It is such a relief that the Portland roads are ice-free and clear — not just the major roads full of cars but the lower-traffic neighborhood greenways and bike paths too — and I can ride my bike again. Last week I would have told you that I was doing…
Alright, mostly I’ve been wearing what I call my snow boots (i.e. my warm cozy boots:) with microspikes, not my rubber boots, these days — because it is icy icy icy in Portland and it has been pretty damn comical trying to walk without extra traction. . (doug-fir needles with…
…. And then the light came back to the world, slowly but surely:) . (holy shmoly the sunrise this morning!!!) . Every year I try to make it a point to see the sun rise (ha, or at least the world get lighter, as is often the case in cloudy…
Y’all. I love fall so much. Yes, in the back of my mind I hear James’ voice saying but stasia, you love all seasons! Which, okay, yes, I do, but GOSH do I love fall. The world is a riot of colors right now, made extra dramatic by the quick…
Every fall, it feels like I need to remember how to muster. That is, remember that even though I am warm and cozy in my house (or wherever) and that it will be wet, or cold, or wet and cold to do some other thing that I want to do…
Well gosh, folks! Yesterday afternoon I had to bike up to Vancouver for an evening work thing, and though the ride started out as a quintessentially nice fall sometimes-very-light-sprinkles sort of thing, about halfway through it just started pouring. Which I ignored at first, since all day it had been…
(awwwww trillium:) . Springtime!! Along with the riot of blossoms that started maybe a month ago with the bittiest crocuses and has now progressed into everything blooming all at once and new things every day, springtime is also the beginning of the bird return! Warblers, swallows, turkey vultures, osprey… Last…
Today was the first day since last Wednesday morning that I rode my bike. And gosh, it feels great to be on a bike again:) But over the last few days, it’s also been super great to be a pedestrian, in the SNOW! . (just wandering all the dead ends,…
Sunrise on this year’s winter solstice: I always try to see the sun rise on solstice cuz it feels important somehow — and this year, the sun actually did sort of perceptibly rise, although it took a while for it to get over the clouds. So, I know it’s been…
This is some of the weather I love most, the rain followed by bursts of sunshine that make the just-passed and the also-still-impending dark clouds even more dramatic. The thickening air that smells, everywhere, like flowers. The bird songs — not the bird chatter, but the actual songs, the musical…