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Category Archives: nostalgia
An Imaginary (but not unlikely) Fathers’ Day Conversation with my Daughter
SHE: Happy Fathers’ Day! And I see your new book is on a free promotion–for five days. On Kindle. ME: A chance to save $2.99. People should be beating down Amazon’s door! Here I am, hoping people take the bait, … Continue reading
Posted in love, marriage, nostalgia, rural life, writing
Tagged draft horses, Luddites, South Fork Valley-Washington, steam locomotives
4 Comments
A Baby Boy and a Ferryboat
Our son, Joseph Patrick Kenna, would’ve been 43 years old tomorrow, April 3rd. In summer of 1978, my wife, Victoria, and I bought a house in the Puget Sound waterfront town of Anacortes. We were 33 years old. I’d been … Continue reading
The Humble Spike Maul
As a day to celebrate, Saint Patrick’s Day is filled with images that are simultaneously hackneyed and cherished. The leprechaun, the green top hat, the harp–and then there’s the shamrock. Here on the west side of the Atlantic, most of … Continue reading
Posted in history, Ireland, labor, nostalgia, railroad construction, railroading, social criticism, writing
Tagged gandy-dancers, hand tools, track work
6 Comments
Make a Living at Writing?
There’s money to be made in writing fiction. But not necessarily by those doing the actual writing. As the number of books being churned out in this age of self-publishing has increased astronomically, the odds of making a living wage … Continue reading
Posted in Amazon KDP, Christmas, farming, nostalgia, self-publishing, social criticism, Tom Robbins, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., La Conner. Skagit Delta, Swinomish Slough, Rainbow Bridge, bookstores,, Washington State Ferries, writing
Tagged book marketing, editorial services, hybrid publishers, KDP, legacy publishers, literary agents, Maxwell Perkins, word processing
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A Valley’s Loss of Innocence
When my wife and two young daughters and I moved into valley of the South Fork of the Nooksack River in the early 80s, we thought we’d bought into a little slice of heaven. This was rural Western Washington state … Continue reading
Nothing Sacred?
It’s summer, down the shore, in 1948, which would make me three years old. If there’s an east wind, aka sea breeze, you can hear the ocean murmuring half a block away, through the back screen door. It’s morning, … Continue reading
Posted in history, nostalgia, social criticism, writing
Tagged Amazon, Boeing, grocery delivery, hot cereal, Jersey Shore, Merck, Rahway N.J., Regina Corporation, robots, shopping, Wheatena
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Ivan Doig (1939-2015)–I Miss Your World
Back about 1980, I was introduced to a town I’d never seen, reading a description by a newly acclaimed 40-year-old writer. And it stayed with me–a mid-1940s scene of a very young boy being happily dragged around by his ranch-hand, … Continue reading
Posted in history, labor, love, Montana, nostalgia, social criticism, writing
Tagged Ivan Doig, Montana, Rocky Mountains, sheep ranching, Village Books, Wallace Stegner, White Sulfur Springs
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Up the Inside Passage
July, 1898. 16-year-old Mike Scanlon has let himself be detained, quite willingly, at a new Utopian socialist colony along the upper reaches of Puget Sound, north of Seattle. He is now “back on track” following the original plan of his … Continue reading
Trains (large and small) and Christmas
First Posted December 20th, 2013 Our regional shopping mall here in Bellingham, Washington, dating from the late 1980s, recently had a grand re-opening showing off its multi-hundred thousand dollar face lift. I didn’t attend. I’ve got nothing against shopping malls. … Continue reading
Posted in history, nostalgia, railroading, social criticism, writing
Tagged Penn Station, toy trains
2 Comments
Any Writers Who “Drive School Bus” Out There?
The treasured summer vacation is winding down, as is the time-allotment for getting done all those tasks to be completed by Labor Day. Create e-book versions of Books 1 and 2; do a final proofreading of book 3; … Continue reading
Posted in nostalgia, school bus, writing
Tagged Crown Supercoach, retirement, School bus driving, summer vacation, writing
3 Comments
J.P. Kenna 