Hummers – The Bringers of Summer

The little Hucklings would somehow manage to sit motionless for even more than a minute, transfixed by the magic and antics of our “Zoom birdies!” as they dropped in to enjoy, guard, harass or drink from the feeders we so carefully filled and placed. Those tiny...

The Legacies of Our Fathers

Funny, really, how for so long I saw myself as a unique guy, benefiting from the lessons of my father, The Old Man, but (Heaven Forbid!) not like him at all. And then one day I did something – or thought something – that took me by surprise. Bit by bit, moment by...

Sorry Toto – We’re Not in the ’50s and ’60s Anymore

A week ago, Boyfriend-in-law Brian and I were up the Icicle with a paddle. My long-time friend and fishing pro Shane Magnuson was finding the springers in the river, but that high water kept most of them off our rigs. (Still, I guess we won: we still got more of them...

Lightning: The Alka-Seltzer of the Air

Each year about now I get excited to see an old friend – one I don’t see so much here in Paradise (and not all that commonly anywhere on the Cascades’ east slopes, actually). I almost forget how much I miss the excitement until, one afternoon, I hear that distant...