On our second loop around Fir Island’s Seattle City Road last Saturday, a couple of Trumpeter swans who had presumably been sunning themselves in a large field on our first drive-by had just taken flight, their long underbellies and streamlined forms visible from the passenger seat as they propelled themselves to the farmland across the street.

“They look a whole lot bigger when they’re 10 feet above the car rather than when they’re 60 or 70 feet away, don’t they?” my trusty tour…

In third grade, I begged my parents to sign me up for violin lessons. I loved the ethereal sounds the instruments made when played and was convinced I’d soon be wowing my family and friends with newfound skills.

That wasn’t the way the scenario played out. Only two months after my folks rented a violin and signed me up for classes at the elementary school, I admitted it wasn’t for me. As the people who had to listen to the unholy screeches emitted when I practiced at home, my …

Many months of pandemic protocols have resulted in human beings staying farther away from each other than ever before, but a number of community-focused art projects on the near horizon appear to be designed to bring them together again—at least in spirit.

For the Ferndale Arts Commission, public participation will be necessary to pull off a Yarn Art Installation planned for the spring. That’s when crocheted yarn art will be installed on various tree trunks in the city’s Griffintown…

Among the many excellent fiction writers in Washington state putting out great work these days—Jonathan Evison and Jim Lynch among them—Jess Walter (pictured) stands out for his ability to take on a wide variety of genres and excel in each.

Citizen Vince has a mobster-noir feel; The Zero is political satire; Over Tumbled Graves is a thriller. Perhaps his best-known to date, Beautiful Ruins, is a nostalgic love story. With The Cold Millions, Walter proves himself adept at…