postcards from the road

Mom is frail, but for a 93-year-old recovering alcoholic who used to smoke two packs of cigarettes a day, she's doing extremely well. She's in a lovely nursing home and getting excellent care. Thank God Dad left her well provided for.

I also saw both my surviving brothers. My inner 18-year-old is appalled at how OLD everyone else is getting. Lessee- if I'm 60, then middle brother is 71 and oldest brother is 73. NO! Bullshit! No way! Why, just yesterday they were skinny young men waterskiing on the lake and going hunting in the winter. And now they each have to go to the doctor every three months to have basal cell carcinomas lasered off. Their arms are white with the scars, and to them, it's no big deal. Still, I suppose that facing their gray-haired, wrinkled baby sister is no fun for them either.
But the six hours in the car had its plusses. Some very atmospheric scenery in the morning. This little farm is near Damascus, Oregon, not far from Boring.
I got a late start, so it was almost 8AM by the time I got this shot.
(Rose, will you give me some photoshop training? This picture would look better with the bottom cropped.)




The higher you go, the brighter the colors get.









Mt. Hood in the distance.











Mt. Hood much closer. We could really use some snow! But see that glacier streaking down to the right? They ski there year round.






The aspens are coloring up quite beautifully. This shot was taken one-handed out the side window at 60 mile an hour. Darn, I love my point-and-shoot camera! Actually, all these photos were taken one-handed at 60 miles an hour. And I quack about people using their cell phones when they drive. But really, that kettle is SO black!!











This is the kind of country where I grew up. Mountains with pines, and high-desert with juniper. Lots and lots of air, but dry, dry, drydrydry. Dust with dinner dry.






You've heard of rimrock? This is it. That tree is about 30 feet tall. The rimrock is a great place for badguys to hang out as long as they have lots of water and don't mind the rattlesnakes.

The cloud cover burned off a bit during the day so I got some really pretty shots on the way home. Aspens in a sunny spot.

And Mt. Hood from the southeast side. It was a long, long drive and boy are my hips stiff from all that sitting. When will I learn to stop now and then, get out, and stretch a bit? Why do I get caught in that drive-straight-through-as-fast-as-you-can-with-NO-stops mind-set? An extra ten or even twenty minutes isn't going to make that much of a difference in my arrival time. In fact, my late start in the morning allowed me to miss an accident that blocked the whole highway for about an hour. A semi-truck had taken a corner too fast and tipped right over. It nearly slid through the guard rail and over a several-hundred-foot cliff. Bet that driver needed clean underwear when the dust settled. I saw the truck and the guard rail as I passed, and said a prayer for all involved. Less speed. Better to get there late than not at all.

May you take your day safely and not too fast.

PS. What's the point of wearing clean underwear in case you get in an accident? If you DO get in an accident, it's not likely to STAY clean.