In Edmonds, Washington: Natural Beauty, Grandkids, and a Corner Office at Starbucks.

Edmonds, Washington -- unless you live there or thereabouts, it probably won't mean much to you. But if I wrote "Seattle, Washington," which is a mere 11 miles south, a light goes on.You think the Space Needle, rainy weather, Starbucks, and Amazon, right?

Edmonds? Blank.

That's how it used to be for me -- until our daughter and her husband and three kids moved to Edmonds three years ago.  Since then, Barbara and I have been spending  time in Edmonds -- recently returning from three weeks there -- and we're beginning to fall in love with it.

First, the beauty. Here's the family enjoying the beach, a short walk from downtown. Barbara is sitting on the log. In front of her are, from the left, son-in-law Ed, daughter Misha, granddaughters Mia, Talula, Bella, and far right, grandson Max.

 

Here are a couple more beach scenes:

 

Misha can't help taking photos. In addition to being a photographer, she is also an interior designer, painter, and -- a sure sign that she also has her feet on the ground -- a real estate agent. Some of her paintings, below, are on sale in a popular downtown cafe.

Not only did Misha and Ed house us in Edmonds, but Misha also took on a project for my sister Ruby: a sign for her Oxford, Mass. lakeside cottage. The job: make it something to be proud of and to last at least forever. We gave her the size. She did the rest.

Misha picked the wood (cedar), type (color and size) and background (of her own making). Most creative and remarkable of all, she drew and then painted in red, white and blue the Pollock symbol: a fish. Then, to weatherize, she sprayed front and back with polyurethane over a few days, letting the surface dry after each application.

It was an original work of art. It bowled me over. When I showed it to Ruby, her jaw dropped. It was the sign of her dreams. Everybody else in the family loved it too. Now, drum roll please, here is the new sign for Ruby's cottage:

Below left, grandkids Aidan and Nathaniel, are shown enjoying the lake at Pollock Place.
They swim and net our little fish friends for hours.

I also have my own personal doctor in Edmonds, Dr. Bella.  Here she is giving me my regular physical exam. She is very thorough and does it all.  Last summer, with her brother Max assisting, she gave me a heart transplant.

For this exam, Dr. Bella's sister Talula assisted.

Dr. Bella pronounced me healthy and well, though she was concerned about my age. She gave me a prescription for a cough.

When Talula is not assisting Dr. Bella, she screams bloody murder when things don't go her way. I got into a tiff with her over a drink of apple juice. I stood my ground and kept the drink. Then I got her another drink and we made up.

Mia and I talked a lot. She is 11. I am 75. Oh, you think that with such an age difference that we don't have anything to talk about? Well, we do.

For one thing, we talk about an upcoming E-book, "Something Tells Her." It is about a 12 year old girl, a foster child, who runs away from her latest abusive foster home. Alone on the streets, no family, nothing, how is she going to survive?

Written by Miabella T. Riley and Published by State Kid Publications, "Something tells Her" is the real deal. Miabella T. Riley is a pen name.  The author, whose childhood was spent in abusive foster homes, prefers to remain anonymous.

Spending time with Mia, I got to understand a 12-year-old girl -- how she thinks, what she knows and doesn't know, her fears. One afternoon the two of us walked to and from a park about twenty minutes away, talking the whole time. She can't wait to read "Something Tells Her."

Like her mom, Mia is multi-talented, a singer, dancer, actress, and a gymnast. Here she is performing during our park excursion.

The cover of "Something Tells Her" is done, with Mia posing as the girl. In the book, while her foster parents are playing with their own daughter and could care less where their meal ticket is, our heroine wanders down to the beach. She is about to wade into the rough waters when something tells her that she'd better not. She stays put.

On that beach on that day, another girl drowned. Here is the cover starring Mia:

Now Max, 6.  With three sisters, he's surrounded by girlyness.  So Max and I do guy stuff, such as tracking down the neighborhood monster. We found out where the monster is hiding -- in an abandoned house up the hill and around the corner. Next visit, we ambush him.


Max is shown here sitting across from me at Starbucks.   Unlike those gabby sisters of his, we two guys, he on his I-Pad and I on my computer, go long periods hardly saying a word.

One afternoon, Max and I walked to McDonald's where he got his favorite Happy Meal and then ran around the play equipment with other kids. On the way there and back, Max showed me how he could make the cars stop.

"Watch," he said at a crosswalk. He pressed the button. Sure enough, the cars stopped. He strutted across the street like a little emperor followed by his manservant.

"You made those cars stop," I said. "How did you do that?"

"Easy," he said with a flip of the hand. "Easy."

If afternoons were for kids, mornings were for editing "Something Tells Her" at Starbucks. I was there every morning between 6 and 6:30 and so had my choice of work spot. I picked the largest table, the handicapped table in the corner, and it quickly became my "office."

Ordering the same thing every day, coffee and a multi-grain roll, I worked every day until about noon.
At first, I wondered if the staff was going to show me the door. But all I got from every single one of them were smiles and apologies when one of them had to get something in the cabinet behind me.

"Sorry, sorry," they all said.

And they meant it, every single one of them. My corner office quickly became a home away from home.

I got to know other regular customers and they got to know me. Soon we were on a first name basis, chatting back and forth. It was like old home week. 

Two regulars are Mike and Elaine, pictured here. Elaine works for the post office and starts off her day at Starbucks. Mike, who lost a leg in naval service, always had a joke or happy story.

When I came in a little later one morning, I found Mike hovering over my regular spot. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm saving your place."

With another regular, Dave, right, it might have gotten nasty in a place other than Starbucks in Edmonds. We both wanted my corner office.

When I came in a little later one morning and found Dave sitting there, I stood surprised and obviously disappointed. "Come on," Dave quickly said. "Sit down. We'll share it."

So I did and, between working, we laughed and told stories as everybody does in the Edmonds Starbucks. A couple of times that I was sitting in the corner office when Dave came in, I invited him to share. He waved me off. He wanted me to have the corner office.

Another two regulars are Eber and his wife Teresa, left. She goes by Terry. We chatted just about every day. Terry gave me a personal tour of the elder care facility nearby where she works.

On the day before I was to fly back to the east coast, she came over to my corner office. "I'm going to miss you," she said, clasping my hand. "I hope you come back soon."

"Gonna miss you, too," I said. "I'll be back soon. I love Edmonds."

Let me end now with a photo of Barbara and me. It was taken on the ferry to Kingston, a small quaint village where we had a wonderful few hours walking around, sipping coffee in a quaint cafe, and enjoying life and each other. Edmonds is in the background.

  So long and keep moving.

                                          Amazon E-Books by George Pollock

"Something Tells Her" is coming soon. Look for it here. Other E-books now available are: "State Kid: Hero of Literacy" is fiction based on his real-life experiences growing up in foster homes; "Last Laughs," is the true story of how five foster kids (he and four younger siblings) found their way in life and each other. "Killers: Surprises in a Maximum Security Prison," is the story of his being locked up for 23 hours with killers in a maximum security prison; "I, Cadaver" is about his postmortem adventures and mischief in the anatomy lab at UMass Medical School. “A Beautiful Story” demonstrates the art and process of creative writing as a 16-year-old boy goes all out to write a story that literally saves his life; "A Long, Happy, Healthy Life," is about how to live the title every day; and "Unlove Story," Writing anonymously as "Elvis," a husband, dumped after 38 years of marriage, lets it all out on love, marriage, life, everything. A guy doing this? It's unheard of.

 
For the Nook:

A Beautiful Story
A Long, Happy, Healthy Life
I, Cadaver
Killers

Seattle Candid Camera: New Baby, 40th Birthday, Grandkids, Crazy Weather, Work and Play in the Starbucks "Office."

It was summery spring with confused flowers in early blossom as we flew out of Boston. We arrived in Seattle to freezing, winter temperatures.

The weather got even crazier.

One morning in Seattle we woke up to snow, yes SNOW, while our neighbors back in Massachusetts were on their porches sunning themselves!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it supposed to be just the opposite, brutal cold on the East coast and civilized, though rainy, mildness on the West coast?

The weather needs to go for counseling.

A neighbor, Martha, e-mailed us:  "Yes, we're having THE best summer weather in March that I can remember. It reached a high of 82 here, and we had dinner on the deck..."

I e-mailed Martha my thanks for rubbing it in: "I'm so happy for your "best summer weather in March" while we are out here in Seattle freezing our U-NO-WHATS off. We even had a snowstorm. So, go ahead, sunbathe on the porch in your bikini -- but could you please not send us a photo of it?  Appreciate it."

Now that I got that out of my system, let me introduce you to the reason we came to Seattle, our new granddaughter, Talula, just five months old.  Here are the proud grandparents, Barbara and me, showing her off.

Actually, there's another reason we were in Seattle: for Talula's mom's birthday. Daughter Misha was celebrating her 40th -- though she looks at least 15 years younger, as you can see below with Talula.

Here's the whole gang, with the exception of Barbara, at Misha's 40th birthday party. Barbara got drafted to take the group picture.

Just so she won't feel left out, here is a photo of Barbara alone with Talula.

Now a  dose of reality. As you can imagine, with three kids already and a new baby, Misha and husband Ed have their hands full. Ed has a demanding managerial job at L.A. Fitness and works long hours, but still gets up at night to feed the baby.

Misha has her own interior design business, Misha Designs. Plus, while we were there, she studied for and passed the exam for her real estate license. We don't know how she does it all.

So we did our best to help out -- and Misha and Ed were able to get away for a weekend in Las Vegas for a much needed break.

During our two weeks in Seattle, to be honest, Barbara did most of the work. She watched Talula, fed her, changed her. She prepared meals for the other three kids, Mia (almost 10), Bella (8), and Max (almost 5).  She cleaned, washed clothes, and did everything else that needed to be done around the house.

In other words, she was the responsible adult. I was one of the kids. I walked with Mia and Bella to and from school, the three of us goofing the whole time. Most afternoons, I walked with the three to a playground about a mile away where we all just had fun.

There Bella found a little furry friend, shown with her in the photo. She couldn't stop hugging and kissing the sweet little puppy.

One afternoon I walked all three kids to a nearby McDonald's. We had yummy soft serve cones and the kids had a ball climbing and scrambling through the huge tubes of the mammoth play structure.

To play there,  kids are supposed to be no more than 4 feet tall.  I had each stand at the height checker. Only Max was under 4 feet tall. Mia and Bella were both illegal and I told them so. "Let's hope nobody finds out," I said,  "and the cops don't come and throw us out."

"They won't throw me out," Max said. "I'm legal."

"Yes, Max, you're legal." Max may be only four, but he knows how to watch out for number one.

A couple of times, Max and I went up the hill looking for a neighborhood monster. The second time, we came across an old, run-down, abandoned house.

"That's where the monster has been staying," I said in a hushed voice. Bent over, trying to be as quiet as possible, the two of us crept toward the house.

"How do you know?" the little guy whispered.

"I don't. But where else could he be if he is scaring the kids right here in the neighborhood?"

That made sense to Max. He nodded.

"Shhh. Stay here," I said. "I'll sneak up to the window and look in."

I got to the the window and looked in. I recoiled. Face a mask of sheer terror, I said, "He's there! He's there! He saw me! Run!"

Max took off like a little racehorse with me right behind him. We didn't stop running until we were back at the house.

"Well, we found him," I said, panting.

"Now we have to get him," Max said.

"Don't worry, we will."

Mornings I walked to my "office" at Starbucks where I had coffee, read my New York Times,  joked around with the staff, and even did some work. I am writing a paranormal novel, "Something Tells Her," about a 12-year-old girl who has been in foster homes and institutions all her young life.

Without family of any kind, she is entirely on her own -- except that something warns her of danger. Mia, pictured here, is my consultant. As we hang out, talk, play, and imagine together, I am learning about how a preteen girl thinks and acts -- and I'm writing.

Here I am at my Starbucks office in Edmonds at work on the novel. I tell everybody that the staff has reserved the VIP table, the largest in the place, for moi.

Actually, it is the handicapped table. The staff and all the regulars apparently think of me as an untreated psychiatric patient. Is Starbucks my away-from-home adult psych unit?  I guess I would be the last to know.

One thing I do know, is that I feel right at home here at Starbucks, both in Edmonds and Shoreline. In Edmonds, the staff makes fun of my Boston accent and I never saw people have more fun at work. Even with unending lines, they horse around, joke, and laugh almost nonstop.

They even sing and dance while on the job. I never saw that before, until I saw Gen and Amy do it in Edmonds. They are pictured here, Gen left and Amy right. I got up and applauded. "More, more."  But customers had to be served.

I asked Gen if she would come over to the handicapped table and sing and dance for me. She said she would be happy to, but never did. I asked Amy to come over and sing and dance for me. She said she would be happy to, but never got around to it.

Oh well, maybe when I come back in July, Gen and Amy will make it up to me. So ladies, rehearse. Get that song and dance routine down. In July, it's showtime for the old psycho. It could be a breakout performance!

I also went over to the Starbucks in Shoreline to see my old friends Kathi, Erin, and Brittani.  When Misha lived in Shoreline, that's where I went mornings to work and socialize. I miss the Starbucks gang there. When I walked in, they welcomed me not just as a customer, but as a friend.

They were busy and I could only stay a short time, but I did talk briefly with Brittani. "How are you doing these days?" I asked her during a short break in the steady line of customers.

Exuding warmth and caring, she spoke of her life, work, and dreams. She even followed up with an e-mail. The two of us are shown here.

Brittani was born and raised in Bellingham, Washington. She lived there until 2008 when she moved to Santa Barbara to attend Santa Barbara City College.

After a year, missing her family, she moved to Seattle. Over the 2008 Christmas break, she accompanied her parents to Haiti where they had been doing relief and missionary work. "Spending Christmas in Haiti changed who I am," she said. "I discovered a lot about myself."

She learned that life for her was "most joyful" when she helped others in serious need. She realized that she needed a career in which she could use "my compassion and love for others to help them." She chose nursing.

She said that a nurse develops relationships with patients that is unmatched. "To me, no value can be placed on being able to make someone smile, laugh, or ease any discomfort they might be in. To be paid to do this ... well, it's nothing short of a dream."

But how to make it happen? She said that her parents had paid for "previous educational flops," and she can't ask mom and dad for more financial help. "I need to do it on my own," she said.

She applied for an FAFSA grant and received a "pretty hefty" one. However, the grant comes with high personal and educational standards, which she says "keeps me working, and hard."

Brittani is now going to nursing school full time, working 20 hours a week at Starbucks, and supporting herself. She says that it is "insanely stressful." But, nearing the end of her first quarter, she says that she has "proved to myself that I am capable of something I never thought possible... I did well in school, which gave me a sense of self-confidence I have never before had."

Brittani says she still has a long way to go before she starts her nursing career, but happily adds  "I am well on my way."

Go, Brittani, go!

Next, in the Shoreline Starbucks, I hobnobbed with the Mayor, Keith McGlashan.  Yes, that's right, the Mayor of the city, not to mention that he also sits on the Shoreline City Council.

On top of that, ready for this? He also works at Starbucks. I  love being waited on by the Mayor of the city and saying "thank you, Mr. Mayor." Why he works at Starbucks, I explained in an earlier blog.

He wasn't working today, however, just stopping by to visit, chat, and glad-hand with constituents. In the photo, he chats with two of them.

"Hey, Mr. Mayor," I said. "Good to see you again. Remember we talked?"

"Sure. Back visiting again?"

"Yeah.  Listen, I know you're just running in and out but I wanted to ask you about that no-show, high-paying, government job we talked about."

"I'm working on it," he said.

"Great, living in Massachusetts, it would be hard for me to show up."

"I understand. Soon as I get back to the office, I'll make a phone call."

 "Great. Thank you, Mr. Mayor."

In the photo above of me with the Mayor, I look like a runt beside him. I'm not that short; he's a giant, like an unusually large number of Seattle men. I wrote about the "giants of Seattle" in that earlier blog. I thought the Mayor could have scrunched down for a future absentee co-worker on the city payroll.

Oh well, no big deal. My first check from the City of Shoreline should be arriving soon.

So long and keep moving.

 E-Books by George Pollock

"State Kid: Hero of Literacy" is fiction based on his  real-life experiences  growing up in foster homes; "Last Laughs," is the true story of how five foster kids (he and four younger siblings) found their way in life and each other. "Killers: Surprises in a Maximum Security Prison," is the story of his being locked up for 23 hours with killers in a maximum security prison;  "I, Cadaver" is about his postmortem adventures and mischief in the anatomy lab at UMass Medical School. “A Beautiful Story” demonstrates the art and process of creative writing as a 16-year-old boy goes all out to write a story that literally saves his life;  "A Long, Happy, Healthy Life," which is about how to live the title every day; and "Unlove Story," Writing anonymously as "Elvis," a husband, dumped after 38 years of marriage, lets it all out on love, marriage, life, everything. A guy doing this? Unheard of.

Seattle Candid Camera: Finding Pictures, Stories, and Laughs Seemingly Everywhere.

Our arrival in Seattle to visit our daughter Misha, husband Ed, and kids Mia, 9, Bella, 8, and Max, 4, got off to a sobering start. After my regular physical by doctors Bella and Max, shown above, Dr. Bella gave me some awful news.

"The numbers are bad, very bad," Dr. Bella said, her face a portrait of professional concern. "Your blood pressure is way up and your heart is not working right. You only have about two weeks to live."

"Two weeks, doctor? Are you sure?"

"Yes, we have to operate right now."

So the two of them, Dr. Bella and Dr. Max, swung into action. First, they gave me medication to put me to sleep.  The last thing I remembered before blacking out was Dr. Max reaching into a big box of  surgical instruments.

When I woke up, it was to a smiling Dr. Bella. "Good news," she said with a big smile. "You're going to be all right. The operation was successful."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Heart transplant," Dr. Bella said.

"Yea, a heart transplant," Dr. Max said.

I didn't ask questions, like where they got the heart. I just said, "Oh, thank you, Dr. Bella and Dr. Max. Now I'm going to get even older."

Thanks to my two doctors, I was soon up and about. The next morning Barbara and I were in our second home, the nearby Starbucks that we walked to every morning.  One of the first things I noticed there is that one super tall guy after another walks in. I mean, these are guys with heads scraping the ceiling!

Here are a couple of photos of what I mean. The first is one of the giants. The other is of me and a giant that I walked up to and confronted about his abnormal height.

"You know that you are a lot taller than you should be," I said looking up at him.  "How come I have to watch one giant after another walk in here? Can you imagine how that makes me feel?"

He looked down at me and laughed.

I mentioned my problem to a couple of the baristas, Kathy and Erin, shown below.  Both said that they had never noticed more tall guys than usual, but would check it out.

Pretty soon, as one giant after another walked in, Kathy and Erin were giving each other and me knowing looks and having fun with it. My look back at them said, "Now, tell me I'm crazy."  And, indeed, both admitted later that they had never noticed all the tall guys.

The reason is right there in the history of the Northwest. I did a little research and found that early on there there was a major migration to the Northwest from Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and other Indo-European nations. These were areas with a large number of unusually tall males.

Their descendants are the giants of Seattle that march mockingly in front of me at Starbucks.

Did I mention that every morning in Starbucks Barbara and I sit in the VIP spot? No? Well, we do, in the corner at the front window where we can see everybody come and go. Actually, having a VIP spot saved for us is the least of how important we are at Starbucks.

On the day before were were to leave, guess who got our Tall and Grande Pike coffees--room for cream in Barbara's Grande--and two 8-grain rolls heated and with a little butter? Oh, yawn, yawn, just the mayor of Shoreline, the city where this Starbucks is located.  He is Keith McGlashan and he has been Mayor of Shoreline for two and a half years and a member of the City Council for six years.

The Mayor took our order, brought our coffees and rolls, and rung us up.  When he handed me my change, I said, "Thank you, Mr. Mayor." I had never been waited on by somebody so important.

At left, the Mayor serves our coffees. Right, I lobby the Mayor during his break. Notice how tall he is. Imagine that -- the Mayor of Shoreline coming in just to serve Barbara and me!

Oh, all right, I'm getting a little carried away. The truth is, Mayor McGlashan, 57, really does work at this Starbucks in Richmond Beach.  For thirty years, he owned a hair salon. At 55, he sold it and retired.

But even with his mayoral and Shoreline city council duties, he sought additional work. A regular at Starbucks, he wondered if the firm would hire someone his age. They would and did. And here he is waiting on Barbara and me and other Starbucks customers.

"Mr. Mayor," I said, "I have a question.  Why do you work at Starbucks? Why don't you just live off your mayor and city council pay, not to mention all the political payoffs?"

"I make $9,000 from the City Council and $11,000 as mayor," he said, assuming that would answer my question. It did.  Like the rest of us, he needs more than $20,000 to live a reasonable life.

You would never know it to look at him, but Mayor McGlashan is recuperating from a heart attack. He said heart problems run in his family, something he learned at 16 from a father he had never known and who promptly disappeared again. He said that his heart attack had been a "wake-up call."

Mayor McGlashan obviously has quite a story to tell. I wanted to hear it, but he had to get back to work.  Reading my mind like a true politician, the Mayor gave me his e-mail address and offered to be in touch by e-mail.

"Thank you, Mr. Mayor," I said. "Been a pleasure meeting you. We'll be in touch."

The Starbucks crew surprised us with a going-away Starbucks gift card. With it was a nice note: "We have so much enjoyed your company!  Come see us again when you're back. Your friends at Richmond Beach Starbucks."

How thoughtful. Thank you. We'll be back!

We didn't spend all our time at Starbucks. Our daughter Misha also had a "Japanese Tea Party" for Bella's 8th birthday. Yes, she is a very, very young doctor. In the lineup below of girls dressed in their kimonos at the party, Dr. Bella is 4th from the right. Her sister Mia, 9, is next to her, 3rd from the right.  The invitations, the food, the art, the kimonos themselves were all "authentic" Japanese.  Misha created the invitations, the framed art, and the kimonos herself.

Like every event Misha puts on, it was a great party, one that Bella, Mia, and all the girls will surely remember.  Before the tea party, Misha herself did up the girls' hair, complete with chopsticks, and friend Molly put on some make-up, before they all sat down to a scrumptious table of sushi, rice, chicken, tea, and home-made cupcakes.

In this photo is Bella, sister Mia, and, from left, Misha, her good friend Molly, and Barbara.  In the other photo, I am with the birthday girl, Bella.
     

In the two and a half weeks we stayed with Misha and Ed and kids (Mia, Bella, Max), we ate well.  That is an understatement.  Ed, a former chef, did some of the cooking. Here he is with one of his great meals, with little Max, 4, digging in.

We also explored Richmond Beach, the cities of Shoreline and Edmonds, and went to the farmer's market in Queen Anne.  Barbara and I went off one day to downtown Seattle. We took the kids out to area playgrounds, of which there are many. One afternoon, Barbara and I took all three kids to the  Edmonds Theater to see Cars 2.

Following are photos from these various adventures. The first is a photo of Barbara and me at the entrance to Richmond Beach.  A thoughtful woman offered to take a picture of us. There is no shortage of thoughtful and sociable people in the Seattle area.

 Here I am sitting on one of a huge number of logs on Richmond Beach, reading my New York Times.  The logs were washed ashore from recent powerful storms such as Japan's tsunami and have just been left there. They make great benches. They also serve to remind us of the awesome power of natural forces. As a rock-lover, I am in my glory below.  I found some beauties.

 I don't know about you, but when I look at the log below, I don't see a log. I see the remains of an alligator-like creature.

 Below I pat a lonely sea lion.  Being a water creature myself, we immediately bonded.

Ordinarily, Barbara doesn't care for photos with her back.  But I thought this was an interesting shot and she went along with it.

When we first arrived at Richmond Beach, the crows went wild.  I thought they were excited to see me. The real reason was that a red-tailed hawk had invaded their territory, threatening their young. Hiding in a tree with an open view, the hawk was hungry and hunting. He was scanning for  mice and other small prey to swoop down on.

The crows knew it and were "angry," said Jay Hornbeak of the Shoreline Parks Department, whom we met staring at the hunting hawk.  Yes, as we talked about birds with beaks, "Hornbeak" is his real name.  As we talked, the hawk flew off with squadrons of angry crows dive-bombing him out of there.   After that, I looked for a close-up of a crow and finally got the one below-- keeping an eye on human visitors to his territory. 

One day, Barbara and I just went for a drive and ended up in Pike's Market in Seattle.  At the fish counter, the fishmongers entertain, tossing fish back and forth. Of course, with the name Pollock and my love of the water, I'm half fish myself -- maybe more than half.

Here I look down on an unfortunate relative and soul mate, a rockfish. We both live in the water and love rocks and have similar rugged, masculine looks. Erin and Kathy, is that nice thinking of us as "ugly?" 

Now here are a few shots of the kids at play. We start with the athletic, if not balletic, Mia doing a beautiful cartwheel. Max emerges from his slide. Bella does a balancing act.  Mia strikes a majestic pose.

Mia's pose is a possible cover shot for my upcoming E-book, a paranormal novel about a 10-year-old girl with the "power." The title is, "Something Tells Her." Mia and Bella have both been suggesting plot ideas and making drawings for possible use in the book. Confronting strong waves below, Mia summons the "power."

And that's our glimpse of Seattle. We'll be going back in a few months. At 39, with three kids, Misha is pregnant with her fourth and is due in October.  Barbara and I will be there for the birth and to offer love and support.

To our friends at Starbucks, we'll be using that thoughtful gift certificate.  Could you please reserve our VIP seat by the window?  Appreciate it. 

Mr. Mayor, even though we have just met, I feel that we made a real connection. I was wondering if you could do me a small favor? You see, I have this friend in Shoreline and he has this problem with the city.... Oh, maybe it would be better if I e-mailed you. I'll do that. Sorry, I'm still learning how to use my new political influence.

So long and keep moving.

Amazon E-Books by George Pollock

 "State Kid: Hero of Literacy" is fiction based on his  real-life experiences  growing up in foster homes; "Last Laughs," is the true story of how five foster kids (he and four younger siblings) found their way in life and each other. "Killers: Surprises in a Maximum Security Prison," is the story of his being locked up for 23 hours with killers in a maximum security prison;  "I, Cadaver" is about his postmortem adventures and mischief in the anatomy lab at UMass Medical School. “A Beautiful Story” demonstrates the art and process of creative writing as a 16-year-old boy goes all out to write a story that literally saves his life;  "A Long, Happy, Healthy Life," which is about how to live the title every day; and "Unlove Story," Writing anonymously as "Elvis," a husband, dumped after 38 years of marriage, lets it all out on love, marriage, life, everything. A guy doing this? It's unheard of.

   For the Nook:

A Beautiful Story
A Long, Happy, Healthy Life
I, Cadaver
Killers
State Kid
Unlove Story