Travel Stories and Other Adventures
THUMP! Thumpity thump, crash, thump thump. The rock (or rocks?) continued to bound down the cliff I was hanging onto as the seconds rolled on, reminding me how far I had to fall should I lose footing with the other foot as well. Once I found a new foothold to replace that sizable sounding rock I’d knocked free I looked around for my wife – she was somewhere below.
A year ago I took you on a tour through the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens in Portland. I had the best of intentions at the time, bringing along my digital SLR and extra lens, but upon arrival discovered I wasn’t fully loaded for bear – I’d left the SLR’s memory card at home and was obliged to shoot with the phone camera. This year we went again, and I remembered all the good gear. Did it make any difference?
In my last post, I riffed on variations of a single picture of tulips using “Virtual Paint“. In this post, we’ll explore how many different varieties of tulips can be found in one special place.
And if that’s too boring, just enjoy all the bright colors.
When is a cathedral not a church?
Some guys get their jollies from new power tools. Others, from a new set of golf clubs or a drone to fly around the neighborhood. We all, with any luck, have interests outside of putting food on the table and paying the bills, and often those interests have “toys” that support them.
What to do, what to do?
On a typical Monday afternoon I do a volunteer shift at a local animal shelter, showing cats for adoption or doing a bit of socialization with them if things are slow. But this past Monday I had a quandary.
The first snowflakes descended around 5:30 PM. I thought little of it; there wasn’t that much snow in the forecast, and by the time it amounted to anything everyone should home and snug. Little did we know.
The invitation was unexpected.
Suppose that you wanted to enjoy a meadow with fresh flowers by the millions. When would be a good time to go looking? May? June?
Try August.
When the wind blew the wrong direction, thick, choking smoke otherwise hidden by darkness snaked into the camp, causing watering eyes and making it hard to breathe. The fire was high above us, but as the night wore on it crept down the cliff face, heading in our direction. It was our introduction to Hell.
