Category Archives: Nonfiction

Thanks to Margo Fowkes for republishing this post on her terrific site, Salt Water, which is dedicated to publishing work about grief and loss. I drove to the Napa Valley over spring break to walk with a friend who has, … Continue reading →

In my family, I like to tell people, my sister and I were singing harmony before we knew what melody was. That wasn’t strictly true, but I do know that having two parents who came from musical people and who … Continue reading →

This is my friend Lisa Morgan, the cutie in pink. Lisa and I have been buddies since our high school band days. We met as freshmen in the marching band. She was the tiniest flutist; I was the klutzy girl … Continue reading →

I no longer dive in, preferring to step lightly down the four steps into the pool, and I don’t do kick turns anymore either, just catch myself at the wall with a hand, push off with a foot, but I … Continue reading →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →