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 of TWU. I put together recommendations of Storytelling Books. Till the demands of crazy work schedules, home and church responsibilities took their toll. So my storytelling went on hold . . . . . but as retirement is approaching, I have begun working on "reviving" Eldrbarry's Tales. After all I have an established "brand" and much of the legwork already. Stay Tuned!

I accumulated a closet full of Table Games both old and new; classics and "Euro's" for our frequent 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.

Along with this, I am Collecting Chess Sets - a 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 30 chess sets a number of boards and a few web pages, one on Searching for Unusual Chess sets.

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 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.

Another secret ambition is 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.

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.

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 nearly finished a second (The Botter in 2007. I have three more waiting, patiently, their turns. In the fall of 2012, I finally started on one of them, the HMS Halifax. 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
• The Plant Farm at Smoky Point
• Parks Seeds
• Burpee Seeds
• Seeds for Change Organic Seeds
• Planet Natural
• Nichols' Garden and Nursery
• White Flower Farm Gorgeous catalogs!
• Vermont Bean Seed Co They have a great variety of beans - and some of the most colorful dry beans
• Tuliptown Skagit Valley Bulb Farm
• Roozegaarde Washington Bulb Company
• 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.
• Whatcom Seed Company Eugene, Oregon. Rare, exotic and unusual seeds
• Schreiner's Iris Gardens Salem Oregon
• 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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