How about declaring 2016 the Year of Serendipity? I believe in serendipity. I experience lots of it in my nomadic life (though I often use ‘miracle’ instead); I want even more “unexpected discoveries”; and I’ve been curious about how serendipity happens. So, what serendipity that I picked up a copy of the first Sunday New York Times of 2016! It has an article, ”Cultivating the Art of Serendipity” by Pagan Kennedy. She was a pioneer of the “zine movement” of the 1990s which po

An Occasional Post on Art that Thrills Me The other day during my stay in Santa Fe, I stumbled upon Max Cole. She’s a minimalist artist, originally from Kansas, whose work was being shown in tandem with the work of Constance Dejong at Charlotte Jackson Fine Arts. When I entered the gallery I had no idea that I was just in time for a talk by the two women. I stayed for it, luckily getting a front row seat. And as I left the gallery, I found myself crying because I was so moved

An Occasional Post about Art that Thrills Me If you become paralyzed with awe when you see monumental rocks, vast stone cliffs, or boulders that only a god could make, split, and balance—then the bold paintings and charcoal sketches of Jane Culp should take your breath away. (See several jpgs below.) Jane is old-school: she was classically trained (at Yale), steeped in the New York art culture (her husband was a well-known artist, too, and art critic and teacher), and has spe

I’m starting to organize the 24,000+ pictures on my computer. Some are hard to categorize, but they make me laugh. As I come across them, I’ll put them here: The exhausted chair

The little black dog is hunkered over, trembling. She’s a naked waif in her new summer haircut that’s removed every vestige of dignity, and with the shaking, she’s pathetic in the truest sense of the word. The little black dog, Coconut, cowers from fright at the noises. Why is she trembling so? Because the Neighbors on the Right (of the house where I’m housesitting) have started shooting firecrackers, and the delicious (to me) smell of sulfur filters in the window. I don’t kn

One of the big challenges I have in my writing…heck, why use that euphemism?… I’ve got a problem, a serious problem, a deal-breaker-for-a-reader problem: I don’t yet know how to create suspense well and I want my book to be page-turner. Recently, though, I’ve found a few small clues that I may be able to use toward solving this problem in my work. I read a knocked-my-socks-off, non-fiction, children’s/young adult book about the history of the atom bomb. It’s riveting. No kidd

Civility on Highways & Byways Please & Thank You always help. Aid for the confused wayfarer Hmm, couldn’t this be applied in several contexts? Why limit favorite messages to tee-shirts and magnets? You Know What I Mean Don’t wake up the baby. An invasive, tenacious, aggressive weed that’s taking over Britain? Or an edible, tasting like rhubarb or asparagus, with anti-aging, anti-oxident properties and used in nutraceuticals? Sculpture Vashon Gothic Cool Gary with a chain saw.

I got up at 5:00 am in order to make coffee, feed the cats, shower, and cook kale with scrambled eggs. I got in the car and entered the Burton Camp address in my GPS. I was the last to arrive at the circle of logs around a flickering fire in the middle of the woods at the edge of the bay below a pink streaked-sky for the 2015 Vashon Ecumenical Easter Sunrise Service. (That’s a lot of prepositional phrases in a row.) The campfire around which we gathered on damp logs at Easter

KEEP VASHON WEIRD, it says. But how do you take a rectangular photo of a the lettering on a curved cup? “Keep Vashon Weird”—That’s the slogan of the little island I’m on now. But I don’t know as I’d describe it as ‘weird’; the word has a pejorative feel. Rather, I’d nominate: “KEEP VASHON PARADISE!” That’s what it seems to be to me, coming from the juniper-and-cedar-pollen zones of the Northern New Mexico desert. I’m thrilled I’m housesitting here for almost three months! Vas

WHITE LIGHTNING’S ODOMETER MILEAGE: Lv Eldorado/Santa Fe, NM: 89,464 to Crestone CO (visit friend)… Denver (visit family)… Niwot/Boulder, CO (visit friends). Listened to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude Lv Niwot, CO: 89,969 to Boise, ID: 90,773. That’s 804 miles in a day—without too much stress. Listened to Philippa Gregory, The Other Boleyn Girl Lv Boise, ID: 90,773 to Vancouver, WA/Portland, OR: 91,219 Lv Vancouver, WA/Portland, OR. Stopped to see Mount

This 2005 Newbery Honor Book is reviewed by Rowan, age 13 Al Capone Does My Shirts is about Matthew, aka Moose, who lives on Alcatraz with his mother, who teaches music lessons; his father, who works as an electrician; and his autistic sister. I think this book provides a fascinating portrayal of life in Alcatraz in 1935. Many of the people that Moose interacts with do not believe that he lives on Alcatraz. Or else they are awed by that fact. Many of the children at Moose’s

There’s a charming, newish housing development in the southern Santa Fe, NM, a few blocks from Cerillos Road. It’s called Nava Adé, which means Belonging to the Land. It has earth-toned Spanish Pueblo-style adobe houses with softly molded corners and vegas, pine logs, jutting out from the walls to provide support for the flat roofs. Large and small homes intermingle throughout the development; they’re professionally landscaped with river stone, native plants, wood chips ,and

In 2014, I did a lot of driving in White Lightning, my Prius that gets great gas mileage—hovering around 48 mpg. Often I record the amount and price of gas in my Quicken accounting system, just for fun. Here are some prices I’ve paid for unleaded in different places over the year: $3.48* 1/9/14* California $3.10* 2/17/14* New Mexico $3.23* 3/5/14* New Mexico $3.85* 4/27/14* Colorado $4.06* 4/29/14* Oregon $3.90* 5/30/14* Oregon $3.93* 6/17/14* Oregon $3.79* 7/28/14* Californi

Date: January 1, 2015 Location: Synergia Ranch, Santa Fe, New Mexico New Year’s Day is my favorite holiday. Why? Because what could be better than welcoming the future by remembering old friends, saying good-bye to what’s past, starting afresh, kissing and hugging those near you—and celebrating all that with the entire world? (For really, doesn’t the whole world use the Gregorian calendar and arrive at New Year’s on the same day? Oh, I know there’s the international date-line

Date? Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014 Location? Downtown San Francisco Synchronicity (aka Miracle) of the Day? Who knew that San Francisco had an annual Santa Convention? Not we! (In the spirit of the season, do forgive my doggerel!) My friend Linda and I were on our way to a park, when what to our wondering eyes should appear but four swigging Santas, looking ever so dear. We stopped and shot snaps: These eager Santas were actually lawyers in disguise. And turned ourselves round, so

An Occasional Post about Art that Thrills Me Date? Dec 10, 2014 Location? San Francisco, CA—Alcatraz Island At the Alcatraz Cruise ticket office: I like that logo! Synchronicity(aka Miracle) of the Day? Meeting Anna, an art-historian docent, at the beginning of the exhibit; she did an excellent job of putting Ai Weiwei’s work in an historical and political context for us after we approached her and asked questions. That’s what you’ve gotta do in a museum, I’m learning—talk to

Date: Monday, Dec 8, 2014 Today’s Drive: Elko NV to San Francisco Mileage: 84, 442 to 84,957 = 515 mi. Still all on I-80, except in the city. Synchronicity of the Day (aka Miracle): None noted, though that doesn’t mean they didn’t occur. Favorite Sign: “Report Shooting from Highway.” Huh? Curiosities: *A beautiful modern building to the north side of I-80, California Trail Center, not far from Elko. I wonder if anyone still walks that trail. Could be great fun. *Slogan of the

Date: Sunday, Dec 7, 2014 Today’s Drive: Boulder Co to Elko NV, all on I-80. Mileage: 83,680 to 84,442 = 762 mi. Enough for one day, for sure. Synchronicity of the Day (aka Miracle): At a McDonald’s near a gas station where I filled up, there’s free coffee; it’s last day of that offer! Favorite Sign: On the back of a dirty truck, “Have you paid it forward today?” That got me thinking. How could I pay it forward during a 12-hour driving day, sitting alone in my little capsule?

Date: Nov & Dec, 2014 Location: Niwot, CO, near Boulder, in a beautiful home overlooking a golf course Favorite Sites, Sights, and Happenings: It’s hard to scrape even the top layer of possibilities for entertainment, activity, and exploration in and around Boulder when there for only a few weeks. But that’s what time I had, house- and dog-sitting for old friends who trusted me to care for their blind dog, Scooter, when they went to the Big Apple for Thanksgiving. I do want t

Date? Monday, December 1, 2014 Location? Boulder, Colorado—Sun shining through gray clouds; the mountains, fog-hidden Reading? Betsy Woodman, Emeralds Included: A Jana Bibi Adventure. This is Book Three of Betsy’s witty trilogy about a gentle, smart, independent Scottish woman’s adventures in the small Himalayan town of Hamara Nagar in India in the early 1960s. That made-up town’s name is a joke: it means Our Town in Hindi. Like the Pulitzer Prize-winning play (which I know