The Sky's the Limit

Greetings again, already! Life's been full since my last email with Army rangers parachuting into the Hood Canal, a writer's conference and reading in Portland, a new essay that led to a radio interview, winning a photo contest, an upcoming poetry reading, and watching bald eagles breakfast on a seagull on the beach this morning. Join me for a quick recap.

May All Who Enter Here Be Comforted

Three years ago I injured myself pulling blackberries and couldn't walk for weeks afterward. I had an MRI a month after the injury and wrote about the unexpectedly spiritual experience in an essay at Image Journal's "Good Letters" blog last week.

In response to that publication, I received an invitation last night to do an interview today on the drive home show aired on a KWRD, a Christian radio station in Pittsburgh. You can listen to our short conversation about MRIs and "O Sacred Head Now Wounded" here.

Hood Canal Parachuters

A massive C17 military aircraft circled overhead, part of a joint training exercise between the 304th Rescue Squadron out of Portland and the 204th Airlift Squadron out of Hickam AFB in Hawaii, and I watched from my windows as parachuters jumped from the plane floating through the sky for minutes before landing in the water. I was able to film both a day drop and a night drop. You can watch them on youtube. 

Phone Book Contest

My passion for capturing beauty on the Hood Canal paid off recently: I'm the winner of our local cable company's phone book cover contest. (There were only ten entries—six of them mine—have I told you I live in rural Washington now?) I haven't used a phone book in years, but evidently some folks still do and I hope they enjoy the cover.

Starry, Starry Night

Four wonderful friends accompanied me to Mother Foucualt's bookstore in Portland Saturday night for a multi-author reading from Baobab Press' new anthology This Side of the Divide. I read excerpts from my story "Impressions of a Family" (shared here with you) to an appreciative crowd. I even received a second round of applause for my Van Gogh skirt.

Poetry in Motion

My brother-in-law Sterling Warner, a recently retired college English professor, and I are sponsoring an open mike poetry night at the North Mason Library in Belfair on April 18th in honor of National Poetry Month. You're invited!

Recommended Nonfiction About the Natural World

This quartet of books is alternately incriminating and inspiring as we consider the impacts of human behavior on the planet, its creatures, and the abilities of these complex ecosystems to continue to sustain life when they've been disrupted. 

The Breath of a Whale is one woman's story of her encounters with the variety of whales in the Pacific Ocean. Published by a writer who lives in the Puget Sound region, it includes the endangered orca population familiar to me, as well as first-hand accounts with species I hadn't heard much about. An ultimately hopeful book.

The Hour of Land, is a beautifully written and researched exploration of the complexities in managing and preserving several of America's National Parks by award winning environmental writer Terry Tempest Williams. National Parks may be "our best idea" but their existence is precarious and threatened daily.

The water resources we have are nearly exhausted, and beavers are essential in preserving them, explains Ben Goldfarb in Eager as he traces the near extermination of beavers, and the happy results of their reintroduction and protection in certain areas. Beavers can save our watersheds and aquifers if we'll allow them to, Goldfarb posits, and he made a "Beaver Believer" out of me.

Listening to Eager reminded me of Water: A Natural History, a book I recorded on tape for my daughter's junior high school Nature Academy English class nearly 20 years ago. The book began with the roles of prairie dogs and buffalo in watersheds and continued to wastewater treatment methods. I don't think the class ever  finished the book, but it opened my eyes.

I'm grateful for the necessary, elegant, and fascinating writing that increases awareness and invites us to ponder difficult questions about our environment and its preservation. 

Bald Eagle Breakfast

This morning some bald eagles were snacking on a seagull on the beach outside our window while I ate my own breakfast. A surreal circle of life experience. Here's a short video.

Autographs and Reviews

Thank you for the wonderful response to my new book. I've had several requests for autographed copies. If you'd like one, please send me an email with your address. The cost is $13 payable to me.

If you've read my book, please consider leaving a review on Amazon or sharing a link to your friends via social media.