Washougal Writers

Returning to Three Dour dawns, where do they come from? I wake up in danger and fear.  When did that start? The last few years, a decade maybe. I know as a young man, in my twenties, thirties, forties, and so on, I woke up as bright as the morning sun, ready to have fun, knowing I could walk into the day feeling the warm swathe of life about me, knowing good things were afoot. But that has changed. Perhaps after I left, the kitchen, the desk, the pulpit, after I turned the corner of my careers to a certain age and began to wander about– beginning to feel mortal, wondering how far this retirement thing is to go; what do I have left to give, get or be; that’s when it started. So I ask, what is here for me to make into a worthwhile day? I have the three writing groups, conversations with my son, wife, friends. And grandchildren, yes three granddaughters. Hey maybe that’s the secret about grandparents and grandchildren, there is pure innocence in the one and the search for lost ...

The Rain by Vern Schanilec In a 50's movie Gene Kelly danced and sang "I'm Singin' In The Rain". Apparently he didn't live the Pacific Northwest in the winter. I wonder who said "Into each life a little rain must fall". I'd settle for "a little" but a parking lot full of puddles or an overflowing eave filled with needles is not a little. Complain, complain, complain. Guilty. All right then, how about the other end of the spectrum. 31 years ago my wife and I looked at each other and said no more Minnesota winters. Thereafter we left MN behind the day after Christmas, headed west during which we appropriately encountered a blizzard in Bismarck ND as if an ominous sign saying "You'll pay for even  thinking of leaving MN". The blizzard ended through the night after which we encountered Montana followed by the Rockies and the Cascades. Upon descending into Seattle on New Year's Day we saw green grass...

Play on Words by Vern Schanilec My friend the Sikh was not meek as he, me and our friend Zeke decided to sneak a peek at Pike's Peak.  We climbed for a week upon which we were weak. While there we saw the tree Teak, a geek and a mouse that caused Zeke to say "Eek!". On the way back we boarded a runnell as we funneled down a tunnel. The crew decided to break and eat, but for us by the shake of the dice the price was thrice our means. Though we had the time we had only a dime which was a crime for which we did not shine. Later, in our effort to strive to feel alive we went for a drive. Since we were forcibly fasting, and resting in our nesting, we found it not to our besting. We came upon friends who through interrogation expressed fascination with our story of exasperation and gesticulation while sipping sarsaparilla under an umbrellah while watching a confused caterpillah become a millah (instead of a butterfly) to which I said "He didn...

The Dot Cheryle Cerezo-Gardiner,  October 21, 2017 A single dot Small, insignificant A mistake? I think not. For are we not all A single dot? Do we not each Stand alone? The center of our own universe. Children’s books Have dot-to-dot drawings - 1, 2, 3, 4, …. 30, 31, 32… Connect the dots. Make a picture. What is it? You and you and I - each of us Is a dot. Connect us A common interest A common religion A common nation, ethnicity, language What picture do we make? Now connect us Different interests Different religions Different nations, ethnicities, languages Now what picture do we make? The dot is our common humanity.

A Meditation  by Vern Schanilec, 9/30/2017 Where is the Kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven? What is eternal life and how does one gain it? The three terms above can be used interchangeably regardless of capitalization. The challenge is to identify and define the three clauses, and see about engaging. Jesus was asked the question of the presence of the kingdom and how one attains eternal life many times and responded differently almost every time; his answer adapted to the hearer and what Jesus thought his or her needs were. To the Corinthians Paul said "..We are workers with you for your joy, because you stand firm in the faith." 2 Corinthians 1:24 To Nicodemus Jesus said be "born again." John 3:7 To the thief on the cross, due to your faith "you will be in paradise today." Luke 23:43 Those who forgive will be forgiven, those who don't; sorry. John 20:23 Zaccheaus sold off half his holdings and repaid 4-fold those he cheated....

Writing from the Heart, an Amherst Writers and Artists  Group Facilitated by William Caldwell 13 - 2017 To live is so startling, it leaves little time for anything else.                               Emily Dickinson ~I will not fear you my fear, because you bring me the gift of light which ever surrounds your shadow. And when I embrace my light, it devours my shadow. ~I praise you love, raise you up to the light that embraces the universe, with the warmth and joy of its breath; I praise you because you are enough. As your heart gets bigger on the inside, the world gets bigger on the outside. If the dead were alive only in this world, you would forget them, looks like, as soon as they die. But you remember them because they were always living in the other, bigger world while they lived in this little one, and this one and the other one are the same....

Writing from the Heart, an Amherst Writers and Artists Group,               Facilitated by William Caldwell 12 - 2017 SPEAK GENTLY,             David Bates Speak gently, – it is better far             To rule by love than fear; Speak gently, – let not harsh words mar             The good we might do here. Speak gently, – love does whisper low, The vows that true hearts bind; And gentle friendship’s accents flow, –             Affection’s voice is kind. Speak gently, - to the little child, Its love be sure to fain; Teach it in accents soft and mild – It may not long remain. Speak gently to the young, for they             Will have enoug...