Author: boolie

Adjustments

Our dog Ellie sleeps in the middle of the kitchen floor

Age has rendered Ellie mostly deaf so she can no longer hear me when I walk up to her. While she’s always slept on the kitchen tile or the hardwood floors, especially when it’s warm, she now often sleeps where I’ll have to step over her so she can more easily keep track of where I am in the house. The cats have adjusted by hopping over her when she inadvertently blocks them in a room.

At the dog park this morning the two other old black labs in the neighborhood were both there, one of their owners asked me if there was ever a time Ellie wasn’t smiling. I thought of all the solemn looks the pup has given me over the years when she’s been bored as I’ve photographed her, but I knew what she meant. That smile is contagious, I’ve seen it spread onto the faces of so many people who have met her. And countless times, to my own.

Five Years Gone

Our cat Scout sleeps on a pillow

It was five years ago that we had to say goodbye to my beloved Scout. I’d say I hate this day more than any other but today was actually a pretty good day. Picture is from 2001, a few months after we adopted her.

Prophecy

Our cat Boo yawns while sitting on the wooden grate as a narrow beam of light falls upon him

“When the shadows rise and the path lies hidden, do not despair! For then shall the light pierce the darkness and fall upon its champion, master of dark and light, for he is dark and light, and he shall guide you.”

So concludes today’s reading from “The Book of Boo”.

Where Am I?

A closeup of vertical lines in a pair of adjacent garages in the Irvington neighborhood of Portland, Oregon

Vertical lines. Wood and concrete, moss. Sun and shadow. Where am I?

A closeup of grids and vertical lines in a pair of adjacent garages in the Irvington neighborhood of Portland, Oregon

Let’s pull back a little. Grids. A window. Am I? Am I?

A pair of adjacent garages in the Irvington neighborhood of Portland, Oregon on a cold, sunny winter morning

I am! I’m at my favorite pair of garages on a cold but sunny winter morning.

The World of Water

A harbor seal peaks over the waves in the pouring rain at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area in Newport, Oregon on October 7, 2017. Original: _L1A8594.CR2

Ours is a world of water but not so much as theirs, particularly on days of water above and below. You should have seen the smile on my face when the rain really started chucking it down as I watched the harbor seals frolic in the surf. Water defines so much of what I love about the Pacific Northwest, the lush greens of the forests, the snow on the mountains, the waterfalls, the seasonal ponds, the wetlands, the mountain streams, the rivers, the oceans, the tide pools. All the animals therein. I’m trying to soak it in while I can in case I end up in a world still defined by water, but by its absence rather than its abundance. But I’ll love photographing those places too, I learned long ago to focus on what you love about where you are rather than what you miss about where you were.

📷: Canon 7D II | Canon 500mm f/4L IS USM + 1.4x III
🗓️: October 7, 2017

To California

A California scrub-jay perches on a grape vine in a backyard in Portland, Oregon

I photographed this California scrub-jay in our backyard in 2005, back when it was known as a western scrub-jay. The species was split into two in 2016, the California is who you’ll usually see in Oregon. Emma was particularly fond of the large, gregarious birds like jays, crows, and flickers, so if she was on watch I always knew when one landed in our backyard.