Category: Recently Observed
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River Signs | Vantage, WA | June 2019 Water bends light in weird ways. Fifty years ago, my friend Tom burst to the surface of a farm pond to shout that he’d found a body. (We cooled off in the pond on sweltering afternoons.) “Come see,” said Tom, and he dove back under. I followed…
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Grasses at Bathroom Window | Twisp, WA | June 2019 Grass grows. And mowing it has been a constant in my life for over five decades. Pocket lawns, big fields, sprawling suburban yards — I’ve clipped them all. Still, it grows. Push mowers, self-propelled mulchers, riding machines, bush hog tractors — slicing, chopping, spewing. It…
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Climber | Frenchman Coulee, WA | June 2019 I lead a low-risk life. Sure, I drive a car and fly in jets. But I’m not a thrill seeker — no sky diving, no zip lines, definitely no rock climbing. Gravity has earned my respect, as has its inevitable interrupter: the ground. From a tall ladder…
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Highway | Reardan, WA | June 2019 Sunset enriches even the most mundane landscape. It’s evidence that the celestial — in this case starlight — transforms
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Statue’s Hand | Odessa, WA | June 2019 Hands tell tales. Their age spots, large veins, calloused fingers and folds of skin chronicle our triumphs and failures. More than faces, which can be creamed and tightened, hands hold evidence of life lived. In the grip of struggle; in the clutch of
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Trash Cans | Coulee City, WA | June 2019 Catholic confession is like tossing sins into a trash can, said the priest. “The sins still exist, but you’ve peeled them off your soul and plopped them in the garbage.” Well, maybe. It’s unclear what happens to those tossed transgressions, but the image of a Divine…
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Farm | Harrington, WA | June 2019 All I know about wheat farming is what I see. Sunlit sheds surrounded by fertile soil. Not as evident: Sweat and tears tilled deep to nourish crops; equipment burdened by weighty mortgages; profits in the hands of faceless foreign buyers. All I want to know is that
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Mow | Twisp, WA | June 2019 Hitting a rough patch has benefits. It jars you from the norm and alerts you to a shift in conditions. You learn quickly that grit hurled at high velocity will sting enough to require immediate response. You can
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Golf Course | Richland, WA | June 2019 Golf is laden now with high fees and heavy gear. But as a young man, I played cheap rounds in early mornings with a single hybrid club — a five-iron/putter combo — and balls scavenged from the pond. At sunrise, it was mostly just me and the…
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