Sapling | Wenatchee, WA | December 2019
Garden Wall #1 | “Until you dig a hole, until you plant a tree, until you water it and make it survive, you haven’t done (more…)
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Old Truck | Twisp, WA | December 2019
What America needs, says my thoughtful friend, is a portable furnace that can render abandoned farm equipment into recycled steel. Hundreds of millions of tons of old, unused metal equipment line ranch roads and fill work sheds. “Why not melt ‘em into manhole covers?” he asks. “Or fish hooks?” (He’s an angler.) My friend forgets that many country folks measure their wealth in forsaken farm machines. The more metal carcasses in a barnyard, the better. These relics are (more…)
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Cupped Moon | East Wenatchee, WA | December 2019
We’ve witnessed the sun’s power these last few nights. Light reflected off a waxing gibbous moon (in photo) has illuminated low clouds and brightened the neighborhood to near daytime levels. Beautiful, yes, because things glow. And not-so-beautiful because the glow highlights yard debris that we hoped would be hidden under snow. (It’s late this year.) I marvel that (more…)
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Manure Fork | East Wenatchee, WA | December 2019
Years ago, a maintenance man for the Diocese of Baton Rouge explained to me the value of hand tools. “Wood handles are best,” he said. “The oil from your palms smooths the grain, makes it your own.” Sure enough, the pickaxe he swung to dig the ditch had depressions that fit his hands. The shovel, too. “But I’m cheating,” he laughed. “My daddy grooved these handles from the ditches he worked. The grip still feels right.” It took us two days to (more…)
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Straws | Cashmere, WA | November 2019
Circle Series #3 | Before we all became terrified of germs, straws stood in handy dispensers on soda fountain counters. When your vanilla-caramel milkshake arrived, you’d reach bare-fingered into the straw assortment, swish around for the perfect color, stick it in the shake and suck the end that had been touched by dozens of customers. Yeah, we likely shared the local flu bug, maybe even skin mites (eww), but we didn’t die. In fact, we stayed pretty darned healthy. A few days ago, as I plucked free mints from a basket in a hospital waiting room, I wondered what (more…)
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Wheel | Wenatchee, WA |December 2019
Circle Series #2 | I understand how tires work. Tread reduces skids; air reduces bumps. Tires are third on my list of Car Parts I Understand, right after horn and glove compartment. But my list of mystery parts (transmissions, brake calipers, adjustable lumbar cushions) grows longer as cars evolve. For instance, the engineering of our windshield wipers — one short, one longer with a dogleg — yields maximum squeegee action on a convex surface. Blows my mind. And let’s not even talk about (more…)
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Birthplace of Books | Chelan, WA | December 2019
Circle Series #1 | “What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who (more…)
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Shrink Wrapped Boats | Chelan, WA | December 2019
The drawback to shrink wrapping a boat, I’ve read, is that it’s often too much too soon. Eager to winterize, boaters seal their vessels in plastic covers that put each watercraft out of commission for months — even while the weather stays warm, the snow stays away and the fish stay hungry. Similarly, we set aside lots of things before it’s necessary. A summer wardrobe gets boxed weeks before winter actually arrives. A co-worker nearing retirement gets (more…)
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Red Door #2 | Chelan Falls, WA | December 2019
Ah, the allure of a red door. They’re often on ramshackle buildings and painted carelessly. A call for attention, maybe? A clever distraction? Red means stop, beware, don’t enter. But a blood-colored door needles at our need to know, particularly if that door (more…)
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Float | Chelan, WA | December 2019
Lake Chelan’s water levels drop each winter to make room for spring snow melt. This leaves many of the resort town’s water amenities — docks, beaches, safety floats (in photo) — high and dry. One local retailer told me the lake’s ebb parallels her own retreat from the ruckus of summer’s rush. The receding waterline is a (more…)
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