St. "Als" at Gonzaga

This is the view of St. Aloysius Gonzaga University on the north side of the Spokane River in Downtown Spokane. The river is high with the winter snow melt. The church is beautiful off in the close distance. A fine setting. One which evokes memory, creates memory, invites us to join in its presence and the silent beckoning of its majesty. It is good to see such structures placed so well in our world.

Sunset Highway 1920 East of Reardan WA

Here is a picture of the old Sunset Highway circa 1920 heading toward Reardan, Washington. Moving west along a section line, the highway had to go north o avoid a hill. Thus, it curved north at a section junction and moved up to the next section line running east to west. From there it ran on a series of new section lines toward Reardan. Things were much simpler then. Today, things have become more complicated. I wonder whether we have risen to the complication. The human mind and our values move more slowly than the exigencies of our condition. Or, so it is I fear.

More Spring Snow

This a shot of the main drag north in Spokane. It is a Tuesday during the second week in April, 2009. Good slushy snow everywhere, eight inches of the stuff. Coming back after a meeting in Usk, Washington around 1:00 PM all the snow was gone and it was 50 degrees .

An April afternoon heading into the mountains on the was to Nespelem. Going to the east, always a beautiful drive. A few miles back, Omak and Okanogan. This is very rural Washington. A place to live a life of great vigor and creativity. It is done and meeting the people, you can tell it is done well. Nespelem is north of the Columbia River about 15 miles from Coulee Dam. We have yet to understand the magnitude of Coulee Dam. It is sad the river no longer runs free, but the dam and its environs are something to behold.

West of Spokane, On a Spring Day

These open areas and skies evoke memories and thoughts about the West -- of the Rockies, the High Plains, the great inclines running east from the strong backbone of the Rocky Mountains from New Mexico way into Canada, to Jasper and north. Very few of us have seen the whole range. In a sense, the plains flowing east and draining north to places like Churchill on Hudson's Bay and south to New Orleans and the Gulf are a vast mystery only a few really understand, appreciate, imagine in mystery of the vastness. One could find a home in these places, in the place -- think of it, in the place from the Gulf of Mexico to the seas of the Arctic. Not a bit of it is a place of foreboding. It is a place of home, a place of peace, a place where one knows, when one thinks slowly, of home. We come home in these vast expanses. All we have to do is to open our hearts, relax, and listen and look.

People have wandered and thought about these places -- Wallace Stegner, Gretle Ehrlich, Kent Haruf, Garrison Keillor, Carol Bly, Willa Cather ... the names go on an on. And, there were those very many who passed their reverence on to their children, the children of the High Plains who lived centuries ago and whose heirs today are grasping for breath, finally, and fitfully, and forever. And, with those who by fate have become a part of . . . . . a part of vast expanse gently sloping to the east, the north and the south. It is all --- it is n0thing strange.

If one drives one of the thousands of gravel roads toward the horizon and forgets, one will, in his soul, begin to feel the remembrance of things long ago -- and, could it be?, things long into the future.

Trails Near the River

The trails about Latah Creek and the Spokane River are now passable. There is a great variety. One could hike for hours within three miles of the center of Spokane. We have a treasure here, always ready to be found and appreciated. It s a wonder so many of us stay within four walls most of the time, most of our lives.

A Spring Snow

Here is a view from by backyard the morning of our last snowfall at the end of March, 2009.