tall clover farm

Yesterday, I stood on my porch grousing about the legions of dandelions encamped on my lawn. Hours later, my goddaughter Isabel stood among them, delighting in their presence.  Where I saw weeds, she saw limitless bouquets.  Where I decried a villain, she beheld a beauty. Sometimes all you need is a bouquet of perspective to transform the irksome into the acceptable (but I’m still getting out the mower), and truthfully, sometimes [...]

[Read more →]

Mt. Rainier tops the view of Tramp Harbor and Maury Island. Summer showed up yesterday with a hearty and heated hello. With temperatures on the island reaching 95 degrees, Boz hit the pool, Gracie found some shade and I pondered taking a plunge in Puget Sound. My only complaint about Vashon Island is the absence of Lake Washington, undeniably Seattle’s best place to [...]

[Read more →]

As I coasted down the steep hill to the Pt. Defiance ferry dock, actively praying that I would make the boat, the security gate which separates running vehicles from bone-chilling Puget Sound teetered like a failing flag pole. With gravity (and a punctually-minded ferry worker) now in charge, the striped barricade fell back to earth, corraling me on the dock while the sweet little M/V [...]

[Read more →]

Yesterday was a big day for Boz and Gracie. Sure they had dollops of dressing and gravy chasers to indulge in, but their T-Day treats were spiced with a little something extra: triumph.  Last Thanksgiving Day, they were inconsolable when the National Dog Show judges slighted their breed,the bulldog, choosing the Lhaso Apso as best breed of the non-sporting [...]

[Read more →]

Boz is obsessed with apples. In his world and from his point of view, they fall from the sky, which is something you can’t say about a dog biscuit. Milk-bone handouts or kibbles found under the couch are not as forthcoming as the windfall of twenty apple trees, all of which are a short jaunt [...]

[Read more →]

  Heirloom tomatoes: Amish Paste, White Beauty, Old German, Pineapple, Hillbilly, Lemon Boy and Sugar Lump. If I left these on the vines, October rains would sauce them for me. Some days show up like a great performance; the key players tune up to bring you a perfect mix of light, breeze and balm. Sunday [...]

[Read more →]

Bullish on art, Boz strikes a pose for Rondi: pensive, yet playful Vashon has a host of galleries and fine spaces to show art, and each first Friday of the month island artists and galleries host Gallery Cruise, an island-wide art opening to launch new shows and new artists. Last Friday, my friend Rondi Lightmark had a [...]

[Read more →]

 Boz and Gracie lounging al fresco among the carnage I must have been drugged or under the control of space aliens to have allowed one particular oversized sofa a resting place in my home.  Secured at our island thrift shop Granny’s Attic, the sofa was as comfortable as it was ugly, an olive drab mastodon that [...]

[Read more →]

  Proverb for May 23, 2009: He who hogs a sofa, will make no qualms about doing the same on a hammock.  Then again, he who can adjust the hammock’s height wields all the power. Truth be told, the view is too good not to share.

[Read more →]

Tulips at the market: my favorite harbinger of spring I think the Dutch had it right in the seventeeth century; why not base your economy on the beauty of the tulip? It’s a most worthy form of currency. And no offense to other spring bloomers, but that’s a feat neither a daffodil nor a hyacinth could pull off. [...]

[Read more →]

Bullish on Biscuits: Boz and Gracie grace a card from Great Dog Greetings What’s not to love about a Bulldog mug? It’s hard to believe so much cuteness can be packed into one canine and it still has room for wrinkles. For those who comment, “It’s a face only a mother could love.” Boz and Gracie recognize such remarks [...]

[Read more →]

Boz: dutiful in his quest to leave no crumb unaccounted for What’s my formula for sparkling dishes? One vintage Whirlpool dishwasher One determined, tidbit-obsessed pooch An opened dishwasher door that can support 60 pounds of rockin’ bulldog Having a mindset that indulges such unrefined–albeit entertaining–behavior. Ensuring that invited dinner guests don’t read my blog post for February 15, 2009. 

[Read more →]