Salt of the Sea
My head dipsbelow the surface of the water.a cornucopia of colors, sunflower yellow, cobalt blue move through the shimmering turquoise.Piscine creatures with electric glowing stripes andfins like twirling lace.An iridescent parrot fish feasts on blooms of coral with its beak-like…
Malarkey and other lessons from a 6th grade teacher
Bill and I took a trip to North Dakota to visit my old sixth-grade teacher, Rex Cook, in April this year. With a bit of updating, this post was written when we saw Rex in 2016. Rex passed away in…
Synchronicity
It was my privilege to have an article published in Wildheart magazine, the tenth and final issue of this beautiful publication. The theme is “Synchronicity.” My article appears below, but please find the magazine and read the other truly remarkable…
We Had A Plan
In May, the garden journal detailed
when peas were planted, carrots sown.
We tracked precipitation, germination, marveled
at the lengthening days.
Then spring, in all its anticipation
Of perfect harvest, gave birth to summer.
An unruly offspring, she danced
Rosemary
A peculiar thing happened in the produce aisle at Fred Meyer on Monday. In some respects, the incident hardly seems worth mentioning. But it has stayed with me nonetheless, a moment I may remember for some time. First, some background:…
Nuthatch
I was working at the kitchen stove, making a batch of mustard pickles wondering if there is any way back to a more charitable view of the world than the one I currently hold. A stubborn film of cynicism colors…
Beet Therapy
It is harvest time here on our little farm; the garden is at the end of its season. Carrots have been pulled, blanched, and put up in the freezer. Today the task is to process beets. I’m grateful for the…
Awards and Other News
While our world has changed in big ways and small through the 2020 pandemic, the wheels have still been turning in my writing life. The review I wrote of Katy Yocum’s novel Three Ways to Disappear, published in the North American Review, won…
Old Boots
It won’t be long before we’ll be swapping winter bunny boots for summer footwear. Our assortment of boots sits on a shelf in the mudroom, out of reach of Lily, our shoe-chewing Aussie pup. The collection clearly shows that I…
The Education of Lily Blue
I stepped into my kitchen yesterday and discovered that a pan of cinnamon rolls I had left on the stovetop to rise, now lay face down in a gooey mess on the kitchen floor. A lot of thoughts ran through…