“What did you like best about your first ever hike?” I asked my five year old granddaughter when we returned home last evening from her two-and-a-half miler. I was quite surprised at her answer. She did not mention the river at all, though she had taken off her shoes and spent more time in the […]
To Ponder
Let’s Talk! – An Evergreen Forest Reaching Up to an Overpass
Would you like to keep me company pondering and/or discussing a new topic from my friend, author Tyrean Martinson’s book – A Pocket Sized Jumble of 500+ Writing Prompts – with all screens switched off? Then lean back, and let yourself be swamped with ideas about an evergreen forest reaching up to an overpass. And […]
Across the Fence: Dasein
Have you ever used the English Germanism Dasein (pronounce approximately: ‘dah-zine, meaning existence)? I found this one on my incredible list and wonder now, how often I have ever used it in German … It sounds so very philosophical – and actually, it is. Before I venture into anything that relates to philosophers, I want […]
Letter: There’s Joy in the Journey Too
It would have been her 76th birthday so though I had lost her to cancer after a half-century of marriage, once again I found myself in the mountains. There by one of our favorite rivers, a simple hike where so long, long ago we had gone hand-in-hand, I unpacked both her and my favorite beverage, and […]
In the Book Nook with … Dennis “DJ” Quinn
Author Dennis “DJ” Quinn’s home for the past 26 years has been on Raft Island near Gig Harbor Washington. He grew up in Helena, Montana, and lived in Minneapolis and Seattle before landing in Gig Harbor. He worked as a flight attendant from 1979-to 2005, then spent 17 years in real estate marketing; he retired […]
Letter: Still Walking Her Home
As I write this today, July 29, I am 46 miles away from my goal of a 100-mile summer of hiking through the mountains of Washington’s Cascades and Olympics and along the Pacific Coast. I just took off one day, a very special day, the one year anniversary of my wife’s homegoing. I lost her […]
Plain Magic and Red Shoes
Aggie was saddened when her grandmother died. She had planned to visit her, but things got in the way. She couldn’t recall what things, but she knew he had been lax and hadn’t pursued a visit even for a day or two. When they had visited last, years ago, Aggie had been in the third […]
Letter: Every Step
The High Divide trail in Washington’s Olympic National Park climbs higher, and higher, and higher still, 6,190 feet elevation gain over 20.5 miles according to “AllTrails.” The narrow, single file path forever reaches for the sky even while meandering through alpine meadows of lupine and Indian Paintbrush. The trail leads up and over formidable, forested […]
Big Game – The Finnish Film Production
I was tired and by myself, just searching on TV I found “Big Game”. I thought it might be interesting and then I focused in on the real magnet that drew me even closer to the TV and the story. Once I saw that the film was produced in Finland I was hooked. I’ve never […]