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A tree and a lesson

At first it looked like the tree had managed to grow from a crevice in the rock. We'd seen it happen in other formidable spots in Southern Utah, and it always brought a comment or two on the amazing resilience, the fortitude, that would allow a little seed to become a big tree on so little water and so little space.

But then we saw that it wasn't growing from a crevice, it was growing from sand way, way, down at the bottom of a deep, deep divide in Bryce Canyon. It somehow found enough water and managed enough nutrients from the sand and grew until it reached the sunlight too.

You can learn a lot from a tree.

Happy Independence!

Stormy weather

Who'd of thought grey skies could be gorgeous. It happens often at the Oregon Coast, where people have been known to go just to watch the storms.

We've been blessed with beautiful weather on many trips -- even those in mid-winter, but this short excursion brought clouds and even a bit of rain.

That made me appreciate even more the little plaque made by a company called "The Signs of the Thymes," that I saw in the little gift store in the little town just a few blocks east of the scenes you're seeing above.

It said: "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain."

May we all do just that.

New view of old favorite

For six years, we lived just 15 minutes from the Columbia Gorge, along the Oregon/Washington border. For 15 years after that, we drove it annually, usually in a hurry to get to a destination 700 miles away, or tired and wanting to be home after the return trip. Last week, we got an unexpected opportunity to take a spontaneous drive through the gorge to Multnomah Falls in late evening. The sun made it absolutely magical. Yeah for unplanned. Yeah for spontaneous. Yeah for magical. Yeah for the Columbia Gorge.

From the Rose City

Looking back, moving forward

This one didn't make the cut for the paper -- my personal cut that is. The light was too dim for just the right sharpness.

But it tells a story and I like it.

Here it is for you to "read."