which dad, trailing a bit behind, slowly but effortlessly kept pace, while grandpa lagged a bit. Later the little fellow would be taught how to dive, to leap forward in an arc to plunge beneath the […]
Letter: Frosty the Facsimile Snowman
Frosty, our fondly dubbed Fairytale Facsimile (from Latin fac simile, “to make alike”) was not, in fact, “alike” the real thing, but then of course it’s not like the real thing was real either. Still, when the snow falls but there’s not enough, or the snow won’t pack, and yet the grandchildren insist on having […]
Letter: Entering the Forest We’ve Been Taught to Fear
“Our character is not defined by the battles we win or lose, but by the battles we dare to fight.” – Robert Beatty, “Serafina and the Black Cloak,” 2015. At its first meeting of the new year, January 9, 2023, the Board of Directors of the Clover Park School District (CPSD) unanimously approved the motion […]
Letter: Where Dreams Come True
When the tasks for the day are done and I return home, wearily tossing my coat over a chair, I look across the room to where she awaits my reading of another chapter in the novels of Harold Bell Wright. “Set amid the grandeur and the beauty of these vast deserts, lonely skies and wild […]
Letter: Spider-Man Learns A Lesson
Late at night, when happy but weary grandmas and grandpas have completed their Christmas shopping and the little ones visiting are nestled, all snug in their beds, the toys still on the display shelves in the toy sections of stores everywhere come to life. It’s the battle of cultural icons. And Spider-Man has gone rogue. […]
Letter: It Happens This Time of Year, Every Year
The monster truck arrives at the nativity. Again. The two boys, now ages eight and six, brake their monster truck to a stop, sideslipping in a somewhat controlled fashion but not before careening into what had been a beautifully hand-carved, lovingly displayed, nativity complete with angels, shepherds, and kings. But not sheep. Or donkey either. […]
Letter: Turning The Page
The Book of Judges in biblical history is a long period of time in which the nation of Israel would repeatedly need deliverance, albeit temporary. The Book of Ruth in stark contrast to the scenes of so much strife that characterize the preceding pages, is one of great love and devotion. The two books are […]
Letter: “Are You Coming Grandpa?”
She wanted me to see, to take her little hand – or not, as currently they were stuffed in her pockets – but to be there, to stand on the porch in the sunshine with her, maybe go for a walk together. For a moment, the sun was so bright it cast shadows so long […]