Weed | East Wenatchee, WA | May 2020
The world’s busyness has paused while we care for the sick, dying and billions wanting to stay healthy. Thankfully our underpinnings remain solid — sun sizzles, gravity grips, molecules merge — so that 99 percent of what’s around us, of what makes life real, prevails. Notably, this lowly weed (more…)
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 on smartphones, push-up bras — and have cultivated defenses to handle them. Smell, mucus, white blood cells. (There’s no defense against pronounced cleavage.) Now we reinforce ourselves with (more…)
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 are they rightly respectful? Or are they grim reminders of (more…)
Cone Cluster | Twisp, WA | May 2020
I’m no evergreen botanist — or cone head — so I’m not exactly sure what this mess of alien intestines really is. My own deep research (two Google searches) reveals that these could be young male pollen cones struttin’ their stuff for the more prickly female seed cones. The caress of a light breeze coaxes these trigger-happy fellas to, um, unload their loads of (more…)
Tower | Mansfield, WA | May 2020
I won’t attempt to bluff my way through identifying this structure or its purpose. The tower has a door and window for Mr. and Mrs. Farmer, electricity for lights and machinery, and height for … well, not sure what. Fuel depot? Pumping station? Fancy-schmancy outhouse? I skipped going inside because hornets had already nested. Otherwise, the building is yet another fine example of simple design in the middle of nowhere. It’s a stub of solidity with nary a (more…)
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 the Canadian headwaters could mean boat docks will rise in Kennewick, about 600 river miles away. Upstream becomes midstream becomes downstream in one smooth course. (Always a good metaphor for life.) I mostly trust hydro authorities to get us through these ups and downs. Yet I’ve learned on recent river walks to note (more…)
The Lookout | Entiat, WA | May 2020
Urban animals offer life lessons we’d all be wise to follow. From our dog: Nap with passion. From backyard birds: Eat now, poop lots. From raccoons: Always wear your “Who, me?” face. Geese with families also offer valuable (more…)
Rusty Railcar | Entiat, WA | May 2020
“Everything comes to an end. A good bottle of wine, a summer’s day, a long-running sitcom, one’s life, and eventually our species. The question for many of us is (more…)
Grazing Horse | East Wenatchee, WA | April 2020
Horse lips are like the end of an elephant’s trunk — fleshy, specialized tools for grasping thin blades of grass. Watching them pluck, pluck, endlessly pluck, I realize that in recent weeks my own particular “tools” for living in lockdown have emerged. They include a new capacity to pluck satisfaction from mundane tasks — morning stretches, watering plants, roasting a chicken, sweeping and mopping — and a growing appreciation for (more…)
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 sweep of lifelong beliefs and routines. Landscaping new terrain. Replacing old ideas with … well, who knows what? For certain, how we lived at Christmas won’t be (more…)
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