It all started with so much promise. I had the summer off with no work and nothing but time. I found myself back on Mount Rainier for the first time since I’d slipped and almost fallen on that second summit… Read More ›
pacific northwest
Summerland (3)
Roughly 10,000 people attempt a summit of Mount Rainier each year and about half succeed. I had it in my head I would summit no matter what. I didn’t know anything about climbing but took the challenge as one to… Read More ›
Summerland (2)
Now more than half of my word-a-day calendar pages were gone as July ran out and the days got squeezed down. The word I picked for the season was Summerland, named after a trail on Mt. Rainier, one of Washington’s… Read More ›
Summerland
The summer collapsed in on itself and the calendar squares lost their edges. Off work for three weeks, July lapsed into a blob of vagueness. I recommitted to my health, to feeling young and strong. I returned to the mountains,… Read More ›
Opening track
So much drama in these clouds it could be late summer, pre-autumn. All the limbs waving and the windmill going, the swoosh of the leaves. I am out with the headphones on a walk and the Moody Blues again, a… Read More ›
Last number for the season
Dozing on the sofa on a Saturday with just the sound of clocks and some far-off engine. Days of Future Passed by the Moody Blues and all this rumination on time. The record is draped in the 60s and feels… Read More ›
Sunday morning on Capitol Hill
When I came to Seattle in my 20s it felt like anything was possible. We drove from Philadelphia with all our possessions, my girlfriend and our books, jade plants, my two cats Pokey and Sherman. Passing through the last leg… Read More ›
Primitive painters
There are parts of the chicken that don’t look like they should be eaten but dad does anyway, hunched over the table and working it with his hands and lips. Because he’s missing some teeth dad doesn’t chew as much… Read More ›
Made-up dreams
When Dawn is gone and I have the bed to myself I spread out like a starfish and fall into a deep sleep. Last night I dreamt I saw a younger version of myself; the two of us were introduced… Read More ›
The denuding affair
Once I got rid of all the pine needles and glitter I turned to the exterior and swapped out the multi-colored lights for white. Denuding the house of Christmas was a solemn but energizing affair. But living in the Northwest… Read More ›
Bill Pearse 