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
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Daffodils in Winter
A friend more literate than I recently recommended a book to me: “Orwell’s Roses” by Rebecca Solnit. Solnit has a considerable reputation as an author of fine prose on various contentious subjects such as social change and insurrection, feminism, misogyny, urban and...
Measuring Up
The platinum/iridium bar that was the meter standard up to 1960. The definition is now based on a fraction of the speed of light. A simple question I am often asked is how the price of gas in England compares with the price here. A simple query, but life is...
