Autumn Magic in Bellingham

Posted on October 16, 2025 by Karen Molenaar Terrell

Magic!

I needed to get out and go for a walk in the sunshine, but I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go – Mount Baker? Squalicum Pier maybe? Deception Pass? I started driving, curious where I’d end up, and found myself at Lake Padden. And oh! There was major magic there today!

The mist was moving over the autumn reflections on the lake (I’ll post more pics and video in another post), and the paths were filled with a golden glow from the sunlight filtering through the leaves. There was a man and his pup – Shawn and Remington – down near the shore – and I could tell they were as caught up in the magic as me.

Shawn was wearing a hat that said “Ketchikan” on it, and we got to talking about what a great little town Ketchikan is – Shawn had lived most of his life there and I’d traveled through Ketchikan once on an Alaskan adventure. Then Shawn bent down near the shore and showed me how he took cool pictures with his cellphone by letting it rest vertically right on the edge of the water (he showed me some of the photos he’d taken this way and they were FANTASTIC!). I wanted to know more about Remington, and Shawn told me that Remington had been rescued after being abandoned in the woods with other dogs from a puppy mill.

As Shawn was leaving to continue on his walk with Remington , he turned back to me to point out a deer that was headed down the trail. Magic!

After taking some more pictures of the mist on the lake, I headed for the dock – I figured there’d be some great reflections there. And this is when I met Salem, and her human, Josh. Salem let me scratch her behind the ears, and Josh and I got to talking. I learned Josh had moved from Seattle to Bozeman, and had only recently returned from Montana. I asked him if he missed the wide, open spaces of Montana, and he admitted he did. He talked about how he’d been astonished by the starry skies when he’d first moved to Bozeman from Seattle. And then we got to talking about the mountains and skiing and snow-boarding and (ahem) I might have mentioned my dad is in Wikipedia for mountain climbing.

I continued on my walk around Padden, passing under golden arches (not the MacDonald’s kind), and swishing through autumn leaves. When I got to the part of the park where the geese hang out, I sat at a picnic bench to watch them. And this is when I saw the magnificent Wilbur! “That dog is magnificent!” I told Wilbur’s human, and he smiled and brought Wilbur to me so we could get acquainted. Wilbur let me pet him – his fur was so soft! Wilbur, his human told me, is an Irish Doodle – part Irish Setter and part standard poodle – and he’s huge! Wilbur’s human introduced himself as Ryan and I introduced myself as “Karen, of course” – Ryan passed the Karen Test by laughing – and we shook hands to make our introduction official. (We went all-out with the handshake and did the handshake, thumbs over, fist bump, and “poof” – because, as everybody who’s anybody knows, that is the best way to shake hands.)

I really needed to be at Lake Padden today – I needed to meet the pups and people, and see the mist moving over the water. I needed the magic of kind people and autumn.

What a Glorious Day!

Posted on September 24, 2025 by Karen Molenaar Terrell

What a glorious day!

When I woke up this morning, I checked my impulse to reach for my phone to do wordle games. I knew that once I got on my phone I’d get sucked into the vortex. I determined to just give myself some time to commune with the Cosmos this morning, to commune with Love.

So I loaded myself and my camera into the car, put in a CD of inspirational music, and headed up to Bellingham. My first thought was that I’d go to the boardwalk for a walk, but then it occurred to me that maybe I should pay a visit to Lake Padden first, to see how the autumn colors were evolving up there.

The autumn colors aren’t in full bloom at Lake Padden, yet – but the gold is starting to emerge, and the vine maples are showing some copper and red.

I walked down to the lake to take some pictures of reflections, and this is when I saw a little youngster having fun throwing rocks into the lake. I loved his rock-throwing technique – he’d wind his arm up – bringing it around and around – before throwing. I felt such joy, watching him. He reminded me of the joy I see in my granddaughter.

When I got to chatting with his mom, I learned she is a photographer, and we talked about photography for a while. She said she, too, had been planning to go to Bellingham, but changed her mind en route – thinking, like me, that she might see autumn colors at Lake Padden. It was cosmic that we connected today!

After my visit to Lake Padden, I continued on my drive to Fairhaven – planning to take advantage of the free parking before 11:00.

I saw some of my usual favorite things on my walk today – boat reflections on the bay; my friend, Mary; Baker Pup, who came up and greeted me, and let me give him a scratch behind the ears (I told Baker’s human that Baker is like the boardwalk’s service dog for the humans who walk there); and the heron in the tree by the boardwalk.

After my walk, I stopped at the Colophon Cafe for some brunch, and was happy to see Taryn would be my server today. Taryn is one of my favorite people – she’s funny and smart and kind and thoughtful. And I learned today that she’s also a photographer!

This kind of funny thing happened when I came to the Colophon. I didn’t expect the restaurant to be open because I thought it was closed on Wednesdays. So when I told Taryn I was surprised to find them open because I didn’t think it would be open on Wednesdays, she told me it was Tuesday.

Wait. What. Today was Tuesday?! But. I googled “What day is today?” and my phone told me it was Tuesday. But. I went out to lunch with my daughter-in-law yesterday and we do that every Tuesday. And I went hiking with Scotty the day before that – and we always hike on Mondays. So. Was I having two Tuesdays in a row? Was I in some kind of weird time warp? Or something? I googled again, and this time my phone told me it WAS Wednesday. Whew. Maybe because I hadn’t gotten on my phone since yesterday, it had given me the wrong day when I first googled.

Anyway. The next time Taryn came around, I told her that it IS Wednesday. She started laughing then, and told me that when she’d said it was Tuesday, she meant that Tuesdays are the days the Colophon is closed now.

Ohhhhh….

I had such a fun day today! I felt Love with me all day – expressed in the kindness and smiles and joy all around me.

A Perfect Day

Posted on September 12, 2025 by Karen Molenaar Terrell

Scott and I took this week’s Monday Hike on the South Baker Lake Trail to Anderson Point. Anderson Creek was low enough today that we were able to cross over without any problems. This is the first time we’ve made it to the other side since the bridge washed out.

We met some way cool hikers from Ohio and Pennsylvania down at Anderson Point: Tom, Steve, Mark, and another Mark.

After our hike to Baker Lake, Scott took me out for a birthday dinner at the Chuckanut Manor. My former student, Drew, was working there tonight and seeing him always brings me such joy. He’s one of those people who just shines out good will and kindness and enthusiasm for life.

Drew apparently let out server know who we were, because when Melissa came up to our table she knew our names. She saw I was wearing my amber necklace and asked me about it. It turns out she is a rock-lover, too!

Melissa asked us if we’d like drinks. I asked her what kinds of mocktails she had. Did she have anything with lavender maybe? Melissa, as it happens, has been a bartender for years, and is great at creating new drinks – so, for me, she created a carbonated lavender-lemonade – and it was perfect!

At the end of our dinner, Melissa came up to me and said she’d heard it was my birthday (Drew again, I’m pretty sure ), and she had a present for me. She reached into her pocket and pulled out an amethyst stone and handed it to me! “Really?! You’re giving this to me?!” I asked, blown away by her generosity. She said this is what she does for people’s birthdays now – she gives them rocks. (I turned to the young bartender, who was grinning, and asked if she’d given HIM rocks, and he nodded his head and laughed.) When Melissa discovered I, too, was a rock-lover, she knew she needed to give ME a rock. Whoah.

But she wasn’t done, yet. A few minutes later Melissa came back, reached into her pocket, and pulled out another rock! – this one was a slice of a petrified tree. She said her father had given her a bunch of these, and now it was bringing her joy to share them with others, and she handed me the petrified wood.

My friends, I have had a wonderful day – a lovely hike in the cool green woods to Baker Lake; a delicious dinner; well wishes from my Facebook friends; and ROCKS!!!!

Life IS good.

Peace. Be Still.

Posted on June 23, 2025 by Karen Molenaar Terrell

Peace. Be still. Listen.
Do you hear the song of Love
calling to your heart?
Do you feel the cool breeze of kindness
blowing over our humanity’s fevered skin?
Do you see the kinship in the sun
and moon, oceans and air we all share?
Does the sweet fragrance of spring remind you
of things more important than hate
and fear and war?
The call to Love is universal
and irresistible. It will not be ignored.

-Karen Molenaar Terrell

Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell.

Gathering at the Shores of the Pacific

Posted on May 18, 2025 by Karen Molenaar Terrell

Lincoln City, Day One:
I’m thinking the world’s problems could be solved if we all just gathered on the shores of our earth’s oceans and looked out towards the horizon together – watched the waves rolling into shore, and shared agates with each other.

I saw the figure of a woman standing at the edge of the ocean, looking towards the waves. There was something poignant and dear about the way she stood there. Later she approached me as I looked for agates. She asked me what I was looking for, and I told her. She asked what an agate was, and I described what an agate would look like. I hoped that I would just look down and find one to give her, but that didn’t happen right away.

I told her I’d taken her photo and showed her the picture. I said there was something very sweet about the way she looked out towards the ocean. Kristi told me her father had died just last week, after being diagnosed with cancer ten days before. She said his passing had been sweet and tender. “He went home to Jesus,” she said. She said his passing had been different than other deaths she’d witnessed. It had been peaceful.

And just then I looked down and saw an agate looking up at me. I plucked it up and gave it to Kristi. “Here’s an agate!” I said. “This one is from your dad.” She smiled at the idea of that, and let me take her picture holding the agate.

A little later I met Todd and Donna searching the rock beds for agates and other treasures. I learned Todd and Donna had traveled all the way from Indiana to make their first visit to the PNW. They were such fun!

Todd and I exchanged mountaineering stories. He said he’d climbed up to the top of a 13,900′ peak in Colorado while he was on a hunting trip, and the elevation had really gotten to him. I told him I’d climbed Rainier, Baker, Adams, and Hood in the PNW with no problems – but it was when I climbed Mount Harvard in Colorado that the elevation had effected me – I had to vomit in the nearest hole. He said he enjoyed hiking around in the Appalachians and I told him a friend of mine had just finished the AT this week! He described how he came off a short hike on the AT one time and someone had asked him if he’d just finished the Appalachian Trail. Todd started laughing then – he said he was wearing sneakers and had none of the equipment that would make him look like he’d just completed the AT, but it was fun that someone thought he had.

We all talked about the nice people we’d met in Lincoln City. We agreed that this was a nice break from all the division and politics going on right now and agreed we weren’t even going to talk about that stuff. We were simply people enjoying the ocean together. People enjoying other people.

A little further down the beach, little Buddy came scampering towards me for a hug and a scratch behind the ears.

Lincoln City, Day 2:

Agates and gnarly boulders, Banjo pup and her humans, Russ and Nan from Montana.

Russ recently left the forest service to go back to school to get his master’s in counseling. He told me a little of what had brought him to his new career choice, and I told him that the world really needs what he has to offer. Russ and Nan are good people, and Banjo is a good dog.

Lincoln City, Day 3:
Our last morning in Lincoln City. Made one last trip to the beach before hitting the road.

Met Melinda and Ray hunting for beach treasures. I was impressed by how nimbly Ray skipped across the boulders – he said he didn’t want to hurt any of the sea life. And look at the cool heart rock Melinda found!

Jennifer said she was from Nevada where there’s “just dirt” and she was so excited to be in a place where she could look for agates. She said she’d just found little ones so far. “You’re just about to step on one,” I told her, pointing to the agate just behind her foot. She plucked the agate up, a big grin on her face, and said, “The biggest one so far!”

Little Chocko pup was shy at first, but I held my hand out for him, and he came up for a sniff and a scratch behind his ears.

***

Agates and pups and people to laugh with. Life’s simple pleasures. Heaven lives in Lincoln City, Oregon.

Below: (clockwise from upper left): Todd and Donna, Buddy, Melinda, Jennifer, Russ and Nan and Banjo, Kristi.

Beautiful Humans in the Tulip Fields

Posted on April 27, 2025 by Karen Molenaar Terrell

It’s only 2:00 pm and I’ve already had, like, a month’s worth of tears, beauty, and magic in this one day.

I woke up at 6:00 and immediately felt impelled to leave the house and explore and connect. It felt imperative. I can’t explain that for anyone who’s never felt it – but I figure some of you will understand.

I ended up in downtown Mount Vernon. It was probably only 7:30 or so at this point, and the streets were empty and the shops closed. I wandered down the length of First Street until I found myself at the Co-op. It was open. I bought myself a mocha and a blueberry strudel and took them upstairs to a table to sit and think. I sat facing the painting of my old friend, John “Peace Wizard” Bromet, who died in 2023. And I started sobbing. Not so’s anyone could hear me or anything. But my face scrunched up and the tears rolled down my cheeks. I can’t tell you what I was feeling right then – I’m not even sure myself. I think I was feeling a sense of loss, but… I think John’s portrait also sort of bolstered me. It was like I could feel him there with me, smiling and encouraging me.

I finished my strudel and started the trek back to my car, with the vague notion that I should head for the tulip fields.

I ended up at Tulip Time. I was one of the first ones to drive through the gates this morning.

The tulip fields were beautiful, of course – I think I’ll make another post just with tulip pictures – but the people I met this morning at Tulip Town were even more beautiful than the flowers.

In all the years I’ve lived in the Skagit Valley and have visited Tulip Town, I’d never before ridden in the Tulip Town trolley. But today I did! Mike drove us around the perimeter of the field and, sitting up high in the trolley, I had a vantage point I’d never had of the fields before. I waved to the other tulip tourists from the trolley, like I was on a parade float or something. And they waved back! It was cool.

As I was circling the field, I came upon a father trying to take a photo of his large family. I thought maybe he had a timer so he could include himself in the photo, but then I realized he didn’t – so I asked if I could take a photo of all of them. He agreed and handed me his camera. I learned that he and his wife and son were from Sammamish, and the rest of his family was visiting from India. One of the women had wrapped her whole head up in a scarf so only her eyes peeked out – and I learned that she’d just arrived from India yesterday where it was more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. She was, understandably, cold. But she was also laughing at herself for being all wrapped up in her scarf. This family was fun. I welcomed the visitors from India to the States, and apologized for the cold. They all graciously posed for me in the tulips so that I could take a photo for myself of my new friends.

Just past the family from Sammamish and India, I saw a sweet pup smiling at me. Hallie’s human gave me permission to take her photo.

On the other side of the field I came upon a young man donned in a graduation hat and robe. HIs mom was with him to take a photo of him for his senior picture. Kaden was graduating from Bremerton High School, and he explained that what had brought him to the Skagit Valley for his senior picture were the tulip fields. He came from a military family, he said, and had lived all around the world – and he remembered the tulip fields that had been near Amsterdam when his father had been stationed there. I asked Kaden if I could take a photo of him, too, and he gave me the okay.

I went inside the Tulip Town gift shop, and browsed for a bit. I saw a woman trying to take a selfie in front of a display of red tulips, and asked her if I could take her picture for her. She nodded her head and handed me her cellphone and I snapped a picture, and then she put her arm around my shoulders and pulled me in for a photo of the two of us! That was pretty fun. I asked her if I could take a photo of the two of us with my camera and she nodded her head. When I asked her name, she used her cellphone to translate her words and explained that she didn’t speak English well – she was originally from China – and her name was Kelly.

And see? That’s what’s so cool about our tulip fields – we don’t have to travel around the world to meet people from different nations and cultures – people from different nations and cultures come here! Today I met a young man who wanted to be near tulip fields because he’d once lived in Amsterdam; I met a family visiting from India; and I met a woman who’d originally come from China.

I understand now why I’d felt impelled to leave my house this morning. Look at all the magic that was waiting for me “out there”!

Below: John “Peace Wizard” Bromet; Viral and his family; Kelly and me; Kaden in his graduation robe; sweet Hallie pup.

In Search of the Sunset

Posted on January 10, 2025 by Karen Molenaar Terrell

The son and his family are in LA
and I’ve been feeling disquieted –
feeling the distance
as the fires burn between us.
But tonight I went in search
of the sunset and I remembered
other sunsets and my son and I
hopping in the car to find them.

I mentally bring my son
with me now in my hunt
to find reflections of pink clouds
in flooded fields
and I feel his energy around me –
joyful and free.

I find a glorious sunset
and my heart finds peace.
Then my son messages me that
at the end of the day
he went in search of the sunset, too,
from his home in LA.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell

Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell of tonight’s sunset near Bow, Washington.

We Are Worthy

Posted on January 8, 2025 by Karen Molenaar Terrell

We are not worthless.
We are worthy –
worthy to be partakers of Love.
In fact, MADE to be partakers of Love –
of the celebration of Life.
God, Love, is our Hostess and she throws
a great party.

-Karen Molenaar Terrell

(Photo of trumpeter swans near Bow, Washington. Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)

There Will Be Rainbows

Posted on January 2, 2025 by Karen Molenaar Terrell

There’s no promise that it will be easy. There’s no guarantee there won’t be challenges. But I know this – there will be joy, too. There will be beauty and kindness and laughter. There will be new friends and new paths and new books and rainbows. We’ll find we can be happy even when we’re sad. And we’ll find we have more courage than we knew. We’ve got this. We were made for this.
(Rainbow photos by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)