Mukilteo Beacon - Your Hometown News Source

When it comes to garden-variety apocalypses, my daughter is the canary in this particular coal mine. She’s been preparing for this her entire life. Not that she’s a prepper, or a hoarder or a...

I was standing in line this past weekend, watching a symphony of social unease played in a minor queue. There were just a few of us in line, and we were twitchy. I could be projecting. I could have be...

The cat jumped into my lap this morning, as he does most mornings. This is not a random cat, although I'm pretty sure he considers it a random lap. And as he got up close and personal, rubbing his...

I gave a friend a ride home the other night, traversing unfamiliar streets in the dark the old-fashioned way. That is, he told me where to turn. This was mildly embarrassing for a couple of reasons,...

I slipped in and out of the grocery store on Valentine’s Day, getting what I needed quickly and trying not to stare. It’s become an annual adventure, observing the mating rituals of the contempora...

A million years ago, a coworker told me about her dream. I was mildly curious, if only because we were collegial only, not really friends. And because the dream was about me. That’ll always get my...

I said goodbye to two old friends last week, although it was hardly sad, and not really goodbye anyway. A favorite television show ended, for one thing. I watched the finale and appreciated the...

I’ve decided that Michael Chabon is going to be my wingman for this one. I feel as though I’m on shaky ground, and I could use some credentials in my corner. Chabon is a famous writer, for...

Not to be Captain Obvious here, but the world has changed, and we’ve changed with it. OK. I would accept Lt. Commander Obvious. Assessing change in real time is usually like watching paint dry,...

It’s a little cold, which is as cold as it gets where we live. To be fair, I mean. This region hasn’t seen single-digit temperatures in decades, and it’s not likely to in the future. We live in...

The unwelcome visitor showed up on Christmas Eve, looking for room at the inn. There were plenty of vacancies. I wasn’t paying attention. It was a pretty normal Christmas Eve, singing carols, going...

Three years ago, I thought I was so smart. It was a bad year, that one. Not only did a presidential election roil us in 2016, unleashing spasms of disbelief and nastiness, but we lost a bunch of...

At some point toward the end of last week’s rain, probably Saturday afternoon, I took a little inspection tour of my house. I have a feeling I wasn’t the only one in my neighborhood doing some...

There are at least two axioms that I rely on in this life. There might be a few more. It’s possible there’s a box in the garage marked “axioms” that I’ve forgotten about. There’s a lot of...

Perhaps you noticed the other day when Billie Eilish didn’t seem to know who Van Halen was. Perhaps you missed it. Perhaps you need me to start over. Billie Eilish is an American teenager, a singer/...

I was rummaging through the universal hall closet the other day, which in my case was an actual closet. In your case, it could be something else. You’ve got one, though. It could be an envelope or a...

In my personal arsenal of useful emotional states, gratitude is the clear winner. I’m all for feeling happy or hopeful, although you can’t count on those. But gratitude is always available, an...

I read an interesting article the other day, although I went through it quickly and then bookmarked it for later. I can’t be the only one who practices skim-and-save reading. It’s a form of...

Does the name Doug Forcett ring a bell? I’m not suggesting it should. I had to look it up, and I’m writing this thing. Doug Forcett is a minor character on the NBC sitcom “The Good Place,” whi...

I run a small business, and I need widgets. You’re the owner of a widget factory. I’m me. You’re Bob. Hi Bob! My customers have become accustomed to quality service and products. They expect...

I should just take the week off. I don’t know anything about Halloween. Apparently I was sick the day they explained it. I understand the basics. I remember some fun Halloweens as a kid, going trick...

It was a special day in my family when the diaries arrived. At some point in the 1970s, we were sent little journals from Nielsen Media Research to manually record what we watched on TV. For one...

For someone whose summers are typically low-key seasons, this past one was an anomaly in the sense that I lost it. I spent about a month traveling this summer, making several trips, and I’m...

I’ve been reading your mail for 18 years. I just realized that sounds sort of illegal. Let me clarify. I’ve been writing this column for 18 years. A few weeks following the attacks of Sept. 11,...

I’ve been exchanging text messages with an old friend lately, “old” as in old. We met when we were 15, 46 years ago this month. Maybe on this very day, who knows? I didn’t make a note in my...