I went on another walk today...Man, I love this place!

Wow! Look at these colors!

and yes, another tidal pool...different beach though
into the woods
The entire beach is made up of pebbles like these. Amazing yes? Look at all those types and colors!

More pictures from home

moss on rocks

Sun streaming through hanging moss

Quaint little town up close

Quaint little town from farther away
logs with ivy growing over them
uprooted tree trunk
water rushing through crack in rocks
trees fallen across the path

inside a bush looking out

tidal pool

tidal pool 2

madrona tree

an interesting tree

another look at the interesting tree

Pictures from home

One of my favorite parks on the island. More coming soon. I've been having some problems with the download feature on Blogger...

Madrona trees reaching magestically into the sky

That same Madrona tree

Me with Mariel! She's my friends' baby...sooo cute!
Our Christmas tree
Daddy with Mariel. He is so enamored of her. He'll make a GREAT grandpa someday!

In the Chicago Airport...

I went to Chicago on Monday, then drove back home. Then on Tuesday I flew into Chicago to catch a connecting flight to Washington State. These are pictures from the psychodelic walkway between terminals B & C. If you get there in the early morning, when no one is there it especially feels like you're halucinating. Tweaky music accompanies weird light patterns playing up and down the passage as a people mover whisks you by weirdly lighted pannels.

Here is the same picture, lightened up a bit.

Jeremiah and my trip to Chicago

Me in front of the tree at the downtown Marshall Fields

Jeremiah in the Cheesecake Factory (YUM!)
Jeremiah in Marshall Fields
oooo! So many presents!
Another picture in front of the tree!

This Country Is So Screwed Up...

As you log out of Hotmail, you get shot into MSN's homepage. They have banners of things that might be interesting to catch your eye, so hopefully you read and then get bombarded by advertising, of course. The main banner had the following article to link to under "Ways to make the holidays more romantic"

“10. Volunteer at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter. You'll get to spend quality time together, plus you'll realize how fortunate you really are.”


WHOA! Now I don't curse, but this sort of quote makes me want to. How #*$(#*$'ed up is THAT?!?! Not "volunteer at a soup kitchen because if you are any sort of a human you should care about those less fortunate than you and want to help them and do something to help them practically and show you care about them and hopefully bring some joy into their life." not even, "volunteer at a homeless shelter because it'll build character." No, folks, we're supposed to volunteer because we'll "realize how fortunate [we] really are" Yes, that's right. the real reason to volunteer is to be smug, self-satisfied individuals who can clap ourselves on the back for being more fortunate then those we're 'serving'. And not only that, it can be 'quality time' with our sweetie! Oh yes, just another way to entertain ourselves, once we've been to all the good movies and coffeeshops. Oh how sweet and romantic! I guess you don't go volunteer at a soup kitchen to show those who may be feeling like they've been rejected by society that there are people who love them and care about them, or practically help them, or even the stand-by "to build character", nope, we do it to serve ourselves by "being romantic" and cute. Yay! Another way we can be self-absorbed! And then we can go home and pat ourselves on the back for performing a "selfless" action and give a "whew! I'm glad I'm not one of THEM. Man, how great am I?" and then keep passing homeless people on the street without acknowledging they're human or maybe, if we're really great people, think to ourselves "How fortunate I am!"



We really are bastards aren't we?