Forty-one people showed up under unusually warm, blue skies for the Walk-n-Talk on New Year’s Day! Wow! Rainier was out. It was like a springtime day as people gathered on Town Square’s grassy knoll, having come from near and far to bask in a seasonal glow and chat with their neighbors. Wow. Forty-one people, young [...]

We’re just a bunch of folks, of various ages and abilities and speeds, out for a nice walk together. We show up once a month, whomever wants to amble on two feet, and we go from here to there in Volksmarch fashion. Today we walked from Burien’s Town Square westward into and around the Seahurst [...]

Ignite an early enthusiasm for being on two wheels. Teach “bike sense” and street smarts to little ones. Gather people from the community for fun, conversation, fresh air and healthful exercise. These are the goals of Burien’s Bike “SaFaRis” – Safe Family Rides, launched by the enthusiastic, former Burien City Councilmember, Sue Blazak. The first [...]

Burien’s Walk-n-Talk is being launched this coming Sunday, August 7 at 2:00! Put on your comfy shoes and come for a casual Walk-n-Talk with friends and neighbors. On the first Sunday of every month, meet up at Burien Town Square with friends, old and new. Enjoy conversations and a walk through town. Grab a local coffee or snack before or after [...]

Traveling here in Sicily, I’ve most enjoyed Palermo because of the people I’ve met, “just plain folks” going about their days. They’ve been open, expressive, engaging, willing to get into conversation about work and life. Cerainly, there’s Riccardo, the owner of the B&B Kemonia who was so helpful and friendly that I changed my stay [...]

Friday, April 29. The Milanese are still wearing their winter jeans, puff jackets and scarves. I’m wearing black linen capris and sleeveless blouses. I arrived in Milano Wednesday at 9:00 a.m., to a morning warmer than Seattle… yet I’m glad to have brought a little summer jacket. Robin-like birds started singing early this morning. By [...]

On a rainy day in Seattle – there have been so many lately – the car in front of me was branded “Milan” and my thoughts flew around the world. I’m 25 days away from returning to the land of “ciao” and dear friends that I look forward to sharing aperitivo with.

While all around the community people were wearing kelly green and mylar shamrocks on Thursday, a few friends of mine here, and a whole nation halfway around the world, added white and red to their color scheme. March 17 was the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. Happy Birthday, Italia! Auguri! [...]

Buon Anno. Tanti Auguri. Happy New Year. Many Good Wishes. L’anno duemilleundici. The year two thousand eleven. Vi auguro buona salute, curiositá e contentezza nel anno nuovo! Un abbraccio affettuoso a tutti i miei amici. I wish you good health, curiosity and contentment in the New Year! A warm hug to all my friends. – [...]

As a designer and photographer, one of the most stimulating aspects of being in Italy was its visual lushness. Every surface and every structure caught my eye. (Hence, the 16,300 photos I shot in my almost-14-months there!) Before leaving Milano, I told a few friends back home that I was concerned I’d be visually bored [...]

Who’d have thought that moving BACK to Seattle would be as much a part of the experience as moving TO Milano?! It’s taken me by surprise how daunting and unsettling it has been to move back into my own home. I’m slowly plodding toward resettlement. Here’s a journal entry from a week ago. – – [...]

My neighbors are so wonderful. They show up at my back door with slices of fresh, cold watermelon. They loan me pasta machines. They invite me over to sing camp songs along the shoreline. They tote my garbage and recycling bins up the steep driveway. They chat at the roadside with me, in front of [...]

Seattle’s chilly summertime is winding down with scattered sunshine following cloudy mornings. Warm evenings are rare, but, once again, the waterside neighbors initiated a dinnertime potluck along the shoreline last Friday, the start of a holiday weekend. I vowed to bring “something Italianesque”, and told them I likely wouldn’t know what it would be until mere [...]

“We’re having a crab feed on the beach tomorrow night. Do you want to come?” There’s only one answer for that question. “Of course!” This is a great neighborhood: wonderful people in a beautiful setting. I’m back in this little piece of paradise with longtime friends. (I know few people that actually KNOW their neighbors; [...]

This return is both emotionally and mentally harder than I had expected. I had a LIFE and friends that I left behind. I had my patterns and my joys; I was wide open and received openly. My busy zone in the city held familiarity for me. The unknowns had eased into old-jeans comfort, and the [...]

Sunday Morning. August 1. (I arrived home yesterday in late afternoon.) Home in the summer chill of Seattle with a 60 degree morning. I slept well with the window open to fresh, cool air. Absolute silence filled the night until the crows started talking as day dawned. No neighbor above me in spike, high heels. [...]

How often do any of us put ourselves in the position to meet so many people in so many ways in so short a time? How readily do we open our lives to the touch of strangers? I came here to Italy wanting to have relationships and experiences, and to gather images. I have done [...]

Tourists don’t feel like this. I came here wanting to have relationships and experiences, and to gather images. I have done all that… and my imminent departure, tomorrow morning, is harder than I had anticipated. I can’t count the number of people that have said they wished I weren’t leaving. My heart moves so deeply [...]

It’s Thursday afternoon. On Saturday morning a car and driver will meet me here at my apartment and drive me, with whatever I’m carrying home to Seattle, to Milano Malpensa Airport. Though I’m not much of a shopper, I still have too much stuff to manage the taxi-train-plane, with all the transfers, on my own. [...]

Journal Entry: 24 Luglio The bus just left Aosta, heading back to Milano. I have been visiting my friends, Ewa and Piotr, in Cogne for two days where the “uniform” is hiking shorts and boots, muscular, suntanned legs, and walking sticks. The street signs are in French [and Italian] and at any time I can hear [...]