You’d think I’d learn, particularly since the lesson has pounded me on the head repeatedly. There’s even a “law” that covers it. The basic premise of the law of attraction is that what you focus on materializes in your life, though perhaps in a different form than you anticipated. I’ve been contemplating what part...
My daily walk starts along the small lagoon that lies between my condominium and a lakeside beach. Whatever the weather, the watery border brightens my day. At the very least, reflections dance on the water, but usually there are also ducks. Migrations bring flocks of wigeons whose distinct coloring adds a bright spot to...
The young women in this YouTube video call their poem “Consent”. It’s a word too often used by young men who pressure their dates into “consensual” sex. Most women will understand first hand. They will remember a time their refusal was ignored, when their body and spirit were violated. One incident that stays painfully...
High places and I have always lived in uneasy truce, at least as long as I can remember. Some recent experiences have made me see my fear of heights in a new light. I didn’t have a word for altophobia (fear of high places) when I was around ten and went scrambling over rocky...
When Robin and I had our first date, I tested him. I’d witnessed the homophobia of someone close to me and didn’t like it. In the circle of my beloved friends are men and women who are gays and lesbians. Their sexuality is immaterial to me. What’s important is their hearts. By the time...
One of the oddest occasions I found “just in time” strength was with an amorous camel. Not just any camel, but the one living on my farm. I may have the only car in Canada with camel tooth marks on the door. They were made by Dundas, a Canadian-born, Bactrian (that’s a two-humper) bull....
The children from the Seattle hospital’s burn unit were brought in on stretchers and in wheelchairs. Some were ambulatory and pushed IV poles. The youngest was 5, the oldest 15. The 15-year-old was burned over most of his body. He faced years of skin grafts and a lifetime of unwanted attention from people who...
Single mothers were rare among my circle of friends in Twin Falls, Idaho, but I was lucky. I got the best. Mother was a good teacher. Here are four of her lessons. 1. Decisions have consequences, for which I alone am responsible. I hit the “terrible twos” at the age of three. Until then...
When we left the movie theatre last night, I couldn’t talk for an hour. I love going to films, but they usually don’t hit me in the solar plexus—or should that be soul-er plexus?—the way this one did. The movie was Crackie, a Canadian production filmed in Newfoundland. Mary Walsh is a natural as...
Stories are valuable precisely to the degree that they are for the moment useful in our ongoing task of finding coherency in the world. ~William Kittredge, Owning It All (1988) When I left Rochester, New York, to move back to Seattle, one of my last storytelling events was an evening of stories with the...
When the call came, I didn’t hesitate to jump in the car and drive down Interstate I-5, from Seattle, Washington, to Napa, California. My brother was in hospital once again. Something in his voice told me he needed me to be there. I’ve lived in snow country most of my life, from Idaho to...
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