Flowers

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Photography: Troll Hunting

Part of our summer trip included searching for Thomas Dambo’s giant wooden trolls. Let me tell you, these incredible sculptures do not disappoint. Not only are they breathtakingly beautiful, but they are enormous!

Thomas Dambo has crafted over 170 creations all over the world. If your curious if one is near you, here’s a wonderful Trollmap. We only visited two trolls this trip, but we will try again soon.

Now, come with me into the forest to meet Bruun Idun and Pia the Peacekeeper.

From Thomas Dambo:

“In the night, there was a storm, there at the beach where she was born
And Idun felt a feeling wrong, and so she walked there in the dawn
And in a flute, the magic horn, a tune so passionate and strong
She played for them an orca song to ask them where they all had gone“

Brunn Idun stands on the shoreline playing her flute to the Orca’s to ask them why they have all left the Pugeut Sound. Her flute was made by artist, John Halliday Aka Coyote from the Muckleshoot Tribe. On August 25th, the Mayor of Seattle, Bruce A. Harrel, declared it “Brunn Idun Day”. This special recognition celebrates Bruun Idun’s and the Trolls’ contributions to our collective stewardship environmental management, water protection, repairing habitat restoration, preservation and conservation. Every August 25th is Bruun Idun Day.

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From Thomas Dambo:

“Pretty pretty please, let’s keep the peace beneath the trees
Hold you in my hand I will remind you with a squeeze
Quiet little people cause your criers make me tired
Pia likes to play with people, people they keep quiet“

Pia likes to play with the people beneath the trees, and she likes it when it’s not too noisy.

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  • These photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.
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Photography: Beach Time

I’ve got a lot more photos from my June road trip to share with you, including these from my time spent at Little Whale Cove. I recently realized, or perhaps remembered again, how seeing the world through the camera lens is a bit like a time machine. It allows me to slow time enough to capture a single moment. It’s magic.

I hope you enjoy these photos. As always, let me know if you have a favorite.

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My daughter sifting through the sand

My spot

Me
  • These photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.
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Photography: Little Whale Cove

I took these photos at a private cove near my dad’s house in Oregon last month. While I walked around with my camera, my daughter sat in the sand sifting it for agate. It wasn’t the trip I wanted. My dad was sick, ultimately needing to be transported by ambulance to the hospital. My daughter was about to turn 18, and things between us felt different. Everything felt…off.

As I edited these photos today, I felt all of it again. My dad is okay now, but he uses a walker, and the time for us to have the relationship I’ve always wanted is slipping away. My daughter and I are good. We’ve grown in new ways, but I worry about her all the time. I don’t know how to change things. I don’t know how to be right now.

Hard conversations are sitting inside me, and last night I dreamed they suffocated me, and I woke gasping for air. I couldn’t get back to sleep, anxiety eating at me with sharp teeth.

So, I’m going to take a minute and return to the peacefulness of this beautiful place. Will you join me? Let’s look at how light moves through things, reflecting and illuminating. Tell me, do any of these photos speak to you?

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  • These photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.
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Photography: Road Trip


This week I was reminded again at how complicated emotions can be, at how we can hold both tremendous grief and overwhelming love in the same breath. It was a week of tragedy, connection, rock camp, fairy doors, bubbles, car talks, and two panic attacks. 

Would I argue with the rain or clouds or the ocean itself?  I see faces, I see shapes, I see love wanting only to freely bloom.  I think I won’t complain.–Neil Reid

I’m still struggling, but I’m finding my way forward. Part of that path involves showing up here with you, even if I have to fight myself to do it.

About a month ago, my daughter and I drove up the coast of California into Oregon and Washington. Although this trip wasn’t what I had hoped, I got some pretty photos. Here are some of the best from day one.

I’d love to know if you have a favorite photo; can you guess mine?

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  • These photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.
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Photography: May Day

It can be hard right now to think about light streaming through ribbons, flowers, and youthful hearts, but the world still contains all the beautiful things it always has. Let me take you away from the news for a moment as we dance around the May pole and celebrate the spirit of spring. Let me know if you have a favorite photo and have a wonderful day.

“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.”
—Rainer Maria Rilke

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  • These photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.
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Book Release Week: Time to Party!

This Sunday, I’ll be standing in my favorite bookstore reading from my book. It’s literally a dream come true, and while I’ve still got a little voice telling me how embarrassing/cringe this all is, I’m letting myself be excited. It’s also my birthday today, so I’m feeling all celebratory and reflective. Maybe even a bit proud.

You still have a few days to pre-order yourself a copy and get the bonus stuff:

  • Autographed copy of the book
  • Bookmark with links to a photo collage and Spotify playlist for all 52 stories
  • A printed and autographed copy of an additional story not in the book titled Through the Glass Windshield

Thanks for cheering me on.

Books, books and more books.

Giant sign for the event.

Shipping boxes.

My pretty pen for signing books.

Stickers, anyone?

And here’s some pretty flowers blooming in my garden, because it’s Spring and I’m feeling all hopeful and stuff.

  • These photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.
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Photography: Pink Moon

I haven’t chased the moon for ages, but this morning I did. With my daughter in the passenger seat, we drove through country roads looking for ways to capture the beauty in the sky before us. The pink moon, the moon of rebirth and change, played with us. It hid behind the puffs of a factory, near a barbed wire fence, between trees, within flowers, and amongst the birds. It even tried to compete with the sunrise. I found it for you. I hope it reminds you it’s never too late to try again. Let me know if you have a favorite photo and have a fantastic week!

Pulling us closer into its orbit,
shining the light of its fullness into the room,
we turn to hold in our hands
each other’s face as if
for the first time,
and the last—
Pink Moon, Egg Moon, Moon of New Grass.
—Cathy Song, April Moon

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  • These photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.
  • Pink Moon 2024
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Photography: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

“And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.”—Rainer Maria Rilke

It’s been a season of reading books, doing puzzles, snuggling under blankets, and savoring the warmth of my home. Big goals and plans are on the horizon, but right now I’m moving slowly and feeling fully into where I am at this moment.

Thank you to everyone who has read my blog this year despite my sporadic and inconsistent pattern. It’s been a year of tremendous highs and lows. I am mourning loss and also feeling incredibly blessed for new people who have come into my life.

May your New Year’s Eve and all next year swirl with beauty, love, peace, and hope.

I’m glad you are here.

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  • As always, photos were taken by me with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.

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Photography: Ocean Love

Fall into the waves with me before we dance among the bowed heads of the pink flowers. Did you see the deer? The starfish? The seagull? What did they have to say to you? I thought I heard them giggling. Perhaps they know more than I do about what’s to come.

“I spent uncounted hours sitting at the bow looking at the water and the sky, studying each wave, different from the last, seeing how it caught the light, the air, the wind; watching patterns, the sweep of it all, and letting it take me. The sea.”
—Gary Paulsen

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  • The last photo is of my brother’s dog Henry. He’s such a good boy! All photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.