A Visit Home

Above is the house my father helped build for my grandparents and great grandmother, in Dugualla Bay. The meals my grandma made are still remembered, often attempted, and never captured.

This photo is the house my father built that I lived in for most of my life before age seven. See that balcony off the master suite? Before there was a railing on it, my sister held me by my ankles, dangled me over the edge... but, I think she did it with love... And this driveway is the place where I received my first dog bite, by the weenie dog next door. This is a house of both terrifying and beautiful memories.

"There is no way to know which fragments of the past will prove to be relevant in the future. Composing a life involves a continual re-imagining of the future and re-interpretation of the past to give meaning to the present. " From Composing a Life, by Mary Catherine Bateson


Deception Pass Bridge

The picture above is me at City Beach, Oak Harbor, summer 09. I see so much of my mom in this photo, like when she was very young, before she left Newfoundland, yet I'm 40 in this photo! And it's also funny because when I was three or four years old, she'd bring us to this beach and we'd play in the driftwood, just like it is today.

The picture below is my stepd-dad's house. I remember going there when I was very little. What is so unique about this story is that his family used to baby sit me, then, after my first dad died, and my stepdad's wife died, he and my mom got together. So, it's like my babysitter became my family.

The hospital in which I was born and my kindergarten.

What roller rink? For us, we skate in a barn!

I've been wanting to go to Butchardt Gardens for the last couple of years. Knowing we were in the midst of landscaping this lot (approximately 86 x 300 feet) I wanted some inspiration. Unfortunately, ferry reservations were needed and it was a holiday weekend, so, we went to Coupeville instead. Since I was born on Whidbey Island and spent countless hours with friends and family there, some little part of me thinks of Coupeville and Oak Harbor as home. We moved when I was seven, but, the memories made during those impressionable years are still with me.

Mainly the goal was Meerkerk Gardens, a non profit rhododendron preserve. It's no Butchardt gardens but I was not disappointed.