I don’t think our shrubs like being pruned with a chainsaw. Some look traumatized. Years ago when our landscaping crew pruned they made everything look like lollipops. We’ve now grown out of that and I do it myself. After being… Read More ›
pacific northwest
Lifetime value
Watched the Queen movie again with Charlotte and had a piece of my cheek removed by the doctor. Hoping it’s pre-cancerous (as opposed to cancerous) and will find out in a week. Not really worried about it but wondering should… Read More ›
Grays Harbor blues
I went back to La Push, my favorite coastal backpacking trek. The transition from the beach sounds of the tide to the overland trail, how the sound of the tide vanishes and is replaced by the quiet of the forest…. Read More ›
Going remote
All week with the deviled eggs. Dawn made too many for Easter brunch and now I eat about 11 a day (halves, not wholes). The morning moon thin as a sickle. I wonder if I’ll be able to see it… Read More ›
Burning man
Though it was early morning and a strange time to do it I lit a fire in the firepit with last night’s coals and the logs that were charred and dampened by the early morning rain. It could be hard… Read More ›
Common things
The gloves are still there, in the Honda’s hidden storage well beside the jumper cables. The gloves are leather and have a withered look, stiff and bent. They belonged to Dawn’s dad and I’ve kept them in the car since… Read More ›
To provide
After the big wind storm last fall and all the downed trees I thought it was time for me to learn how to buck a tree and use a chainsaw properly. I bought the safety gear—the protective chaps, the integrated… Read More ›
The Pale King
An hour before dusk the birds start going bananas. Clicking their tongues, chirping, tweeting. The pollen is like lime-green cocaine covering everything. I get to the park so early it’s still dark and the little streams reflect the pale light… Read More ›
Sunday sermon
I went outside and sprayed coyote urine on the tulips to keep the deer and rabbits away. I don’t know if it’s coyote urine but it smells like hell. I don’t know how they get it in a bottle either…. Read More ›
Don’t stop now
Now they are back at that shady music venue on the edges of town by the freeway on-ramp. Bill and Mike, college chums. A weeknight but they pretend they’ve still got it in them. 2005, mid-thirties. Neither of them have… Read More ›
Bill Pearse 