About
MISSION
We offer the opportunity to share with each other who we are, the way we live, what we do and what we create. What we share continues to be available on the NESTER for us and others to return to several times to appreciate and deepen our understanding of each other.
VISION
Create and nourish a community that welcomes each individual and appreciates what each of us offers to each other as we follow our lives’ paths.
VALUES
What we publish will be guided by respect for each contributor and reader; and will adhere to the highest standards in maintaining the integrity of each contribution.
NOTES FROM A NESTER
Welcome. Please join us. Sit down and relax in any of the chairs around the fountain. We gather here regularly, and tell each other stories, talk about what’s important to us and what’s maybe not so important, serious stuff but funny stuff too. We laugh a lot, and listen a lot, so our time together can be like show & tell. We remember what we’ve done with our lives: our travel, our jobs, our homes, our families and friends. Sometimes, we share what we have created like paintings, photographs, poems, gardens, or homes.
Sometimes none of us has anything to say and we sit quietly for awhile. We aren’t in a hurry. If we are patient a 
white headed woodpecker may come, perch on the head of the fish, drink from the bubbler, and tell us a story. Or maybe a nuthatch will swoop over one of our shoulders and whisper something important to one of us. Almost always the resident Golden Retriever or neighboring dog will visit with us and entertain us with.all kinds of shenanigans.
What we are doing here in the NESTER is best said in the dedication by William Stafford in his final book of poetry.
SMOKE SIGNALS
There are people on a parallel way, we do not
see them as often, or even think of them often,
but it is precious to us that they are sharing
the world. Something about how they have accepted
their lives, or how the sunlight happens to them,
helps us to hold the strange, enigmatic days
in line for our own living. It is important
that these people know this recognition but
it is also important that no purpose or obligation
related to this be intruded into their lives.
This book intends to be for anyone, but especially
for those on that parallel way: here is a smoke
signal, unmistakable but unobtrusive – we are
following what comes, going through the world,
knowing each other, building our little fires.
The NESTER provides CATEGORIES for us to connect with each other, to include others in the journey, to celebrate this life.
AT HOME
“Home” has similarities and dramatic differences for each of us. Some of us have lived in the same geographical region all of our lives while others have moved across the country to find a new home. A few of us still live in the first home we bought years ago. Some us have moved at least a few times while others of us have moved several times. Each tells a story about finding home.
WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS
What defines family and friends has many nuances. When does an acquaintance become a friend? When does a friend become a family member? Some families have regular reunions while other families have little contact with each other. Some of us have a web of friends and acquaintances spread around the world while others are quite self-sufficient and nurture a few close friends. Each relationship is grounded in experience and has a story.
For many of us, Family and Friends includes other animals. Certainly dogs, cats and horses become friends and family members.
Many of us feel and believe that a boat, a car, or a particular piece of clothing . . . are friends.
IN THE GARDEN
Think of this one in broad terms. Some of us are active gardeners. Some of us are not gardeners but enjoy and appreciate friends’ gardens and public gardens. For many of us “being in the garden” is a walk on a beach, a walk in a well cared for neighborhood, or a several day hike in the forest. Each of us has a way of being in contact with nature.
JOURNEYS
How many books have “journey” in the title? Journeys in the mind, journey as a metaphor for an experience, journeys to other countries, journeys to the top of Mt. Everest. For us in the circle, it is our journeys. That could be a weekend car trip to a nearby place we haven’t been before. It could be that trip to the country of our ancestors. It could be an internal journey that led to a new career or a revision of how to best live this life.
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
We are all artists creating individual lives in particular places. Some of us express that life in paintings, pottery, quilting, photography and other visual forms. When artists share what they create, the lives of all of us are enhanced with added insights into our lives and the lives of all people.
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
This category is where we share our lives through memoirs, insights expressed through poetry, essays about subjects, or fictional stories.
ABOUT TIM
Wallace Stegner, author of the novels BIG ROCK CANDY MOUNTAIN and CROSSING TO SAFETY, coined the terms, NESTERS & BOOMERS in characterizing the people who kept moving west, some to settle and some to exploit the newly opened land. In Stegner’s words, ”The nester is the steward, the quiet force who builds without destroying and wants to stay without soiling the nest.” That quote from Stegner pretty much fits me. I confess that what Stegner wrote, has more to do with my aspirations than my reality. I have done too much “soiling” and destroying” of this beautiful earth. I prefer, however, to participate and cooperate with others rather than finding ways to “make my mark.” I would rather be part of a crew bringing in the net than be the skipper. I would prefer to sit in a circle listening to teenagers read to each other what they have written than be lecturing in front of a class. I would rather be on my knees weeding the garden than be a rugged individual braving the rapids. I would rather be part of the planning and implementing of a garden than hiring an architect and landscaper.
I still don’t understand why my life has turned out to be so much more than I anticipated as a youth. Terrified of girls as a teenager, I have a wonderful nearly sixty year marriage blessed with two fine sons. I didn’t particularly like or flourish in high school or college and was confused about what I wanted to do with my life. I became a teacher because I had to do “something” and found that I liked the kids and taught high school English for 27 years. I started working on the back decks of salmon fishing boats as a teenager and continued into my fifties until the orthopedic surgeon told me, “You are done fishing”. I live in two beautiful homes with lovely gardens. I have virtually never been without a dog, cat, and later in life, a horse! I’ve been around awhile, I’ve seen a bit, and finally, at eighty-two, I do have some idea of who I am and what I still want to become. I’m grateful!
ABOUT LORELIE
Like Tim, I am by nature a “nester”, but my father’s navy career during my childhood and youth meant that we frequently moved. Until I was thirteen years old I had never lived in one home for more than two years, and had attended schools in California, Virginia, Illinois, Washington, and Hawaii. Fortunately I loved learning and am an extrovert, so I enjoyed school and making new friends wherever we lived.
Perhaps because of my own positive school experiences, I felt called to be a teacher, beginning my career as an elementary teacher and ending it as a professor in the School of Education at Seattle Pacific University. I have a supportive husband who encouraged my years of graduate eduction and adjusted his own teaching schedule so I could continue working after our two sons were born.
Because my parents created attractive, comfortable homes wherever we lived, I have always been interested in interior design, and after marriage, I also became an enthusiastic gardener. Many of our travels have included visits to famous gardens and parks, so I want to share some of those journeys with you, in addition to inviting you to visit our gardens.
