Hope it’s an outstanding day, everyone!

Gotta go…

Parking at work; got this from the parking garage.

It’s a working day today.

Almost nothing today.

iPhone shot & processed

River has been getting all the love on the blog; gotta get Daisy in on the action.

Another slow day on the photography front. I seem to be in film develop-and-scan mode now, and I’m finding it hard to get out and shoot. It is still too hot outside; it will be until mid to late October. I have some shooting (picture-making) ideas but need a good kick in the pants to get out there and actually do it.

I have a thyroid surgery coming up soon, which I’m trying hard not to think about much. I’m hoping the recovery will be fairly short, and I’ll feel well enough to get out and take some pictures during recovery. If not, maybe develop some film.

That 120 film is still staring at me. I’ve watched a few videos on spooling it and sacrificed a roll to practice with. Almost ready.

I hope the day was good to you, and as always, thank you for stopping by.

I was so busy today cleaning everything up and putting stuff away that I forgot about pictures. I took 3 pictures today of River getting his post-vacation bath, and this was the best one. I cropped in heavily to keep the focus on him.

One of those days where I wished I had a better picture.

Cleaning up after a big road trip is so much work that I need another vacation!

Vacation Numbers and Thoughts:

• Photos Shot
  • Nikon Z8: 589
  • iPhone: 693
  • 3 rolls of 35mm on the Nikon F3
  • 2 rolls of 120 on the Pentax 67
  • Polaroid: 0

I did not do nearly as much film shooting as I thought I would. There just isn’t enough time in the day when photography isn’t the main focus.

I was happy with a lot of the shots, but I’m still thinking about those old road signs I had to pass by. Painful. Again, I gotta work on a photography road trip.

I brought my Polaroid SX-70 and did not take a single photo.

Books read: Five. Very happy about that. I had ample reading time this year and loved moving from one book right into the next. I truly love reading. Physical Books purchased: Eleven. Two magazines all about books and reading. Ten stickers. One Haida Collection stationery set by Clarence Mills and a 6-DVD set by The Great Courses on The Story of Human Language.

Somehow, I completely forgot to journal. Digital or analog. I’m not happy about this, and it shows my habit is not as ingrained as I thought. In fact, I don’t even remember thinking that I should journal. I didn’t bring my paper journal, which won’t happen again, but I could have journaled in Obsidian and never even opened it. Sad. It’s important to me to look back on things with pictures, but having a journal ties it all together when you can read what you did that day, where you went, what you ate, etc.

All in all, a great trip.

iPhone shot & processed

Finally made it home.

Now the cleanup begins.

Just a few photos from the trip that I never posted down in Stray Pixels

iPhone shot & processed

Long day driving, lots of wind, but a few great signs. I wish I had more time to capture them properly. I can really see a road trip where the whole mission is photographing old road signs.

May your hope be strong.

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest — in the Gale — is heard —
And sore must be the storm —
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm —
I’ve heard it in the chillest land —
And on the strangest Sea —
Yet — never — in Extremity,
It asked a crumb — of me.
~ Emily Dickinson

iPhone shot & processed

Eight hours of driving today, too much for me. Safely in Elko, NV. Woke up to the remnants of evening rain and dew.

I hope you had a beautiful day.

iPhone shot and processed

Can you smell it?

Hello from LaGrande, OR. Good day of traveling; really long day of driving tomorrow. Going to get some rest.

iPhone shot & processed

Tomorrow we begin our journey South.

Today was a day of favorites: coffee shop, hike, stores, and fish & chips. Prepping for an early departure tomorrow. Filled up with diesel, which has become painful at $7.00+/gal.

Pictures from the road tomorrow.

I hope you are reading a good book. If not, start one today!

iPhone shot and processed

Hikes, Bookstores, Farmers' Markets, Coffee shops. I’m in my happy place.

The farmers' market was amazing. Over 100 booths and a little bit of everything. We found a proper used bookstore that was bursting with books, on two levels, with stacks all over the floor- how it should be, in my opinion.

One of my favorite writers is Karl Ove Knausgaard, and I found a hardcover first-edition set of My Struggle. Sadly, it was missing volume 1, but that will give me something to search for.

All the extra little bits down in Stray Pixels

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. I hope you found some peace today in this hectic, out-of-control world we live in.

iPhone shot and processed

All film shooting today, so just a few iPhone shots to get the pic of the day.

Found our best halibut fish & chips place yet, just about perfect. Spent a few hours in the local bookstore, which was a delight. Will be back again to spend a few more hours. Purchased two books and two magazines that are dedicated to readers and books.

Explored the village of Fairhaven for a while and went to a local park for a hike. I could really get into this nice, simple lifestyle, LOL. Going to be hard to go back to work.

👾Click for Stray Pixels👾

All iPhone shot and processed

Nothing good down here, just mostly posted for the sake of memories.