A Conspicuous Vanity
I have avoided writing about overtly political topics in this blog, mostly because it’s divisive and I need space for other aspects of my writing life. Satire is a reliable outlet for frustration, angst, and general world-weariness, but as I try to digest the events of yet another exhausting week of political crisis in the first days of 2020, satire serves neither this topic nor [...]
How to become an ink-stained wretch.
I subscribe to a daily email roundup and summary of local environmental news called the Salish Sea News and Weather. Yesterday’s installment contained a story from Seattle’s KOMO News called “Got squid? Why officials say you should catch and eat it out of Puget Sound.” It went on to say, “Forget fishing for salmon. Puget Sound crab pots are so passé. Squid is in.” The [...]
Why are pigeons gray? And other vitally important questions.
I'm following up on a previous post on the meaning of home and how laughter helps define it, and on another post on the science behind the benefits of laughing. Here’s an example, one of many, of how the weekly round table of six friends who meet at our local pub, drove, in less than a minute, a perfectly good conversational topic right over the cliffs [...]
Happy Dystopia Week!
Yes folks, it's that time of year again, where thoughts turn to zombies and we are reminded by the Center For Disease Control and FEMA that the federal government has preparedness pages for the apocalypse. I kid you not, see for yourself. And here. This year the only difference is that in Congress and at the White House, shit just got real. The whole country is [...]
The Alchemy of Laughter
My friend Kristen, who is an otherwise upstanding Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, was visiting our home with her husband, Lou. We all knew Kristen takes fitness seriously, but over pre-dinner drinks she surprised us by saying, “Did I ever tell you about the time my mother and I participated in a Nude 5K Race?” A brief silence descended, like the kind you get when someone [...]
Where Everyone Knows Your Name.
It started innocently enough, with our local sailmaker and friend Carol Hasse saying, “Oh, you MUST meet these two new friends of mine! You will absolutely LOVE them!” So she set up a blind date of sorts at our hometown pub: my husband, Jim, and me, with these two strangers Oscar and Bill, who were probably thinking, well this is different. Hasse said, “I’ll be [...]