It feels as if I have been away from my office for such a long time. Bears hibernate in the winter and it seems as though I hibernate in the summer. My body cannot handle the intense heat that summer brings.
This year I was sidelined by poor circulation that led to blood clots and compartment syndrome in my left leg. Much of July was spent with my leg elevated and feeling sleepy as a side effect of the medication.
August was spent hiding from the smoke and keeping bags packed for a possible evacuation. Heat and wind are a deadly combination. A fire broke out less than a mile away down the road we live on. I still haven’t brought my camera gear and hard drives back to the studio since we evacuated. Work will have to wait a little while longer.
While photography and writing suffered, I did have some wonderful adventures that I will share in forthcoming posts. Sarah and I spent a week sailing in the San Juans and I did get some days on the St. Joe and Coeur d’ Alene rivers fly fishing.
More recently I got back on my motorcycles for some camping adventures in Montana and Idaho. Perhaps the one goal I achieved that mattered the most was taking time to read a few books including some essays by the naturalist John Burroughs.
All and all, I would mark this summer as a wonderful season of rest and recreation with a healthy dose of risk management that made this time a real adventure.
Things seem to be returning to normal. Labor Day weekend brought a mixture of sun and rain for the campers crammed into full campgrounds.
Our morning coffee now brews in total darkness where a month ago it perked along with the sunrise. The farmer almanac is predicting a hard winter that was validated by my seeing a wooly caterpillar on a mountain trail last week.
The moose have returned to our back yard to eat ripe plums and our dear border collie Murdoch is resting on the floor next to me waiting for our next frisbee session in the cool morning air.
The kitchen remodel is almost complete and I am finally able to heat a teapot and settle into my office to renew my creative endeavors of words and images. Spotify is playing classical music in the other room and earl grey is steeping.
It is a good time to get back to work.
Cheers,
Ira
