Our Kitsap Peninsula is brimming over with authors. We have novelists, short story writers, poets and essayists. Some are published writers and some write just because it is a labor of love.

Adelia E. Ritchie’s education has made her a scientist and physical organic chemistry is her specialty. She has been widely published in a range of outlets from scientific journals all the way to pet product magazines, and she has also consulted world-wide on topics such as system engineering and climate change issues. Another activity this author enjoys is being a guest lecturer at universities. She has recently spoken at the University of Washington, Northwestern University, and the Naval Postgraduate School’s College of International Graduate Studies.

After reading this description, would you expect to see a matronly lady with perhaps her gray hair in a bun and a knit shawl around her shoulders? Well, you would be mistaken about her appearance. Adelia (her friends call her Dee), is a lovely, energetic blond, full of energy and a sparkle in her eyes.

Although Adelia is partially retired, she still is on the road much of the year lecturing and consulting; but she still found time to gather together some of her poetry, photographs and art to put into her book “Leaves of Glass.” This is a small book that will fit into a purse or side pocket of a suit coat, for easy access to read while commuting either on a ferry or an airplane. It is filled with photographs, such as a frog contemplating a winged bug. The photo is tagged, “The Edge of Life” and the verse with it is “To eat, or not to eat. This is my question.” The photo was taken in 2006 in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia by the author. Other essays, poems, pictures of her paintings and copies of photographs she has taken are all included for the reader’s pleasure, and it will be a pleasure to read this book. “Leaves of Glass” is available at the Hansville Store, and soon on Amazon.com.

Hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.

Quote for today: “You don’t have to be positive all the time. It’s perfectly OK to feel sad, angry, annoyed, frustrated, scared, or anxious. Having feelings doesn’t make you a ‘negative person.’ It makes you human.”

— Lori Deschene

— Donna Lee Anderson is a columnist for Kitsap News Group. Anderson can be reached at welltold tales@aol.com.