Tale Of Two Town's Waterfront Attractions: One Real One Imaginary

I saw that which you see above, this morning on the front page of the Seattle Times online version. The photo illustrating an article explaining why it has become easier than ever for Amazon tech hires to buy homes in Seattle.

That buying homes thing is not what I found interesting. It is the photo I found to be interesting.

Most photo views of downtown Seattle are either from Elliot Bay, looking east at the skyline, with the Space Needle on the left, and the sports stadiums on the right, with the Seattle skyscrapers between them. That and ferry boats and cruise ships on the waterfront, along with a giant wheel. Or the most popular view, that being from Queen Anne Hill, looking south, with the Space Needle looming tall above the Seattle skyline, with Mount Rainier hovering in the distance.

In the rare above view we are looking south across the south end of Lake Union. The Space Needle is that stick sticking up on the right. The towers you see are not the main part of the Seattle skyline, but are mostly what makes up the Amazon campus. Somewhere amongst those towers are the Amazon spheres my favorite Ruby niece took me to see a couple summers ago.

Anyway, looking at the above photo of part of downtown Seattle caused me to realize why I have such an automatic revulsion reaction when I read ridiculousness in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about that which has become America's Dumbest Boondoggle, the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

I think my revulsion at the ridiculousness began almost two decades ago when I read a banner headline on the front page of the Sunday Star-Telegram, screaming "TRINITY UPTOWN TO TURN FORT WORTH INTO VANCOUVER OF THE SOUTH".

I remember thinking to myself have these idiots never been to Vancouver? What can they possibly think could possibly turn this landlocked scenery free town into anything remotely resembling Vancouver?

Who could have dreamt that that ridiculousness would continue on for so long, soon to be boondoggling along into its third decade, with Fort Worth still not even remotely resembling Vancouver, or, actually, any other actual big modern city in North America, most of which have streets with sidewalks, city parks without outhouses, and no public transit of the Molly the Trolley sort.

Why would any sane city want to artificially turn their town into something it is not? Look at that view of downtown Seattle. See all that water? All that waterfront? And that is only part of it. To the left, out of view, is Lake Washington, across Elliot Bay, that land you see across the bay, is even more waterfront, as in West Seattle. To the right of the photo, out of Elliot Bay, is more waterfront, along the shores of Puget Sound.

All natural waterfront. With manmade attractions built on the waterfront, as in miles upon miles of private development, with not one inch of that waterfront being the result of some bizarre vision to create such out of nothing, under the guidance of some local politician's unqualified, inept, son, and expecting to do so via the largess of federal money doled out from the more prosperous parts of America, such as Seattle.

Let's take a current, 2019, look at the Vancouver of the South.

That wide creek is known as the Trinity River. Those buildings across the river are the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, someday destined to become the Vancouver of the South, just as soon as the Trinity River creek can be diverted into a cement lined ditch diverting water around an 800 acre industrial wasteland, creating an imaginary island, imaginatively already named Panther Island.

Since 2014 Fort Worth has been trying to build three simple little bridges over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to that imaginary island. But that bridge building has been slow, now in its 5th years, currently slated to maybe be completed sometime in the next decade.

That is if you in the more prosperous parts of America can be convinced to send federal funding to Fort Worth to help with its imaginary (un-needed) flood control project and ineptly implemented economic development scheme where local delusionists conjure visions of riverwalks, waterfronts, lakes, canals, houseboat districts, thousands of residents and other never gonna happen nonsense.

All on what is currently an industrial wasteland still waiting on its EPA investigation which will likely discover epic levels of ground pollution costing a fortune to mitigate, which will likely be the final death knell of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. That or the digging of the ditch under one of those possibly finished bridges causing the bridge to sink or collapse.

Or, J.D. Granger reaching retirement age, with that bringing to a close the lifespan of the main beneficiary of what has become America's Dumbest Boondoggle.

I just had a thought which surprises me that it had never occurred to me before.

A thought which vividly points out the obviousness of the Fort Worth Vancouver of the South embarrassment. Can you imagine another city somewhere in North America, let's take Boise, Idaho for example, touting some project as a "VISION TO TURN BOISE INTO FORT WORTH OF THE NORTH".

No, would never happen, because there is not one single thing about Fort Worth any town anywhere in America would want to emulate.

And that fact is what the people who run Fort Worth in what is known as the Fort Worth Way might want to ponder.

A ridiculous project touted as turning Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South is not the solution to what ails Fort Worth.

I don't know if there is anything a town like Fort Worth could ever manage to do which would cause other towns to want to turn themselves into the Fort Worth of the North, or East, or West, but I do know for sure the solution ain't copying Vancouver, or San Antonio, or...

Spencer Jack & Jason Ask If I Recognize This?

That "Recognize This?" question was asked last night about the above photograph, with the asking coming from Spencer Jack and his dad, my favorite Jason nephew.

A couple things I see in the photo give me possible clues as to what I am looking at. In the distance it appears possibly that is what is known as Big Rock, at the center top. That would make this view looking southeast from a somewhat elevated view point.

To the upper center left I see a clump of trees which look sort of familiar.

Could this be a photo of my old hometown of Burlington, Washington? With the photo taken from a location part way up Burlington Hill?

But, where is the Skagit River? Shouldn't the Skagit River be seeable from this vantage point?

That clump of trees which looks familiar looks like the clump of old growth fir trees which made up the southeast corner of the park across the street from the Washington Avenue house in which I grew up, with the park at that point in time being known as Maiben Park.

If this photo is of Burlington I would hazard to guess the photo was taken prior to the 1950s.

At some point in the 1950s the Skagit River flooded Burlington as far as the location of Maiben Park.

And now that you are causing me to think about this, this photo must have been taken way before the 1950s, because I am not seeing Roosevelt Grade School, or Lincoln Grade School, which was across the street known as Fairhaven Avenue. Lincoln Grade School burned down long before my eyes ever saw Burlington. I believe Roosevelt Grade School was built in the 1920s, named after the first president with the Roosevelt last name.

So, Spencer Jack and Jason, did I recognize Burlington correctly? Or is this a view of old Mount Vernon, looking north, and that lump in the distance is not Big Rock, but is, instead, the aforementioned Burlington Hill?

Wichita Falls MSU Centennial Hall Built Over Dry Land In Less Than 2 Years

Til today it had been a day or two or three since I rolled my newly refurbished bike for a tour around my neighborhood.

Today's bike tour eventually took me to the Midwestern State University, also known as MSU, campus, which is currently crowded with new students.

The start of the new school year is when the campus seems to be the most crowded, soon be thinned by the 2019 versions of Limbaugh and Hannity, not able to pass a college level course, and thus turning into college dropouts.

I digress.

The four horses you see here, splashing though a pond, are Mustangs. My first car was a 65 Mustang Fastback.

Again, I digress.

Mustang is the MSU mascot, so you see various iterations of that particular horse all over Wichita Falls.

The four Mustangs you see splashing above are part of MSU's new Centennial Hall, construction completed yesterday, building dedication scheduled for some time today.

Construction began in December of 2017, completed in less than two years.

Construction of Centennial Hall began over three years after the small town of Fort Worth began trying to build three simple little bridges over dry land, to try and connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

I assume building a big building is a bit more difficult construction project than building three little bridges over dry land. But, those Fort Worth bridges still are no where near being completed, with the current completion timeline some point in the next decade, if money can be found.

I suspect MSU's Centennial Hall was a fully funded building project before construction began, whilst Fort Worth's hapless project has never been fully funded, waiting for the public works project equivalent of federal food stamps.

Unlike Fort Worth's pitiful bridges this new MSU building, to my eyes, is an interesting, well designed structure. The building seems to pay homage to all the various architectural styles one sees on the MSU campus, from the old to the new, with the part of the new building you see behind the Mustangs, that tall glass wall, being the modern, 2019 style, part of the building.

I also like how Centennial Hall looks different from every angle. Lots of curves, angles and arches. Every color of brick on the MSU campus is incorporated into the various facets of the building.

I strongly suspect no local politician's unqualified son had anything to do with engineering this new MSU building.

The Mystery Of The Absent Blog Poster

I was on the road, heading northwest on Highway 287, with DFW in my rear view mirror, when I got a text message from Spencer Jack's dad asking "Is everything okay in Texas? Your absence from blog postings has many of us concerned."

Yes, I can see how such could be concerning.

On Friday I drove to the DFW zone for the first time in a couple months.

Then the day after Labor Day I found myself convinced to return to DFW, again, and stay for a couple days.

I have no idea why anyone would want my take on anything, but someone made me an offer I did not feel like refusing, who wanted to bounce ideas off me about my take on Texas, Tarrant County and Fort Worth.

Of course, I protested, saying but I am not a Texan, I am not a Fort Worthian. My ideas are worthless.

I have lost count of the number of times I have been told over the years that my opinions on Texas or Fort Worth  were of no validity due to not being a lifelong Texan, or a native Fort Worthian.

The not being a native Fort Worthian, as an opinion invalidator, particularly amuses me, due to the fact that it is my opinion about Fort Worth's ridiculous Trinity River Vision about which I am supposedly not supposed to opine, due to not being a native of that town.

But, that Boondoggle subject about which I opine has been begging for federal welfare dollars for years.

So, it is okay for Fort Worth to beg money from the rest of America for its ill-conceived imaginary flood control and economic development scheme, but it is not okay for the rest of America to opine regarding how Fort Worth is wasting America's money with things like building three simple little bridges over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island?

Anyway, I had myself an interesting couple days at an undisclosed location somewhere in the DFW Metroplex. During which, among other enjoyments, I enjoyed the Tandoor Indian Buffet in Arlington for the first time in years. That and my favorite chile relleno in the world, at Esperanza's in Fort Worth.

And the only other thing I am gonna say is while I might be willing on the spur of the moment to take a drive to DFW, there is no way I can be convinced to move to Washington, D.C...

Hank Frank's First Labor Day Working For Free

Just in from Grandpa Jake. Spencer Jack's cousin, Hank Frank, working a roadside fruit stand at his new home location in the Skagit Flats, near the Roozengarde Tulip installation. We have no information regarding Hank Frank's dad, Joey's, help with this enterprise.

In just 24 days Hank Frank turns one year old, on the same day his Grandpa Jake is another year older.

When I am in Arizona, at the right time, I enjoy all the free iterations of citrus available at multiple locations.

I'd forgotten all the easy to acquire, often free, produce one finds in the Skagit Valley, including all the blackberries one could possibly want to pick.

Tacoma Trio Generates Eastern Washington Pacific Northwest Power

This morning incoming email from the Tacoma Trio asked in the subject line "Still in the PNW, right?"

Via the text in the email and the photos I soon understood the premise of the question was asking if Eastern Washington was considered to be part of the Pacific Northwest.

Years ago I found myself associated with a Tacoma business called the Pacific Northwest Shop. During that association I had reason to seek an accurate definition of what was considered to be the Pacific Northwest. I do not remember if Google existed back then, but I just Googled to quickly find....

The Pacific Northwest is the region of the western United States located adjacent to the Pacific Ocean. ... Much of the Pacific Northwest consists of rural forested land; however, there are several large population centers which include Seattle and Tacoma, Washington, Vancouver, British Columbia, and Portland, Oregon.

Wikipedia has a Pacific Northwest article in which the first explanatory paragraph is even more detailed than the above one...

The Pacific Northwest (PNW), sometimes referred to as Cascadia, is a geographic region in western North America bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and (loosely) by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common conception includes the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC) and the U.S. states of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Broader conceptions reach north into Southeast Alaska and Yukon, south into northern California, and east to the Continental Divide to include Western Montana and parts of Wyoming. Narrower conceptions may be limited to the coastal areas west of the Cascade and Coast mountains. The variety of definitions can be attributed to partially overlapping commonalities of the region's history, culture, geography, society, and other factors.

So, I guess the above answers the is Eastern Washington part of the PNW question.

The text in the email left no doubt as to where in the Eastern Washington part of the PNW the Tacoma Trio had taken their parental units, with the following two illuminating sentences...

So I don’t know if you can figure it out from the pics but we were at Lincoln Rock State Park in East Wenatchee this weekend. So much fun.

The rest of the email's first paragraph detailed the vehicular malfunction woes which were part of the Eastern Washington adventure. And then additional text explained what we are seeing in the photos, such as the photo at the top is Theo and Ruby riding from their campground to the Pybus Market. I have no idea what the Pybus Market is.

And then we see Ruby and Theo learning to row a boat. The twins have a history of successfully rowing boats. The water they are floating on would be what is known as the Columbia River, perhaps the reservoir behind Rocky Reach Dam. The Columbia is a real river which flows clear, clean water, not a glorified ditch flowing polluted sludge. There are no Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats on the Columbia River.

The text explaining the above photo, "View from the campsite. Ok, cabin. But it’s still camping!" That would be Theo on the left, with big brother, David, on the right.

We'll let the text in the email explain the above photo, "We toured the Rocky Reach Dam then went to the Entiat Fish Hatchery and the nice lady there who let us feed the fish told us about a cool hike called Silver Falls. We went but didn’t love it."

That does look like a rather lame waterfall. The Tacoma Trio is used to seeing BIG waterfalls, like Snoqualmie Falls. Methinks they would be ultra disappointed if they ever saw the waterfall in Wichita Falls. Analytical David would quickly opine that it was ridiculous, particularly when he figured out it was manmade and flowed out of a cemetery.

The email text explained that above Theo, David and Ruby were making electricity at the dam.

Rocky Reach Dam has a HUGE educational type museum sort of attraction one gets to experience when touring the dam. I have been told that post 9/11 one goes through some sort of security to get to the powerhouse museum part of the dam. The fish ladder at Rocky Reach is the best of that type thing I have ever seen.

And once again, photos and memories of the Pacific Northwest are making me homesick.

This month David, Theo and Ruby's Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jack get to return to the PNW for the first time in years, well, two.

I believe school starts for the Tacoma Trio this week, so I don't know when next we will get taken on a new PNW adventure. Perhaps when Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jack come to town. Maybe a pedal car tour out of Ruston Point on the new pedestrian bridge to Point Defiance...

September Sunday Walking Wichita Falls Circle Trail Til Closed

On this first day of September, still slowly recovering from Friday's harrowing drive to America's favorite metro-mess, an early morning, hopefully salubrious, walk seemed like a good idea.

And so it was to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area of the Circle Trail I drove to do some walking.

In the photo what you are looking at is is the current termination of this section of the Circle Trail. The trail is not really closed, more accurately the sign should say "TRAIL END".

Or even more accurately, "TRAIL TEMPORARY END".

At the point where this section of Circle Trail ends, in a mile or two to the east, one comes to the Circle Trail in Lucy Park. Bids came in a couple months ago to close this gap, but all three bids were way over budget, so it was back to the drawing board, looking for more funds, or a lower bid.

One can see why trail building in this location would be challenging, what with pushing through what looks like a jungle, alongside the sometimes raging Wichita River.

Once the Lucy Park/Wichita Bluff Circle Trail gap gets closed there are then only two more gaps to close to complete the circle. The most challenging of those gaps is the one at the south end of the trail, where the Circle Trail currently terminates in Lake Wichita Park, near Mount Wichita, with the gap continuing until one gets to Barnett Road, with the Circle Trail there looking to be too narrow with too many street crossings.

If one day the circle of the Circle Trail finally lives up to its name I will be able to leave my abode to go on an almost thirty mile bike ride, totally free of dealing with street traffic, except for that aforementioned Barnett Road section which needs an upgrade.

I can not remember the last time I rolled myself on a thirty mile bike ride. Doing such sounds daunting at my advanced age and decrepitude level...

The Imaginary Eyes Of The World Are On Fort Worth

Years ago, early on in my exposure to Fort Worth's Star-Telegram official city propaganda organ, I made note of an odd phenomenon occurring with frequency in that newspaper, a phenomenon which came to be known as "Green With Envy Syndrome".

Where in an article about some perfectly ordinary, nondescript subject, the article would declare that this subject was making towns, far and wide, green with envy. There were multiple iterations of this, verbiage, such as some lame thing would somehow supposedly give Fort Worth "Bragging Rights".

This type nonsense is a sub-set of other Star-Telegram nonsensical propaganda, such as an ill-conceived public works project turning Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South. Or a lame food court type thing being modeled after public markets in Europe, and Seattle's Pike Place. Or a sporting goods store being destined to be the top tourist attraction in Texas.

And now we have a new iteration of the Star-Telegram's "Green With Envy Syndrome".

College football kicks off with all eyes on Fort Worth

Yeah, that sounds believable. College football kicking off is causing all eyes, everywhere, to be on Fort Worth.

The article contains multiple embarrassing instances of nonsense. Let's go through the article and look at some of those embarrassing instances of nonsense. The first three paragraphs...

When nearly 2 million people tune in to ESPN’s “College GameDay” on Saturday, Fort Worth will be front and center.

The game between Oregon and Auburn will be played at AT&T Stadium, but Rece Davis, Lee Corso and crew will be in Sundance Square. That’s good for DFW sports fans, but it’s great for Fort Worth as the city looks to boost tourism and national attention.

“You can’t pay for the kind of free advertising ‘GameDay’ gives us,” said Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price.

________________

Okay, so "all eyes" is now reduced to 2 million people with 4 million eyes. And though the football game will be played in the Dallas Cowboy stadium in Arlington, Fort Worth will be front and center.

And this will somehow boost tourism in the town few tourists tour, and those 4 million eyes will be giving Fort Worth much needed national attention.

Fort Worth's mayor thinks you can not pay for this kind of free advertising.

Well, I can not help but wonder why ESPN does not broadcast from downtown Arlington's Founders Plaza, which is close to the stadium, is bigger than Sundance Square Plaza, has a large stage. And something Fort Worth rarely has, modern public restrooms. Does Fort Worth give ESPN one of those incentives the town is so fond of giving any business indicating possibly wanting to come to town?

Continuing on with the continuing nonsense with three more paragraphs...

“College GameDay” averaged 1.9 million viewers last year and it’s safe to assume that number will be the same or better for broadcasts this year. That’s priceless exposure, said Mitch Whitten, executive vice president for marketing and strategy for Visit Fort Worth.

Studies have shown most outsiders imagine Fort Worth as a much smaller city, between 30th and 40th in size — think Albuquerque, New Mexico, or Fresno, California — instead of as a top 20 city, larger than Seattle, Denver or San Francisco, Whitten said.

“There’s no question that nationally people associate Dallas-Fort Worth as one big area,” he said. “This helps us elevate Fort Worth as a city of its own.”

_______________

So, Fort Worth has a national reputation for being a much smaller town than it is. We assume the size we are talking about is population, because that is the only measure which ranks Fort Worth as a big city. Now, why would people not realize Fort Worth is a "bigger" city than Seattle, Denver or San Francisco.

Well, stating the obvious, Seattle is known for having hosted a successful World's Fair, which left a Space Needle and a Monorail in its wake. Seattle is known as a scenic town, surrounded by water and mountains, a major port, connected to the Pacific, home to Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, Boeing, Costco and other world wide known entities. And the town has a big skyline of towers, and two sports stadiums downtown. Oh, and cruise ships and ferry boats. Denver is known for being a mile high, with a backdrop of Rocky Mountains. San Francisco is known all over the world for a big bridge built over actual water, a skyline of skyscrapers, Fisherman's Wharf, being hilly, cable cars, Chinatown, Haight-Ashbury, and a lot of other things, including being a beautiful Pacific Ocean port.

Meanwhile Fort Worth is known, world-wide, for....I'm waiting...uh, can you think of anything?

The recognizable skyline? A bustling downtown which is a ghost town on the busiest shopping day of the year? For being the only big city in America with no downtown grocery stores or department stores? For city parks with a ridiculous number of outhouses. With most streets having no sidewalks?

For having public transit in the form of a converted bus called Molly the Trolley?

Well, to be fair, which we always are, there is the Fort Worth Stockyards, which are the one and only thing in Fort Worth which is remotely unique.

Oh, I forgot, Fort Worth is getting national recognition for hosting America's most embarrassing boondoggle, the Trinity River Vision, limping along for most of this century with little to show but a mess of stalled construction. Oh, and there is that eyesore which has been boarded up for over a decade, Heritage Park, dedicated to honoring Fort Worth's history, located at the north end of downtown, across the street from the county courthouse.

The article continues on with multiple additional instances of propaganda, including the final paragraph...

“People often ask whether that view down Main Street is real or a backdrop, which I think says a lot about our downtown,” Campbell said.

_______________

Really? People often ask if the view is real or not? Looking down Main Street? Isn't that the view which ends with that unfortunate part of the convention center which looks like a giant flying saucer has landed on downtown Fort Worth?

Another indicator of how embarrassingly clueless this "All Eyes On Fort Worth" hyperbole is, is can you imagine a Seattle, Denver or San Francisco newspaper touting such over something so lame? No, I can't either.  A headline declaring "All Eyes on San Francisco as ESPN Broadcasts from Fisherman's Wharf as College Football Kicks Off" followed by an article touting how this will be a huge boost to San Francisco tourism, boosting the town's image.

Read the entire College football kicks off with all eyes on Fort Worth  article for the full dose of Star-Telegram Chamber of Commerce propaganda nonsense which bears little resemblance to reality.

Turbulent DFW Excursion With Explosions & Flying Grocery Carts

Til today it had been a couple months since I took the long way to D/FW, as opposed to flying to D/FW, which is a quick trip, well from Wichita Falls, a little longer from Phoenix.

I digress.

So this morning reasons arose which made it make sense to drive to D/FW.

The weather was not predicted to be any level of dire.

Not long after heading southeast on 287 the first weird thing happened. Suddenly it was obvious the northwest bound lanes were getting rained on, whilst the southeast bound lanes I was on were dry.

That strangeness last for a couple miles. And then the black smoke you see above came into view.

Soon it became obvious this was an incident on the road. Soon after that the road was blocked with traffic diverted to a frontage road. From the frontage road one could see a long line of vehicles was stuck behind the incident.

Driving slow on the frontage road we eventually came to whatever it was which had happened. No details could be determined whilst passing by, other than a big ball of flames spewing smoke.

I forgot to mention, by the time of the exit to the frontage road the sky had gone into drop a downpour mode. Which explains the view from my rain coated side window as we passed the conflagration.

Continuing on towards D/FW the sky eventually brightened.

And then around noon I arrived at Winco. The sky was blue. No sign of a storm no matter which direction I looked.

I was in Winco for about a half an hour. Upon exiting Winco I felt like Dorothy must have felt when she began her journey to Oz.

Calm had been replaced by storm. Dark clouds looked like tornado makers. Lightning was striking. Thunder boomed. Wind was blowing strong. Grocery carts were sailing across the parking lot. I had trouble securing my goods whilst the wind threatened to send them skyward.

Eventually I was back on my way to return to Wichita Falls. But not before navigating the bizarre mess one must drive through to get from Tarrant Parkway to Highway 287.

If I have said it once, I have said it twice. Fort Worth is not a town which wears big city pants. How in any sane world is it okay to have approved all that retail development without upgrading the roads? It is just inexcusably bizarre. And the type thing one does not see in what is known as modern America.

In modern America they do this thing called URBAN PLANNING. You do not give the go ahead to retail/commercial development without also having adequate infrastructure upgrades.

I can not imagine how any citizen of Fort Worth can drive 287 to Tarrant Parkway and not be appalled. Or try to drive Tarrant Parkway to 287 and also be appalled.

And yet it somehow remains a mystery to those who run Fort Worth in what is known as the Fort Worth Way why the town has such a bad reputation and has to offer bribes in any attempt to land various developments, be it a new residential building, a sporting goods store, a corporate headquarters, or anything else.

How can it not be known by ardent Fort Worthians that towns which have, uh, attributes, do not need to bribe with pathetic incentives?

Cascade Scenery Thunderbolts Tuesday With New Bike Parts

Good news sort of started yesterday when I first checked email. And then after that the day sort of went downhill.

Those early morning incoming emails told me replacement parts were being shipped to me to replace parts which broke on my bike, those being parts which should not have broken.

So, even though there was no warranty that I was aware of, a reasonable complaint to the manufacturer about the issue resulted in multiple emails from various sources, including UPS, telling me the parts are on their way.

So, Schwinn is well on its way to getting back its good reputation it had long ago, back in the previous century.

I shan't detail all of yesterday's woes.

But, around noon I went on a walk on the Circle Trail where I eventually found myself dodging lightning bolts and big rain drops delivered at high speed.

Prior to the thunderstorm I was walking and talking to my Arizona sister. Mom is not adjusting well to her new home.

After lunch, I took off for ALDI, feeling melancholy.

For years I used to call mom and dad whenever I got gas, to tell, usually mom, what the gas cost and what the current temperature was. In recent years I call, and when mom answers, I ask if mom wants to ride with me to ALDI, or Walmart, or the library, or some such thing.

At mom's new home her phone did not move with her. I got a text message on Sunday from my Tacoma sister, who was in Arizona, with mom, asking me to call either her phone or my Arizona sister's phone, so I could talk to mom.

When mom got on the phone I did not ask if she wanted to ride with me anywhere. That was no longer possible. I could not understand much of what mom was saying, til I sorta said goodbye, to which mom said something I could clearly understand, a question she usually always asked, as in "When are you coming for another visit?"
To which I replied, "As soon as I can get there." 

And then later in the afternoon Linda Lou called with some rather shocking news. Not my place to be detailed. Suffice to say, America's longest war needs to end and all the troops need to come home.

The news from Linda Lou caused me to email Maxine, something I had been intending to do for some time. So, I emailed Maxine the shocking news from Linda Lou, thinking Maxine likely had already heard, but in the oft chance she had not, I was emailing her with the shocking news.

Maxine quickly emailed back, she was as shocked as was I by the news. In my email to Maxine I also asked if she'd been doing any fun hiking.

So Maxine included two photos of her most recent hike, one of which is what you see at the top.

The Shannon Ridge Trail to the Mount Shuksan Summit.

Just last week, hiking photos from my favorite ex-sister-in-law, of a hike near Mount Shuksan, had me wondering if hiking to the summit of that craggy mountain was a doable thing.

Maxine's photos of the Cascade Mountains sort of activated that homesick feeling such photos have been causing me of late.

There are plans afoot to return to the Pacific Northwest. To visit? Or what? Time may tell...