Erin Coughlin Hollowell
I am amused that the last time I sent out a newsletter or posted something on my blog, it was May and I was talking about balance. As if suddenly, I was going to become proficient at balancing work work/at … Continued
The seasons in Alaska make balance particularly elusive. Winter is dark, cold, and interior. Summer is bright light, intense, and frantically exterior. Case in point, gardening. First weekend in May usually heralds trips to the local greenhouses and planting things … Continued
If you follow me on social media, you know that fairly regularly I throw up a plea that people who run conferences or reading series or just any old writerly opportunity consider inviting writers from Alaska to take part. I … Continued
One of the beauties of winter is the dampening of sound, the narrowing in of possible activity. I have friends who get so stir-crazy that they fly to warmer climes where walks in the desert, or drinks on the patio, … Continued
For some people, the story of resurrection begins with a cross. For me, it begins with song. Yesterday morning, walking the dog beneath a grey sky, collar turned up against a chill breeze, I heard the first calls of the … Continued
Alaska is in that wobbly season when we can have a 40 degree, perfectly blue sky, sunny day followed by sub-zero, grey sky, snow falling. I remind myself each year that March and April are cold months. Often grey months. … Continued
This morning, an unseen wind illuminated by an unseen light source manifested as a great bright spume of snow lifting from the peaks across the bay. The mountains lay, as they always do this time of year, like a pale … Continued
This is the time of year that I trip myself up. I expect spring to wash over me, soft, sweet air and green things popping up everywhere. Instead, we get snow, then perhaps a day of thaw, ice, single digits … Continued
February. A grey white month. More light but still cold. The forecast is for two weeks of snow showers. A month that still belongs to winter though the light lingers later now, long slow sunrises and sunsets when the clouds … Continued
What handholds have you? When all around you there is difficulty – some of the season, some of the cycle, some of the seemingly endless pandemic, some of the suffering of others, some of the suffering of ourselves? I have … Continued
