Now these "secret ambitions" were fed by more than just wishes. Some have became passionate explorations in the Everett Public library. There were magazine subscriptions, and book clubs' memberships "calling out regularly" to those "secret ambitions." And since I am a constant Reader and "booka-holic" my library has grown. With changing times and Cyberspace, some of these book clubs and magazines have vanished and others have merged into web sites, and I have other links I have found as well. This page gives me a place to organize some of those many links.

Now some of my secret ambitions are realities.

Like Storytelling. which resulted in my Eldrbarry's Story Teller's Web Page, est. 1995: The Art of Telling - The Joy of Listening - The Old Old Story. The storytelling spider Anansi bit me when I was turning forty, though it had long been there for our church's Vacation Bible Schools. And for several years, I told stories whenever I could; Raven and Hatter Tales in schools, libraries, at campfires, and Bible School stories at church. I've filled a file cabinet and a bookcase with stories. I participated in the Seattle Storyteller's Guild and the Storytelling Listserv. I put together recommendations of Storytelling Books. Till the demands of crazy work schedules, home and church responsibilities took their toll. So for a long time my storytelling was on hold. But in 2015, I again got involved with the Seattle Storytellers Guild, telling often at Guild open Mikes, taking over the editorship of In The Wind, their quarterly newsletter, serving on the SSG Board; and am beginning to establish my Eldrbarry's Tales - a retirement storytelling business.

And, as for books - used books of folk and other tales can be bought pretty cheap bought on Amazon - so that library is growing still.

Sewing is a by product of my storytelling. My wife has been a quilter for many years, and she has sewed since we married. I have started making colorful pieced vests for my storytelling, as well as quilts to use as backdrops on my PVC pipe frame. Some of my (currently eight) vests are double-sided, as is one of my quilts. Favorite quilt shops include Loving Stitches in Everett and Aunt Mary's Quilt Shop in Smoky Point. Though JoAnn's gets plenty of business from us as well. See also the links on Marianne's Quilting page.

Getting out and about

• I enjoy walking around North . Everett – Daily, weather permitting, 3-4 mile rambles with views of the Everett harbor and the Olympics from Grand Ave Park and American Legion Memorial Park and sometimes the Evergreen Arboretum. Many lovely old homes with pretty yards. When the Bridge to the waterfront is finished, I will be able to walk down there as well. Lowell Riverfront Park and Langus Riverfront Park, and now Marysville have walking trails with possibilities of birds to watch.
• When the weather doesn't permit - Peak Fitness in Everett is there for exercise machines and Silver Sneakers classes.

• We have always enjoyed day trips around the Northwest – especially what we call the “Whidbey Island Loop” to La Conner, WA and Anacortes, WA; Deception Pass with its bridge and Park and beaches, and stops down Whidbey Island like Oak Harbor, and Forts Ebey and Casey, before taking the Mukilteo ferry home. With retirement, we hope to get out more. I got a new tent and have replaced our camping gear for car camping. We have a Discover Pass for the Washington State Parks, a America the Beautiful Senior Pass for National Parks, Forests and Wildlife Preserves; and we have a North American Reciprocal Museum Association (NARM) Museum membership which will get us into a lot of museums, both in Washington State and around the country.
  Ukulele A new interest is learning to play the Ukulele. I have never been very musical - a poor singer and apart from a few guitar chords in high school - no instrumental experience. But us old-sters need to keep our minds sharp - so I purchased a Concert sized Ukulele and am learning chords and strums. There are a lot of Ukulele Resources Songs, Cords and Tabs on the Internet - so I have added a page of these to my web site. I am having fun learning folk songs, hymns and popular music and something aobut music as well.
  I've accumulated a closet full of Table Games both old and new; classics and "Euro's" for our game nights with family and friends. I like browsing Board Game Geek's web site. Besides Chess, I have web pages on Mancala and Carcassonne; and Jigsaw Puzzles and Sudoku page. (And from my Vacation Bible School days Leading Active Group Games as well.

  I started cooking and Collecting Recipes and Cook Books early in our marriage when our daughter was born and continue to enjoy it and do it often. So I have accumulated many Cook Books, and enjoy subscriptions to Sunset, Cooking Light and Cuisine at Home. For my daughter's Hungarian wedding(s), I put together a page on Hungarian Cooking and I did a booklet of Salads for my son's wedding.

  Along with this, I am Collecting Chess Sets - a dream from childhood that bit me again when I visited the Maryhill Museum of Art, on a May day in 2004 when the Lupine were blooming in the Gorge. I have now have a modest collection of over 30 chess sets, a number of interesting boards and a few web pages, one on Searching for Unusual Chess sets.

  With the passing of my parents and the realization that we siblings didn't know much about our forebears and our heritage, I became interested in Geneology and Family History. This has led to a project to get to know our "Greats". I have been working on my Great Grandfather, Emmer Nichols, and his family which was quite an adventure in cyber-sleuthing. I also have the Orlando McWilliams' and the Ivan Hartley Wilsons' on my father's side to explore, and the Ole Refnes' on Marianne's side. Her brother, Bob, is working on the Gastons' - in particular, George Gaston, who founded Tabor College and his son, Alonzo, who died in the Civil War. I have subscribed to ancestry.com and Family Tree Magazine, Begun bulding a geneological library. Perhaps a retirement career in geneological research?! Combined with a little storytelling . . . Eldrbarry's Family Tales oh . . . those "secret ambitions"!!

  Another secret ambition was Graphic Design. (Yes, there was a book club -- which filled a couple of shelves -- it's now folded into HOW! Magazine's store! And Paintshop Pro 5 and CorelDRAW! on my computer.) When I was teaching and preaching in the mid 90's. I got to play with graphics and fonts a lot. I did church bulletin covers, and sermon note sheets, and created handouts and overheads for classes I was teaching. More recently I did some powerpoint presentations, as well. And I still use it for web pages and storytelling flyers.

  The Gardening Bug bit me many years ago. My ambition is to have a productive "raised bed intensive" vegetable garden, and an herb garden, and some flowers. And I dug and planted and weeded for years till a decade of travel and missions trips began, and the weeds won. Lately I have started digging again. I've built my fence, expanded the beds to put some herbs on one side. But after a couple more fallow years, and now retired - I just am waiting for the Northwest Rains to stop.

  Ship Modeling was intended as a replacement for a little "beetle" called railroad modeling, which had lingered from childhood. However my first vessel, The Swift was started, then packed away for 20 years, far from done. But it was found, finished and I've finished a second now, a Dutch Fishing boat, The Botter. I am now working on a Colonial Schooner, The Halifax, and I have three more waiting, patiently, their turns. One will be a model of my father's "weather" ship in WWII, the PCE-892. I have two pages of ship modeling books and resources on my web site.

One secret ambition, that so far alludes me was,Watercolor. I have a shelf of books (from the North Light Book Club), A bunch of old issues of Watercolor Magic and The Artists Magazines and and a box of (possibly dried up) pigments and palettes and brushes. (My son did watercolors for his art class at Everett Community College - we have some of his paintings on the wall.) But some day I still hope to take a watercolor class.

And then there is Woodworking. (I confess there are magazines - Wood and Fine Woodworking, but no Book Clubs this time!) But I never had a place when I could generate sawdust except out in the rain till recently when we got The Shed, and I still don't have the tools or much experience. However day dreams whisper about building things from wood; I have a son-in-law who knows tools, and possibly even someday I might learning how to turn my own Chess Pieces on a mini-lathe.

• The "Gronard" day dream of playing Historical War games like those published in The General (Avalon Hill), and Wargamer and Strategy and Tactics magazines. I enjoyed reading about Military History and America's Civil War

• Learning the Stars and Constellations and Astronomy Magazine (Yes, there was a book club).

• Hand painting Fantasy Miniatures and Dragon Magazine - though I never once actually played a "role playing" game.

Here are Links to Garden Sources:

• Territorial Seeds!! Seeds grown in the Northwest Cottage Grove, Oregon
• Nichols' Garden and Nursery Albany, Oregon
• Tuliptown Skagit Valley Bulb Farm
• Roozegaarde Washington Bulb Company
• Sunnyside Nursery Marysville, Washington
• McAuliffe's Valeey Nursery Snohomish, Washington
• Sky Nursery Shoreline, Washington
• Molbak's Woodenville, Washington
• Whatcom Seed Company Eugene, Oregon. Rare, exotic and unusual seeds
• Cascadia Iris Gardens Lake Stevens, Washington
• Schreiner's Iris Gardens Salem Oregon

• Eden Brothers
• Johnny's Seeds
• Parks Seeds
• Burpee Seeds
• White Flower Farm Gorgeous catalogs!
• Vermont Bean Seed Co They have a great variety of beans - and some of the most colorful dry beans

• Seeds for Change Organic Seeds
• Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Seeds, also Publishes The Heirloom Gardener
• Victory Seed Co Heirloom seeds
• The Backyard Gardener One of the best gardening reference sites on the web with 'hands on' gardening information.
• A Tribute To The Monarch Butterfly: How to Turn Your Backyard Into a Butterfly Friendly Habitat.
• Heaths and Heathers I have a bed of these around my deck.
• I Love Gardens: Washington Gardens
• Sorticulture - Everett's Unique Garden Art Show
• Everett Arboretum

• Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades: Steve Solomon's Complete Guide to Natural Gardening
• Maritime Northwest Garden Guide by Carl Elliot & Rob Peterson
• All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space! by Mel Bartholomew
• The Vegetable Gardener's Bible: Discover Ed's High-Yield W-O-R-D System for All North American Gardening Regions
• Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening
• Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners
• Growing Chinese Vegetables in your own Backyard
• Salad Leaves for all Seasons by Charles Dowding
• Fresh Food from Small Spaces: The Square-Inch Gardener's Guide to Year-Round Growing, Fermenting, and Sprouting by R. J. Ruppenthal - a book on "urban" gardening.
• Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces by Gayla Trail
• Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times by Steve Solomon
• The Winter Harvest Handbook
• Gardening Under Cover: A Northwest Guide to Solar Greenhouses, Cold Frames, and Cloches by William Head
• Microgreens: A Guide To Growing Nutrient-Packed Greens by Eric Franks and Jasmine Richardson
• How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine. The author, John Jeavons, is the father of the modern "biointensive" gardening movement.
• The Northwest Herb Lover's Handbook: A Guide to Growing Herbs for Cooking, Crafts, and Home Remedies by Mary Preus
• The Cook's Herb Garden DK Publishing
• Western Garden Book and
• Western Garden Book of Edibles: The Complete A-Z Guide to Growing Your Own Vegetables, Herbs, and Fruits are Sunset Books.
• Getting the Most from Your Garden: Using Advanced Intensive Gardening Techniques by Dan Wallace (Rodale) is out of print: however . . .
  • Intensive Gardening Techniques
  • Intensive Gardening Methods
  • What is Intensive Gardening?

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