Dancing in the Moonlight

Parking Garage Still Life

Even Artsier Parking Garage Still Life

I need some sort of fire quote from Dante to go here

Maybe here as well

I was trying to get the reflection and kinda of got it

After a long day at the end of a long weekend, at then end of a long week I went for a long drive. Driving to think, to listen. I had a lot of long talks this week and by long talks I mean long talks and long listens. Some people talked about their lives, their loves, their fears, their worries, their woes. Others just wanted to hangout, and forget life for awhile, to digest thoughts and feelings. Over lunch, over beer, in the car, over coffee, on the phone, talking, sharing, processing life. Some trenches are deeper than others, some are familiar to me and some are not. You don't have to have fallen down every trench to toss someone a rope, you don't have to be out of every trench to tell which way is up. I drove to process all I had taken in, drove, listened to Nina Simone, and prayed. Driving, just driving, and listening. Thinking, processing, praying. Lots of prayer these days. Lots of driving too. It is cathartic, and expensive. But it works. I drove to the top of the Lewiston Grade and just looked out at the lights of the city. The breeze coming up from the valley was warm compared to Pullman, and as I stood overlooking the city with all its lights spread out beneath me, my car blaring jazz tunes, my camera taking long exposures, I sang and I danced. It was a gimpy, hobbling dance, that I'm sure might have been mistaken for an epileptic seizure, or drunken revels. For an hour it was just me, Nina and the moon. Sometimes I danced, sometimes I sang, sometimes I just sat and listened. Listened to the wind, to the music, processing all my conversations in ways I don't even begin to understand.

Heaven wheels above you, displaying to you her eternal glories, and still your eyes are on the ground.

I could type all night and not even begin to understand how I work
It's late - I should go to bed

Gimping around Idaho

Clarity comes slowly sometimes, only after much work, introspection, and reflection. And sometimes it happens in a moment, in a flash, you might not be able to say what brought it about, what caused it – but it happens – abruptly – explosively - startling you - catching you off your guard. And what was a dim thought, a cloud no bigger than your hand – suddenly is so much more. You see where you stand, laughing because it’s not where you thought you stood, but where you’ve always been. You distrust this clarity, it came on so sudden, and so strong. Will it evaporate just as quickly? Is it false? You wait, hoping to gain perspective and understanding, all the while fearing the unknown.

Strange how knowledge can create more questions than answers at times. And not even the questions you thought it would. Knowledge is so different from understanding, and understanding from action. They are all connected, but by what or how I don’t fully comprehend or appreciate. How often have I found knowledge insufficient to cause my actions to change, how often has my understanding been at conflict with my head and with my heart. But clarity comes, knowledge is found, and the world is a different place. Or rather different from what you thought it to be. And seeing how it is and where you stand in it means that you can move, and you can change.

Quite Spots in Pullman

I've been forced to slow down, my left foot is swollen and tender - they've got me taking 12 Advil a day along with 4 horse pills of something called Sulfamethoxazole. It's not fun, but its not really that bad, just a painful inconvenience.


I just finished a good book, I've been reading it for quite a while, and finally reached the end. It's interesting how sometimes stories don't end the way you thought that they would when you start, and what is so exciting about well written books, is that when they do not end how you thought that they would, they often end better, and more complete than you thought they could. And like all good books that I have read, I'm finding lessons in it's pages. Lots of obvious lessons, and lots of lessons that I could not fully appreciate until I had reached the stories end. Some books are scary, and make you give on reading, but not all. There are the books that are written so well that they make you want to read more books, to seek out the good ones, maybe write your own.

Autumnal Musings

For some reason this just makes me smile

I left work today, tired, sore, spent and stiff. The weekend was full of life, full of grace, so much is being processed, and thought out. Plans change, goals, hopes, can change, understanding can grow, and deepen. I spent a few hours today pounding nails into asphalt, stringing pneumatic tubes across the road, setting up cones, and directing traffic. A very reflective day, just processing where I am, where I am going. Lots of talking and lots of quite. I'm so thankful for the ability to have quite in my life. To live in a house with no neighbors, rather fields and wind. For creeks, and benches that are isolated in the heart of the city. I left work today and walked under an Aspen tree, and past a Juniper bush.

Laughing with Sisters

My Grandmothers house in Seattle has an Aspen tree and Juniper bush near the concrete steps to her front door. I had forgotten how Juniper smells, the color of slippery yellow aspen leaves on wet concrete, and looking down at the leaves under my feet - for a split second I was there - on a Sunday afternoon after church, wiping the wet leaves off my boots at the front door. I could see the old basset hound wind chime, hear its dull clanking thud that it made in the wind - always an odd thing to make a wind chime out of I've thought.

Even the spectators at Highland Games can be Dangerous

Just that sort of weekend, where you remember things long forgotten, things that make you remember other things, and soon you find that an hour has gone by. A grilled cheese and tomato soup sort of day. Grandma does not live there anymore. But the tree and bush still thrive. The leaves still fall, and the scent still lingers. And the days go by.

Talking Strategy I'm Sure

A good day today, a day to sit, and be still. Enjoy life, and friends, and hard work. Listen to people, listen with people. Read some Lewis, listened to some Chesterton, studied Philippians, made a resume, modeled the thermodynamics of a cooling tower, tried figure out how to prevent "divergent porpoising" during the landing and take off of amphibious aircraft.

Coffee and Music at Cafe Morro

Life is to be lived.

Moscow Bagel and Deli

Early Morning Experiment in Long Exposure

Bagel's.


Are amazing.


I know this little place. They make bagels. They are open till three. Order the Lotto - it's the best! 6 bucks buys a half an hour of memories that will long outlast any bagel.

The Road to Moscow

Bagel Crew


Waiting for Bagels


Bagel Construction


Vailent Attempts at the Crossword


Joe patiently waiting for his bagel the "Goodfella"

Bagel Stuffed

Low Light Experiments