Winter Afternoon, Boise

Vintage Ski-Doo and Sleigh

A Forest Spirit

Here are some words for you to look up: eidolon, eidetic, pareidolia.

Ice Textures

I am fascinated by the wondrous patterns and frosty textures expressed in this thin ice over a tiny creek I found on my walk in the hills today. Rather than try to fathom how the patterns are formed, I prefer to focus on the beauty.

Near Lucky Peak Reservoir, Idaho

Fireline

Fire lines were used to contain a range fire near Lucky Peak Reservoir not far from Boise. Here, topography forced equipment used to cut the fire lines to cross a small stream drainage. Willows and other riparian shrubs were flattened at the approach to the crossing. This area is (was?) one of my secret spots to pick elderberries and chokecherries in the early fall.

Last carrots from my garden

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Danvers Half Long Carrot. This variety does very well in clayey soils. The flesh is crisp and sweet and keeps very well. Danvers Half is a good canning carrot. My last two pounds made very good, very creamy soup:

Creamy Carrot Soup
2 lbs fresh carrots
1 large potato
2 celery stalks
1/2 medium yellow onion
2 cups chicken broth
2 T butter
1 cup Milk
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 t powdered ginger
1/2 t curry powder
salt and white pepper, to taste

While you peel and dice the carrots and potato, saute the diced onions and celery in the butter in a large frying pan. In a large dutch oven, boil carrots and potato in just enough lightly salted water to cover, until tender. Cool. Puree all cooked ingredients in batches in your blender or food processor and return to Dutch oven. Add chicken broth, ginger and and curry and set to simmer. Add milk and half-and-half. Cook on low heat for a few minutes, stirring to keep the thick soup from scalding on the bottom of the pan. S/P to taste. Serve hot, or cold. Enjoy!

Geese over Albertson Park, Boise.

Boise has endured a week of below-freezing temperatures, with highs scarcely making it into the teens on most days. Still, the weather and winter light have been gorgeous. The geese were returning to the river in late afternoon.

Daughter of the American Revolution

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1918 Influenza Epidemic?

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Snowy cemetery, Boise Idaho.

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The ground is so cold, Dear.

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Snowy scene in Boise

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Dolly Varden, Salmon River, Idaho

Idaho City Mystery

Old Signs of Life in Idaho

A Mask to Hide Behind

Another one of my roof-tin masks.

And another - I like this guy alot.

Reflections on a Painting

Photograph of a part of one of my finger-paintings on grocery bag paper, behind glass with reflections of the office and window behind.

Poem - New Love in the Evening

Here's a draft of a new poem I'm working on and hope to submit to a journal eventually.

New Love in the Evening

The sky, a scrim of damask;
The bay a pulsing sheet of satinet.
We lay among the whispering sea oats
Sharing smiles and tentative touches
In sunset's sudden brilliance.

No tsunami of salty passions
No urgent struggle and tangle of limbs,
No shuddering of the earth beneath us -
Just a gentle convergence of warm awareness,
Like an imperceptible shifting of sands before the breeze,
A stirring and swelling of innocent desire
Sweetly buoyed by a slowly rising tide of nascent love.

I bent to kiss your lovely hands,
Surprised by your tears as you leaned into my arms,
While the new moon sailed above,
Stately as a swan,
Attended by a skein of twinkling stars.

[Update: submitted to Poetry Magazine on 1/13/2010]

Tin Masks in My Office

Tin mask I made titled "Dr. Wilkerson's Palsy", after my former dentist who suffered a bad bout of Bell's palsy and retired shortly thereafter.

Another one of my masks, untitled.