This week, Lakewood experienced its first morning of frost. Waking to a clear, sunny sky on Tuesday morning, I found that our neighborhood’s roofs were all glistening white, and so were the front lawns. The thermometer showed me a mere 31 degrees Fahrenheit. An hour later, the sky was clouded, and the magic was gone. […]
Across the Fence: Octopuses
November 8 is International Octopus Day. Now, you may wonder why I come up with such a seemingly exotic topic today. I was playfully looking into a website that deals with celebratory dates, and among others this resonated immediately with me. Because I love octopuses or octopods. And yes, that’s the plural, not octopi or […]
Across the Fence: Harvest Time
Fall does the same to me,each and every year.It makes me singand remember old poems.It makes me dance with the leavesSailing on gusts of windAnd hold my faceInto refreshing drops of rain.It makes me breathe in the fragranceOf rotting apples and decaying gardens,Of pumpkin soup,And onion tart.It makes me listen to the quiet of the […]
Across the Fence: Looking up
When I was a child, my mother used to show me the Big Dipper in the night sky and Orion. I dutifully nodded but was never able to discover them myself. To me, they were stars like any others. Beautiful to look at. Somewhat mysterious. Certainly, no constellations. Then, our city built a planetarium, and […]
Across the Fence: A Leisurely Loop
Last weekend, my husband and I decided to hike on probably one of the last sunny days of this year. So, we packed our rucksacks and walking sticks and drove over to Packwood and a tad farther on. The Ohanapecosh Campground was our destination, and from there we had planned to walk the 2.7-mile-long Silver […]
Across the Fence: A Jewel at our Doorstep
Last weekend we explored our region again. Would you think that after eleven years of living around Western Washington, there are still new discoveries to be made? Indeed! A drive to an area a little beyond Enumclaw took us to the Green River and its incredibly romantic landscape. Luckily, we had decided to go early […]
Across the Fence: The Shades Between
“Why do you hate him so?!” The ensuing “discussion” was one of bashing each other for holding a different opinion. It could also have been the question, “Why do you love him so?!” It set me off on another path of pondering only recently. Indeed, is there really only hatred or love around us these […]
Across the Fence: What’s Antique
The first time I realized how exciting antiques are was when I was window shopping on a Sunday night at a closed antique store on Mill Street in St. Peter Port on the British Channel Island of Guernsey. I was waiting for a free table at a nearby bistro-restaurant, and I had nothing better to […]
Across the Fence: Let the Mind Travel
It is summer, and although a lot of people are usually traveling for their vacation, a certain virus has curbed our options big time. Some find it deeply disturbing. Traveling is a symbol of freedom, after all. At least if one can choose one’s destination, can take along anything one wants, and finds all the […]