26 Comments
Comment deleted
Sep 4
Comment deleted
Expand full comment

Your comments are always so genuine! Thank you for not just reading my posts but for responding!

Expand full comment

Nominating this for an op-ed in "The Seattle Times." Some awe indeed!

Expand full comment

Thank you Gary!

Expand full comment

Why not? Here's the link: https://www.seattletimes.com/help/#how-to-submit-an-op-ed

Expand full comment

The rain freshens the air and our minds. Love that it gives you quilt free reading time!

My dad’s side of the family is in the Seattle area & Whitby Island. Love how green it is there compared to San Diego. I could get over how big the ferns grow, like my house plant on steroids 💚🌿

Expand full comment

Whidbey is just a short drive and ferry crossing from us. We like to visit and drive through that beautiful island.

Expand full comment

I had a feeling autocorrect didn’t spell it correctly! Fond memories of visiting there, your writing brought me right back there.

Beautiful words do that 🙏😊

Expand full comment

My favorite season here - Fall 🍁

The Women is an incredible book - I read it last week in two days (yes on those cool rainy days)! I am still thinking about it❤️

Love the balloons on the deck 💙💙

Expand full comment

It wasn’t always mine but it sure is now, as I sit on our deck watching the sun rise through our trees, sipping matcha tea in the crisp morning air, looking at more of our cherry tomatoes that are starting to become ripe, knowing that schools are gearing up for a start…without me! Oh, and with The Woman right in front of that I’ll pick up right where I left off last night.

Expand full comment

I too love seeing multiple seasons in a day and I too love the rain (though I didn't always). I recall a day when I lived elsewhere where it was dry, and then it rained and the smell of the damp earth made me feel at home.

Expand full comment

seasons in a day

rain that falls upon the ground

brings damp smells, i’m home

~~~~~~

It’s been a while.

Expand full comment

I love it!

yes it has been a while.

I have been in summer mode and just returned from a family trip - a rainy family trip in which everyone (including the kid who sometimes refuses to go out int he rain) enjoyed everything regardless of the weather.

Expand full comment

linked by rain and sun

siblings across the border

my clouds drift your way

Expand full comment

Wow, reading that was like experiencing all the nuances of weather in your part of the world, Kert! Love that you touched on so many things in this piece -- what it means to be in relationship to a place, protectivity around that place, the agency we have in deciding the meaning of the stories of our life, mushrooms, and weather... weather... weather! Three bows : )

Expand full comment

You are a genuinely fabulous person Maia. Thank you.

Expand full comment

A splendid and soothing piece, Kert. Thank you, I really enjoyed reading this! You've brought everything to life beautifully, all the way to the other side of the world where I'm reading it.

Expand full comment

Ramona, you are always so generous in your responses. Thank you! I’m grateful.

Expand full comment

My wife does too — great minds!

Expand full comment

"Common Mother", "Ahimsa" and such a beautiful guidance deeply rooted in the nature of our existence, being also a story of another form of paradise?! Thank you for waking me up! I'll be back!!! Peace.

Expand full comment

So happy to have discovered you here!!! BTW, you had me at your “name.” I’m a “Holes” guy myself!

Expand full comment

I'm just reading about "Holes". Strange, looks like I never thought about checking if that name was already used before... Looks like I need to educate myself. Shouldn't I be ashamed?!

Expand full comment

Not at all!!! Go with it! Those of us in the know will get a kick out of it. Welcome to Substack!

Expand full comment

Thank you! Sounds like a story to begin with!

Expand full comment

Always good to read about rain! Lovely, Kert! But books! This time I have read 2 that you mentioned. I also loved, "The Women." And I read Kamala's book 4 years ago, so I feel like I know quite a bit of her story, but I would like to read it again now that she will be Madame President (sometimes putting something in writing makes it so!) As to the others you mentioned - you do realize, don't you, that I can only have 30 books on hold at a time at my library? Soon I will I need to start using my husband's library card hold privileges for all the Kert recommended books I want to read!

Expand full comment

It’s an obsession bordering on compulsion. I can’t check books out of a library because I hate returning them. So, I buy them. And for someone obsessed, and needs the physical book in my hands, it’s been an investment. I have to stop looking at new ones and buckle down to read the “close to 100” that are on my TBR shelf. YIKES! Just finished “The Women.” It was good, and very touching at the end. Still, I wanted Frankie to be on her dad’s hero wall—so I’m making believe she got there. I was going to start Kamala’s memoir next but a dang book on The West Wing was just released and, as a tried and true “Wingnut,” had to buy it, have to read it…NOW!!!

Expand full comment

It's a good obsession to have if you have to have one! Yes, too often I have to return books I'm not finished with because my time is up and someone else has it on hold. Just recently started "A Walk in the Park" by Kevin Fedarko. Got to chapter 13 out of 40 and had to return it. Now I'm back to number 46 on the hold queue. And yes, I do believe Frankie is on the wall!

Expand full comment