Wokie borrowed her name from her dog, Wookie. There were too many other Sara/hs in exercise classes and writing workshops. Wookie has been most generous and understanding.

Back when Wokie was a sweet young thing, her father chastised her for wanting to spray the family elm trees with DDT to kill the beetles that carry Dutch elm disease.  She cried about the dying elms, but gradually morphed into an environmentalist. She had chickens, most of whom turned out to be roosters, and a vegetable garden.

At that point her family, then in an unincorporated township without city water or the prospect of a well, depended on rain water collected in a cistern, which taught everyone very serious water conservation.

This served her well years later when she crossed the Sahara twice in an ordinary suburban Toyota minivan fending off predatory males and deadly poisonous snakes.

She’s spent most of her adult life in shared group housing, collecting hundreds of housemate experiences, most quite positive, though the negative ones make for better stories.
She’s hoping that the seriousness with which her dogs, Wookie and Kookaburra, protect their present back yard against marauding foxes, coyotes, coons, and especially deer will make them an appealing asset to Sunnyside and its gardeners.