No moon at 3 AM but twinkly stars and lawns covered in white, the failing charge of the solar-powered footpath lights made a weak ghostly hue. Had to look up “what to do about itchy scalp” and wondered, could it… Read More ›
pacific northwest
On Jackson Street
I used to come down to Pioneer Square over my lunch hour to kill time. When my job didn’t matter much, no one cared if I was there, and I’d roam the side streets and street corners dreaming. Old Seattle,… Read More ›
Two sides of the same coin
It’s gotten increasingly harder to take all-cold showers as the season’s worn on. But it never disappoints, that first moment of sensory shock. Scenes of women giving birth in the Baltic from some grainy film we watched when Dawn was… Read More ›
The last night of the fair
Fried pie, gator kabobs, a handwritten sign that says This isn’t fast food it’s fresh food so thanks for being patient. T-shirts like I got SCONED at the fair (with a big scone). A sexualized version of the little mermaid… Read More ›
This is a long drive with nothing to think about
The land driving east across Washington to the desert steppe looks stretched and spotted like the hide of an old reptile. Just flecks of sage brush, land that looks scarred and weathered, like it’s already been burned or is about… Read More ›
Summerland (end)
All the moss-covered rocks looked like the cover of a Led Zeppelin album as I clambered out of the river and onto the shore. Another cold plunge in the mountain water by our camp, this time before dawn with the… Read More ›
Summerland (4)
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 ›
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 ›
Bill Pearse 