White Bowls | Twisp, WA | February 2019
The bowl doesn’t struggle with purpose. Its emptiness awaits (more…)
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Beach Art | Newport, OR | March 2019
Look closely at this photo. See the faces and bones? Creatures and claws? It looks like a charcoal drawing by a surrealist artist, but it’s really a patch of beach etched by flowing water. More specifically, it’s art created in sand as a creek seeks its original source, the sea. I admire how the stream, (more…)
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Cloud | Methow, WA | April 2019
A lesson in impermanence appeared in a cloudless sky. As I drove upriver, I saw vapor gather into a wispy sphere that grew denser by the second. The quickly-formed cloud then floated east, carried along by the forces — wind and whim — that conceived it. The airborne body gleamed briefly, relishing its place in the cosmos. Then it (more…)
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Gowns | Vancouver, WA | March 2019
Can a wedding nowadays be simple? Ceremonies for even everyday folks are often drenched in drama and excess. Emotions run high over details of the ring, dress, shoes, cake, bouquet, seating charts and — what are we forgetting? — oh yeah, the groom. Brides want celebrity treatment (“This is my day!”) and a perfect (more…)
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Idle Hour | East Wenatchee, WA | March 2019
The publishing industry is flooded this spring by a wave of self-help titles on doing less. The books are a reaction, I suppose, to our increased pace of life — do more, do it faster — all juiced by the latest tech. In truth, experts say, people want to be more like cormorants (in photo): lazing in the sun with friends, occasionally diving for a snack, oblivious to clocks, schedules and (more…)
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Pyramid | Spokane, WA | March 2019
My Dad believed (somewhat) in the power of pyramids. He had a doctor — OK, a quack — who claimed pyramids had all sorts of healing properties. After all, didn’t the Egyptians build pyramid-shaped tombs? So the doctor had Dad sit under a dangling, um, monolith which supposedly focused cosmic energy onto and into his (more…)
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Place Settings | Ellensburg, WA | February 2019
Our tools are laid out at table’s edge, ready for action. We order breakfast. We wait. It’s a good time to practice Zen acceptance. “Right now, it’s like this,” I say to (more…)
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Resting Geese | East Wenatchee, WA | March 2019
The cold never hit hard this winter, and snow came late (February). Many flocks of Canada geese, mildly confused, chose to hang out here rather than sojourn south. They managed to adjust to frosty conditions, as we all did — waddling over icy patches, basking in sporadic sun, eating when (more…)
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Winter Orchard | East Wenatchee, WA | February 2019
It’s often what’s not there that sharpens the moment. Trees without leaves means better-defined shadows. Foods without salt means (more…)
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