Category: Cityscape
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Canopy | Wenatchee, WA | May 2020 Be thankful for protection against dark elements. Applaud street lamps, immune systems, evening prayers. Remember that the veil between bliss and bedlam remains only as strong as
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Trash Can | Bridgeport, WA | May 2020 “When you’re smilin’ … keep on smilin’ / The whole world smiles with you / And when you’re laughin’ …
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Architecture | Wenatchee, WA | May 2020 Buildings tell lies, particularly when it comes to grandiose false fronts designed to boost a structure’s “presence.” Of course, cowboy towns in the 1800s proudly strutted their flat, fake fronts. And architects in the 1990s reincarnated the practice for malls and quick-build commercial strips. This photo shows a…
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Street Turkey | East Wenatchee, WA | May 2020 Our new friend ignores fences, taunts dogs, gobbles gardens and struts the streets with gangsta swagger. It notes our presence with an upnod — “Yo, homie” — but otherwise keeps its beak to the ground. One neighbor says it’s a wild turkey sent to bedevil cats.…
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Turquoise Truck | Methow, WA | May 2020 Truck parked too long, weeds ‘round the wheels, crank up the motor, see how she feels / Air in the tires, gas gauge on
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Drinking Fountain | Bridgeport, WA | May 2020 Hard water has its secrets. It streams clear but deposits minerals that accumulate into trouble. It’s a vivid reminder that the current contagion isn’t our first encounter with phantom phenomena. In fact, we’re old hands at dealing with the invisible — gas leaks, airborne allergens, E. coli…
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Downtown Jet | Brewster, WA | May 2020 In the last few decades, surplus military equipment has become a favorite centerpiece of small-town public areas. Jets, tanks, rockets, wheeled cannons and mounted-artillery vehicles sit side-by-side with peace fountains and municipal flower gardens. These combat machines are installed mostly to honor service men and women. But…
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Spillway | Bridgeport, WA | May 2020 Controlling the Columbia River’s flow through 14 dams in two countries seems impossible. Even with computers, the act of balancing natural forces (rain, snowmelt, evaporation, fish migration) with human factors (power, irrigation, recreation, domestic water supplies and, oh yeah, politics) boggles the mind. After all, a gully-washer at…
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Picnic Tables | Entiat, WA | May 2020 One heartening sign during lockdown has been work crews grooming parks and campgrounds for their limited reopening. Mowing grass, trimming weeds, sanitizing public toilets. Old gear — battered trash cans, sun-baked picnic tables — were replaced with newer, tougher equipment. Now we’re engaged in our own clean…
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View | Wenatchee, WA | May 2020 Who needs the Grand Canyon when you’ve got South Wenatchee? Nowadays tidy houses on tree-lined streets are spectacular enough. In fact, their mundaneness is their magnificence. Their normalcy, their grounding, has emerged as our best