Mukilteo Beacon - Your Hometown News Source

I walked inside a building last week, one of those COVID-inspired moments that I'm sure will be represented in at least three Super Bowl ads next year. You know what I mean. The foc... — Updated 5/12/2021

I went for a walk on Sunday afternoon, temperature in the low 60s with a slight breeze, a wildly unwelcome environment for SARS-CoV-2 transmission. A mask stayed in my pocket,... — Updated 5/5/2021

I’m guessing that the name of Theodore Parker doesn’t ring a bell. This is probably because he delivered an historical sermon in 1853 that history tends to ignore. Parker... — Updated 4/28/2021

A friend paid me a compliment the other day, although in an odd way, not backhanded as much as along the lines of Little Red Riding Hood telling the wolf that he has very nice... — Updated 4/21/2021

In the years after his retirement and before he passed away, I noticed that my father had aged into a cliché. He was always social, but he'd become garrulous, happy to engage in tr... — Updated 4/14/2021

As we began to shut down a year ago, some of us were talking about our upcoming dystopian hellscape. It was all in good fun, as these things are, and we were mostly chatting about m... — Updated 4/7/2021

What have you learned? This is always the question, direct or implicit. It's the theme of every commencement address and more than a few conversations in the principal's office.... — Updated 3/31/2021

I first spotted my wife teaching nearly 40 years ago, sneaking a peek through a classroom door. That was when she was finishing graduate school, and actually it would take another... — Updated 3/17/2021

I have a friend who shares a particular passion of mine, although now it turns out he’s just horribly wrong about it. It’s funny. I even smiled a little the other day as he offe... — Updated 3/10/2021

I fell in love with movies as a child, almost certainly because they were a treat. My parents had three little kids and pennies were definitely being pinched, so movies were... — Updated 3/3/2021

J. Kenji López-Alt is a chef and food writer, the author of the best-selling “The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science,” which was a New York Times bestseller and... — Updated 2/24/2021

Edward Murphy was an aeronautical engineer and an Air Force captain in 1949, stationed at Muroc Air Field in the high desert of Southern California. Two years before, the late... — Updated 2/17/2021

I’ve been getting reminders for a week now, digital nudges from different apps and websites, letting me know that I took a lot of pictures seven years ago. This is in contrast to... — Updated 2/10/2021

I was teasing my wife about getting packages every day, just because she’s been on a bit of a roll. It felt like I was constantly bringing her a box or two from the mailbox, or... — Updated 2/3/2021

I’ve concluded that over the past year, I’ve deleted far more words than I’ve published or posted. This might make me sound like a very careful writer, someone who measures... — Updated 1/27/2021

Apparently I want comfort so badly I’m willing to crawl inside a cliché and pull the covers up, which is to say I started watching “The West Wing” the other night. “TWW... — Updated 1/20/2021

My grandson has been calling me spontaneously lately, something new. We talk once a day regularly, but he doesn’t just call me out of the blue. Although a grandpa can wish. But... — Updated 1/13/2021

The crazy is so strong right now – I don’t really want to add to it. I become frustrated, annoyed, irritated, and angry just like any other person, but I’d like to avoid... — Updated 1/6/2021

It feels absurd and a little silly to mark the end of a bad year, as if we’re getting ready to walk out of a lousy movie or head home early from a boring party. Not that we’re... — Updated 12/30/2020

I was standing in a parking lot last week, a dreary December afternoon, cold and wet, when I got the text message from my wife. I felt the phone buzz in my coat pocket as I chatted... — Updated 12/23/2020

I’ve been doing a few minor home repairs lately, which is an obvious sign of the apocalypse. I’m surprised the roads aren’t jammed with people leaving the city. There will be... — Updated 12/16/2020

I’ve determined that I’m not good at this, whatever this is. That’s part of the problem – being aware that I’m not great at navigating this particular situation isn’t... — Updated 12/9/2020

“I have good news and bad news,” the young woman said, and I had to smile at that alone. I think I’ve found the perfect 2020 line. I don’t know if there’s an original... — Updated 12/2/2020

After a long, chatty call with my daughter the other night, she mentioned that it was time for her nightly routine. She and my son-in-law apparently do the New York Times crossword... — Updated 11/25/2020

The first noise was the worst, although I was asleep. This raises a sort of empirical question: If a horrific, tearing, crashing sound occurs outside your window and you’re uncons... — Updated 11/18/2020