To the Nimiipu, water was the strongest spiritual substance. Note that the snake that leaves the Snake River here at Buffalo Eddy, never arrives at the (older) shamanic figure. That’s because it’s […]
Snake Leaves the Snake
The Lost Mission of the Manastash
Ah, to be a young Oblate missionary in Washington Territory before the Indian Wars, when you were the only educated man for a thousand miles, and all you wanted was to stop […]
Reports of Father Pandosy Starving in 1846 Are Greatly Exaggerated
He’s the Boy from Marseilles, the French Oblate Priest who came on the Oregon Trail and started two of the first missions in Washington Territory, singing the whole time. His first was […]
Coyote Lets the Kids Out
The quarry’s a good place to get a drink on a hot day. I’m probably the first human they’ve seen. Worth a second look, I guess. For me, too.A welcome […]
The Story of the Bee and the Cactus
Welcome to the green pistil of the brittle prickly pear cactus flower!They don’t bloom every year, but they sure have a green heart! And the sweat bee dives in head first. Perhaps […]
It is the Time for Prickly Things and Gold
What? Your calendar says “May”? What’s with that? Look again. It is the time for gold. Well, ore, at least. Well, leftovers from the mines up the hill. Oh, wait, there’s new […]
Where the Heart is Home: A Celebration
I love this land. I guess you know that. I am this land. Other writers might talk about identity and ego and alter ego and personality, but I just want to take you […]
Just Spinning Around Here in Space
Good to remember the force that makes the hills. Moon Over the Yakima River Canyon, Umtanum Creek
A Red Bee in the Okanagan
How cool is that! Or, rather, how hot. A first for me. It appeared to be looking for a nesting site.
Cascadia: Where the Sea Breaks on the Land
Cascadia is the place where water, air and land meet …. … in waves …. … and boundaries. The stones here … … are also part of the mixing of water and […]
Okanagan Okanogan 