Corn | East Wenatchee, WA | August 2019
Some of us await a new crop of sweet corn with anticipation once reserved for an arriving circus. (The same excitement shown now for the latest iPhone.) Pickup trucks parked roadside sell ears plucked just an hour earlier. Corn connoisseurs (yes, those exist) peel back the husk, check kernels for (more…)
Bull | Omak, WA | August 2019
Rodeo #3 | I recently leaped from a low ladder and rattled my bones and brain. No injuries, but during my one-second freefall I realized I had not left Earth under my own power in quite sometime. No jumps to grab a tree branch. No belly-flops into a swimming pool. Not even a few skips just for the hell of it. I’d been anchored for months, maybe more, with at least one foot on the ground. So I cruised my memory for remnants of (more…)
Raindrops | Omak, WA | August 2019
Rodeo #2 | Drizzle intensifies the scent of lariats, leather and livestock. As one female rodeo fan yelled, “Hoo-wee! Do I smell wet cowboy?” Bronc busters and bull riders aren’t fazed, of course, by sporadic sprinkles. When you’re straddling a 1,500-pound dynamo, rain and the resulting aromas are (more…)
Trick Rider | Omak, WA | August 2019
Rodeo #1 | As the self-proclaimed King of Caution, I’m fascinated by those who take risks. What compels a person to skydive, rock climb, bungee jump, chain smoke or gulp that first bite of a neurotoxin-laced pufferfish? I understand about laughing in the face of death — after all, I cross streets against the light and eat at taco trucks — but participating in cripple-or-kill activities remains a mystery to me. For answers, I’ve studied the (more…)
Cow Art | Ellensburg, WA | August 2019
I don’t usually feature other people’s artwork in this blog. But I like the placement of a painted fiberglass cow in the crux of brickwork. It’s a good reminder that vast areas of sameness — urban sprawl, desert landscapes, routine office tasks, reality TV shows — often give rise to enriching (more…)
Hallway | Eunice, LA | July 2019
Light often illuminates the darkest spaces in the most interesting ways. Sun rays bounced off a mirror and through two doorways to reach this interior wall. Says Ingo Maurer, a German industrial designer and artist, “Light can be sensual. It can be comforting. It can even be (more…)
Leaf | East Wenatchee, WA | August 2019
With chlorophyll gone, this leaf’s true face emerged bright red and beautiful. It was always there, but hidden behind the green facade of photosynthesis. Buddhists refer to such a countenance as the original face, the one worn as an infant before society’s imprint. That face in adults is often veiled behind fear, pride, judgment and ambition. The sage advises (more…)
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