Northwest Observer and Writer

Born and raised in Seattle, I’m a fourth-generation Puget Sounder. My roots run deep enough in this place that I don’t have to paddle a kayak or sleep in a tent in the wilderness to prove my Northwest credentials. I do enjoy a good road trip, though, especially if there are quirky small towns and historic sites on the way.

 I’ve written about food, gardening, history, and travel for a variety of publications including National Geographic Traveler, Travel & Leisure, and Architectural Digest. While living in Anchorage, Alaska, I was a contributing editor for The Alaska Airlines Magazine.

For reasons now hard to remember I once spent two years rescuing and restoring a Northwest landmark pioneer home and opening it to the public. That experience led to a rare humorous essay assignment from American Heritage magazine and eventually provided the backdrop for my first novel, The Indian Shirt Story.

Much as I loved writing that book I swore I wouldn’t write another. I was wrong.  I have since completed a second novel, which—though yet unpublished—I actually like a lot.

I live and write in a restored Craftsman bungalow at the south end of Puget Sound with a husband and a brindle dog named Woody. In my spare time I cook at a local soup kitchen, conduct tours of the Washington State Governor’s Mansion, and gather every story I can. Mostly, though, I write.

“You want to be a writer?” my father said, after I had told him that I sold my first short story to the Harrovian for ten bob. “My dear boy, have some sort of consideration for your unfortunate wife. You’ll be sitting around the house all day wearing a dressing gown, brewing tea and stumped for words.”

-John Mortimer, Clinging to the Wreckage