Coastal Notes

little bits of this and that

life

  • A Little Time Away

    My that was a truly lovely holiday season. I’d be counting my blessings, but, truly, I can’t count that high. The gouache above is a “picture in my head” from our 5 days in the Alaskan Interior in early November. We went chasing the Northern Lights with dear friends. We failed, but we had the Read more

  • A Moral Dilemma

    When I was in grammar school, I was bullied by the “big kid” in class.  As I recall it, this bullying was very specific — he wanted my lunch and he got it.  Now, mind you, I usually had pretty great lunches: Homemade sandwiches, homemade baked goods and from time to time, fresh lobster rolls Read more

  • well hello there, good old friend of mine

    It’s been a busy past few months, and I’ve given permission for many things to take me away from writing and painting. Isn’t it wonderful how, in the midst of our hectic, over scheduled, anxious and often chaotic lives there are these shining moments of profound joy. Moments of Grace, some of my friends would Read more

  • THE STORIES OF OUR LIVES

    We recently had to empty our car’s trunk, glovebox, center console and side door pockets in a very very short period of time – about 10 minutes. We literally dumped everything into the very handy, very large quantity of grocery bags stored in the trunk (both paper and reusable). Later we sorted through these things, Read more

  • Coming Home, Again

    We’ve spent the past two evenings warmly wrapped in joy (and excellent food and drink!) as invitees to the 3 day marriage festival of our good friends’ only child. She is marrying into a family from abroad, and the large cohort of friends and family from both sides are diverse and far flung. This reminds Read more

  • CATCHING UP

    [Ed Note: I have been informed my previous posts may be housing GSP errors (grammar, spelling, punctuation). *sigh* no doubt. I will endeavor to review and correct, but the point of my exercise is more creative than editorial, and so no promises are made. Thank you as always for your correspondence.] [Photo by me: Shinkai Read more

  • friends & relations

    Warning: I am not at all sure where this is going. Recently I’ve been contemplating friendships (or relationships, what have you). Why we are friends with some and not others, why we start up friendships and why we end them, why we keep hanging on and when we gently (or maybe not gently at all) Read more

  • Here Today

    Lately I have had the feeling that I am nearing the end of the road. It isn’t a feeling of fear or depression or anxiety, it is just a sensation that I’ve been trying to better understand. I retired recently, so it could be that cutting loose the anchor of a daily schedule has set Read more

  • My 6th Sense

    [Ed Note: When I set out on this journey it was to task myself with regular creative writing. Little did I know (ah, those words would sink a flotilla) how much research would be involved to support what I imagined to be relatively minor efforts. A very loud, collective “Ha!” is heard from the Experienced Read more

  • Do you hear what i hear?

    I am beyond fortunate to spend much of my time these days deep in the redwood forests near the coast. This is quite often a nearly silent corner of the world where we are awakened at first light by the sounds of birds and spend our early mornings sitting quietly, contemplating the stillness. I believe Read more