Posts by Anne Evans-Cazier, LCSW

After two years of neglect, I tackled the overgrown forsythia bush in my backyard.I could blame my sore knee or the tendonitis in my wrist, but whatever the reasons, I still let it grow wild, branches shooting out high and wide, criss crossing over each other every which way, taking over the side yard, smothering…

My parents taught me to love learning… and I didn’t even know it!​Pretty sneaky, right?​First there was Mom. She was a voracious reader. Once she borrowed a copy of War and Peace and returned it only a few days later. Reportedly, the person she borrowed it from was a bit offended and said, “Well, if…

I keep thinking about my husband, Cal. ​Imagine. A 30+ year career in public health, much of it dedicated to injury prevention. Then the past 2 years. Pandemic. War. School shootings. So much injury, so many ways prevention would be better than trying to pick up the pieces afterwards.​Ever since I met Cal 16 years ago,…

They’re blooming!It’s so exciting, my first azaleas. I planted them last year, and they made it through our cold winter to bloom on this lovely spring day.I never thought I could grow azaleas in my high mountain desert garden. I came to love them when our oldest daughter moved to Seattle for graduate school. The…

I thought I was pretty clever, outsmarting my parents that way. It was summertime in 1950s LA. My parents had a bunch of little kids and not much money. Whatcha gonna do for fun?We would wait til the sun started to set, then put on our jammies, grab our pillows and blankies, and pile into the…

A little boy sat on the floor in the living room, surrounded by tiny wheels, spindles, springs, clock hands, and an empty casing…what a mess!​Or was it? ​That little boy was my father. Grandma told me that nothing mechanical in the house was safe from his curious fingers. They came to an agreement, he could take…

You haven’t really lived until you’ve seen a Red Dog race around and around in a big circle, leap in the air for joy, butt a few heads, then plop down in an exhausted heap for at least 30 seconds before jumping up and doing it again.​I didn’t even know how much I was missing…