Yesterday I made the ninety mile journey to Bellingham to meet a friend. I asked her to pull out her magic wand to change the weather, and as I arrived, the big yellow ball emerged. I had time to walk the beach and capture some photos, finally getting some blues. The spots on the camera [...]
¶ A Secret
Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous and I took my son for a walk. The sentence sounds so simple, but the action is not. I left my job five months ago to be a stay-at-home-mom and have spent those months inside and in pajamas. Just the thought of leaving the house and potentially having to relate to [...]
Damp sand speckled blank parchment as the horse galloped past her silent retreat. She had never been one of those girls to request a pony for Christmas. Well, she did ask for one when she was nine, the year all her friends did the same, but she never really wanted one. That was around [...]
I am fortunate to live in a beautiful place, so I am always inspired. The last four stories were inspired by the town of Snohomish, a few miles from my home. It is a small city along the river, and the stories take place in a fictitious coffee shop on 2nd Avenue. The town is [...]
I trusted the counselor when she told me I should take Honors English in high school. I didn’t really understand what it meant, but I followed along. The teacher was also the adviser for the yearbook and I was the only student in the class who was not on the yearbook staff. I was definitely [...]
¶ Baptism
A chair gouged the stone floor and a man dashed after the fisherman. Someone silenced the music and the barista stood frozen, stirring. A tide of voices floated to the back of the cafe as gossip turned to speculation. The man in dripping waders had gulped a single word and disappeared. Now a woman in [...]
¶ Auspice
She clutched the paper-wrapped package and splashed across the street. Others viewed her life as disorganized, chaotic. But beneath the frayed surface there was rhythm and structure. This meeting was not planned. He left a message while she was at the gym. The coffee shop was across from the printer and she was able to [...]
The report was due in three hours. It was the same each time. For six years he had neglected it until the final hours, possibly with hope he would be gone before it was due again. He crammed his gear into a bag and left the office, driving in search of an anonymous coffee shop [...]
Metal scraped stone, sweeping back rays of autumn afternoon. Customers posed on chairs and couches, faces bathed in blue light and restrained emotion. He shuffled forward in the line, squinting at the neon hieroglyphics on the menu board. The young woman in front of him recited her order, and though he recognized the words, they [...]
I am the kind of person who twists tiny things into much bigger, frequently distorted, occasionally inspiring things. The easiest way to make me happy is to bundle me into the car and drive me to the beach. If you want to keep the vibe going for a while, put a camera in my hand. [...]