“Look!” I said when my contributor’s copies of the Alive Now Creativity issue landed in my mailbox. “I’m in the same book as Madeleine L’Engle!” My husband looked at me and said, “Who’s that?” A few hours later my son said, “Uh, I don’t know what that is, but I’m guessing it’s a famous author.”… Read more

Happy Numbers Three ladies. Hundreds of pictures. Irises in Ginny’s garden. Two turn out. And the three ladies, They rejoice.  … Read more

This past week I decided that to become a better teacher, I needed to commit to a language again. This has been on the back of my mind for some time. I’ve had several excellent excuses for not working on my own language learning, including an infant who was not fond of sleeping or letting… Read more

On May 14th, I went to a book signing. My friend Wayne Osborn works with the Washington Library Media Association, Mt. Rainier Region and invited me to tag along. Every time I go to a book signing I learn something and find new inspiration. I’d love to win a Newbery award from the American Library… Read more

Tacoma never won many beauty contests. My first memory of the place involves a nasty stench. The Tacoma Aroma wafted through my family’s car as we drove past the port with it’s smokestacks spewing the stench of I don’t know what. The smell rolled out from any number of smelters. It probably damaged my growing… Read more

About once a year, I do an activity with my students that I learned in my undergraduate days. It looks like this: I call two volunteers to the front of the class. One is male, the other is female. I ask them to walk toward me one at a time and put my hand up… Read more

“Creative isn’t the way I think, it’s the way I live.” – Paul Sandip (Quoted from Chapter 6 of The Artful Parent)A few weeks ago, I walked into a teacher training. One of the other teachers had put a pile of small canvas coffee bags with intriguing logos in the middle of our sign-in table… Read more