Blog
A Birthday for All to Celebrate!
Happy Birthday to the National Park Service!On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation establishing the National Park Service. At that time 35 parks and monuments were being managed by the federal government. Today, 105 years later, the National...
More? Or Less? What IS Enough?
This morning I woke to a trickling sound in the downspout next to the bedroom window. Splat splat. Water blobs landed in the bottom of an empty rain barrel. Trickle became gurgle and splashing of water into water. Misty air about trees turned to visible raindrops. At...
Three Island Get-aways, No Flying
My dedication to reducing my personal contributions to the climate crisis can challenge some of my deepest desires. Connecting with nature and fellow humans in unfamiliar settings is one. One of the greatest conundrums is my yen for a change in perspective. That need...
A Matter of Life and Breath
As the world held its collective breath waiting to learn if George Floyd's killer would be held accountable, the ability of all beings to continue breathing was put under pressure in another way. A Guardian report published that same week highlighted an ominous...
Another Side of Plastics
Plastic Free July is an initiative of the Plastic Free Foundation that envisions a world free of plastic waste. From humble beginnings in 2011, now millions of people across the globe take part every year, with many committing to reducing plastic pollution beyond the...
In the footsteps of Prince Philip
On this, the day of Queen Elizabeth's ninety-fifth birthday, the loss of her husband of more years than I have been alive is especially poignant. My mother adored the queen. Maybe sharing the war years of my mother's formative teens created a bond. Or it could have...
Grandmillenial Style and the Amazon Blues
Looking for something to refresh your home environment? Interested in the latest trend of “Grandmillenial” style? What could you do instead of opting for a quick and easy search on the website named for the river and complex ecosystem of its South American watershed?...
Both an end and a beginning
Because for the last month my writing has been focused on a final pass through of revising my memoir manuscript and completing an obituary for my brother, I am taking the privilege I have of my own web page to own the obituary with any edits I wish to make right here...
Could This Be Our Last Time?
How do we recognize the last time we experience anything. What have we already lost and how can we hang on to what matters most? Are you willing to try an experiment?
Eat Your Garbage
How many children tire of the expression "Eat your vegetables!" or more specifically, "eat your broccoli!" For most kids they might as well be hearing "Eat this garbage." Broccoli chopped into tops and stems Well, I am not suggesting we eat actual garbage; this...
The Link Between Ecology and Economy
When I was a beginning Science student in the early 1970's, the world was becoming familiar with a new/old word, "ecology." It sounded a lot like "economy" and not without reason. Ecology and economy are directly linked. In the dawning awareness of human impact on the...
Pass Light Through the Fire of Thought
“Without feedback, we really suffer.“ Paul Hawken spoke those words in a video I watched for a class about climate action and Project Drawdown. It made me think about the feedback we need to heed this year. Without the feedback of personally knowing someone who has...
Independence Day Free from Animal Products
This Independence Day we celebrated free of animal products. No parade, no fireworks and no family gatherings. For this Indpendence Day spent at home, we put together a holiday meal reminiscent of those shared with family and friends in years gone by. I got a big...
High Protein Waffles, A Better Way to Start Your Day
High Protein Waffles These high protein waffles are my favorite answer to the dilemma of how to remake breakfast without staples of eggs, dairy, meat and wheat. Along come beans, oats and flax for a treat the whole family can love: these High protein waffles!...
Main Dish Mushroom Stew
PCC's Mushroom Stew Recipe Back in the days, just two and a half months ago, I could pop into the local PCC Community Market near enough to walk to and peruse the items available on the salad bar, soup bar or hot bar. Whenever I saw Mushroom Stew I made it a...
Most Requested Lentil-Mushroom Soup
My most requested Lentil Mushroom Soup is one I learned in a cooking class at a Puget Consumer Co-op. Süreyya Gökeri owns Istanbul Imports and Café Turko with her husband Gencer. Süreyya called the first class I took, "30 Minute Vegan." When a couple...
Massaged Kale Salad: Make-ahead Vegan Meal
Massaged Kale Salad is my most requested dish for family gatherings. The original recipe is from Jennifer Adler and is a great make-ahead meal when you want to have nutritious greens ready to eat. This salad will keep and even get better as days go by. Make a bunch...
Meatless Mainstays for the Month of May
In this and the blog posts to come, I am keeping good my pledge in my most recent post. I am posting recipes for my favorite vegan or plant-based meals. These are my meatless mainstays for the month of May. All month I will be posting recipes I use most frequently....
Steepen This Curve
Most of us, all over the planet, are heeding a variety of advice designed to "flatten the curve” to reduce the rate of infection, hospitalizations and deaths. We may also save lives of countless first responders and health care workers so we don't succumb to overwhelm...
The “C” Words
Considering the Earth Day anniversary coming up soon. How do we connect that occurrence with the COVID-19 sequestration we are all adapting to in one form or another? This post includes a cornucopia of the "C" words I associate with current conditions. This COVID-19 /...
Scarier Than Coronavirus, Put COVID — 19 in Perspective
In no way do I want to diminish the importance of confronting and halting the coronavirus. However, there is something scarier than the coronavirus. There is something scarier than coronavirus and all other infectious diseases, AIDS, malaria, and the common flu that...
Waved Albatrosses Need Protection
If we rely on the oceans for food, how do we care for ocean dependent creatures? The Waved Albatross is increasingly endangered. This species breeds exclusively in the Galápagos Islands. Actually, almost all on one small island. In spite of efforts to protect the...
It all started with a can of cat food
It all started with a can of cat food. This turned into an example of how one decision can lead to so much information it can either be debilitating, or filter choices to a manageable few. In this case, it began with an elderly feline who showed up and stayed. That...
The return of the tortoises
Tortoises once near extinction are being restored to Galapagos Islands.
Choices to Stem the Tides of Climate Crisis
Project Drawdown lists most effective solutions to the climate crisis. This post examines the top choice. Refrigerant management.
Better Ground promotes Conservation Districts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khQw679cU0Q A promotional video for the value of Conservation Districts to homeowners shows our garden results a year after construction of the rain garden. The Better Ground campaign promotes Conservation Districts. In March 2019 we...
Taking to the Streets for Climate?
When I learned about the strike for the climate instigated by Greta Thunberg, I sought somewhere I could join students taking to the streets for the climate. I wanted a location I could reach without contributing to the problem. Every place I could find required a...
Miles Before I Sleep
Closer to home than my previous trip, on a drizzly September weekend with rain in the forecast I attended the Pacific NW Writers' Association writing conference at a hotel on International Boulevard across the street from SeaTac airport. Getting to a destination...
Door to Door by Ground
32 square feet of polar ice melts for each passenger traveling 2500 miles by air. What are some ways you can offset that destruction?
What is Twenty per cent of Your Life Worth?
The Amazon Rain Forest is being destroyed at an alarming rate. How much loss will we be able to live with since we rely on the Amazon for the Oxygen we need to live?
Don’t Blink
Don’t Blink! If you blink you could miss a moment! That is not to say your eyes must stay open every one of the 86,400 seconds of every day, or 604,800 seconds every week, or 31,536,000 seconds of every year … . I know the time I have spent with my eyes wide open has...
The Real Reality Show
Oceans deserve more than one day to celebrate their importance. How can we gain perspective on the whole from photos?
Bee-ing a Leader
Deep red-pinks, mauve, yellow and green blend in a garden designed to attract bees and other pollinators
Happy Trees = Clean Air = Healthy Lungs
Thanks to bing.com for reminding me the 5th of June was "World Environment Day, and this year’s theme is about air quality." The picture bing chose is looking up through tree canopy in the Amazon Rain Forest. The comment about the image says: "Why show trees to talk...
A Conundrum of Coral
In recognition of World Ocean Day, I found this intriguing information on the page about the bing image of the day. Biorocks growing coral off the Gili Islands, Indonesia ‘Biorock,’ aka ‘seacrete,’ is a substance that helps spur growth of corals and reef ecosytems in...
Book Reading and Signing Events Soon Near You
Request a book reading and signing event near you. Upcoming events posted as details are available.
Limit catastrophic climate change; the countdown has begun
"The sense of urgency has been highlighted by a series of sobering reports released by scientists over the past year. A landmark United Nations report from last year warned that the world has little more than a decade to limit catastrophic climate change, which will...
This Saturday: Author Appearance
The Neverending Bookshop (TNEBS) in Perrinville (Lynnwood WA) will be holding a reading, panel discussion with Q & A, and signing for "True Stories" on Saturday, April 20th at 2:00 p.m. The Neverending Bookshop is very excited to host writers from The Narrative...
Swamp Lantern Time Again
The NW Stream Center annual Swamp Lantern Festival is underway. Make time to enjoy it soon.
Comfort Chowder
National Clam Chowder Day 2019 – February 25 My own celebration of this day has been shifted to a month later in honor of my mother, with whom I shared a birthday for 62 years. Even though she is no longer physically present, chowder brings her memory to mind. ...
Stephen King’s First Rule
1. First write for yourself, and then worry about the audience. “When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story." Cover of my high school poetry notebook...
Lessons from Snow
By the time you read this blog, will we have forgotten the weeks dubbed “Snowmaggedon” or “Snowpacolypse”? Will they have been buried in even more massive storms that steal our attention from the little blip on the world screen that brought much of our lives in...
More of My Rules for Writing
Stephen King's Rule #9 "9. Turn off the TV. “... TV—while working out or anywhere else—really is about the last thing an aspiring writer needs. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/stephen-kings-top-20-rules-for-writers/ This was an easy one for me to follow....
Stephen King’s Rule #13
"Eliminate distraction." "There should be no telephone in your writing room, certainly no TV or videogames for you to fool around with." - Stephen King However, my habit of reading to music has made it easier for me to write with music in the...
Hello, world!
The world is full of amazing and even miraculous discoveries. Awe and Wonder await you in every moment. All you need is attention and awareness. Attention paid to each of your senses and awareness of what is beyond the first impressions. Listen, breath, open or close...
Post “Snowpocalypse”
About a week after the Seattle area “Snowpocalypse” began, the accumulated snow slid off our solar panels with a THUD, making for a mucky shoveling task last night to keep the front walk clear in case of any urgent need to get out. My presence outside shoveling in the...
Steppin’ on Blue Feet
The blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii) is a marine bird native to subtropical and tropical regions of the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is one of six species of the genus Sula – known as boobies. You have most likely seen pictures of the...
More About Lora’s Life
Lora’s Life has taken her from Coastal California to Yosemite, Galapagos, and Washington State where she works for sustainability.
