Cow Train | Peshastin, WA | July 2019
The mini-train that looped through the park in 1965 sometimes took a spur line behind some zoo cages, including the monkey house. The primates (actually apes, not monkeys) would pause in their activities — eating, grooming, playing — to sit in a line at the fence and watch us roll by. They stared at us; we stared at them. It made us kids uneasy, and on one pass a little girl (more…)
Shirts on Sale | East Wenatchee, WA | July 2019
In 1974, I worked in a giant warehouse filled with clothing donated by major retailers. The stuff they couldn’t sell would be sorted, boxed and shipped to Catholic missions in Central America. One day, in a mountain of jumbled garments, I found a cache of hundreds of gold-and-black jerseys sporting a fleur-de-lis, the logo of the New Orleans Saints. I imagined everyone in a Guatemalan village wearing their Saints shirt to (more…)
Root Ball | Lake Wenatchee, WA | July 2019
It’s not until the stately cedar tree falls that we realize the complexity of its existence. The simple elegance of trunk and boughs were supported and maintained by roots deep and entangled. In fact, the tree’s downfall may have resulted from tubers working at cross purposes, stealing from each other the essential nutrients to thrive. That’s why, perhaps, my own (more…)
Morning with Tree | Steptoe, WA | June 2019
Light and shadow, shape and color are all that’s required to awaken wonder. Sure, it’s nice to soak up the splendor of the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls, but spectacle can also be found (more…)
Butterfly | East Wenatchee, WA | July 2019
At a recent family reunion, my attention was so focused on my brother-in-law’s delicious jambalaya that I didn’t notice a cousin taking photos of me shoveling it in. There I was — caught with my mouth full of rice and sausage, as if preparing for widespread famine. So I’m not surprised this butterfly continued slurping at a sunflower rather than flit away. I imagined it ate with (more…)
Toes in Repose | Houston, TX | July 2019
A human appendage isolated from the body can appear … well, curious. Bunched toes, for instance, have a bulbous beauty similar to mushrooms, forest burls or coral polyps. (The owner of the digits in this photo might disagree.) I often find myself staring at my veined hand under lamplight and wonder how a prehistoric fish fin evolved into (more…)
Crepe Myrtle at Dawn | Houston, TX | July 2019
The unveiling of the day has become a favorite spectacle. Not so much the gradual lightening of the landscape, but rather the first splashes of sunlight on objects placed just so. Mailbox, fence edge, tree trunks brighten with photons that traveled 93 million miles to (more…)
Airplane View #3 | Heber City, UT | July 2019
From the air, this city looks otherworldly. Like a science-fiction settlement on Mars. It illustrates a key disadvantage of the window seat — interesting places slowly float below with no way to immediately reach them. They may have answers to the Great Mysteries or the best burger in five states. But it all has to wait — for the right (more…)
Airplane View #2 | Salt Lake City, UT | July 2019
Every jet window provides a series of framed artworks. Just take a look. The wonder of it all is that Nature creates compositions with what’s on hand — water, earth, clouds, sunlight, algae, forests. Our own notions of order and beauty do the rest. Your art view differs from my art view, but for a short time we share the same (more…)
Airplane View #1 | Salt Lake City, UT | July 2019
Distance gives me clarity. Where I go, what I do, how I eat — it all becomes more clear when I’m 2,000 miles from home. Surprising patterns emerge: At home I wake too early, snack too often, socialize too infrequently. Ruts and routines that are (more…)
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