Do you like thunderstorms? I always used to like them, especially their approach. The dark cloud masses accumulating until they are darkening the entire sky, the sudden silence of Nature, the first sheet lightning, rumbling thunder somewhere in the distance, and then the first “real” lightning, a Blitz. This Germanism has made it into the […]
To Ponder
Letter: A Lesson from the Autumn Leaves
My favorite season of the year to row is Autumn. Sometimes with others, most often alone. Boat traffic on the lake is minimal; the trees along the shoreline are resplendent in color; not a sound is heard but the rhythmic splash of the oars and my labored breathing; and eventually the green-become-red and yellow leaves […]
Letter: We Rowed Together
For most people, no doubt the vast majority, World River Day, the fourth Sunday of every September, passed by as unnoticed as the headwaters of a quiet stream slipped by in a forest no one was frequenting anyway. But what a metaphor for life. Did my grandson want to watch from the dock as I […]
Pots Amid Spans of Time Tell Us About Our Past
I’ve always been interested in the past. When Peg and I traveled with friends to Italy and Spain a number of years ago, we visited several places in Italy. We felt like we were always seeing elements that were hundreds, if not thousands of years in the past. In Spain, I even got my wish […]
Letter: Taking Shelter
It rained this past March 31. I remember because it was the day we laid my wife to rest. We huddled together at the graveside. In part because of the rain. In part to be close. The tears fell like the gentle shower that gathered in pools atop the canopy and spilled over the edge. […]
Perfect Hashbowns – Chicken Fried Steak – and Berry Pie, Oh My
I had enjoyed a fantastic Chicken Fried Steak at The Pine Cone Restaurant in University Place right before COVID hit. Soon The Pine Cone and most other restaurants pretty much closed their doors. When restaurants opened up again, The Pine Cone was one of the first places we returned to and the food was still […]
In the Book Nook with … Jennifer Nightingale
Author Jennifer Nightingale grew up in Seattle, Washington, has explored beaches and bays from British Columbia all the way to Northern California, and has been living in Astoria, Oregon, at the mouth of the Columbia River for seven years now. She has worked in various administrative capacities in the healthcare industry for over thirty years […]
Across the Fence: Oktoberfest
They are about to pop up everywhere these days – Oktoberfests. This Germanism is as Bavarian as it gets – the reminiscence of the then future-king Ludwig I of Bavaria’s October wedding to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Even the venue to which the citizens of Munich were invited is the same historical site today – […]
In the Book Nook with … Joshua Crosson
Author Joshua Crosson lives “in a rural area, very quiet and beautiful,” in the Skagit Valley area in Washington State, far from work and school. Currently, he is working as a CAN and goes to nursing school, trying to become an LPN, which is “rewarding and important work, but draining at the same time.” Joshua […]