The cougar was more than a cougar, it was a metaphor. A fear of the unknown or being tracked by something immutable, time itself. If it were a Castaneda novel the cougar would be a witch, supernatural. I’d have to… Read More ›
Creative Nonfiction
Ripeness
It could have been the sound of the church bells on my early morning walk, going through the last few years of late August memories. Parsing through the past was like looking across a vista, trying to make out what… Read More ›
Chance (?)
Took the Iron Gate trail but varied my approach by going the reverse direction up the Devil’s Backside. Discharged the bear spray I got in Montana in 2018 to make sure it still worked because you’re supposed to swap those… Read More ›
Severe weather
It was a good week. At the top of the list, my dad’s heart surgery was a success. He has AFib, an irregular heart pattern that can lead to bad things. The surgeons did an ablation to create tiny scars… Read More ›
Cleaning the scissor traps
Re: trapping the moles, I was going to have to let go of that. Turns out I wasn’t the best trapper. I knew from the start that would be dumb (like trying to fight the moss in the PNW), but… Read More ›
Firsts and lasts
Charlotte, about to start her last year of high school, says she’s starting to have her last firsts: last first day of school. Or this could be her “first last” too, school-wise. Last homecoming dance. “First last” and “last first”… Read More ›
The dark part of the park
From the recent rains the leaves looked glossy in the forest, the spiky sala and leaning ferns, and it was easy to imagine all the plant life felt happy. And how these species of flora weren’t much different than what… Read More ›
Last quarter
I walked to our neighborhood park, the one on the lake by our house. It gets a lot of traffic this time of year with the early morning anglers fishing off the dock and the teenagers and toddlers who flock… Read More ›
Little Fury Things
At the right angle with the morning sun coming through the Tiffany lampshade looked furry due to a thin layer of animal hair attached to the glass by grease or film. You could say the same for most appliances in… Read More ›
Ancient flags and dragons
8/9/25 The sound of the owl in the middle of the night is a distant probe, a pulse. In the east on the bottom of the horizon there are two new stars, maybe a planet. The sun rises closer to… Read More ›
Bill Pearse 