Treasured Beach Memories

My friend Karen Gerstenberger is an absolute joy and treasure!  I asked her if she'd like write a guest blog post about her beach memories on the Kitsap Peninsula.  I think you all will enjoy her beach treasured memories too! 


 Karen and her family have had quite the journey over the past several years, and I just want to congratulate her on the publishing of her new book - "Because of Katie".   It is more than a stellar accomplishment,  I think that her story can help many other families that have faced, or are facing childhood cancer.

Thank you, Caron for inviting me to write a guest posting – I’m delighted to have the opportunity to share this photo of you and Tom and a group of friends at our house from a couple of summers ago. It’s not often that we get to see you here up in Poulsbo, and it was a treat to have you join us.

 Our little town misses Caron’s brick-and-mortar store, but we’re glad she is here online so that everyone can have the pleasure of shopping with her!

One of the passions which Caron & I have in common is beach walking and beach combing (not to mention seafood). To understand the importance of time spent at the beach in my family’s culture, consider this: my parents built a rustic place on the beach before they could even afford to purchase a home. When newly-married, they rented a tiny apartment in Seattle, and took the ferry to an island on the weekends to build their cabin. The fact that neither of them knew how to build anything was not even a deterrent! We three children grew up spending weekends and summers at the cabin. It was my favorite place in the world.

I have loved the beach as long as I can remember, and this love has never left me – in fact, it is what motivated me to live where I do.  I wanted to share this love with my own children, and fortunately, my husband agreed.  This is a photo of me as a child, walking the beach on Bainbridge Island.

 Here is my family with my parents on our beach - they now live on the original cabin’s site, in a less-rustic home.

This is us, vacationing in Canada.This pastime of walking on the beach and looking for treasures led to the making of a special feature in the guest bath in our home.

When the house was being built, I asked the stone masons to help me make a countertop out of the collection of beach glass and pottery which the children and I had found together. They were kind enough to teach me what to do, and shared their tools and materials with me.

While they laid tile and stone in other parts of the house, I made this countertop. The stonemasons were uneasy about the fact that it is not level; it’s bumpy, but that is part of its charm. It has cup-handles, cut glass, marbles, insulators and much more in it. They set the seashell sink into it for us (I had wanted a glass sink, but our budget wouldn’t allow it – instead, I found this on close-out at a hardware store).

The beach-glass countertop is one of the favorite features in our house among our guests – they love to run their hands over the surface, looking carefully at each piece of glass and pottery. I never get tired of it, and I always enjoy seeing people’s reaction to it.  It contains memories of many hours of joy, walking the beach with my husband and children. That makes it extra-meaningful to me, especially now that our son is away at college most of the year, and our daughter, Katie, passed away several years ago.

This brings me to another reason for my posting:  I wanted to share some good news with you. I’ve just published a book about Katie and our journey with her through childhood cancer. It’s our family’s true story, and it includes helpful information and resources for anyone who encounters a medical crisis, or who knows someone going through such a crisis. It is for friends, family members, medical professionals and anyone who has been touched by concern for someone facing a life-changing event.

“Because of Katie” is available on amazon, at createspace and through Liberty Bay Books or your local bookstore. For those of you who are local, (Washington State, Kitsap Peninsula) there will be a book-signing party hosted by Liberty Bay Books at The Loft at Latitude 47.7 on Friday, March 2^nd at 6:30 P.M.

If you’re not sure whether this book is for you, please go to the amazon page and read the reviews of the book, written by people who have read it. I hope that it will bless you or someone you know!


For more about Karen  and her continuring work with Seattle Children's Hospital - stop by her blog GBerger - karengberger.blogspot.com

Home Front - Kristin Hannah's Newest Bestseller

Look at what came in the mail this week from my friend Suzanne at Liberty Bay Books, with a lovely note from Kristin Hannah herself!  Before moving to San Francisco, I never missed an author event with Kristin (I am a huge fan!) and Suzanne knew that I was really missing out to not be at the Home Front book event with Kristin last week at the Loft in downtown Poulsbo.


Imagine my surprise when I opened up the book cover this morning and found this note from Kristin-
"Caron, Missed you tonight!  xo Kristin"

I purposely have waited until today to indulge myself... I knew that once I picked up Kristin's new book, Home Front, I would be consumed within the pages.  Her writing and her characters, always grab me from the first paragraph when I start reading.   Before I know it, I am immersed in a story that I can easily recognize as real people and real situatio

Home Front begins beside Liberty Bay in Washington State, and  is definitely one of those stories, and one that I think needs to be told, about everyday women and mothers being sent to war.  There's a whole lot more to this engrossing story, but I am only on page 87 and am already dipping into the Kleenex box.

Now I am homesick for Poulsbo, Liberty Bay and downtown Poulsbo.

Congratulations to Kristin Hannah for making Home Front the #1 book on the New York Times Bestseller List!  Suzanne can even get you an autographed copy or  a special autographed note from Kristin if you order the e-book. Visit the Liberty Bay Books site, or give them a call at the store in Poulsbo, 360-779-5909.

More on Home Front in future posts - but I wanted to dash off something quick before the thought got away from me.  I promise, you will be lost in this latest story of Kristin Hannah's too.  Buy a big box of tissues...

Girl's Lunch at Maggie's on Miller Bay...

So... I should be working on a newsletter for the Caron's Beach House site, but am having a lot of trouble getting motivated. (Gosh, was it the late night red wine and gumbo?)  I have a backlog of beachy blog stories to write, so I am opting for sitting here with my cup of tea, and gooey brownie.

By the way, don't you just love my new "under the sea" coffee cup? It was a present from my daughter and can be found at Starbucks if you would like one of your own.

Want to tell you all about my lunch at Maggie's beach house on Miller Bay outside of Poulsbo. Maggie is the talented designer behind Burning at Both Ends, she creates all kinds of neat accessories; wine charms, zipper pull charms, goblet charms, flip-flop charms - so many cool ideas!  I love carrying her coastal themed wine charms on the website, and she was so gracious to come up with some charms and bead colors just for us. Pretty cool, since she has some very big clients, like the "Made in Washington Store", and "Exclusively Washington".


This is her collection of antique oars and shells that greet visitors on her front porch.  Maggie's vintage painted oars are very special, and come from a treasured uncle's house in Michigan. I like how she wrapped shells and old fishing  floats with rope and tied everything all together.

Maggie can't help being creative, her dad is an incredibly talented artist and is still enjoying presenting his art at local Northwest galleries at nearly 90.  Here's just one example of the beach scenes covering her walls throughout the house, forgot to ask what beach this might be, but it kind of looks like Dungeness Spit in Sequim (?)

This is one of the coolest ideas that I have ever seen: a moon snail shell mortared into their fireplace for a safe keeping spot for matches! If I ever have another house, I am definitely copying this idea. (you all know I already have the shells)  Love all of the barnacles covering this shell, confirms that it actually washed up on Maggie's beach! Could not help it, I had to put the "Rosario" and "Latitude 47" matches in the photo - Northwest favorites.

 Enjoy the collections that are on her mantel too; shells collections, special rocks, beach washed birdhouses...

Miller Bay is a little inlet on the Kitsap Peninsula between Poulsbo and Kingston.  Living nearly all of my life in Kitsap County, I never even knew that this little bay existed until I knew Maggie. The day that we had lunch, it was more of a mud flat surrounded by beautiful homes, and some beached boats!  (P.S. this is Maggie's front yard - sort of!)

Our girl's lunch table on Maggie's stone patio right above the beach, so pretty surrounded by spring flowers, and natural beach grass.  We had the perfect day to enjoy sitting outside in the sun, definitely sometimes a rarity in the Pacific Northwest for the month of May.

Now, for the lunch menu: It was so good that I had second helpings! Maggie made us "Swimming Angel" - a Thai Chicken, peanut sauce, spinach and  brown rice concoction that looked so yummy piled in a charming pasta sea shell pasta bowl by Mud Pie. Accompanied by a sparkling pink pomegranate wine from World Market, and little ginger cookies with vanilla icing.  And yes, I do like to eat - invite me over ANY time!

I used to sell the Mud Pie dinnerware  in my Poulsbo store, so fun and soooo beachy! Managed to keep only one of the dinner plates that I now use for serving appetizers for our cocktail hour on the lanai. She is so lucky to have all of the matching pieces, including serving pieces and the cool napkin holders.

Check out our fun place settings for our girls' beach lunch -


Thank you so much for inviting me over and for introducing me to another beach girl - Sherry Eckert. So happy to always make new friends, especially when we are kind of living the same path.. Check out Sherry's Moondrops Yoga Blog, in her words "Yoga and the beach, the two things in my life that fill me up and keep me sane!!" Check out her blog for musings on yoga, life and doing lots of beach walking... (my kind of new friend!)  You have got to see her jewelry, absolutely beautiful, one of a kind art pieces..

One more final picture before I run off to finish that darn newsletter - here's a close up photo of the rusty kids' shovel with Maggie's ever growing shell collection on her front porch that I had to take.  Loved it, and such a perfect reminder of why I can't ever be too far away from the coast.

Come see our selection of Burning At Both Ends Wine Charms on the Caron's Site!

Nautical Wine Charms

Pirates! 

Tropical Designs!

See you at the Beach! Headed to Aptos and Santa Cruz tomorrow...

The Cargo Hold - Full of Nautical Treasures!

My friends, Doug and Risa Owen, have owned The Cargo Hold for nearly 20 years in the historic downtown district of Poulsbo, Washington.  Poulsbo, borne of Scandinavian heritage and located on Liberty Bay  is the perfect setting for Doug's absolute treasure chest of specialty nautical items!

When I had my store open (2002-2007), "Caron's.. the finest in coastal living",  was located directly across the street.  Doug and I were always "friendly" competitors, working diligently together to make sure that we didn't accidentally order the same product.  Sometimes we did goof up though!

Doug prides himself on finding quality, unique nautical gifts and memorabilia: all manner of brass barometers, tide clocks,  brass accessories, telescopes, pirate games, books on nautical history, lighthouse collectibles - somehow finding space for everything in his tiny shop! Nautical art and plaques cover every square inch of wall space..  easy to spend hours finding just the perfect gift for someone special.  Heard a rumor that you might even find some specialty cigars, and the accessories to go with them!

Own a boat? Need the perfect "yachting" touch? The Cargo Hold is a favorite for boat owners that frequent the Poulsbo Marina. Poulsbo enjoys being a destination for most of the Puget Sound Yacht Clubs, and  Doug always has something new and exciting waiting! Nautical bar accessories, brass plaques, nautical designed pillows - oh, and what boat is complete without a brass lamp?

The Cargo Hold's collection of model ships is a must see. Doug's collection includes just about everything from hand-crafted ships, painstakingly put together and selling for thousands of dollars to models that anyone can afford. Could easily see how a one of these would be the perfect accent for any house on the beach; on the mantel, mounted in a bookcase, I can think of a hundred way to display these!

Loved the details on "The Constitution".  Finely hand crafted by a highly skilled artisan in Tacoma, the hull is composed of tiny shaped copper pieces hammered and put together. Every single detail has been attended to.

If you are lucky enough to visit the Kitsap Peninsula, and Poulsbo, please make sure to stop in and see the Cargo Hold in person - make sure that you tell Doug that I sent you! If you can't travel to Poulsbo, please make sure to check out their website - www.cargohold.com.