“Some one was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of …
Author Archives: ggsmith42
Cutting the Pool Baby in Half
The water surface was as smooth as glass during its last week of limited operation in mid-February, when it was open to accommodate the OHHS Boys Swim Team and the North Whidbey Aquatic Club. All appeared calm from above, but underneath swirled the stormy seas of controversy that have plagued the Vanderzicht pool for several …
It’s Time To End High School Exit Testing in Washington State
It’s time to end exit testing requirements for Washington state high school students. Setting the bar high to ensure high school graduates achieve an adequate level of understanding in English, Math, and Biology is important. The Every Student Succeeds Act requires testing of high school students in these subjects, but requiring students to meet a cut score on …
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Peter, Peter–Writer, Seeker
I opened my front door to the quietest of knocks. Our six-year-old son waited with a stranger. My heart raced at the realization of what could have happened while he stood, wondered where I was, and walked the half mile from the bus stop to our house by himself. It was a Monday. And I’d …
Lab Girl, The Lorax, The Hidden Life of Trees, and Me
I used to think of trees as majestic, oxygen-producing shade-providers. Not anymore. Reading Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees and Hope Jahren’s Lab Girl transformed my view about these slow-growing humanoids. Now when I make my daily visit to the woods, it’s with a mindset of concern of a level that only freeway rubberneckers can understand. I …
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Beach Combing at Bowman Bay
Making my way over and between barnacled, blunt-edged rocks and boulders along the north shore of Bowman Bay, quiet clickings increase in proportion to my pace. Shore crabs in a dozen different colors drop from the rocks on which they rest as I pass by, then scurry to safety. It’s one of several super-low-tide days in …
Got What It Takes To Loop the Lakes?
Running along the dry, rocky trail strewn with pine needles in the Anacortes Forest Lands, I never expected to see a murder in progress. The perpetrator, Thamnophis sirtalis, lay dead across the trail, its prey having progressed nearly halfway along its digestive tract before it came to an…ahem…dead stop. I grabbed the nearest stick and carefully …
Cle Elum Ridge Run 25K: Sometimes, You Just Have To Show Up
A line of bibbed runners file past as we enter the Taneum Junction Campground parking lot in Cle Elum. This is not a good sign, but it’s what we expected. We had just made our way back down a windy, washboard-y gravel road, marked 3330 instead of the intended Forest Service Road 3300, confusing the similarly-numbered …
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What’s SUP?
The second day of summer 2017 was the best one ever for a couple of stand up paddle boarders lucky enough to book a tour with Jennifer and Shawn McFarland of Sound Yoga and SUP. Moments after the leader suggested the group stand down and move towards the shore for a break, a pod of five …
Bad News, Free Shoes, Spectacular Views
Standing alone in our tiny, two-room, bathroomless cabin in Winthrop on race morning, I took a step, felt a twinge atop my thigh, and collapsed, which didn’t seem like a great start to my Cutthroat Classic 2017 adventure. Even worse: it happened twice more before I’d even made my way to the start line. Less …
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