Last week, I received an e-mail from Jeanie Engelland, the principal of Providence Christian School, a small, private elementary school in Gig Harbor. She asked if I would be wiling to participate in the school’s Career Day, where I would deliver a seven- to eight-minute presentation about my job to kindergarten through fifth-grade students.

I was reminded again this morning of the differences that bring people together.

April is the month for many things that are recognized nationally, such as Arbor Day, Earth Day and even Administrative Professionals Day.

I have always found that a garden brings much joy and becomes a patient teacher, especially when you find ways to use what you grow. Not just soil, sun and plants, the garden becomes something more when you reap the harvests.

Unless you have had the sublime good fortune to be out of range of the media over the last few weeks, you have heard the flap over presidential candidate Barack Obama’s membership in Trinity United Church of Christ.

The health benefits of tomatoes are so great. They are very high in Vitamin C. Additionally, they have vitamins A and K, potassium, niacin, B6 and folate.

The monthly First Saturday Art Walk will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. on April 5.

After more than 30 years, two of Gig Harbor’s long-standing gift shops will expand their floor space by building a new warehouse.

Around Gig Harbor, people are talking. The area is changing, and those living in the community want to offer their opinions and hear the views of others. From the kinds of businesses sprouting up to the city’s most recent construction project, there are ideas on the top of everyone’s minds — and words on the tips of their tongues.

This is based purely on observation, but I’m going to step out on a limb here and say there are very few young people in Gig Harbor.

Being a follow-the-recipe chef is like being a paint-by-numbers artist. You’ll make a meal, but you won’t win any prizes at the county fair.

Roger and Lee White of Gig Harbor have accepted a six-month service mission to the Nauvoo Illinois Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

My sister, Patt, gardened most of her life. We spent many of our growing-up years with our grandmother, who had a lifetime love of flowers.

It was March 4, the day of the Texas, Rhode Island, Ohio and Vermont primaries/caucuses. I drove to a girlfriend’s house for a quick visit. As we brewed tea and settled onto her living room couch, the topic of conversation quickly turned to the primaries. She and I had each thrown our support behind different candidates: Obama for her, and Hillary for me.

A young couple has just purchased a piece of waterfront property and is preparing to build their dream home. They are exhilarated and anxious to begin their journey to “home, sweet home.”

Paula Pascoe’s grandmother, Leone Neely Mayouck, was a well-traveled pioneer. When her mother died at age 12, Mayouck left home in AuGres, Mich., in search of work, hoping to make enough money to support her eight siblings. She and her four sisters later left the Midwest, slowly moving westward while running their own businesses and finally settling down in Seattle.

March is Women’s History Month, and my initial reaction to something like that is to scoff it away.

Cooking and eating healthy is the best gift we can give to our bodies. And cooking without chemicals or artificial ingredients, avoiding bleached and hydrogenated products, and limiting animal fats, salt and sweets, is the way to do it.

The Festival of Purim is only days away. So if you are like many, you might be asking, “What is Purim, anyway?”

A plastic crème puff container sits on the corner of my kitchen counter. Rich, black dirt scooped from my flower garden houses the newest addition to our household, Wormy.

The myth continues that roses must be grown alone for fear of further disease problems. The belief is that growing other plants close to roses will cut down on air circulation and promote more mildew and blackspot on your roses.

Kyrgyzstan is not an easy word to pronounce. Neither is the name of the woman native to this country, Cholpon Djumabaeva.

Sherry and Tim Miller’s Fox Island alpacas got a special visit from members of a 4-H club earlier this month. The 4-H club is currently involved with breeding and showing llamas, close cousins of the alpaca, but members expressed an interest in showing alpacas in the future. The visitors were mesmerized by the alpacas’ gentle, shy nature; their thick, soft fur and melodic “hum.”

Just about three months have passed since I started writing this column (and a whole slew of other stories) for the Gateway.

The MultiCare Regional Cancer Center is bring the latest in cancer treatments, clinical trials and studies to Covington and Auburn.

What does a gorilla have to do with a garden column?

“Last night we watched President Gordon B. Hinckley's funeral on a broadcast from Salt Lake City,” wrote my missionary friends Marcia and John Dow from Maputo, Mozambique.

Last October, Alex Witchel wrote an article for the New York Times. In the next few paragraphs, I’ll paraphrase his tale.

When did it happen that we, as a society, became so dependent on others, including our government, that we expect someone to bail us out of whatever difficulties we come up against in our lives?

Starting a new business venture can be a scary process. That first step can often be the biggest barrier to taking the plunge into the business world.

When George Babbitt sold his drum set in December, it was the second time in his 66 years that he had given up his musical career. This time, it was because he needed more space in his Gig Harbor home, a two-story house overlooking Point Defiance and Vashon Island. The first time was in 1960, one year after he joined two Tacoma bricklayers — Don Wilson and Bob Bogle — in an instrumental rock band known as the Ventures.

When I was 19 years old, I drove across the country with two friends in a Volkswagen beetle. All I can really say about those six weeks of living on the road is that it seemed like a good idea at the time.

By the time you read this, more than 6 million Baha’i’s around the world will be celebrating the 19-day Fast.

A.J. Million of Longbranch has provided the altar flowers for the Longbranch Community Church every Sunday for several years. She doesn’t buy flowers or plants for this purpose but always tries to come up with something from her own resources.

Having and keeping a healthy kitchen is vital to you and your family’s daily health. Listed here are a few things to do to help assure that this is achieved:

As I write this column, the sun is shining and the sky is blue. I don’t have access to a thermometer, but I am sure it is closing in on 60 degrees.

The other morning, I was reading a Washington think tank’s report on the economy when two things struck me.

Buying a cup of coffee in this town seems simple enough. For one, there are stores selling coffee at almost every corner. Gig Harbor already boasts six Starbucks locations — three inside grocery stores, one drive-thru location and two free-standing cafés — plus a seventh store soon to open on Harborview Drive. There are a handful of independent, locally owned coffee shops, like Kimball Espresso Gallery and Java & Clay Café, plus two franchises — Cutters Point and Forza Coffee Company — headquartered in Gig Harbor.

Regular readers of this column will probably notice that I mention Kimball Espresso Gallery fairly often.

These 10 roses will not only survive with minimal care but will flourish and be a joy for anyone to grow.

It’s time to say thanks to a special group of men who have been doing a great thing for a long time. I speak, of course, of the Gideons.

Gig Harbor’s First Saturday Art Walk is held the first Saturday of each month from 1 to 5 p.m.

When one thinks of famous world-class desserts, the following come to mind: Crepes Suzette, Baked Alaska, Cherries Jubilee, Bananas Foster, Peach Melba and Pears Helene.

Most people who have flown on commercial airlines have gazed out the window at the activity on the tarmac.

A group of women stand in a circle, blowing bubbles through small, colorful plastic bubble blowers, and giggle. The laughter is just as important in this class as the stretching, toning and dancing that follows.

The following are Religion Briefs as published in the Peninsula Gateway Feb. 20, 2008.