For One Weekend Only: Snow in Seattle

During a February week, everyone living between the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains and the Pacific Ocean chased snow across the weather forecast. We were like the survivor of a plane crash in the Gobi Desert tottering after a lake receding into the horizon. We were like an old, arthritic dog wagging its tail… Continue reading For One Weekend Only: Snow in Seattle

Heather Maple Hiking

Washington State is a hiker’s paradise. To scroll around a map of hiking trails in the Cascade Mountains is to be bamboozled with the sheer number of options available to you — and during a summer when any indoors get-together with friends carried a potential health risk for you and everyone else in your bubble,… Continue reading Heather Maple Hiking

Cycle Touring Puget Sound: A Bike Break From Reality

We woke early, grabbed our loaded bikes and rolled along our street, downhill toward Lake Union. Our uniform would be familiar to long-term readers of this blog — old shirts, padded pants, sunglasses, sandals and daggy helmets. We left the trail along Lake Union’s western shore and retook the streets, pedalling past H’s shuttered downtown office… Continue reading Cycle Touring Puget Sound: A Bike Break From Reality

A Postcard From Coronavirus-Stricken Seattle

Madison Park Beach, 11 a.m., Last Friday It’s the first properly warm day of the year in Seattle and, at Madison Park Beach, housewives who have been cooped up inside with small children for eight months or more are relishing the chance to soak in the sun. Their children are shrieking and roaming — though… Continue reading A Postcard From Coronavirus-Stricken Seattle

A Memory Tour Through Seattle’s Live Music Scene

One aspect of normal life that I didn’t expect to miss was live music, so here we go on a tour of some favourite venues and memories from the last couple of years. Also: Your local musicians and artists are struggling right now — if you live in the Pacific Northwest you can support local… Continue reading A Memory Tour Through Seattle’s Live Music Scene

If Fungi Aren’t Aliens, They’re Almost Certainly Communicating With Aliens

Imagine, for a moment, if aliens decided to visit Earth. How do you think it would go down? Here’s what I think would happen: A black spacecraft appears on the lawn at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. A door opens and in the steam, a series of purple, tentacled beings emerge. As they glide down a gangway… Continue reading If Fungi Aren’t Aliens, They’re Almost Certainly Communicating With Aliens