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 [...]

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Summer is a powerful elixir for most Seattleites. We drink in summer (i.e., July and August) like a tonic that cures the ailments brought on by the previous ten months. We cling to it. We exhaust it. We mourn its loss and revel in its memory.  On one such summer evening, I was enjoying a [...]

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 What friends won’t tell you, tensile strength and gravity will. When the universe speaks, it’s good to listen. Should you ignore the headsup, you may find yourself bottoms up, doused in your favorite beverage. (Truth be told, I managed to keep my sweet tea upright both times.) I could say these motel chairs are old and the metal weak, [...]

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Boz is quick to point out that chest-high grass is no dog’s friend. Rain or no rain, it’s time to mow. If weather was a game of rock- paper-scissors, I’d have to say clouds trump sun in our neck of the woods, just as paper covers rock. Every year, we await solstice and the arrival of summer like [...]

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 Freshly-picked ice cubes: There’s nothing like the taste of homegrown. The topic of weather is rarely tabled here on the island. In fact, it’s usually the opener and the final word. “Some weather, eh?” The question is posed to friends and strangers alike whether we’re sporting a sweater or galvanized in Gore-Tex, ordering a latte or [...]

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Slugs get a bad rap (justifiably so) around here.  How can a slow-moving creature with the viscosity of a gumdrop manage to clear cut foliage like its wielding a chainsaw and machete?  Just recently though, I noticed a more viturous result from the intrusive invertebrates: artfulness. When not devouring dahlias or noshing on nasturtiums, my [...]

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Nature doles out some amazing colors. When my camellia Taylor’s Pink Perfection began to bloom for the first time, I found its blush exuberant, unapologetic and very reminiscent of a hue I’d come across before: the lipstick color of my fourth grade teacher Miss Wells. In my recollection, Miss Wells and Delta Burke are now the [...]

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My back stoop covers just about enough space to provide resting and reading room for one husky guy and two beefy bulldogs (given the pups opt to hold court on the lower step). A maple mantled in moss shades our eyes and a feeble rail triumphs as shelving for a cup of cooling coffee and a couple Milk Bones.  The newspaper remains folded [...]

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Bees are magic made visible. From my first barefoot encounter in a clover patch, to the eye-level flybys among the ligustrum, to their temporary confines in a jelly jar, honeybees have graced my memories of childhood and summer like the sweetness of the nectar they collect. I began keeping bees several years ago. As a beekeeper, my technique is not to [...]

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 Sometimes the view can speak for itself.  On the M/V Issaquah, view to the Northwest; photo below, a turn to the port side and the Southeast view with Mt. Rainier peering out of the clouds.

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American Gothic, Circa 1993 I’m a pen and paper kind of guy. The need to email, text, twitter and frantically facebook excapes me. I still get a charge from trekking to my mailbox to see what awaits. (Yes, I am a simple man.) Yesterday among the seed catalogs, grocery store flyers from non-island grocery stores, and regretful Netflix selections was my [...]

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My Favorite Seed Catalogs When friends ask, “So Tom, what are you reading these days?” I have to skirt the truth. I cite something I’ve read before or some nonfiction tome that brings this line of questioning to a speedy halt. Truth be told, I do read regularly; it’s just my books of choice are seed [...]

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