I have never bothered to record my memories of that day until today. Time has worn the memories smooth like river pebbles. They no longer cohere. I should have written this down, then.

aug

The Bull of the Woods

2021-08-31

The Bull Complex fire is burning through the route of one of our favorite backpacking trips

Closeup of part of a car’s control panel, the engine temperate gauge is the only notable item, it is almost exactly halfway between Cold and Hot

24mpg

2021-08-15

The cars get bigger and fancier and faster and safer but they stay exactly the same

Composite photo resembling an old-fashioned double exposure, of a road sign reading “PAVEMENT ENDS” superimposed over a gravel road leading into light woods

Farm roads♥

2021-08-06

I grew up on a gravel road, and that’s still my favorite kind of road, and my favorite kind of landscape

jul

Steep mountain landscape in brilliant sunshine with three kids in backpacks. Two of the kids are using their fingers to force the third’s mouth into a smile shape. About a mile distant are three hanging valleys leading to a lightly glaciated row of peaks; a waterfall drains the topmost glaciers into an ice-covered lake in the lowest valley

Backpacking with kids 🏕

2021-07-18

I have many regrets but one of my biggest is that we didn’t start backpacking with our kids sooner

jun

Landscape view westward on the north bank of the Columbia River at sunset. The 205 bridge is on the horizon. On the shore to the right a woman looks out onto the water, where a few hundred feet distant a group of people are swimming

Heat Dome

2021-06-28

No one asked but here’s my system for keeping a house cool in hot weather with minimal A/C

A baby in footie jams seated on the floor paging through an illustrated bicycle repair manual

My 10th Stravaversary

2021-06-08

I’ve logged 50,000+ miles over the last decade on Strava

apr

Low perspective shot of seafoam on a beach

My inner voice

2021-04-10

Thinking about thinking

mar

Closeup of headphones and a clean pair of Vans

WFH Focus Hacks

2021-03-29

Tricking my brain into thinking it’s at WORK

feb

Last Date At the Dairy

2021-02-28

I allowed myself one last pity ride through Alpenrose after hearing the news. I regret every race I declined here. I regret that the only...

A crisp, snowy field, empty of people. Our floofy dog Kuma sits patiently in the near foreground.

This snowpocalypse had more -pocalypse than usual

2021-02-17

We are on day six of snow, ice, and slush. Power was out for 48hrs in our neighborhood.

Landscape, hilltop, a small stand of trees in a cemetery. The Tualatin Valley and Chehalem Hills visible on the far horizon. Sky is cloudy but not rainy

The highest point(s) in Portland

2021-02-07

Council Crest is widely reputed to be the highest point in Portland. It isn’t. Today I rode to the places that are higher.

Willamette river looking north from the Sellwood Bridge, early summer morning

Weather from the west brings the ocean

2021-02-02

The wind here arrives inconsistently but behaves predictably.

jan

View across Swan Island toward downtown Portland

2020 never happened

2021-01-30

It’s not so much that I keep forgetting oh it’s 2021 now, isn’t it, as that I’m not entirely sure 2020 happened at all.