Took the Iron Gate trail but varied my approach by going the reverse direction up the Devil’s Backside. Discharged the bear spray I got in Montana in 2018 to make sure it still worked because you’re supposed to swap those… Read More ›
Memoir
Severe weather
It was a good week. At the top of the list, my dad’s heart surgery was a success. He has AFib, an irregular heart pattern that can lead to bad things. The surgeons did an ablation to create tiny scars… Read More ›
Cleaning the scissor traps
Re: trapping the moles, I was going to have to let go of that. Turns out I wasn’t the best trapper. I knew from the start that would be dumb (like trying to fight the moss in the PNW), but… Read More ›
Firsts and lasts
Charlotte, about to start her last year of high school, says she’s starting to have her last firsts: last first day of school. Or this could be her “first last” too, school-wise. Last homecoming dance. “First last” and “last first”… Read More ›
The dark part of the park
From the recent rains the leaves looked glossy in the forest, the spiky sala and leaning ferns, and it was easy to imagine all the plant life felt happy. And how these species of flora weren’t much different than what… Read More ›
Little Fury Things
At the right angle with the morning sun coming through the Tiffany lampshade looked furry due to a thin layer of animal hair attached to the glass by grease or film. You could say the same for most appliances in… Read More ›
Ancient flags and dragons
8/9/25 The sound of the owl in the middle of the night is a distant probe, a pulse. In the east on the bottom of the horizon there are two new stars, maybe a planet. The sun rises closer to… Read More ›
The dark magic of the garage
The garage was fucked. The garage, that dumping ground for all our excess, for all we could not process or endure. The garage was the physical manifestation of our gluttony and waste. The garage was bombastic in scale: a proud… Read More ›
Seven weeks left
The fact they released a 4-LP set of Nick Drake’s first album Five Leaves Left didn’t make it any easier; I was rushing fall. It’s a deeply unpopular thing to do in the Pacific Northwest, to summon autumn before summer’s… Read More ›
A new position
Today I’ll say goodbye to the agency I’ve been working with the past five years. Next week I start a new gig with a different company, one that’s woman-owned called Lions & Tigers. All C-level people are women and their… Read More ›
Bill Pearse 