Category: Cityscape
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Window | Seattle, WA | October 2019 This view of Lake Union through a weather-etched pane had a painterly look that got me thinking. Don’t we each see the world through a set of personal filters? For instance, anger can blind us to the better qualities of those we berate. And strong positive emotions —…
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Signs | Twisp, WA | October 2019 You’ve already made up your mind; you just haven’t admitted it to yourself. The signs you’ve sought from God, the Universe or palm reader Madame Mystic will likely affirm what you already know. That anti-smoking billboard with the cancer-eaten face means, yes, you should toss the cigarettes. A…
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Houses | East Wenatchee, WA | October 2019 A neighborhood can emerge as an abstract mix of light and shadows, angles and planes, people and personalities. You know: A jumble of quiet, noise, laughter, anger, buddies and jerks. Those many pieces seem to mesh best when connected by the amiable qualities of empathy and forgiveness.…
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Quonset Hut | Orondo, WA | October 2019 Autumn Orchard #4 | A bit of history on the ubiquitous hut: During World War II, the U.S. Navy required a lightweight all-purpose building that was easily shipped and assembled by unskilled labor. Military engineers modified a decades-old British design and built a prototype in the naval…
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Aquarium | East Wenatchee, WA | October 2019 How are this fish and my ego alike? The alluring bala shark, a favorite of home aquariums, grows too large too fast. First a minnow, then a monster. Also, its arrogance often propels the darned thing over the tank’s edge — from what it knows (a cozy…
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Water Tank | East Wenatchee, WA | October 2019 About 55 years ago a priest led us Catholic kids into the schoolyard and pointed to the town’s water tower. “That could be you,” he told us. “Standing straight, reaching for the sky, able to quench a thirst most people don’t know they have.” (Yes, I’m…
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Perspective | Ephrata, WA | October 2019 It feels like we’re overdue for a mental breakthrough that changes the course of humanity. We’ve previously seen such revelations about, say, the speed of light, radio waves, manned flight and lens optics. One remarkable gain was the development of perspective in art (c. 1420), a mind trick…
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Old Mural | Soap Lake, WA | October 2019 We strive daily to decipher the universe. Has the grass grown enough to mow? Do those dark clouds hint at rain? Does “hmmm” mean your spouse likes the chicken casserole? After detection of gravity waves in 2015, scientists hoped the space-time ripples would help decipher distant…
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Picnic Shelter | Crescent Bar, WA | October 2019 Please raise a cold chicken wing in salute of the unsung architects who design picnic shelters, pit toilets, benches and other park amenities. These structures are mostly utilitarian copies built fast and cheap. But sometimes a design goes beyond providing shade and shelter to let innovation…
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