My sourdough starter waits undisturbed in the fridge while I’m gone. I feed it this morning to use later today. Isn’t it amazing that wild yeast organisms live all around us and we can cultivate them and put them to work leavening loaves of bread? We go next door to the 1st birthday of our…

We awaken at 4am to board a plane in Seattle at 6am. We have an hour layover in Phoenix before boarding the plane to Houston. I complain of the cold on the first flight, so Doug wants to buy me a blanket for the second flight, but I refuse since I already have a perfectly…

It’s harder than we expected to leave this area. But, it’s time to go, so we hug Caleb, load him down with some leftover perishables and agree that it’s not “goodbye”, but “see you later”. Then we head into Snohomish and stop at Proper Joe Coffeehouse for a second cup of coffee and a pastry….

This morning, Doug leaves early while I tend to laundry, then enjoy ice cream for breakfast. (Yeah, I know. Not a healthy choice.) Laundry folded, I text Doug that I’m headed his way. He brings the car to meet me and we park at the base of a hill climbing up the path to the…

This morning after searching online for a nearby Mass, we are seated in a pew at Holy Cross Parish in Lake Stevens where we’re surprised by a Communion Service led by a lay woman. It’s the first time we’ve attended a lay led Communion Service in our 28 plus years of being Catholic. Though it…

Doug leaves this morning to help Caleb on a project while I stay to read, write, and enter into the silence of a cloudy, chilly day by the lake. In addition to making a place for themselves to live, Caleb and Janel are raising goats and rabbits and chickens. Their big dogs keep away predators…

10am Sunday Mass is about 25 minutes away, at St. Michael Parish in Snohomish. There are lots of young families there and afterward, the priest calls the school age children to come forward for a “blessing of the backpacks”. The prayer includes blessings for parents, teachers, and families at the beginning of the school year….