Family on the Fourth of July
I’ve always loved the Fourth of July. Fireworks were a big part of the holiday for as long as I can remember. When I was a child, we would usually spend most of the summer...
Category: Photography
A day on Bald Mountain
Yesterday my friend Henry and I hiked about 7 miles in and out on a segment of the Timberline Trail in the Mt. Hood Wilderness. The Timberline Trail is a 41.2-mile loop that circumnavigates...
Sensory triggers of memory
Marcel Proust famously wrote in his semi-autobiographical novel Remembrance of Things Past published in 1913 how the smell and taste of a tea-soaked madeleine cake evoked the childhood memory of breakfast with his Aunt Léonie. The...
Eagle eyes
During the thirty-five years we have lived in Portland, Oregon, sightings of bald eagles have become much more common. The species is thriving. It is still a thrill to see one soaring over our house or...
Beacon Rock Revisited
As those of you who have read Tattoo will know, Beacon Rock is a special place for me. It is a basalt monolith towering 848 ft over the north bank of the Columbia River about 35 miles...
A walk in the woods with Jack
Jack and I are committed to getting our 10-12,000 steps of walking per day. As I describe in Tattoo, the evidence is very strong that regular, aerobic exercise reduces the risk of getting Alzheimer’s, and...
Sea foam
I love to walk. Every day my dog Jack and I work on our 10,000 steps either on the neighborhood streets or the nearby trails of Forest Park when we are home in Portland or...
The elusive green flash
The green flash is a very small green light that appears to be emanating from the top of the sun just as it sinks below an absolutely clear horizon. It lasts only a second...
Digging for clams
One of my most exciting wildlife experiences was seeing and photographing a mother Kodiak brown bear in Alaska’s Katmai National Park teaching her two cubs how to dig for clams. These coastal bears are...
The Phoenix
One of the thrilling things about being on the Oregon coast is experiencing the frequent winter storms blowing down from the Gulf of Alaska. Wind gusts can reach 70 mph, near hurricane strength, and...
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