This morning when I woke up and climbed out of bed, I opened the blinds to gaze out our sliding window to the back yard. It’s a habit I’ve had ever since this summer when I saw Mr. Bear (Mord) out there. This morning was another animal, black in color, but much smaller. It was…
It’s almost December. We’ve survived nearly a year of Trump, and often I’ve looked at this crazy unreality as a challenge. It seems like just yesterday I walked through Washington DC with hundreds of thousands of others. Today it was reported that North Korea launched a ballistic missile and probably has the capability to strike…
Going into the week of American Thanksgiving, I’ve watched the skies turn rheumy and gray. We’re currently under a heavy rainfall warning, with up to 150 mm by Thursday. Watching the skies in the morning, on the way to work, with the peak of city buildings disappearing into the foggy atmosphere, it seems like a…
We keep getting warnings of weather advisories: snow, wind, that type of thing, but it has not happened too badly yet. Friday morning we awoke to our first snow this season, yet it was nothing but a ground dusting. I wanted to take a photo, but it was too dark that morning and by the…
Every year I donate a portion of book sales from my press, Moon Willow Press, to planting trees. It’s really just a niche micro-press, publishing about 2-4 books a year on average. It’s such a huge endeavor for me to run personally that I’ve now put a hold on submissions so I can complete some…
If you’re a writer, you might have several drafts of things sitting around. I do as well. I have two novels I am actively working on, both in a series. The first novel is just a slight revision. The second is a new book in the series, and over the weekend I just realized exactly…
I just wrote a blog post yesterday, but wanted to quickly honor Gord Downie, amazing singer and man who died yesterday from brain cancer. He cared deeply about the environment and social justice. I am not going to write about his life, just briefly what his music meant to me. I am too choked up…
While northern California has had unprecedented wildfires, not too far north on the coast we are experiencing severe rain events. Last night I fell asleep to a heavy downpour. It continued on until this morning, and on the way to work I saw downed branches and wet leaves plastered everywhere. At the moment we have…
I came back from Canada Thanksgiving weekend rather exhausted and needing some downtime. We did have a great time over the long weekend, including a hike around McConnell Lake Saturday morning–not an overly long hike (3.5K), but just enough to continue walking some distance, with the occasional run. On the way home, I was awed…
In three days, my dad would have turned 80 years old. He died eight years ago. I cannot conceive of him as 80. Even in his dying year, eight years ago, he seemed frail but still too young to die. I’ve written about him often, and I still think about him all the time. He…
