Author Archives: Mark Lammers

Excerpted from my piece in Muddy Backroads: Stories from off the beaten path Madville Publishing, March 2022 Purchase book here In my mind, Africa was idyllic. I had spent a semester in the big-sky, red-earth country of Kenya two years earlier and now wanted to return for a more authentic experience that wasn’t printed onContinue reading “Why Are You Here?”

When my friend Kendra, a Louisiana native, asked me if I wanted to ride krewe with her on a Mardi Gras float I was unsure. We sat at the dining room table of my Seattle apartment one chilly fall night, cradling our wine glasses, polishing off a bottle of red. “What about the crowds?” IContinue reading “Flinging Joy”

Day slips to night as we motor up the Hooghly, a distributary of the Ganges, the holiest of Indian rivers. Orange sky turns to pink. Teenagers sit onshore bathing in the crepuscular glow. The golden orb of the sun flirts with bedtime. Sitar chords waft above the water’s surface. We pass grand Babu houses builtContinue reading “Hooghly”

The Danish word hygge is a defining cultural characteristic, it’s a mood and it’s a state of mind. It doesn’t have an equal in English, but means something like a coziness that creates a feeling of contentment or well-being. Like many Danish words, English speakers get it wrong. It’s pronounced like: ‘huh-gah’; or just watch this video. Many cultures haveContinue reading “In Search of Hygge”

As a kid I was proud of my Swedish heritage. There was always a Swedish Christmas Eve at my Great-Aunt Jane’s house where we’d eat rice pudding and fruit soup and drink glög. There were expressions my Dad learned from his grandmother— så går det (so it goes) and god dag, god dag (good day, good day) My mother sometimesContinue reading “Midsommar”

It was really cold today, in the 30’s, which is cold for Seattle. I reached into my jumble of cold weather clothes for something to wear and pulled out a really pretty scarf, one which I forgot that I owned. But I do remember buying it in Istanbul two years ago. My friends and IContinue reading “Scarf”