This & That

Featured Author

David Cuin

Biography

David Cuin worked in a variety of technical and professional roles in the construction industry in Britain, the U.S. and Canada, and is a successful watercolorist and glass artist. A longtime Evergreen resident, he is the author of a textbook on color in arts and crafts and co-author of the popular “Seasons of Evergreen” book (davidcuinart.com).

ARTICLES

Are You Sure You Are You?

It’s a good thing we live in a place with an abundance of sunshine, because it’s reassuring to see my shadow following me about everywhere. These days, I’m watching it for signs of fading, not just when the sun goes in, but because there are an increasing number of...

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We Can’t See the Forest

Events occurring in the world around us have led to a tacit acknowledgment that we are in the midst of a cycle of dramatic changes in our climate. In 1546, a writer named John Heywood published a collection of Renaissance proverbs. It is the first known mention of the...

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A Message From the Universe

I would guarantee that most of you have never heard of the small town of Winchcombe in the north Cotswolds of England, yet it lies only nine miles from prettier Broadway, another small town, long a haunt of tourists, especially American ones. Before Winchcombe or...

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The Cotswolds in Michigan

The Cotswolds (often wrongly called The Cotswold Hills) is an 800-square-mile designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the middle of England, extending into all or parts of six counties: Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and...

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Are You an Addict?

I must confess that I am. I blame my father. He got me started way back in childhood with the easy types of product, but it wasn’t long before I progressed to the hard stuff—yes, the darkest chocolate I could find. The next step was an insidious progression toward a...

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Toeing the Line

It always surprises me how many times you round a bend in the road and find an oncoming vehicle with its offside wheels a foot or two over the double yellow line. It’s not just me that is jerked awake; you can tell the oncoming driver is, too, by the way their...

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There You Have It!

Well, there you have it, in red ink: English food stinks. A definitive statement with admirable literary brevity, consigning a nation’s culinary tradition, developed over centuries, to the dumpster. A view stated in last month’s issue by a prominent Serenity writer in...

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Playing With Words

Lately, I’ve been reading a riveting page-turner called “The Etymologicon.” It’s a book about etymology, which is the study of word origins (and nothing to do with insects). Now, I heard a few of you say, “Is he crazy?” and I confess I should probably plead the Fifth...

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The Art of the Tattoo

I’m sure you know what a tattoo is and might even have one, but do you know the origin of the word? Compared with the history of the tattoo, the word for it is of comparatively recent origin. In 1769, the British seaman, Captain James Cook, first recorded the word in...

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The Perfection of Puttering

There is a particular folksy scene that is found in feel-good period movies where an idealized grandfather figure sits outside his cabin whittling a piece of wood with his hunting knife while his attentive grandson sits absorbing his words of wisdom. Have you actually...

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