We are all birds with unbroken wings, wishing we could fly.

– R.J. Hendrickson

Let us forget, with generosity, those who cannot love us.

– Pablo Neruda

Time to break my silence.

Truth be told, the last two months have been very difficult for me on a personal level and I thought it best to keep quiet about It All for a while.

Digital composite

Do you know that there’s a halfway world between each ending and each new beginning? It’s called the hurting time, Jean Perdu. It’s a bog; it’s where your dreams and worries and forgotten plans gather.

– Samy, in The Little Paris Bookshop, by Nina George

Thinking of those affected by today’s crash near Olympia.

Foreboding sky.

I was on a sightseeing boat from Martinique to Saint Lucia. We drove straight into that storm ahead. It was the most audaciously violent ride I’ve had in any vehicle at any time in my life. Grateful for the fellow passenger who was willing to share her Dramamine. (I don’t normally need it but I did that day.)

Last fall, I took a trip to St. Lucia (island nation in the Caribbean). During my week there, I took a day trip to Martinique (next island to north, an overseas part of France) and was rewarded with this beauty. And then punished with a boat ride that puts all the turbulence I’ve encountered on every plane ride in my lifetime put together to shame.

Digging back through the archives a bit more. Found this from our first visit to tulip country 12 years ago. On that day, we didn’t exactly get the sun we were hoping for. I shot this by leaning back in the car seat and focusing on the raindrops on our sunroof.

The view from our window today …

Hamburg chose to give me a Seattle-style sendoff on my last full day of work there this summer. Here’s the view across the Elbe to the industrial area on the south side of the river.

Look for the helpers. You’ll always find people who are helping.

– Fred Rogers, on what to do when scary things are on the news.

I absolutely love the typography on this sign. So classic!

After driving for an hour on lonely snowy roads, I found this desert oasis, but it was closed.

Lots of fog around home early this morning. Had to get out and enjoy it, of course! 🙂

I met this woman on the streets of Quito this morning. She was selling handmade scarves. I didn’t notice her little assistant sticking his hand out from under a scarf until I was back editing the photo this evening!

No visit to Rio is complete without a visit to the iconic statue; wouldn’t you agree?

This was the view from my room the first two nights in Rio. Also my first (public) experiment with infrared photography.

Today and tonight I’m in another hotel on Copacabana beach and then on to other locations in Brazil for a few days.

Had the pleasure of being out and about on this fall morning when it was nice and sunny and the fog was just burning off. Can’t complain about this view just outside of Kingston.

Fog often appears in the early morning hours at Deception Pass in western Washington State. I awoke early one morning to work with the fog and spent two wonderful hours with the fog. As the fog began to roll out, I captured this image of the west slope of Pass Island. The apparent calm in this image disguises the very turbulent waters of Deception Pass below.

A creative use of a bicycle: advertising the pharmacy next door.

On a cold and calm winter morning recently, you could see the sailboats in the marina, but not the opposing shore.

An early fall snowstorm greets us as we pull into the Kingston ferry terminal.

The Salt Lake Temple as seen through the reflecting pool at night.

Hey, when somebody not only encourages you to be awesome, but tells you how to do it, go … be awesome!

A very clean bike rests against a not-so-clean wall.

I think I might like this even better than Monday’s version. This is the Bremerton ferry passing West Seattle. Love the cloud rays coming through!

Who says Seattle can’t give you a dramatic cloudscape? Spotted on the morning commute a few weeks ago …

Probably the end of this series from Highway 66 … Just love big contrasty clouds. They’re so hard to find in my part of the country!

A curious girl reaches out to one of the wild burros that roam the streets in the preserved historic village of Oatman, Arizona.

What happens when it takes too long to fix that car …

Opened in 1902; still open today.

An abandoned (I think!) trailer advertises the way to the Hackberry General Store, just ahead.

Yes, these signs are still out there.

I drove a long stretch of Arizona’s Historic Route 66 today.

How ironic that “Fishing Bridge” is closed to fishing …

Shooting locally here for a bit …

My dog (Siku, a standard poodle) waits patiently for me to come out and start a game of fetch.

From a weekend visit to Cannon Beach early this summer.

Went for a walk at sunset and there was a woman playing fetch with her dog. She was kind enough to throw a few balls right where I wanted him to run and he was obviously happy to go chase them.

Revisiting an old photo here with a new B&W treatment.

(You’ll probably see a lot of that from me in the near future.)