Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Three Beautiful Things 08/30/2011: Getting Caught Up, Discovering Vivienne Gucwa, Artifacts of 9/11

1.  Staying with Mom in Kellogg means very little internet access, so, whenever I go home, I get way behind in recording these Three Beautiful Things.  But, I keep mental notes.  My recall is good.  Today I got caught up on recording all the 3BTs that happened while in Kellogg, traveling back to Eugene, and the day after my arrival. 

2.  Through Tumblr, I discover more and more photography blogs and I'm especially drawn to those whose subject is the city of New York.  Today I discovered Vivienne Gucwa. She considers herself a "memory collector and an urban documentarian".  Before finding her blog, I had been thinking how I would like to document the realities of the Silver Valley in the 2010's -- on a regular basis, not just when I visit for a week or so.  If you'd like to see Gucwa's pictures, start here.  Her blog will then link you to a variety of other places to admire her work.  I've never been to NYC.  My experience with NYC has been through watching sports on television, photographs, movies, listening to others talk about NYC, and music.  Gucwa loves NYC.  It's thrilling to experience NYC through her love, to experience how love shapes her imagination and how she sees things.  (Note:  I really should comment on other photographers of NYC I admire in other posts.)

3.  Speaking of New York City, today, while listening to BBC World Service's program(me), "The Strand", I learned about a photography exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in London.  The photographer is Francesc Torres.  The exhibition's title is "Memory Remains".  He spent five weeks photographing Hangar 17 at JFK International Airport where debris and material cleared from the site of the September 11, 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center is stored.   You can see some of the images he captured here.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Three Beautiful Things 08/29/2011: Court Dismissed, Ground Round, Rest

1.  The judge denied the motion for a hearing to vacate the Stalking Protective Order and it still stands. 

2.  After court, I enjoyed a ground round steak and eggs breakfast at Brails.

3.  After court and Brails and after a long Sunday drive, I needed and took an afternoon and evening of rest.

Three Beautiful Things 08/28/2011: Travel Plans, The Radio's On, Petrol Delay

1.  So that I could be in court for an important hearing regarding the vacating of the Protective Stalking Order protecting MB, I left Kellogg a day earlier than planned.  I didn't leave in the cool of the morning, so I left about two in the afternoon so that I would be driving in heat for the first few hours of my drive, but would enjoy the cooler temperatures of the evening as the sun set and darkness fell in the later part of my drive.  My plan worked very well, although I didn't arrive back in Eugene until after midnight.

2.  I listened to a variety of radio documentary programs as well as news reports on a variety of radio channels on XM radio.  I heard a story about the trial of an adult woman who killed her own mother at the age of fourteen, another story about the world garbage problem, and still another about heart disease and diet.  I didn't listen to any music on my long drive, but instead was absorbed by these features and by the news of Hurrican Irene and its aftermath as it pounded New England.

3.  The Dalles.  Safeway gas.  Nine pumps.  One attendant.  Five cars.  One customer had the attendant fill five five-gallon gas cans.  It's against the law to pump one's own gas in Oregon.  Fortunately, I brought a quarter pounder and a large order of fries with me and finished my supper while I waited for the harried kid to pump my gas.

Three Beautiful Things 08/27/2011: Moon Pass, Avery, Hobo Cedar Grove Botanical Area

I'll post photographs of this outing later.

1.  It's been too long since my sisters and I went on a sibling outing, but today we piled into the Vibe and headed east to Wallace and made our way up Placer Creek and to the top of Moon Pass.  Carol narrated historical facts and stories as we passed certain houses and passed the Pulaski trailhead.  We enjoyed the landscape and laughed and laughed at inside jokes and plays on words known only to us.

2.  We wound our way to Avery and enjoyed the historical sites.  We continued to laugh at inside jokes and plays on words known only to us.

3.  After a tour of Calder, a tour of Clarkia, and a stop at the ranger station, we climbed to the Hobo Cedar Grove Botanical Area.  We admired the stately cedars, took pictures, and laughed at inside jokes and plays on words known only to us.

Three Beautiful Things 08/26/2011: Up the River, Yokes Shopping, Dinner


 





1.  I took a drive up the river and came back with some pictures, including this one:





2.  I went to Yokes and bought the groceries I needed to fix dinner tonight, an assignment I was given last week by my sisters and mother.

3.  I fixed boneless pork loins with brown sugar and cinnamon apples and I fried bacon, green beans, sweet onions, corn, and potatoes together as a tasty side dish.  We had cole slaw.  Everyone seemed pretty pleased with dinner.

Three Beautiful Things 08/25/2011: Television News, Rana's Wedding, Pot Roast

1.  I don't have television service in Eugene, so when I go to Mom's, I see the world in a whole new way and today I found myself hooked on the developing story of Hurricane Irene and the ongoing story of the upheaval in Lybia.  Normally I learn about such events by listening to the radio or by reading written accounts and looking at pictures on the World Wide Web.  Television intensifies these events and I sure got drawn into the intensity of it all.

2.  Today I watched Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad's movie, "Rana's Wedding". I'm always looking for movies that show the world through the eyes of everyday Palestinians and this movie was superb.  The movie was shot in East Jerusalem and Ramallah and chronicles the efforts of Rana to find her lover and marry him within a ten hour time frame.  She has to negotiate check points, overcome roadblocks, witness protests and rock throwers, and deal with miles of red tape.  From this story's point of view, living with the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians going on all around her, is absurd for Rana and her lover, and the movie goes well beyond being about her mission to get married and becomes about the world Rana lives in.  I enjoyed the movie's humor, the absurdities of Palestinian life, and the logical and absurd conclusion the movie came to.  Rana is played by the most wonderful Clara Khoury, who also is the central character in "The Syrian Bride".

3.  Mom got out her electric frying pan today and cooked a delicious pot roast.  I took mental notes. 

Three Beautiful Things 08/24/2011: Rural Decline, Winter's Bone, Broken Wheel

1.  I gave Carol a ride up to Wallace and I meandered back through Osburn and on home via the old highway,  thinking how much I'd like to stay in the Silver Valley for a length of time and take pictures as a means of historical preservation -- or as a means of recording images of the ongoing rural decline in Shoshone County -- and beyond -- I would imagine the decline in Shoshone County is happening in similar ways elsewhere.

2.  I decided that this afternoon, I would venture more fully into the dangers, criminal activity, and other dark realities of rural life and watch "Winter's Bone".  It was an unsettling movie, raw in its portrayal of how the codes that criminals in the Ozarks live by result in cruelty, ruthless cruelty -- and how one teenage girl touches something in these people deeper, even more humane, than the code in a way that is grisly, unromantic, and, for me, unimaginably grotesque.  It's a superbly made movie, a well-told story.  It touched deep fears in me.

3.  I think the last time I went to the Broken Wheel was on December 1, 1973 when Dad and I went out to dinner for cocktails, steaks, and stingers. Then Dad and I returned home to watch an epic UCLA vs Maryland basketball game, won by UCLA 65-64, their 77th win in their 88 game win streak.  I remember that evening as the perfect trifecta:  great time with Dad, great dinner and drinks, great basketball game.  Well, late this afternoon Mom and I had dinner at the Broken Wheel and I ate my first ever (to my knowledge) porterhouse steak and it was very good.  Mom enjoyed her jumbo prawns.  We didn't drink stingers and we didn't have an epic basketball game to come home to, but we had a good meal out on the town.

Three Beautiful Things 08/23/2011: Road Trip, Amanda, Salmon Dinner

1.  Jake swung by and we headed off to Murray and then over Thompson Pass to Thompson Falls, on down to Paradise and Quinn's Resort and back to Kellogg.  We had stops planned at St. Regis and possibly elsewhere, but I'd told Mom I'd be home by five for dinner, so we didn't stop as many places on our trip as we thought we might. 

2.  We had a beer at the Bedroom Mine Bar and then headed down the street to the Spragpole Bar for the best hamburger I've eaten since the last time I went to the Spragpole (with Jake).  Amanda, the bartender, made our lunch even more enjoyable.  She was a friendly, smart, frank, and attentive server -- and a great conversationalist.  If we hadn't had places to go, I think we would have been happy to wile the afternoon away drinking beers and shooting the breeze with Amanda.

3.  Rosie had brought by some chunks of salmon for Mom and that's what Mom fixed us for dinner.  It made for a very good dinner.

Three Beautiful Things 08/22/2011: Jimmy's Down the Street, Camera Corral, Family Pictures

1.  I jumped in the Honda this morning and drove to Cd'A to see if the Camera Corral had the camera equipment I needed and that Best Buy didn't have.  Before venturing into the heart of East Sherman, however, I stopped for breakfast at Jimmy's Down the Street.  It was bustling with customers and I seized the opportunity to snap some pictures from the hip.  My favorites were of my friendly and hard-working server, Babette.  I enjoyed her service and her personality a lot:



2.  It was completely worth the added trip to drive back to Cd'A this morning and go to the Camera Corral.  They had the products I was looking for.  The atmosphere of the store was calm and professional.  To make sure the shutter cable worked, I brought my camera into the store and tested it.  It worked.  I left the store beaming.

3.  Taking pictures of Carol and Paul's family was really fun.  Sure, we have a lot of pictures with eyes closed, attention distracted, a familly member playing with her hair -- we all expected that.  But, we got some good pictures out of it, too.  Here's one I like:


Three Beautiful Things 08/21/2011: Best Buy Failure, BBQ Steak, Happy Racoon

1.  Tomorrow I'm going to try my luck at taking family portraits.  Silver Valley Girl has asked me to take pictures of her family.  I need a tripod.  I also need a shutter release cord.  Today Mom and I went to Coeur d' Alene so she could redeem a coupon at J. C. Penney and so I could by the photograph supplies I needed.  I struck out.  The kid at Best Buy told me that a shutter release cord is a "pretty specialized product" and that he could order me one, but that they don't carry them in the store.  I decided that was it.  I decided not to try any other big box stores and that I'd return to Cd'A on Monday and see if the Camera Corral has what I need.  Mom hit a coupon home run.

2.   Mom fired up the bbq and we had an excellent steak dinner. 

3.  After dinner, I took some pictures in Mom's front and back yards.  She likes figures of animals in her yard, epitomized by this happy fella:




Three Beautiful Things 08/20/2011: Stories, Mullan Friends, Mike's Thriving

1.  As we sat around having a few beers, played ladder ball, ate a great salmon and flank steak dinner, a bunch of us laughed and laughed and found out about things our friends had done when young that were astonishing.  I think all of us left this barbecue with a sense of gratitude that none of the guys who did these wild things were killed.  I left the barbecue realizing, again, how tame I was as a young guy, how crazy I never was and how I haven't changed much.  I've never been drawn to doing crazy stuff.

2.  It was great to see Kirk again.  It had been about four years. He and Jake are master storytellers.  I loved hearing the stories I'd never heard before and all the ones I've heard repeatedly over the years.  Kirk's wife, Janice, was also at the barbecue and I don't remember having met her before and we had a could talk about people from Mullan she graduated with in '72 and who were friends of mine either at NIC or from playing ball.  I enjoyed getting to know Janice.

3.  I hadn't seen Mike since Ed, Scott, Jim, and I visited him last September after his cancer surgery.  He's recovering beautifully.  He looks great.  He told us how he's taking great care of himself.  It makes me very happy to see him doing so well. 

Three Beautiful Things 08/19/2011: My Visit Ends, West Kettle Falls Railroad Bridge, Snoose Run

1.  I enjoyed my stay with IEG and JEJ so much that it was difficult to leave.  We relaxed, enjoyed the beauty of our surroundings, enjoyed telling stories and talking about all kinds of things, ate good food, and relished the joy and pleasure of family life.  Once again, here is a picture of the guest house where I stayed.  The generous vegetation surrounding it, its simplicity in design, and the comfort it gave me at night are all emblematic of what makes visiting my sister and her husband, dogs, cats, and home such a pleasure.



2.  Someday, preferably in October, when the light is golden, I would love to spend a week or two in northeastern Washington taking photographs, especially of structures that point to a robust past, but speak to a declining present.  For example, before arriving from the west to Kettle Falls, two bridges cross Lake Roosevelt, parallel to each other.  A fair amount of traffic crosses the highway bridge, but the train bridge is not very busy at all.  It, like so many similar bridges in the Inland Empire, is a structure I love, more solid than the economy it was built and support and dignified, staid.
3.  Ed will be working for a couple of months, starting next week, on a job in Orofino.  This evening, he needed to drive down to the Fighting Creek Smoke Shop to purchase a couple rolls of snoose.  So, we drove down, with a stop at Jack in the Box for some supper -- and, as long as we were in the neighborhood, we went down to the Coeur d'Alene Casino.  My luck was miserable, but the trip was fun, especially jawing with Ed about life and its many challenges. 

Friday, August 19, 2011

Three Beautiful Things 08/18/2011: Guest House, Annie, BBQ Dinner

1. It's been very relaxing here at Martin Creek, enjoying the vistas and the beauty of my sister's property, admiring all the work she and Everett have done.  One of their projects was to turn a shed into a guest house and I've been staying in it this week:

2.  I got to know Annie a little better this afternoon, and took a whole bunch of pictures of her while we had some quality time together:


3.  We had a great dinner out in the bbq area in the front of the house:  shrimp, corn on the cob, fresh green beans with bacon, bread sticks, cucumbers, and tomatoes.  IEG took this picture of dinner:


Thursday, August 18, 2011

Sibling Assignment #150: Morning Has Broken


To commemorate our 150th sibling assignment, IEG gave this assignment:  "Pick three favorite images you have posted, link them in some way, and write about them."

She posted images of gathering, of gathering around tables, here, and reflected upon the way her sibling assignment pieces correlated with the emphasis of her blog.

Well, I tried going back to sibling assignments and looking for images I had posted and I failed.

I still want to do this assignment, so


I got to thinking about the sibling assignments I've written and about my blog and about posting on Facebook and how they all kind of blend together in my mind.  Two images come to mind when I think about starting my blog and about writing sibling assignments.  The first image relates to the way I had been fighting some serious problems with mental illness, with depression when I started writing this blog and when I started writing sibling assignments.  My mind was not clear.  It was, well, like this:

And for a few years, starting in 2006, I often wrote about my struggles with depression.  In part, I think I was trying to help my sisters understand my experience, and, definitely, I was trying to come to a better understanding of its persistence and malignancy myself.

Not only that, but I was having some physical illness problems, too.  These problems interfered with my blog writing and interfered with my work on sibling assignments.  I've written quite a bit about these problems and tried to come to grips with how I was beginning to feel dilapidated.


The sibling assignments have been restorative.  In them, my sisters have asked me to think about ideas, remember events from our family's past, tell stories, take pictures and post them, write about music and movies, feel more deeply, learn more about my sisters, and tell them more about myself.  

I feel better in August 2011 than I did when we started out sibling assignments, and, better than when I started writing this blog. 

I don't know know why I feel better.  I like to believe, however, that it has a lot to do with sharing feelings, ideas, memories, pictures I've taken, and stories with my sisters.

I like to believe that this project has been a way that, for me, morning has broken:



Three Beautiful Things 08/17/2011: Catching Up, Camera Confusion, Silver Peak Fire

1.  After not being online for about four days, I logged on and got caught up posting 3BTs and posted some photo albums. 

2.  IEG and Silver Valley Girls took the dogs for a swim and while they were gone I tried to get my little pile of a life here in Martin Creek organized.  My Canon S95 was missing.  I stayed calm.  I didn't tear up the guest cabin where I'm sleeping at night.  I didn't start bawling.  I stayed calm.  IEG arrived home and I pushed down all the panic coursing through my veins and greeted her at the door, "Do you happen to have my camera?"  "OMG!  Yes!  I do.  I wondered why the settings on my camera were different.  It's because it's your camera!"  The entire house sighed in relief.  This is the one small, nearly insignificant drawback of brother and sister having the same camera! 

3.  Our friends on Facebook posted pictures and comments to help those of us not in Kellogg find out what was happening with the Silver Peak fire that broke out on the hill above Silver and 2nd Street and started to shoot up the hill and move south.  By the time we went to bed, the reports had quieted down and this led me to believe that the fire had been nearly contained.  We'll see if that's the case in the morning.  Btw, I talked to Mom at about 9 p.m. and it was good to hear that it was neither very smoky nor smelly down on Sunnyside -- which led me to believe that the fire wasn't raging.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Morning Breaking in Kellogg






Three Beautiful Things 08/16/2011: Short Excursion, Whitebird Saloon, China Bend Winery

1.  Mom, IEG, Silver Valley Girl, Ev, and I loaded ourselves into two cars and drove up the west side of Roosevelt Lake to Northport, WA and came back on the east side of the lake.  Gorgeous water, mountains, weather:  a very relaxing outing.

2.  In Northport, we stopped at the Whitebird Saloon and Eatery for burgers, fish and chips, French dip, breaded oysters, and fish and chips.  I'm not sure what the others ate.  I enjoyed a couple of glasses of Okanogan Ale, a Scotch Ale brewed at Northern Ale in Kettle Falls.  I really enjoyed the service (as well as the food and beer).  Here's our server.  I can't remember her name.  Mom thinks it might have started with an 'R'.











3.  After the Whitebird, we visited the China Bend Winery.   The winery sits near the water at the bottom of a rather long driveway, nestled among the pine trees.  The grounds are gorgeous and the wines were good.  I didn't taste any wine I enjoy more than the red wines of Oregon, but it was fun to give the reds at China Bend a try.  My picture taking at China Bend was a bit uneven, but here a few that worked all right.






Three Beautiful Things 08/15/2011: Breakfast Nook, Trent Avenue, Legion of Mary and Martin Fierro


1.  I looked forward to driving today from Kellogg to Kettle Falls, in part, because it meant breakfast in Coeur d'Alene at the Breakfast Nook.  I enjoyed my generous plate of corned beef hash, fresh homemade hash browns, eggs, and coffee.  I also enjoyed trying to be covert in taking pictures of the employees at work and of customers at the counter and in other parts of the cafe.  Here are a few of my favorites: 








2.  I also enjoyed coming into Spokane on Trent Avenue off of Argonne Rd.  I popped into a post office right off of Trent and across the street from the Post Office was an aging building:




3.  In 1974, guitarist Jerry Garcia and keyboardist Merle Saunders formed the band, Legion of Mary featuring John Kahn on bass, Paul Humphrey (and later Ronnie Tutt) on drums, and, my favorite, Martin Fierro on saxaphone.  As I left Spokane, I decided to follow up on having listened to Zero (Fierro was in this band) by listening to my two cd set of Legion of Mary, live.  The thirteen minute version of Mystery Train put me on Cloud 9.  I'm glad I could drive while on Cloud 9

Three Beautiful Things 08/14/2011: Sound of Music, Doris Gets Out, Simple Dinner

1.  Mom and I travelled to Coeur d' Alene and enjoyed a splendid performance of "The Sound of Music" by the Coeur d'Alene Summer Theater.

2.  It was heartening to see Doris Kerns able to come see the show.  She's still healing up after breaking her hip a few weeks ago. 


3.   Mom and I arrived back in Kellogg and enjoyed some salmon patties, salad, and sweet, juicy watermelon for dinner.

Three Beautiful Things 08/13/11: Travel, Hip Shots, Worley

1.  I had a good and comfortable drive to Kellogg, with lots of rests, plenty of water, and the entertainment of XM satellite radio music, the third round of the PGA Championship (on XM radio), and David Gilmour (solo) and Pink Floyd (the Wish You Were Here album).

2.  I kept shooting from the hip at rest stops and at Burger King.  Here are examples:


3.  Ed surprised me.  While I was driving home to Kellogg, Ed called me with the idea that we go to the C'dA Casino in Worley around seven o'clock or so.  I thought that sounded great and we drove down, solved the world's problems on the way down, played for a while, and gloated on the way back home about how much better the world was after we solved all of its problems. 

Three Beautiful Things 08/12/2011: Snug: A Good Boy, Mowing, Double D at Billy Mac's

1.  Great day for Snug!  He was a good dog at the groomer and Charlene looks forward to having him come back; not only that, Snug was a good boy at the vet and got a clean bill of health, all of which made Dr. Jones and me very happy. 

2.  In service to my conscience, knowing I will be leaving town for a couple of weeks tomorrow, I mowed the lawns.  It was a relief.  A moral relief.

3.  We just didn't feel like fixing any dinner so the Deke and I had dinner at Billy Mac's.  It was fun to see how the joint operates on a day of the week other than Thursday.  While my fish and chips were really good, the highlight of my dinner was the Hop Valley Double D Blonde Ale, a beer I found crisp, light, and refreshing.  It was just what I hoped it would be when I ordered it.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Three Beautiful Things 08/11/2011: Hip Shots, Not from the Hip, PF


1.  In basketball it would be called a "no look" pass.  When taking pictures, it's called "shooting from the hip".  I went downtown for some spicy pork noodles at Noodle Bowl, and experimented, shooting from the hip, while I strolled around town.  In this one, I was actually sitting not far from the woman whose picture I took, my camera at about waist level.  I liked this one because of the woman and I was happy the man taking pictures also made it in the shot.


2.  As I walk around Eugene with my camera around my neck (not shooting from the hip), every once in a while someone will ask me to take his picture (so far it's only been men who have asked).  This man asked me today, on the south side of the Kiva, the side facing 11th.  I was happy to comply.  I took the picture in color and made a black and white version when I returned home:




3.  It's been a long time since I've seen PF and I ran into him at Albertson's and enjoyed him telling me that he was in San Francisco over the weekend and enjoyed the Phillies and the Giants' games.  I had known Mark Watson took the train down for games, but didn't know PF was with him.  (I think their wives went, too.)

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Three Beautiful Things 08/10/2011: Water Tap Stupidity, Dreamy, Hawaiian Chopped Steak Plate

1.  I thought our outdoor water faucet by the driveway wasn't working and I called the plumber.  The plumber wasn't available until later afternoon.  Good thing.  The Deke came home from an errand, took one look at the tap, flipped a lever, and that's all that needed to happen.  How embarrassed was I?  There aren't words.  I worked out my embarrassment by giving the yards a good watering.

2.  Russell and I strolled 13th Avenue and walked around the west side of campus a bit on our photo walk.  Neither one of us felt very inspired, and, yet, once I looked at the pictures I took, I liked quite a few of them.  Here's a holding hands picture that I find kind of dreamy with the dusky light and shadows and framing trees:



3.  Russell and I ate dinner at Hawaiian Time on West 11th and I tried a plate called Hawaiian chopped steak.  Marinated beef bits were stir fired with an assortment of fresh vegetables over sticky rice with another clump of sticky rice on the side and a serving of macaroni salad.  I loved this meal. 



Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Sibling Assignment #149: St. Mary's Cross

This assignment came from InlandEmpireGirl:  "Create a collection...choose something that is easily accessible: soup bowls,cell phones, sofas, chairs, vases...whatever. Create a series of photographs on the collection all photographed the same way. Put them into a collage or a frame together. Write about the experience."

I've done a variation on this assignment.  I have taken a bunch of pictures of the same object, the cross(es) above the 13th Avenue entrance to St. Mary's Episcopal Church.  I've taken them at different times of the year, different times of day, and with different cameras and lenses.  My only observation is the same one I make all the time:  light changes how anything looks.  I hope you can see that these crosses never look exactly the same because the light is never exactly the same. 




Click on the collage to enlarge it.

Sibling Assignment #148: Longing

InlandEmpireGirl gave us siblings this photograph project to work on:

Pick a theme like simplicity, serernity, happiness, or another theme word. Go for a walk and only take pictures that fit into your theme. Create a set of ten photographs and write about the theme. 

You can find a series of captivating photos from IEG's gardening life, illustrating the theme of "surprise", here

This is one of those posts that I can imagine only making sense to me.  I'll post it and if you read it and it doesn't make sense, it's because it's a very private post, reflecting, and not detailing, very private feelings.

When InlandEmpireGirl posted this assignment, I immediately thought of the line from Fadwa Tuquan's poem, "A Life".  Fadwa Tuquan is a Palestinian.  Her experience and mine have, on the surface, next to noting in common.  I've not known anything like the loss she has experienced.  Nonetheless, this one line of hers is always with me:

My life is tears
and a fond heart,
longing.

I long all the time, especially in my times of solitude.  My longings are too private for me to detail.  I'll only say that the sources of my longing are a mixture of the physical, spiritual, wistful, regretful, embittered, hopeful, faithful, and unfulfilled aspects of my person.


These images are insufficient expressions of my longing, but in them you'll find the grandeur of St. Johns Bridge, the promise of the Christian cross, the beauty of a curve in the road, the illumination of the sun shining through trees, the image if infinity found in the image of railroad tracks, and the hope and strength of flowing water.