Mountain Tops
Sometimes when one travels afar and ascends slopes to view summits, clouds cover. Sometimes when we dig in and climb hard, we still can’t see the heights. We end up short and feel cheated—defeated. Driving two and a half hours to the base of Mt. Rainier, an active volcano standing majestic at 14, 410 feet […]
Mission Possible
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson sent off two brave explorers, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, with their entourage and supplies enough for two years. They set out from St. Louis along the Mississippi River to explore the newly purchased Louisiana Territory, following water route to the Pacific Ocean. Sounds simple. The journey was anything but. […]
Endings and Beginnings
Swimming against the current, salmon travel hundreds of miles from sea through river and come to a hard stop. The end. A dead end. I saw where the salmon end and begin yesterday. They end and begin at the falls. Each year, without fail, salmon swim through the mouth of the Columbia all the way to this […]
Anchors and Chains
When pain is to be borne, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all. C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore,” Dorothy says it as she wakes up from […]
Field of Weeds
At the Piggly Wiggly, in the aisle by the coffee, I spotted Fred, our neighbor down the road. We started talking farm talk, him with his cows and chickens, me with our horses. “Worried about hay this year?” I ask. “Nah,” he answered, scrunching his nose. “Cows will eat what your horses won’t.” We laughed. […]
Unexpected Blessings
Two years ago, I planted a new lilac bush in the back perennial bed. I had wanted to buy a dark purple, French lilac like the one we had outside the bay window of our former home. The garden center had exactly what I had been looking for, or so I thought. I read the […]
Hard to Swallow
Honestly, you would think this place is for the birds! These days, I feel like I’m sort of living in an Alfred Hitchcock movie. No matter where I go, I’m squawked at and swooped down upon and pooped on by some angry bird mom who sees me as a threat to her brood. Telling her […]