Author Archives: janishaag

About janishaag

Writer, writing coach, editor

A ferry kinda day

Posted on July 24, 2017 by janishaag

Canada celebrates its sesquicentennial as a country this year, and everywhere we’ve been over the past couple of weeks on Vancouver Island, the country’s most western outpost, we see Canada pride writ large. Like the illuminated sign (above) on Victoria’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

His-shuk-nish-tsa-waak

Posted on July 18, 2017 by janishaag

Trees remind us how busy and unstable we are, and how ridiculous that is. —Rebecca Solnit Look at this for a moment and soak up the peace of this place: Imagine walking that boardwalk through all that green. This is … Continue reading →

Posted in Nonfiction, Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Shootin’ stars

Posted on July 16, 2017 by janishaag

Not the celestial kind. Not the Hollywood kind. The seashore kind: sea stars, which as a kid I called starfish. They’re not fish at all, these rugged invertebrates that live in the cold waters of the Pacific Northwest, including British … Continue reading →

Posted in Nonfiction, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Kindness

Posted on July 12, 2017 by janishaag

So we’ve been in Canada three days, and not one person here has looked askance at us Americans. As soon as we drove off the ferry in Victoria and waited for a very short time, a smiling Canadian customs agent … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Americans we

Posted on July 4, 2017 by janishaag

Last year I spent the fourth of July sleeping most of the day and night. I’m not a fireworks kind of girl—never have been. I’m like one of the dogs who scurries for cover when the loud boom-booms start. Firecrackers … Continue reading →

Posted in Nonfiction, Uncategorized | 10 Comments

Happy Annie-versary

Posted on June 20, 2017 by janishaag

These two… what a journey they’ve had in their first year together as mother and daughter. How far they’ve come (literally and metaphorically)! I hardly recognize that skinny little kid with the mohawk anymore… It was the journey of three … Continue reading →

Posted in Bringing Annie Home | 6 Comments

HBD2U, dear Annie

Posted on May 22, 2017 by janishaag

Look at you, celebrating your first American birthday, you and a gaggle of friends and relatives at a local bowling alley. (Can it get more American than that?) Because you, just turned 8 years old, have developed a love for … Continue reading →

Posted in Bringing Annie Home | 5 Comments

Snowmelt

Posted on May 21, 2017 by janishaag

Merced River, Clifford’s 65th birthday, May 21, 2017 Turgid—that’s the word for it— white petticoats of froth atop olive drab river coursing so fast, so hard, it sounds like ocean turned up full blast, without the ebb and flow. Here … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Library card

Posted on May 16, 2017 by janishaag

I remember my first library card in its little slipcover, my name emblazoned on it, typed by a manual typewriter: Janis Linn Haag. Did Mrs. Nelson, the children’s librarian at the Roseville Public Library, type it? I don’t know; I … Continue reading →

Posted in Nonfiction, Uncategorized | 13 Comments

Wishing for spring

Posted on February 28, 2017 by janishaag

I got to take a wonderfully restorative 3-mile walk last Sunday with these two lovelies under a bright blue sky through gorgeous, park-like green spaces in our capital city. It was not unlike the first walks we made with Annie in … Continue reading →