Every year, the International Day of Peace falls on September 21. But why not celebrate peace every day? I’m not suggesting you run around with a billboard declaring, “World Peace or Bust!” That accomplishes little. To realize true peace, true happiness, you need to practice it as you go about your daily activities,
This article was originally published as one of my weekly garden columns… Let me begin with a gentle apology: Professional columnists say you should never devote your columns to more than one topic. Fat chance. Here in Kodiak, Alaska, there’s so much going on
Whew. Every summer, life in Kodiak, Alaska ramps up: My husband Marty and I run an oceanfront B&B and host about 100 tours on our boat in the form of wildlife viewing/photo trips. As the chief cook and bottle washer, I have
Every year I spend a glorious amount of time creating a
When Libby McClaren was diagnosed with cancer, the doctor recommended immediate surgery to remove the tumor from her bladder, followed by chemo and radiation treatments. Libby doesn’t recall how she reacted but she needed quiet time.
Growing up in the rainy Pacific Northwest, winters were gray and summers couldn’t come fast enough. But tagging along with Mom to the grocery store provided some relief. Wheeling the cart along the bins of colorful fruits and veggies, she’d stop and motion for me to pick out an orange.
As I entered a Target store in Phoenix, Arizona I was surrounded by pink balloons, stuffed teddy bears, and shelves jammed with greeting cards and shiny red boxes of chocolates. I hurried through the jungle, passing end-cap displays for St. Patrick’s Day and Easter. Suddenly
For the past couple weeks I’ve been holed up in my office. Lights dimmed, I stand at my desk, quietly working on my iMac to produce a Powerpoint presentation for our local “Heart for Hospice” fundraiser. As I pair inspirational quotes to my images, concepts swirl around me like gentle zephyrs:
In the winter of 1984, I delivered my personal belongings to a Seattle shipping company and then drove to SeaTac airport to catch a flight to Kodiak, Alaska, a large, kidney-shaped
If you’re like me, you need a goal—even a tiny one—or you might end up like a lost duck, waddling along the lake shore, but never getting into the water. Today I’m sharing a dozen resolutions, mostly slanted for gardeners. But if you’ve never used a trowel,
Wishing you and your loved ones a Christmas filled with joy and light,
So my husband and I are on a road trip from Kodiak Island to the big city of Anchorage, Alaska. Our journey involves a 10-hour ferry ride followed by a 5-hour drive through winter wonderlands you read about in story books.
Every morning at 6 AM, our public radio station wakes us up with Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac. If you haven’t heard the podcast narrated by Keillor, it’s a wonderful, 2 to 3-minute, “this day in history” snapshot, followed by
A recent snowfall found me in a nostalgic mood, so I sat down to watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the animated story narrated by Burl Ives as Sam the singing snowman. While tapping my foot to
Have you ever arrived in a community and felt hugged? That was my first impression about Edmonds, Washington, my sister’s town. As we sipped coffee, sampled toasted cheese sandwiches, and strolled along the high tide mark looking for beach glass, I thought, “Wow, this is one of the most
As I sipped my coffee, a large BC Ferry made its way through the narrow, granite-lined channel in front of the bed and breakfast we were staying in on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. It was October 11, a soft, overcast day; the day before Canada’s Thanksgiving. Our hosts who lived upstairs, had loaded the fridge
I was photographing at Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC recently, bedazzled by the amazing display of dahlias. I was having a lot of fun composing the sea anemone-like shapes, textures and