29 kinds of rain

urban designer and architect in Portland, Oregon. biking anywhere. shopping at the farmers market…

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CBO: Cannon Beach, Oregon. A view to Haystack Rock

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The Edge

There is no way to convey

The terror of the edge 

You have to be willing 

To swim out of sight of the land 

Into a wider sea 

Onto a wilder shore 

And only those who have done 

Can know. 

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Indian Beach on a late mid-summer evening in Ecola State Park on the Oregon Coast.

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The McKenzie is a wild and scenic river that originates at Clear Lake in the central Cascade Range and flows into the Willamette River. Sahalie Falls and Koosah Falls are located just downstream from Clear Lake and we hiked the Waterfalls Loop Trail (part of the McKenzie River Recreation Trail). These two falls are the result of two thick flows of lava that dammed Clear Lake just 3,000 years ago (an eye-blink in geologic time).  The results are two breathtaking waterfalls —especially now with snowmelt and rainfall.  Sahalie (or "Heaven") and Koosah (or "Sky") are Chinook Jargon words. The Kalapuya, Molalla, Sahaptain and Chinook peoples traveled and traded here. 

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Late Winter on the Oregon Coast

We climbed those dunes

Intending our gaze for the horizon. 

At the summit we struggled to stand –

Our feet sinking into the soft sand and 

Our bodies buffeted by the storm 

That found us there. 

Unable to stand still, 

Unwilling to leave,

Intoxicated by 

The salty scent of the sea

And mesmerized by 

The waves, 

The waves, 

The waves, 

Crashing below on that shore. 

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PDX: Cherry blossoms at Murase Plaza on the Willamette River waterfront near Old Town. Nearly as many tourists as blossoms…

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This Is What You Might Do

This is what you might do

Upon entering a room —

One late winter afternoon

Only to astonished by

The way a sharp, slim, and brilliant

Beam of sunlight attaches to a wall — 

You could invite that blaze 

Of light inside to flame forever, 

In a dear and timeless love of everything. 

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"At some point you'll have to live as if the truth were true."

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You Could Be Tempted

You could be tempted –

It would be only human– 

To look back in satisfaction

At how far we have come, 

How much progress we have achieved:  

Only to see Eurydice disappear

Into the flames of hell,

For the second time, 

Forever. 

Wouldn't it be better

To focus on the struggle ahead 

And fight on until hell freezes over. 

And then fight on the ice.  

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CBO: Haystack Rock at dusk on a night of a new moon at low tide.

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"One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple." Jack Kerouac

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"Chaos is merely order waiting to be deciphered” ― José Saramago, The Double

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PDX: one of the hidden staircases connecting hillside streets in Portland.

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CBO: Haystack Rock.

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In Zürich, at the airport, in the park, on a hot summer's evening, as the sun sets: children dancing in the water-feature.

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A garden in the alpine village of Wengen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland.