Birds Of A Feather

This isn't the best picture in the world but since making it a few weeks ago I've gone back to look at it over and over again. It's a pair of ravens sitting on a tree over looking the Clark Fork River. Nothing special to anyone except me. I love this image. Most likely, the ravens are a couple, a male and a female, that have been together for quite some time. You see, ravens, and crows for that matter, mate for life. They're a lot like humans. They have families, offspring that stay together until they find a mate and sometimes the couples will have affairs-usually the female. But through it all they stick together. They often return to the same place every summer and roost with other members of their flock. Recently it was discovered that crows can identify another crow by visual identification. Amazing. Most animals use scent or sound to distinguish members of the same species. So, what's so special about this picture? Nothing really. It makes me think that sometimes I wish Krista and I could climb a tree and sit on the branch over looking the Clark Fork River. It also makes me think about how Seattle has so many more crows than Missoula but no ravens. Why is that I wonder?

Cramped and Cluttered

Busy week. Wednesday night we out but I can't remember what we did. Thursday night we were at the Art Museum, Grizzly game and Girl Talk. Friday night we were at a birthday dinner for our friend Sarah and then we went to the premiere of the new Wilco film Ashes of American Flags. Pretty good. Tonight we're heading to the MAM annual action. It should be a lot of fun. I'm going to spend Sunday cleaning the house, importing cds into iTunes and just taking a break from everything and everyone. I'm feeling cramped and cluttered. I need a little space...

When I Was A Kid

I first fell in love with photography when I was a kid. It wasn't because all of my friends had cameras or my family, it was because I saw a picture of Fozzy Bear in the Muppets magazine. Yes, The Muppets had their own magazine. Fozzy Bear was a reporter and he had a camera and that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to take pictures like Fozzy Bear. I can't believe I remember that. I must have been around 8 years old. My mom gave me a Kodak 110 for my birthday and then for my 11th or 12th birthday she gave me the camera I'm using in the picture above. The best part is that I still have that camera and continue to use it today. I found this picture with those others I found on Sunday. They're not the best pictures but they mean the world to me. I suppose I'm not alone in feeling this way...

A Dark Period

Been going through boxes of old photos this morning - still trying to put my home office/studio in place. I found a plastic bag with old polaroid images from when I lived in Washington DC. A trip down memory lane for sure. Living in DC was a dark period of my life. I did a lot of drinking...

Another Short Story: Nature Fight Club

Another short story. This one outside my office window. A cat fighting with a pigeon captured in the snow? Perhaps...

Short Story: The Writing On The Wall

I've been reading a little Raymond Carver these past few weeks while listening to Death Cab For Cutie's record Narrow Stairs and I've been pushing the idea of short stories around in my mind. I love the idea of how some pictures have enough information, emotion, conviction, imagination to create a short story in your mind. This makes me think of so many things...

Sweedish Time Warp

Our good friend Sweed left town yesterday afternoon. Come again soon...

The Day After

It's been almost two years since I've had a drink. I quit for a number of reasons but the biggest reason was what I liked to call "The Day After" effect. I couldn't do anything except lay on the couch and watch TV - even if I had only one or two beers. I don't miss that feeling. My brother in law had the day after effect from Friday's art walk captured here at the bar waiting for lunch. Man, I don't miss those days...

Welcome Home A Year Later

We returned home from Mexico this weekend a year ago. I can't wait to return again. Mexico has always been one of my favorite places on the planet. I have not traveled all over the world but where I have been Mexico always rates near the top three. Often Krista and I joke about moving there. I always remind myself that there's truth in humor. I doubt we'll ever move to Mexico but visit again is in our future...

Fetal Position

Been working on my polaroid book all morning. I'm done scanning the images. Now it's time to edit. I'll post later today. A lot going on in the past few days...

Feel Free To Draw

Spent tonight with Tom, Sweed, Chris and Katy wandering the downtown city streets for First Friday Art Walk. Sweed was in town from Seattle and we haven't seen him since our going away party last August. It was great seeing him and going around art walk together.

For Krista and I, it was our first Missoula First Friday. We had a lot of fun but for us a small part of it didn't feel like First Friday. Yes there were lots of people out and about walking around in and out of shops and galleries which was great but there weren't a lot of studios open like other art walks I've been to. We did find one studio where there was a DJ and art on the wall that was encouraging people to draw, and an open invitation for us to walk in and out of people's studios checking out there work. It made me miss Seattle and reminded me of Carlos' apartment at the Hiawatha and his studio art walk I checked out right before leaving for LOOK3. No, we're not in Seattle anymore. But that doesn't matter. The art scene here is vibrant and exciting and we're slowly getting to know people, slowly becoming a part of it.

We stopped in at the Zootown Arts Community Center hoping to see some art but found out it was a private party. I saw a women I knew from work who invited us in and then the women realized she knew Krista because Krista had cut her friends hair earlier in the week. Being part of that community is why we moved here. It's exciting to watch it happening so quickly. I also met a couple of photographers which was nice. I'm wiped out. Off to bed...

200 Lbs. Glacier

Missoula has dogs everywhere. Some run wild through the streets, off leash and often without any owner present. Most of the pooches are happy go lucky and just enjoy the freedom of living in a mountain town, much like the people who live here but every now and the you run into a dog that isn't happy and you have to cross the street to avoid confrontation. This pooch, as menacing as he might look was not one of those dogs. He couldn't have been sweeter. His name is Glacier and he weighs more than 200 pounds...

Behind My House

Behind my house is a small trailer park made up of eight or nine trailers. They're small, old, in dire need of repair and look cold on the inside. Some have beautiful yards, fenced to keep the neighborhood dogs out of the flowers beds, and some look like mini transfer stations. I've always been drawn to trailer parks. When I was a kid I dreamed of living in a small trailer next to the ocean. As an adult I dream of buying a few acres on a lake and setting up a trailer for Krista and I to visit on the weekends. There are trailer parks littered through out Missoula (there's never been a lot of thought put behind zoning) but that's all changing. Trailer parks are slowly being replaced by poorly built craftsman-style houses. The latest fad. Tonight, was one of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen in years and I couldn't help but see the beauty in the simplicity of my neighbor's trailer and how they probably had a dream of owning a small piece of land where they could sit on their small front porch and watch the sun rise over Mount Sentinel in the morning and set over the Bitterroot Mountains in the evening. But they can't anymore. Their view is gone, obstructed by poorly built two-story craftsman style houses. The sad part is that we, living in one of those poorly built two-story craftsman style houses can't watch the sun rise or set either. The windows are in the wrong place so instead Krista and I stood in the muddy semi-snow covered alley and watched the sky turn yellow, orange, pink, red and then eventually deep dark blue and then black.

Field Report: Lochsa Lodge

Before moving to Montana I took a map of the state and started marking places I wanted to explore and Lochsa Lodge was one of those place. Technically, Lochsa Lodge is in Idaho but seeing how it's only a few miles from the Montana state border it still counts. Tucked between the Lewis & Clark Trail and the Lochsa River just off Highway 12, Lochsa Lodge is a quiet mountain getaway comprised of a lodge and a dozen small cabins. Surrounded by miles and miles of forest, we headed out of town for a night to just get away, read, play in the snow and relax.

We arrived in the early afternoon, checked into our small cabin and headed out to play in the snow. We forgot snowshoes and the lodge wasn't renting them so we made the best of the situation. We tried hiking along the river but couldn't get far because the snow was more than five feet deep in some places. We changed direction and headed up the hill to a forest service road where the snow was compact and he could run, run run and run some more. He ran up and down the ski trails and the road and took running jumps into the snow. He was like a kid on a snow day.

All in all, a nice retreat from our small city. I could go without the snowmobiles and how they sound like a choir of chainsaws, leaf blowers and lawn mowers echoing off the valley walls but that's as big a part of life out here as hunting and fishing. If you don't embrace winter, you go crazy. This is our way of embracing winter. When we weren't outside in the snow we snuggled under some blankets by the fire reading and I did a little writing and made a few pictures...


Our Cabin


Cabin Art


Morning View from the Cabin


Rabbit Ears


Oslo sinking in 4 feet of snow


Pouting because he has to get in the car


After a long day of playing in the snow