Do you know that we have five planets that are lining up right now? And one of them is Uranus. Reminding me of an old Star Trek joke! “What do the U.S.S. Enterprise and toilet paper have in common?” Well, they both circle Uranus searching for Klingons. What do you call a bunch of cattle…
The production time for really good coffee that is properly aged, fermented, and dried is 30% to 50% lower than most modern varieties on the market today, with preparation at least triple the time. Harvesting only when the coffee is ripe means passing through a farm up to five times a year, which is long…
As many historians and astrologers have pointed out, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. We are living through an American astronomical Plutonian birthday – meaning that, over the last 248 years, Pluto has transited through all 12 astrological signs. This provides an opportunity to reflect on the last 248…
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Okay, so what is haka? Haka is the sacred dance of fire, passion, devotion to the land, the ancestors, the clan, the Earth, and all beings – the great dance of the Māori people. My first glimpse of the haka was a few minutes at the end of the film “Whale Rider.” As I watched…
If we go back in time, we will find stories of working collectively on projects, tending to the land, harvesting and storing food. Not long ago, before moving to Vashon in 2010, I lived for 11 years in a community where 12 of us collectively owned and maintained the property. We came together one Saturday…
I lived in Ashland, Oregon for 2½ years. I liked Ashland very much; artsy, all the theater, pretty scenery, beautiful Lithia Park, good customer service at retail stores and restaurants. And it had a gay bar: “Cooks Tavern.” Unique for a town of only 16,000. But, living in a small town as a single gay…
Welcome back as I continue to weave the tale about our precious human bodies. What we ingest and how we ingest it makes all the difference.In our exploration of extraordinary bodies, we must assess what we ingest. Do we really know what we are eating? Here is why: America’s farming soils are depleted of 85%…
This story began on Seán’s fireplace mantel. There is an old Plymouth master brake cylinder filled with either a mouse nest or some of Seán’s cigar ashes. Some years back, after Seán returned to Vashon, he told me that his first car had been sold to an Island friend, and that somehow it had come…