Willow | Ephrata, WA | October 2019
Trees don’t talk but often say plenty. I place my hand on an elder’s bark and can sense a presence beyond its weathered trunk. This tree has stood for decades as witness and recorder of climate, industry, hopes, dreams and even cosmic events (think sunspots and supernovas). On this particular day it offers gifts of (more…)
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 shine. I’m thinking of (more…)
Hills | East Wenatchee, WA | October 2019
Practical advice | Expert landscapers mostly follow principles established by Mother Nature, including repetition of plant shapes and colors. “These are known as [design] echoes and help hold the landscape together as a whole, instead of a bunch of parts,” says ag scientist Greg Grant at Texas A&M. “Some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world — both man-made and natural — are (more…)
Afloat | Moses Lake, WA | October 2019
Sure, it’s easy to lose our bearings in inclement conditions — fog, smoke, blazing sun, blowing dust or snow. But sometimes all it takes is low-level spectacle — something simple, nothing astounding — to tilt our world off-kilter. Such as: echoes bouncing in a narrow canyon, pine scent blown to a treeless beach, cottony clouds reflected in a mirror-smooth lake. These moments raise the world to (more…)
Library Room | Wenatchee, WA | October 2019
The library room where the kids’ story hour takes place is mostly empty now — one chair and illuminated reminders that light travels in a straight line. The strips emphasize the room’s geometry: Parallel bands in a cube of quiet. I squat low to feel the warmth of sunlight’s arrival. All’s still and silent, until … Crunch! I turn to find a young woman sitting on (more…)
Decay | East Wenatchee, WA | October 2019
We seniors usually don’t dwell too long on the metaphor of autumn. Shortening of days, dimming of colors, prepping for the long rest — you laughing yet? But it’s healthy once a year to get our bearings in the cycle of life, acknowledge what’s behind us and, more importantly, what’s ahead. The Chinese associate autumn with vision — thinking big, expanding dreams, recognizing life’s vast possibilities even as our own path (more…)
Dove | East Wenatchee, WA | September 2019
The best explanations of how electricity works are written for fifth-graders. Circuits, electrons, energy flows, positive-negative charges — we non-electricians understand them better when descriptions are dumbed waaaay down. Even then, we can’t really comprehend the nature of amps and volts. How does electricity actually flow through wires? How can it turn metal into magnets? How does it fuel a Big Mouth Billy Bass plaque to sing “Don’t Worry Be Happy”? My own deep hypothesis, based on staring at a power pole while sipping coffee, is that electricity is like (more…)
Car Wash | East Wenatchee, WA | September 2019
“Let that green light guide me in. Let that drizzle of water mist over my windshield. And let me sit back and watch those wondrous, thick colors melt and swirl in front of me, mixing and blending. Better than the greatest show in the sky because here, here in my (more…)
Spider | Wenatchee, WA | September 2019
One mystery to ponder while waiting in the car for my spouse is Earth’s diversity of life. How could the same surface conditions — air, light, gravity — produce such varied creatures? That spider on the parking bollard has legs too wispy for nerves or blood, right? So how do they move in a coordinated fashion? To flee, build webs, catch food? And why would they even evolve that way? Wouldn’t a gripping claw be (more…)
Mullein | Mazama, WA | September 2019
Mullein is my totem plant, if such a thing exists. I admire how it thrives in adverse conditions — dirt piles, roadside ditches, boulder cracks — and still maintains a stoic bearing. Herbal health websites list it as one of the top medicinal plants, able to soothe wounds and burns and, when ingested, ease symptoms of flu, pneumonia, headaches, allergies and other ailments. Considered an invasive species in many locales, it’s often (more…)
IrwinFoto 