Three Beautiful Things 08/08/08: Prize Dog, Prized Photo, Breaded Fish

1. Snug's groomer praised Snug for being a very good dog, even when she took grass seeds out of his paws. I am very proud of Snug for behaving so well with his wonderful and lovely groomer. I'll post a picture or two tomorrow.

2. Over at Photo Hunt, tnchick highlights one photograph from the previous week and urges Photo Hunt participants to go see it. She chose my "cloud" picture, here, as the feature photo of the week. I'm honored!

3. I went to the seafood buffet at Three Rivers Casino this evening and as I ate breaded shrimp, razor clams, and scallops with red sauce, I had the delicious feeling of being back at the Friday fish feed at the Sunshine Inn in Kellogg in my youth.

Photo Hunt: Dark

Thursday morning, hiking in the dark shadows of the forest, this treed flip flop arrested my attention:


For other dark photos, go here.

Three Beautiful Things 08/02/08: Free Meal, Tennessee Chick, Affection

1. I had a free steak and eggs and hash browns and sourdough toast at the Trio Restaurant at the Three Rivers Casino and it had been ages since I'd had steak and eggs and I loved it.

2. I enjoyed very much hearing from tnchick, the woman who runs Photo Hunt(er). I was especially gratified that she enjoyed my take on the prompt "Clouds".

3. I had one of those moments I love with the Deke. A joke passed between us. We extended left hands, shook; I said, "You're a good kid, Deke" and she said, "So are you."

Photo Hunt: Clouds

I almost never drink alcohol anymore.

Booze clouds my vision.

And my judgment



For other photos featuring clouds, go here.

Three Beautiful Things 07/26/08: Mutual Admiration, Back in the Groove, The Deke

1. I'm happy and proud to say that JBelle over at Notes from the 'Kan EWA praised my blog and its authenticity. JBelle's blog is fascinating: she writes everything from family stories, chronicles of her world travels, stories about her chows, recipes, comments on food and restaurants to comments on Gonzaga basketball, road trips in North Idaho, meditations on her gardens and gardening, and reflections on her devotion to Roman Catholicism. By keeping a blog, JBelle wants her children to have a lasting record of what's on her mind and in her heart whether she's laboring through another tax season or bicycling in Vietnam. I hope those of you who read my blog will go over and read hers, too. She's a terrific writer, full of intelligence, passion, and acute observations. She's a wonderful photographer, too.

2. It's been months since I contributed to Sunday Scribblings and Photo Hunt and I enjoyed getting back into that groove again and am going to try to get back to my weekly submissions.

3. The Deke will be teaching at Fox Hollow Elementary as a full time teacher. I've probably mentioned this before. It's a great accomplishment and today the Deke talked with me for a while about how that fact is just beginning to soak in and I think she is feeling proud of herself. She's stoked. She's eager for the school year to begin and meet the challenge of instructing children in math and science while speaking French to them. It's fun for me to see evidence of her different strategies starting to emerge as I see decks of playing cards and workbooks and other things around that she is going to play with with her students to help them learn.

Photo Hunt: Hanging

I snapped this photograph at Sweet Creek. It's part of the Siuslaw drainage in the Coast Range of Oregon, about twenty miles southeast of Florence.

For other photographs of hanging, go here.

Photo Hunt: Wooden

Today Snug and I went for a hike in the Oregon Coast Range at Sweet Creek. We were grateful for the Forest Service having built these wooden structures to help us walk near this stunning waterway.




Here are a couple of pictures of the Sweet Creek area.



For more wooden pictures, go here.

If you'd like to see more of the photos I took today, go here.

Photo Hunt: Free

I complain inwardly in January about how short the days are.

But, when I drive down I-5 on my way to work at Lane Community College, here's my view from inside my car as the sun rises.

It's perfectly free.


See other free photos here.

Photo Hunt: Narrow

Here is a narrow, focused look at the absurdity of my workplace. This is a college vending machine with the college's motto on the right side, and the change slot at and under the word "Through".

The machine is also out of order.

See other narrow photos here.

Photo Hunt: Important/Old Fashioned

Mom tells me I did this every morning. Something out on E. Portland Street in Kellogg was really important. It's an old-fashioned picture, too. Remember when a photo of a little boy's behind was innocent?

By the way, I stopped doing this over fifty-two years ago.

For other important photos, go here. For other old-fashioned pictures go here.

Photo Hunt: Small

Small price to pay.

For other small photos, go here.

Three Beautiful Things: 10/05/07: Handout Snafu, Third Person, Curvy

1. I thought I'd passed out a handout to my Friday morning WR 121 class on Wednesday. I didn't. We needed it. I needed a flash drive to download it from my laptop. Bill had one. I had to go to the main office to print the file and Xerox it. This ate up class time. The students waited patiently. They thanked me. How perfectly gracious of them. I am loving this class of students more each day.

2. In WR 121, after the class saw that their first essay is asking them to work with loss or survival or reconciliation in some deeply personal ways, my student Bill made a profound recommendation: might some students prefer to write about these things in the third person. I nearly fell on my knees in gratitude for his most sensitive and insightful idea.

3. I posted my Photo Hunt offering this week on the topic "Curvy". Almost right away I began to receive comments of appreciation for the photograph. These comments have been most gratifying.

Photo Hunt: Curvy

A curvy lonely leaf, the last on this branch.





For more curvy pictures, click here:

Photo Hunter: Dirty

This week's Photo Hunter theme is dirty. It made me think of a snowstorm in Eugene, Oregon in January and this snowman, which is not dirty, and the quick thaw that soiled the snow, which is.



Go here to find links to other dirty pictures.