SMOKY HAZE...

SMOKE by Henry David Thoreau ( 1817-1862) From his book "Walden" published in 1843. Thoreau was an American naturalist and author.

Light winged Smoke! Icarian bird

Melting your pinions in your upward flight;

Lark without song, and messenger of dawn

Circling above the hamlets as your nest;

Or else, departing dream, and shadowy form

Of midnight vision, gathering up your skirts;

By night star-veiling, and by day

Darkening the light...

and blotting out the sun;

Go  thou...

my incense

Upward from this hearth,

And ask the gods to pardon this clear flame.

Photographs 2026

 

MT. WASHINGTON RANGE

For the first time, a full view of Mt. Washington range from Campbell River,B.C. and looking south.

"You are not in the mountains. The Mountains are in you..."

                                                                                                                  -John Muir

"Mountains know secrets we need to learn..." -Tyler Knott

"In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds..." -Robert Green Ingersoll

"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. may your mountains rise into and above the clouds..." -Edward Abbey

"And into the mountains I must go, to lose my mind and find my soul..." - John Muir

“May your dreams be larger than mountains and may you have the courage to scale their summits.” - Harley King

“Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.” -Kahlil Gabran

44. “Although I deeply love other wild landscapes, it is only mountains that beckon me with that sort of painful magnetic pull to walk deeper and deeper into their beauty.” – Victoria Erikson

Photographs 2026

 

THE BEST GIFT...

"Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world..." 

                                                                                                     -John Muir

That gorgeous pine tree, from the corner property,was taken down last week. It's roots were travelling too close to the house foundations. And the tree leaned. A lot. Imagine it plopping down across the street, during a winter storm. Ouch.

"Be like a tree. The tree gives shade even to him who cuts off its boughs..."-Sri Chaitayna

So the tree came down...

                 And DOWN...

On one of the days when smoke was drifting in, over Mt. Washington Range. I'd never seen the full southern portion of the range, because of the tree.

And lo, and behold, there was SKY....so big, so vast, so wonderful. For the first time in the twenty years I've lived here (wowzers). I could see the entire range. And the sky...that incredible sky.

"Even after all this time...

...the Sun never says to the earth: 

 "You owe me"

Look what happens with a love like that...

It lights up the whole sky." -Hafiz a

The view from my house on the hill. Best view in Campbell River, B.C., I would hazard a guess.

That beautiful old tree.The entire neighbourhood stood and watched it being cut down. It's time had come. Look what it gave in return. The best gift in the world. 

The expanse of the sky, the full range from South to North, the sun, the moon, the stars at night, the crickets in summer, and snow in winter.

"Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky..." -Khalil Gibran

Photographs 2026
 

SUMMER COLLAGE...

"Live in the sunshine. Swim in the sea. Drink in the wild air..." 

                                                                                                                                -Emerson

"In summer, the song sings itself..." -William Carlos Williams

"Watching the clouds float across the sky is by no means a waste of time..." -John Lubbock

Simon and Rona

Yum Yum the deer.

"The summer night is like a perfection of thought..." 

-Wallace Stevens

"Let us dance in the sun wearing wildflowers in our hair..." 

-Susan Polis Schutz

“Summer is the annual permission slip to be lazy. To do nothing and have it count for something. To lie in the grass and count the stars. To sit on a branch and study the clouds.” — Regina Brett

"Summertime is always the best of what might be..." 

-Charles Bowden

Tyee Spit

Quadra island Coast mtns

"The island is ours. Here, in some way, we are young forever..." -E.Lockhart

"Oh Sunlight. The most precious gold to be found on Earth..." -Roman Payne

"The slow breeze and the summer sun write our memories..."-Debasish Mridha

Photographs 2026