Friday, January 30, 2015

Mad River Blues


Time slips by slowly
Under rain soaked roofs
Resting sullen in Mad River bottomlands
Gray haze of ocean and air
And green hills rolling under redwood stands

Our slickers shed the deluge from above
Relentless and determined to soak the bones
Only with grace shall we survive the rising waters
Of life lived between oblivion and these changing tides

Further inland
Mountains can be seen building beyond the hills
Hills cut deep and wide from eons ago
By this slow maddening torrent tumbling down

We roam the ridges
Above this river
And relish in these towering groves
Reaching above sword fern and salal

Edged with tan oak and madrone
Joined with alder and laurel
Air blown in so fresh and alive
You can feel it move through you

Other times
We come upon stranger creations
Smolderings along the highway
Glowing in the waning light of dusk

Dark gray sky
Of cloud and smoke and mist overhead
Deep black green forest
Above the orange light of the coaled understory

Prescribed burn I thought but no one watching
One side of the highway in slow creeping blaze
The other lush and green of Doug fir and pine
Waiting as if it hadn't a care

No one tending to this reduction of fuel
Which could jump the road with anger
And wreak havoc on the hills
Someone assuming it'll be alright

Salmon working hard
To swim against the currents
As the floodgates slowly open

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

The Porcupine and the Malamute



Now that looks painful
Was it curiosity that got ya into this
Or brash temperament on your behalf
Either way, it's turned out bad

Halfway between home and Bluff Cabin Lake
The trail grows dark in the shade
Of cottonwood, aspen, and spruce white and black
Where strange creatures walk old glacier dust

We've leisured long on lake shore sands
In the full sun of midsummer days
But now were gonna have to rip those out boy
And learn to heed the master's call

Oh we'll still run off into the dark woods
Through deep spruce thickets and rose hip brambles
Just watch your step when instinct demands
Lest you get a snout full of quills to suffer the pluck

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Cotton Mouth


Strange winter storm outta the south
Sends pink cotton spun clouds at sundown
To rest atop the big rock candy mountains
Sending a thunder of sugar upon their slopes

A little honey to soothe parched throats
Lick sweet crystals paused on cracked lips
Change the music box tune up a little
And get back in the game
Of cookin' up syrup from the sap in the pans

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Adventures in HDR


I've been having some fun messing around with some new HDR photo rendering software. And since the muse has been very elusive for a while now, I figure I'll post some of these old photos shown in a new light for now. I really enjoy the effects that can be achieved with this process so there will be more to come. Enjoy