My name is Ann Cook. I’m a graphic designer and memoirist. Growing up as an American in Pakistan was a life-changing adventure. If you add to that boarding school in the Himalayas and on a tropical island in Malaysia, there is plenty to write about. However, before my globe-trotting years, back in the late 1960s, when I was eight and lived in a single-wide trailer in Oildale, California, those coming-of-age years have provided some of my best work.

The Cook Peak Review was our family newsletter. Designed as a slick, quarterly eight-page publication, it helped keep us connected with family and friends. I wrote articles about our transition from city to county life. I poked fun at our misadventures and reported our achievements. When Facebook arrived, The Cook Peak Review became 300,000 words worth of posts, proving there is always something to write about at Cook Peak.

I hope you enjoy Cook Peak, the blog. It is a mix of old and new stories about a life, a family and a house called Cook Peak.