It is the summer of 1982, which makes me twenty-two, and not for the first time that summer I am afraid that I might die in about the next two seconds. The source of this fear is my participation in an Intermediate Mountaineering class through Anchorage Community College. At this moment, we are coming down […]
Author: Evelyn J. Willburn
Break time
Hello, readers. I’m taking a little time away from writing. Thanks for your support and encouragement; I’ll be back when you least expect it! Meanwhile, may everything in your life be right as rain.
Eagle tree
When my kids were small, our nearest neighbors were a family of bald eagles. Every spring, the mister and missus would meet up at the tree and raise at least one chick. It was likely the same pair, but there could have been a swap out if one of them died. Eagles, I have been […]
The Adventures of Raptor Boy, Part the Second
My kitten Abner, aka Raptor Boy, is six months old, fully vaxxed and recently neutered, and is now allowed outside for short periods of time. This morning, quite early, he expressed interest in such an adventure. I opened the door, and he squatted on the threshold, hedging his bets, until he heard a loud sound, […]
The evolution of bacon and eggs
Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you. . .microwave bacon! Like so many other things, this concept came to me due to a happy accident. Here’s the scene: having found myself home alone for two weeks, on the first morning I set out to fix myself some bacon and eggs. No sooner had I fired up […]
Some thoughts about tomatoes
“Mama, I’ve got some kind of rash!” Scene: it is 2:00 a.m., I am ten years old, and I have broken out in the most magnificent case of hives that has been seen in my family for many a year. My mother helped me cover just about every inch of me with soda/water paste and […]
They Used to Call Them Stars: Guest blog by Laura J. Graham
Flash fiction from my incomparable sister Laura! They Used to Call Them Stars By Laura J. Graham “Pinpoints of light against the dark,” said the old woman, combing her long silvery hair. And the little boy laughed as he set up his cans again for target practice with his sling shot. “Everybody knows that monsters […]
Laughter, the strangest medicine
“Major Tom is stuck under the fence!” My father used to regale us kids with stories of his adventures with his cousin Jim, and this is one of my favorites: the two boys were acquainted with an old gentleman of the retired military sort, who often came to tea and had nothing whatever to do […]
Stay warm
I have a special affinity for fingerless gloves. One time, a pair of such gloves in olive-drab, paired with a shapeless, dark gray thrift-store coat, almost got me evicted from a downtown Anchorage hotel on suspicion of being a homeless person. But I digress. My real topic of interest today is the endless war between […]
Beware the roving bantha
I have heard it said that a bear’s only natural enemy is a meteorite; perhaps the same is true of snowplows. On Prince of Wales Island, snowplows move fast on the narrow, unlit roads, sporting a vast array of blinking colored lights, outlining a shape vaguely reminiscent of a Star Wars pack animal. Sometimes they […]