Christianson's Nursery, La Conner Washington

This is one of most aesthetically pleasing places to visit in the Skagit Valley. There are several boot scrapers scattered about to rid yourself of any remaining bits of heavy, caked on winter left clinging to your boots, weighing you down.

Give Winter Notice

Sometimes I just need to get outside, even in the winter - and gain a fresh perspective. 

Historic Ebey's Landing - Whidbey Island, Washington 

What Cedars See

These short, stunted cedars 

weren't lined up for 

a bonsai show. 

They face the future and 

the wind not defiantly, 

but with resilient 

resolve  - if there is 

such a thing for those 

deformed by life, minus

 limbs and broken middles. 

They live brutally 

buffeted and battered

on a bluff overlooking

the Puget Sound. But

perched there, they get to see 

the silhouette of Seattle's skyline 

nestled to the right

of Mount Ranier's pink glow -

every single night at sunset.

Historic Ebey's Landing - Whidbey Island, Washington 

High on a Bluff With God

I hate heights. 

Trusting my uneasy 

balance and bulk

to a path no wider 

than a goat path

with a drop off on 

one side, steepness

on the other, and 

no place to 

stop and rest 

terrifies me. I loved 

walking along the beach, but

the bluff above beckoned

and tempted me. 

 Honey, do you 

want to finish the loop

and get back to the 

truck before dark, asked 

my date. Yes, I do, but I'm 

paralyzed by how high I climbed -

five shaky steps at a time. I can't move.

Darling, I'm with you. I invited you. 

I wanted you to see it from here. 

Do you like it - this dazzling view? 

When I finally reached the path along the bluff, I felt faint and dizzy. I wondered if I was going to topple all the way to the bottom. Nothing there to stop me. Alone and desperate, I decided to start singing….

Oh Lord, you're beautiful. Your face is all I see. And when your eyes are on this child, your grace abounds to me. 

Tears streamed down my face as I tried to breathe calmly. A young man suddenly appeared in front of me. He looked back with the kindest eyes and said, you're going to get some great pictures. And disappeared. He wore a stocking cap. 

Historic Ebey's Landing - Whidbey Island, Washington 

The Feeding Place

Pigs feed on offal.

Chickens follow pigs and cows

around to eat the leftovers

dropping out the backside.

Vultures and crows find road kill

and carrion.

Swans and seagulls follow

new rows of black turned earth.

So will I find goodness

to feed on.

Historic Ebey's Landing - Whidbey Island, Washington

The Twinkle in His Eyes

Our little neighbor girl - the one who knocks on the door wondering if we can do art - came over to show me a craft she had done at school.

Craig let her in the door to my bedroom. She finds me having a dark day in bed with cramps and a heating pad. She climbs up, starts to get under the covers then wiggles out as she sees the gallon jar of buttons sitting on the nightstand. I tell her some of them were my grandmother's, and when I was little I spent many happy hours sorting and looking at them. 

I ask her if she wants to play with them. She says, sure, this jar isn't heavy for a strong girl like me - lugs it over to the bed, unscrews the lid and dumps it upside down. 

We spend slow time picking out big brown boulders, greens for leaves and grass, and brightly colored ones for flowers. She makes a button garden path across my white bedspread. We take a chatty stroll.  

I tell her it's time to go - we need to clean up - then I'm going to finish my movie.

She asks if she can watch it with me. No, it is in French and you probably wouldn't like it or understand it. 

Well, I speak French and my teacher calls me her gold nugget, she says. I burst into a belly laugh that displaces my cramps and makes me hemorrhage. You are my gold nugget too, Paige. I agree completely with your teacher. 

Say joi de vivre, Paige.  She repeats it - copying my poor accent. 

That is French. It means joy of life. You have the joy of life, girl. I'm so glad you come and share it with me.

I know, she says as she climbs down, tosses her curls, gets her boots on, and leaves. 

You're the Teacher's gold nugget, too, and he's always glad when you dance into the room. You being there makes his eyes twinkle. 

I Don't Know How to Knit

It wasn't about taking her to

 my favorite yarn shop

to meet the fascinating

 Finnish proprietress. 

It wasn't about having 

a Thai lunch afterward 

across the cobbled street.

It wasn't ever about knitting.

It wasn't about me 

talking her ear off while

 I held her captive.

It wasn't about taking 

pictures of us together, then

 tagging her on Facebook 

so the world would know

I had the honor of spending

 the entire afternoon with her.

I didn't have plans to tire her

 with my latest poetry 

or ask for advice about

writing a book.

Even though the colors and

 textures of shelves

 bursting with yarn send me

 into kinesthetic ecstasy

 and sensorial bliss

I must confess - I don't

know how to knit. 

I wanted to be with her 

 to taste old soul wisdom,

eat satisfying words,

 touch a silky hand, 

and follow her gaze.

I wanted to be with her 

because I can't find any kindred,

unencumbered, uncluttered, 

spiritual direction and validation

to help me explore these new, 

 unfamiliar menstrual pauses.

I wanted to be with her 

because I'm hungry for keen

observations, reminiscent 

memories of childhood, and lively,

  sprightly humor teetering on 

the ledge between proper and 'im'.

I wanted to be with her 

because I don't know where to find

older women who tell catastrophic

 stories that leave me wondering how

they survived the pain, or how God

transformed it into eucatastophe? 

Where are the women who, 

while telling about

the worst part 

of a life altering disaster

don't mind pausing while I ask,

but then what happened?

Who’ll shrug and smile, well,

I'm not sure exactly what

happened after that, but here

I am. 

I want reminded

how the story ends, 

 —  because the middle part

gets knotted and tangled.

And I don’t know how to knit. 

My timing was off. 

Just prior to my invitation she had

purchased her winter’s stash of yarn. 

She knows how to knit. 

Grandpa's Boot Trees and Valise

I smother 

his boots and valise 

with leather butter 

and wipe wood oil 

into the interlocking

 pieces of his boot trees 

trying to make his

  memory live again. 

Putting words down

on paper is the only way

 to reconstitute a hydrated 

version. Let it stand. 

Crayon Alchemy

Give a child

two sheets of waxed paper

crayons minus their wrappings

a sharpener or potato peeler and

an iron you don't care about. 

Let down the ironing board

to her belly height. 

Give a child time to be 

an alchemist 

and a roll of tape. 

She will turn your window

into a stained glass rose 

worthy of the finest 

cathedral on earth.

You will remember

again how to sit still

and let the colors of life 

pierce through until

you worship.