big billow...

eyes to the sky, 

watching the clouds fly by.

the tide is low.

a couple of weeks back, the tide was at it's lowest of the season. the sky was blue. a sunday lay before us. pops and i made the trek and walked the sandy expanse.

garden growing.

things are in fill swing here. most of these photographs are from a couple of weeks ago, and now things are bigger.... but we've hit a heat wave. it's hot. the garden is semi-liking it. the beets are drooping at the end of the day. the kale is too. give it a big drink at night and hope for the best.

longer light...

these longer evenings, that deep light... friends on the porch, eating kebabs, chatting, soaking it all right up. spring nights like this- a taste of sweet summer. and oh, it is so damn good. then the rains come back, and we retreat inside to wait it out. 

til we can do it all over again.

a few photos from the train ride down to california... it was a beautiful slow and steady ride. scenery floating by, the greens and blues and greys and browns mixing together in a blur- in that train way. 

soul still on tarmac?

... i remember a scene in a william gibson book- pattern recognition. where the amazing main character ponders how when she flies across continents she always feels that upon arrival she is without her soul, and imagines it bobbing as a kind of shadow-blob on the tarmac at the airport she took off from... then it takes a while for the soul to catch up with the body. i feel something of the sort, even though it was a short seamless ride from LA to Seattle... but this rapid travel is so- rapid. one second i was in california. i closed my eyes and then suddenly awoke to "we are approaching our destination of seattle, please put your seat...." this is on the other spectrum from train travel. when you feel so ready for the arrival, have so much time to ponder the present, imagine the future, process the journey. fast forward to airplane, where i can barely get a grip on my thoughts, and then suddenly i am in weather that is 15 degrees colder than where i was 2.5 hours ago. how is this possible? then i board a bus that would carry me across the border and drop me at 41st and granville. that leg of the journey at least provided me with a few hours of thinking- that time i need for re-entry.  now back in the city, it's still cold air- but spring is here. rhubarb is growing at a fast and furious rate, but that's about it. water the seeds, hopefully the sun will shine down and help them grow. 

thrifting.

moving through the racks of clothes at the goodwill, sally ann, boutique. a sea of colours and textures and cuts and styles. a gem here, a throw away there. another keeper. and another. a maybe- ok, yes, i'll take it. cashmere cardigan. lots of wool, in the heat. lots of linen. that's my kind of thing. want to just collect it all, and then share it back home. but it's a small backpack that i'm carrying, and only a bit will fit. new racks of clothes coming out every 15 minutes, announced over the loudspeaker. "and remember, all children's clothing is 99 cents this week. thank you for supporting the goodwill." what will i find tomorrow?