Month: June 2018

Paddling Lake Padden

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Paddling, Washington Sabbatical

Paddling Lake Padden-013

Every time I drive up I-5 to Bellingham I see a brown sign for the Lake Padden Recreation Area. In Google Earth the lake doesn’t look very large, but it still intrigued me. Would it be a good place to paddle? I had an errand to run in Bellingham, so on the way back I decided to check it out. A paddling event was in full swing that Saturday and a parking place could not be found. However, it looked like an interesting spot, so I decided to come back. On Sunday, Father’s Day, a couple of weeks ago I did just that.

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Random Skagit – Volume 9, Yard Flowers and Non-Linear Time

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Photography, Washington Sabbatical

Yard Sweet Peas-001

Rampant racism, internment camps, Nazis holding rallies, and just this past weekend I saw WWII bombers flying overhead. Did I fall through some sort of wormhole into an alternate universe? Is “The Man in the High Castle” actually a documentary? Regardless, the whole space-time continuum seems to have decided to take a nap. I thought some pretty pictures of flowers might be comforting.

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Samish Island Yard Sale

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Miscellaneous, Washington Sabbatical

Untitled

Yep, I’m behind on blog posts. We’ve taken some cool trips lately and those photos have been posted to Flickr, but it seems that every time I sit down to write up a post something comes up. I’ve got at least four posts in the hopper right now.

The biggest distraction has been our preparations for the big Samish Island Yard Sale, held this past Saturday. Our participation was relatively small, but it still took a lot of time and effort.

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Family Scoundrels and Overcomers

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Family, History and Genealogy, Washington Sabbatical

Burdick Printing

When you start digging into family history you’re bound to uncover some scoundrels. In my own family I’ve got Samuel Campbell Clegg, who was hanged as a British spy at Star Fort during the Revolutionary War. Then there are the two uncles that spent time in prison, one of whom I visited when he was incarcerated. Of one branch of our family a fellow genealogy researcher said, “They weren’t nuthin’ but horse thieves and ne’er-do-wells.”

Here in Washington we’ve uncovered at least one potential scoundrel in Laura’s family. While his story is interesting, I think the real story is that of his daughter, Vinnie Alethia Reed Burdick, Laura’s great-grandmother, and her ability to overcome what could have been a disastrous family situation.

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