A Walk to Remember: 12th Street
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Category Archives: Photography
A Walk to Remember: Fox Hill
I’ve long had an idea for a series of posts
entitled A Walk to Remember.
I’m a moment-hoarder,
a memory-grasper,
knowing how easily they get
plowed under by the thrum of life.
Two things were special about today.
I woke up at 4:25 a.m., a personal best!
For a lifelong night owl,
that’s a victory in itself. {laughter}
To be precise, it’s not unheard of
to wake up with a 4 on the clock.
But to get up and walk out the door?
Unfathomable.
My co-workers are fitness gurus.
The kind that participate in Warrior Dashes,
look for “Fun” runs (???!!! #interrobang)
and organize triathlons.
The only “selfie” I took.
Last summer they started walking up Fox Hill
on Sunday mornings.
I couldn’t join them because it conflicted
with my music commitments at church.
They decided to hike up Fox Hill on Friday
this week, so I could join them!
This is a picture of endurance.
I needed it today!
The second special thing? I made it to the top!
Eastern Oregon doesn’t resemble the lush green
images of Oregon that most people imagine.
These high green hills will soon be dun.
But today they are simply splendid!
A Winter Travelogue
We wanted to honor our friend (my next door neighbor from Lombard, IL) and his family at his memorial service six hours away. The Pacific Northwest has been pounded with winter storms this weekend. As we studied the radar it looked like there was a break in the weather, when we could thread the needle and get through. We decided to give it a try. Except for a few dicey spots, the trip was a blessing.
Chapter 1 Setting Off
This, my friends, is Eastern Oregon.
Dry pavement. Yes!
Deer crossing
Welcome, Holly! This sign has been a source of delight for decades.
Chapter 2 Investment Opportunities
This stark landscape reminds me of the Midwest. Or Scandinavia.
A fine barn
I imagine homesteaders lived here once upon a time. Or, perhaps a school?
The detail on this fine old barn thrills me.
Roof needs repaired. Air conditioning free.
It was Tiny before Tiny Houses were cool
Chapter 3 Birds and Such
We’ve never seen so many hawks on posts. Here, there, here again. Sidenote: I over-helped my son write a paper on the red-tail hawk in 1993. I’ve never forgotten the scientific name: buteo jamaicensis. Isn’t it weird what sticks to the inside of your brain?
This horse has been studying and applying the Marie Kondo method.
Hawk perched in a tree.
Waterfowl feeding
I am drawn to lonely trees
Chapter 4 Coming Home on the Rattlesnake
Driving south towards Lewiston
I wonder how this highway was named The Rattlesnake?
Looking down from above
It descends, slithers along the floor of the canyon (see center of picture),
and slinks upward to the next plateau.
S-curves superabound
Sidling up to the mountain
Chapter 5 Watch for the Light
Coming into the Wallowas, spots of blue sky
A shroud of clouds cannot cover it. The light still shines.
Light and shadow. And a lonely tree.
Luminous
Winter glory
Bonus Chapter: Deer and Elk
Outside of Enterprise, deer feeding
Outside of Imbler, elk herding
I don’t have the skill to convey this magnificent sight: about 300 elk
Walking, loping, bunching together
Move ’em out!
Bull supervising the exodus
Let’s Have a Catch Up
I write blog posts in my head. Shoot, I write series of blog posts in my head. (One imaginary series is entitled A Walk to Remember, with photo highlights and musings from different locations and walking partners.) But still, the blog stays silent.
Today, I’m going to interview myself. Maybe if I can clear out my mental debris the ‘flow’ will return.
Who are you? The big project of the last five months is to reinvent myself. {laugh track} When I wake up in the morning, I typically anticipate that day’s reading, be it audio, Kindle, or print. I can plant my bottom and sit; sit through noon, sit until the moon is high in the midnight sky. I also love two-hour phone calls with my siblings (while sitting) or copying quotes into my journal. Or playing the piano (sitting down). Or entering every receipt into Quicken.
It’s all rather boring. Unless you’re me. Then it’s a delight.
But I long to be able to consider myself an outdoor woman without smirking. The kind whose face lights up when someone suggests a hike. A person who thinks there’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing. Let’s be kind and say this is a work in progress.
What’s not working? Photography, for one. I’m in an in-between space: shooting raw photos, but not editing them. Meanwhile the backlog grows. Wanting to improve, but not putting the time in or buying the software. Frustrated by my lack of discipline to learn a new skill.
Um, OK. Is anything working? Yes! There is one hack I’ve discovered. Ditch the snooze alarm. I started walking with some friends in September. My alarm goes off eleven minutes before I leave the house. When the choice to keep sleeping is removed, one gets out of bed. It’s truly been a life changer.
Anything new? Yep. The day after I received this wooden sign, a deer ran into my car. Where I live, sadly, it’s so common that people start yawning when you mention it. The deer didn’t stick around, so I don’t know the extent of its injuries. I am grateful that the only damage sustained by me was to my car. Cars can be fixed.
What surprises you? When I was a student, science was my least favorite subject. Suddenly, I’m studying science! Neuroplasticity, metabolic issues, hormones, biometrics. Weird.
What are you reading? Much on nutrition by Jason Fung, Gary Taubes, David Perlmutter, and Nina Teicholz. I always have a C.S. Lewis book going, but found that some of his earlier books are rough sledding. Reading classics along with the Close Reads Podcast is fantastic. Most recently, we read Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory. And for comfort and joy I’ve been residing in Mitford with Jan Karon and in Thrush Green with Miss Read. My goal is to read through the Bible yearly. This year I chose the Living Bible that my dad gave me when I was 15. (It looks just like the one in the link.) Reading notes my teenaged-self wrote has been interesting and the vernacular in this paraphrase is fresh.
What about music? So the neatest thing happened. OPB, our public radio station, gave our library heaps of CDs they had culled from their collection. Our library sold them for a quarter each. I brought heaps of them home. I’m listening to all kinds of music. Some go straight to the thrift store. But I’ve found several gems. It’s cheap entertainment!
I thought this was going to be quick. I get the hint. Later, readers!
May Flowers
Oh, you vibrant May flowers. Your beauty near breaks my heart.
Western columbine.
They were all over in the forest when we were cutting wood. Exquisite.
Garden variety chives. From my garden. A lovely addition to a salad. Edible beauty!
Lovely lupine.
Bejeweled by dew.
I wish I knew my wildflowers.
The last time I tried to identify a flower by a picture on the webs,
I called a zinnia a Gerbera daisy. Oy!
Glory!
Delicate.
These were everywhere. I’m astonished at the wastefulness of beauty. Who sees this? Perhaps ten people in the life cycle of these flowers.
Eye-level lupines by the road.
California Poppies! I love these! This is in a neighborhood near ours.
I loved the contrast of this columbine and the dark tree trunk. Quietude.
The Cure for Gripe
These were the last words I read last night after a lovely Mother’s Day. Hannah Grieser’s book The Clouds Ye So Much Dread is my current favorite slow read. I’ve flagged so many pages that it looks like the United Nations. More quotes to come!
CS Lewis Reading Project
Last year my reading focus was breakneck Shakespeare (all in one year). This year I’m reading through C.S. Lewis at about the rate you drive through a residential area (which is ~ 50 pages a week). I’ve just finished my fourth book, The Problem of Pain.
It was one of the thickest 150 page books I’ve read. Heavy sledding with some sparkly quotes. I’m eager to dive into The Screwtape Letters. If you’d like to join for one or more books, find me on Facebook at the C.S. Lewis Reading Project.
I’m pulling a few quotes paired with photos I’ve taken. I will add them here from time to time.
July Joy
Joyous weddings nurture my spirit.
Daddy dance: our son and the flower girl (our Aria) dancing
Wine tasting with Dan and la Bella (my brother and sis-in-law, Valeri)
I’ve wanted one of these giant (= mellow) wind chimes for years. An early birthday gift!
Kizzy, Little Bit, Jemima, Baby Girl, Violet, Pony Boy, Cookie
The Bee Gee’s “Stayin’ Alive” is this plant’s theme song.
Not to be dramatic, but sometimes keeping it alive seems my greatest challenge.
Reintroducing radishes to my palate.
A royal bloom
A byproduct of forced frugality early in life is the thrill of a matched set later in life!
Reading aloud to my grands is one of my passions. I often read during meals as they eat. Water colors, sketching, markers, or play dough also help occupy their hands during non-meal times. This was my oldest grandson’s creation during today’s read aloud session.
Old People
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Searching for Spring
Something about the first of March unleashed a yearning in me for green. Our weather has been ricocheting between frozen and fair. I grabbed my camera and went on a quest, hoping to capture a crocus. One crocus.
I found heaps of ugly.
Black snow banks.
Mud.
Leaf-mold.
A litter-strewn vacant lot.
Dead stalks gawking.
Color, where are you?
A tiny leaf hung on through this severe winter.
Yay, daffs!!
Marvelous moss!!
Snow is sticking to the higher elevations. Side note: I am easily annoyed with the unimaginative street names in my town. A grid of the alphabet and numbers. But Penn Avenue follows O Avenue. Because no one wants to live on P Avenue!
Leftover red.
Now this is what I was searching for — that bright green that sings Spring!
I always return to this turret. Turrets are terrific. I’m counting on turrets in heaven.
Love the blue bench.
A befitting front door.
Voted Best Receptacle
Of course I had to peruse the Little Free Library. I took home The Martian.
I had given up on finding flowers. No crocus. But, three blocks from home, beauty interrupted my walk. I’m the worst at plant identification. If I called these Lily of the Valley would I be correct? I would be incorrect. These are Snowdrops. They were an afternoon benediction.
A Living Pencil 