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Photo Friday: 2024 Favorites

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This is a photo post of a few of my favorites from among the many photos I shared in 2024. If you're a regular reader you've seen them before, but I hope you can enjoy them anyway. Methow Sunset. Wintrop, Washington The Women's Market, Arusha, Tanzania South Serengeti, Tanzania Tarangire National Park, Tanzania South Serengeti, Tanzania Crested Cranes, Ngorogoro Caldera, Tanzania Mt. Meru, Tanzania Distant lightning storm, Mt. Kenya. Flamingos, Amboseli National Park, Kenya Zambezi River sunset Utah sunrise. Little Wild Horse Canyon Grand Gulch, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah West Coast Trail, Vancouver Island Coastal sunrise After the rain. Mt. Rainier, Goat Rocks Wilderness, WA The author, Goat Rocks Wilderness, WA Timberline Trail, Mt. Hood, Oregon Marl Lake, Alberta, Canada Canoes on Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, Canada The Ten Peaks, Banff National Park Zigadenus Lake, Banff National Park Skoki Lodge, Banff National Park Winter is Coming! Banff National Park R...

Year in Review: Reading, Writing, and Travel

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Happy New Year! This is my 2024 review of the year's activities, or maybe some of them. Reading I didn't hit my 100-book target for the year--at least, not without including the many old friends I re-read for the umpteenth time, taking comfort in their familiarity like some people take comfort in re-runs of Friends or pots of mac and cheese. Without those, I come in at about 88 books. But--I shall finally jump in and do the "My Year In Books" that Jemima Pett has been doing for several years (see her this year's post here ). The idea is simple: Just fill in the blanks with titles of books I read. This is not meant to be any kind of value judgement on the books; I have included links to reviews where possible (and am shocked at how many I failed to review). So far, I would describe this year as being: Devil's Food Iā€™m tipping that the next big thing in Reality TV shows will be: Time and Tide I could have cried when: West With the Night I would love to have ...

Flashback Flash Fiction:

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Originally written in 2016, this bit of flash fiction was inspired by a mailbox I saw on a rural road with a winged pig mounted on top. Flying Pig Farm   ā€œI donā€™t think weā€™ll ever save enough.ā€ Evelyn didnā€™t say it to be discouraging. It was a simple statement of fact. That made it worse.   ā€œWeā€™ll find a way.ā€ Barryā€™s sigh belied his words.   ā€œI do hope so,ā€ Evelyn said with a glance around their cramped apartment. Soot from the trains and factories marked everything, and the street outside was noisy and crowded. ā€œBut pigs will fly before we save enough money for even a little farm.ā€   Barry grinned. ā€œWhen I prove you wrong, Iā€™ll name our place Flying Pig Farm.ā€ They laughed, and sighed, and Barry took his lunch and went to work.   Barry and Evelyn Thomas were small-town people, but hard times had forced them into the city. After a month or more of doing odd jobs, Barry had landed a place at a factory, and had confidence th...

Photo Friday: Climbing out of a hole in the ground

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I'm ending the year with the final photo post from the Grand Canyon--which was also my last trip of the year (aside from that insane drive to CA and back to check out the house my daughter is buying!). Part 1 here . Part 2 here . We quit last week in the middle of Day 4 of the backpack trip, as we lounged for several hours in the shade at Deer Creek. I'm picking up the story at the point late in the afternoon when we ambled up the creek to the last point with water and ate a very early dinner. Looking up at the canyon walls through the last big trees we'll see, and worrying a little about those clouds. We headed up the trail--and I do mean up--about 3:45, figuring just over 2 hours should be enough for the 2-mile, 1400' climb. The trail was worse than I remembered from my 2021 visit. Looking back at the green strip of Deer Creek. Alex is a tiny figure among the rocks. There was a particularly nasty section of rock slide I swear wasn't there before (though I also can...