The Best Way To Spend the Last of Summer
Reading poetry in the sun and watching the clouds roll by above the Chesapeake Bay and walking along the shore and eating ice cream and letting good conversation roll and ramble all along the way.
September 20, 2012
February 2, 2009
View from Above
Where I wish I was right now:
October 2, 2008
Mangroves
I miss the tropics.
May 14, 2008
Rowena Crest
A nice angle: looking over at Mt Adams (WA) from partway up Tom McCall Point, Rowena Crest.
(yeah, the color balance is off, bite me.)
April 4, 2008
I miss home.
February 21, 2008
Eclipse, etc
We got a great look at the lunar eclipse last night. I was standing out in my front yard with a few friends, gawking up at the sky, when a little white Subaru roared around the corner and screeched to a halt in the road. Yasmin!
She marshaled all of us into her car and off we went down the hill to the Mosier tunnels just outside of town - a far superior site for moon-watching, talking, and taking in the night, it turns out.
Over the last few weeks there's been a subtle shift in the social dynamic around here. Maybe we've reached a critical mass of individuals, or maybe we've just gotten to know one another a little better, or maybe it's just taken this time - but something's clicking. We've got a little posse going - friends who stop by and stay for dinner, the beginnings of a ladies' book club, good conversations, people to ski and hike and adventure with. Still a work in progress, still a long way to go, but it's a nice feeling nonetheless.
January 3, 2008
Rock Springs Run
While home in Florida I squeezed in time for some boating with Meg - it was great. We did the Rock Springs Run, which is a tributary spring of the Wekiva River, which starts at Wekiva Springs. It's a gorgeous chunk of Old Florida, a total jungle, just 30 miles from Orlando. Highlights:
- The gorgeous scenery and perfect weather, natch.
- Our canoe, which was emblazoned with LIONS.
- The sound of countless sunning turtles plopping into the water as we passed.
- Spotting a few baby alligators just a few yards from our boat, and, a few seconds later, their 6-foot mama, whose eyeball was trained on us the entire time.
- Working our way through half a bottle of Wild Turkey by the light of a flashlight , and, later, the moon.
- Great, long, thoughtful, rambling conversations.. both before, during, and after the Wild Turkey.
There's lots of pictures, too.
December 23, 2007
Sunny and Warm
I watched the weather and it predicted freezing rain and shitty conditions across the Pacific Northwest for Christmas. In Florida it is in the 70's and sunny. I am in no hurry to get back to Oregon. None at all.
p.s. It is good to be on vacation.
p.p.s. Here are some sweet photos from biking in Portland with Tom. There would have been more but my camera batteries died.
August 13, 2007
Unsurprising
I find it pretty funny that my most "interesting" photo on Flickr is one of a cowboy grabbing his girlfriend's butt at a rodeo.
Here are some photos of a windstorm that blew in late last week at dusk: one minute it was warm and still, the sun was still out, then BOOM, these giant clouds loomed, the sky turned orange and purple, and dust blew everywhere. My entire apartment got coated with a fine film of it.
Left: a neighboring plum tree, embattled.
Right: the hospital across the street. You can't even see the upper levels of the building.
UPDATE: fixed the cowboy link. It seems that I'd linked to a page that you can only get to from my profile. You'll just have to trust me that that photo shows up as #1 on my "interesting" ranking... (Flickr does popularity rankings for each user's photos - most viewed, most comments, etc. Most interesting has something to do with the ratio of views, comments, and favorites. Not exactly sure how it works. But it's that cowboy, and his hand...)
July 9, 2007
Rodeo Garb
By the way, I got some great photos when R came out to visit.
June 8, 2007
Y-Stone
Two weekends ago I made a somewhat spontaneous trip out to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks with Megan. It was, in a word, awesome.
We set off on a Friday with a cooler full of food and cookies and wine and nothing but wide open Idaho highway between us and Wyoming. 7 hours later we rolled into Jackson just in time to catch sunset over the Tetons and wash up and dress up and catch an incredible Italian dinner with my parents (note to self: need to get some prosciutto and arugula for that pasta dish). Next day we wake up to dawn on the Tetons and hit Yellowstone hard - Old Faithful, various other geysers and hot springs and geothermal wonders, hiking, wildlife-ogling, tourist-ogling, spotting out-of-state license plates, and chewing our way through several packs of Bubblicious. We roll back into Jackson exhausted again in time for another lovely dinner at a brewpub, more good times with the parents, and only a few hours' sleep before another long day, this time rockin' Grand Teton. More hiking, more ogling, and then a few hours' rambling through Jackson proper (including a real sweet 50% off Smartwool sale!). Post-Tetons we hit the highway for the strange and wonderful Craters of the Moon, where we make camp on the windiest patch of volcanic gravel I ever did sleep on. There may or may not have also been wine and a few rounds of fortune-telling with M.A.S.H. After a quick tour the next morning of Craters' windy, surreal sights, we book it back to the big O R, exhausted but happy.
In case you want to see some pictures of, you know, the actual sights of western Wyoming in its glorious late-spring beauty, you can check them out:
(Oh, and a few shots from Craters of the Moon National Monument and Arco, ID, too)
May 18, 2007
Cali Dog
Cali, officially my favorite dog ever.
April 24, 2007
Circa 1985
My uncle took this picture and just sent it to the family today.
Me, my dad, and my Poppa.
April 10, 2007
Iconic
"The years of 1860 to 1870 found more settlers homesteading in Morrow County. In 1863 William Y. Cecil, who was born in England, built a home at the Oregon Trail crossing on Willow Creek. This was the beginning of a settlement that took on the name of Cecil and became the stopping place of the emigrants on their way to western Oregon."
Megz took this one. Cecil, OR, on the Oregon Trail.
April 4, 2007
In the Kitchen
Now that the days are getting longer, I can cook in better light.
These eventually topped spiced green lentils.
The by-product of pruning my overactive mint plant.
March 28, 2007
Warner Wetlands
From the Warner Wetlands, just north of Plush, OR, in Lake County.
March 7, 2007
Neighbors
I love walking past this house. It's conveniently located on the way to the library. I feel like I should leave a charming ceramic tchotchke in one of the pots as thanks.
February 1, 2007
Looking West
Out on the butte yesterday evening.
January 29, 2007
A Dry, Sunny Winter
December 14, 2006
Oh Texas
The Flying Machine's foreign correspondent DB is currently living in Texas and relaying tales of the weird, the LOL-worthy, and the people-are-plumb-crazy. Check out this photograph of a Texas carpet store, where the parking lot is paved with carpet pieces. File this one under "weird."
December 10, 2006
Picture Stories
Here are some photographs that illustrate my week:
When I got to Boise we went out to eat at Mai Thai. It was quite good and the napkins were very white.
On Tuesday I went to my conference but I didn't take any pictures because there wasn't anything to photograph. When I got home Z had gotten his new camera in the mail. It's kind of like mine but it's a Sony. We sat and messed around with our cameras for a while. Z's other roommate whom I'd not met, B, was home too. I think he was bemused by our dorkiness.
Me being all, duuude.
Then I went to the conference on Wednesday and that night Z and B and I went out for sushi, where I ate a whole lot. We came back warm from the sake and I schooled B and Z both at Goldeneye. Then I went to the last day of the conference on Thursday and came back and did some work things while Z did dog things and I made dinner and we sat by the fire for a while and chilled for the evening. It was nice. On Friday I woke up and drove home and rolled into work a bit late, but nobody minded.
On Friday night I re-strung my mandolin for the first time ever.
There were wires everywhere.
With all the loose wires, it looked a bit like a mad scientist.
But then I tamed the beast and gave it curls. I suppose I will soon cut them off, but I liked the look.
So now she's re-strung with some super sweet new strings and all is well. Today I went Christmas shopping in Boise with Megan and we found some great things for both family and ourselves.
One of my new sweaters is an awesome shade of teal, which you can see in this blurry picture of me, uh, rocking out or something.
Also,
And that is all.
December 9, 2006
Team Hager
Feeling photograph-y today.
Justin (the one with the ski pole) took this one.
November 26, 2006
Hearth
This is where the magic happens:
Except for last night, when I tried to make a dal, and it smelled sooo good, but in the end it just tasted like red lentils. This happens a lot when you cook alone, I think. I'm not sure why.
November 17, 2006
5 Minutes From my Office
Yeah, it's pretty sweet. Click the pic to see a few more that I took yesterday after work.
November 13, 2006
Chicken!
This is Chicken, the cuddliest obese cat around. We couldn't decide if it was a boy or a girl but either way it was an awesome cat. I'll post about my weekend this evening - including more pictures. Today I'm in Bend for a job training and boy you wouldn't believe the snow that came down while I was driving over! Somebody needs to get herself some better tires. Pronto.
November 6, 2006
On a Wet Day for Hiking
Cali gives her best "PLEASE LET'S GO HIKING NOW" look. It kinda resembles her PLEASE FEED ME or PLEASE THROW THAT STICK FOR ME looks.
Since I haven't had time to write an update post-weekend, here's a link to a few photos instead. I'll get to writing soon enough, really...
October 16, 2006
RARE (silly)
I am an almost unrecognizable dork (see: girl waving arm and falling sideways) in this picture but I love it anyway. From RARE orientation.
October 13, 2006
A Lava Tube! Also, RARE Orientation
This here is the entrance to a lava tube out in the Cascades. These long tubes - caves, essentially - formed as flowing lava cooled on its surface and continued to flow underneath the cooled shell:
Lava usually leaves the point of eruption in channels. These channels tend to stay very hot as their surroundings cool. This means they slowly develop walls around them as the surrounding lava cools and/or as the channel melts its way deeper. These channels can get deep enough to crust over, forming an insulating tube that keeps the lava molten and serves as a conduit for the flowing lava. These types of lava tubes tend to be closer to the lava eruption point. (Wikipedia)
Click on the pic to see my set of photos from the cave, the Cascades, and RARE Orientation.
UPDATE: just added some photo descriptions for those pics. I'd forgotten to do that.
September 19, 2006
Abandoned Buildings
I found a few nice abandoned buildings while I was out biking the other day. This one is my favorite. I was really tempted to climb through the window and check out its insides, but didn't. Click on the pic for more new photos posted to my biking set at Flickr.
September 18, 2006
The Arcadia Culture Club
The founding members of the ACC had a photo shoot yesterday evening. I think this picture says it all. But if you are inclined to see more, click on the pic to see the whole set.
September 17, 2006
Myakka Under Water
Meg and I spent half a day out in Myakka River State Park yesterday. It's high flood season around here, so almost everything is under water out there. As you can see, that didn't stop us!
The picture above is looking down from the canopy walk toward what would ordinarily be the ground but is now a knee-deep reflecting pool.
Lots more pics at Flickr, click on the photo to see the set.
September 2, 2006
Morning Rides
Not a lot to talk about today. I fell asleep in the pool after reading Stalking the Wild Asparagus, which is quite the fantastic set of essays and recipes about wild food. Makes me wish I weren't moving to the desert. The sunburn I got is less fantastic, oh well. Painted some with David, ate some kiwis, sewed a new nightgown, you know, the usual.
Mostly I wanted to note that I'm gonna start posting the best photos from my frequent morning-and-evening bike rides around Arcadia this summer to Flickr. I've only put a few up so far, but you can check them out, if you like, and expect to see tons more soon.
August 31, 2006
Wyoming 2006 Photos
I've uploaded jillions of Wyoming pics to Flickr. Check 'em out by clickin' on the pic above!
August 30, 2006
Poker Night Photos
Poker Night was pretty fantastic last night. We had more people than planned, including Alex, who I hadn't seen since graduation!
I've uploaded a bunch of photos from the night - check 'em out at Flickr by clicking on that there photo below. That's me, attempting to shuffle the cards.
August 1, 2006
Sea Grapes and a Ladybug
Sea Grapes and a Ladybug
Testing out posting photos from Flickr to the blog. Looks like it's all systems go!