Last night I was rattled from sleep twice – a helicopter was circling over-head. Circling helicopters in our neighborhood are never a good sign. The last time one was around for over an hour was when somebody was shot close to our neighborhood, and one of the Seattle news channels had sent their reporter team. […]
Lakewood
Lakewood, Your Home Is Not Yours
Brady Louwein is a tall 60-year-old strapping home renovator. He is soft-spoken and you will never hear him curse, a smile comes to him easily. He attends church every week and even took in a fellow churchgoer, well past 80, when they had nowhere else to turn. Brady has a social disability, so he has […]
Westside Story – Sheriff Fajardo
Okay, okay, I admit it. My headline is not accurate… at least not yet. By the time my title, Westside Story – Sheriff Fajardo, becomes the real thing, Pierce County citizens will have made a positive history-making choice. Voters will have elected a highly qualified individual who will also be our first female Pierce County […]
Letter: Father's Day – the gift of time
I checked my watch to see if it was indeed time to wake up. I hoped it wasn’t, but light streaming through the window said otherwise. My watch, however, as to informing me of anything that was its job to do, had gone totally bonkers. Date and time were intermittently flashing, with both having returned […]
Letter: No more paper plates, now what? Thoughts on navigating through life
A couple friends went on a hunting trip out-of-state, arranging to meet another of their friends who, in turn, would secure the primitive area camp site none of whom had ever been to. Being a good distance, it was not until quite late that the supposed turn onto the somewhat obscure road began. Since cell […]
Westside Story – Face & Name Recognition
Recently, Ed Troyer announced his candidacy for Sheriff of Pierce County. Ed is a kind, sweet man who has donated a great deal of his life to many community concerns. In doing so, Ed has made our world a better place. I laud Ed for his efforts and accomplishments in these areas. I have always […]
Across the Fence: Finding the Good Stuff
Indeed, these days it seems hard to stay calm and focused. 2020 seems to develop into what the Queen of England would call an annus horribilis (i.e. a horrible year). Not even considering political sensitivities, I guess we all agree that we are not happy about a devastating pandemic and its immediate consequences. And we […]
Letter: Maintain eye contact – a trailhead lesson for life
My wife and I were celebrating our 43rd anniversary – now five years ago – and had spent a delightful day at Pacific Beach on the Washington Coast where we built not one but two sea creatures; floated a drift-wood sailboat – complete with seagull feathers for spinnaker and main – down the stream emptying […]
Letter: June Tillicum meeting cancelled and a call to create
In the midst of the chaos, there can be, within the community, an opportunity. Change pace to place and you begin to understand. It’s the message by Simon and Garfunkel in “The 59th Street Bridge Song” expressed in the opening verse: “Slow down, you move too fast”. It might be your garden. Or building a […]