August 1, 2020, I sent what I consider a heartfelt email to Lakewood’s Deputy Mayor Jason Whalen with a copy to my wife. My wife responded with, “Good note.” A bit later in the morning, the idea for incorporating my note in a Westside Story came to me. Sharing my thinking and experience related to […]
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Across the Fence: German Girl in America
Submitted by Susanne Bacon. I can’t remember when I had my first encounter with the website of German Girl in America on Facebook. It might have been as early as 2014. Ever since I have been checking out the blog on the internet, and over the years, its creator, Karen Lodder Carlson, and I have […]
Letter: When you no longer have to look where you’re going
What happened this beautiful morning, barely a ripple on the water, will probably never happen again. But what a morning, what a memory. With the oldest – and the smallest of our children – as cox, the rest of us remarked later how odd it seemed to not have to look over our shoulder. That […]
Letter: A portrait of a leader
We had gathered for our annual picnic in the park mostly to be together but also to traditionally share – in this month to remember our parent’s birthdays – our usual family lunchtime fare when as kids we were growing up: baloney sandwiches. My brother, whose birthday is this week, chewed a simple self-portrait into […]
Sake Sushi & Grill Tacoma Restaurant Review
Sake Sushi & Grill is one of those small, family owned/run restaurants you want to succeed, but they keep getting in their own way. Nearly two hours in a fine dining establishment is one thing, but Sake Sushi is not fine fining. The food is good, but . . . We sat a little over […]
The Dead Rat – A Short Story
I was just going through my normal morning routine. I toasted my seedy bread just like my wife always suggested. I slathered on butter like I always like, and made an almost healthy ham sandwich with five or six slices of bread and butter pickles on each half and then cut it in two. I […]
Across the Fence: Libraries
One of my favorite pastimes – and who wouldn’t have guessed – is reading. Ever since I was able to hold books, I was fascinated by their haptic and their content, starting from my first children’s books to the art books that my parents let me leaf through when I was pre-reading age. Today, I […]
Pilkey Hopping & Ekberg Insurance Brokers acquiring Taylor Thomason Insurance Brokers
Pilkey Hopping & Ekberg Insurance Brokers has announced it will acquire Taylor Thomason Insurance Brokers in a deal set to close August 1st. Both firms have been providing insurance services to Tacoma and the South Sound for multiple generations. Frank Ekberg started what would become Pilkey Hopping & Ekberg out of a Pacific Avenue storefront […]
A Picnic at Wright Park in Tacoma
With the latest spike in Covid:19 here in Washington and mostly locked away from our family and friends, Peg was feeling blue and suggested we get away and relax. We talked about options and finally devised a wonderful plan for a beautiful Sunday afternoon. We decided on a picnic. We visited Stadium Thriftway near Wright […]