DEAF HEAVEN IN THE WATERFALL DRENCHED FOREST.

52. I listen to classical and metal, and my family and I hike year round. Three things that bring me joy, focus, and peace. Happy November. The grey, the rain, the sun, the wet, the fog, the green, the blue, my colorblind-ish eyes dig it all. Dry socks are nice too. And hot chocolate with little floaty marshmallows at the end, thanks @countessbecca 😘 ____ #rachmaninov #pnw #columbiagorge #waterfalls #44landscapes #deafheaven #44pacificnwplaces

A post shared by Joseph Long (@josephivanlong) on Nov 18, 2017 at 11:58pm PST

INTO THE WILD.

Please Eddie Vedder, please write a song about this summer, and this place, and make something bittersweetlybeautiful out of heartbreak.

SLEEP THE CLOCK AROUND.

YOUNG SAINTS.

My heart beats with so much love to see the intensity, attention to detail, and enthusiasm our daughter has brought to her creative process; most recently with recording and mixing in GarageBand. Has been going through the agonies of background noise (e.g. little brothers) infiltrating live vocal tracks mid-recording. Currently putting together a cover of We Are Going to be Friends.

EXPLORATIONS: HOOD RIVER, AND TWO VERY DIFFERENT THOUGHTS ON CHILDHOOD.

A) “It's never too late to have a happy childhood.”
― Tom Robbins, Still Life with Woodpecker

B) “Summer will end soon enough, and childhood as well.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

BIRTHDAY #5.

May you be smart enough to use the current when it's taking you where you want.

And may you be strong enough to swim against it when it's not.

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.
Our daughter and her cousins wanted to pool their money together to buy her brother a fifty-cent birthday present. They came up a little short.

Fortunately, her overly-kindhearted aunt was on hand to chip in the remaining two quarters.

JUXTAPOSITION.

Ordinary activities in extraordinary places.

Amazing the magic that can happen when you
combine a couple normal things in unique ways,
or put together two ordinary ingredients that don't belong together,
or make a spectacular deal out of something trivial,
or simply find a fresh place to do something familiar.

One of my founding beliefs of existence is that food - and beverage - pretty much always tastes better outside.

A cup of chocolate on a big rock. Or mountain, depending on your perspective and size.

EXPLORATION: COLUMBIA GORGE (BONNEVILLE DAM)

Where no human foot has ever trod.*
____

*if you look closely, you can vaguely see a structure in the background that may or may not have had some assistance from homo sapiens, thus rendering our exploration not entirely a first. When in Rome.

Bonneville Dam in Columbia Gorge / ©2015 Joseph Ivan Long

CIRQUE DU STAIRS.

PLACES: Oneonta Falls

First time taking the kids on the Oneonta Falls hike out in the Gorge. Hands down, one of the THE MOST FUN hikes we have taken them on in the last three years.

A little danger, a lot of water and wet, swimming underneath waterfall...what a fantastic family expedition. Highly recommend. Exit #28 if you're coming from Portland.

Thanks fellow friends for helping make it a blast as well!

A COLD HIKE, A HOT CUPPA SOMETHING WARM.

No matter the weather
or where you are
or who you're with,
or what you're doing,
the day always starts off a little better with a hot cuppa something good.

My Old Friend in the Sky; Also, the Fair and the Chocolate Factory

I saw a cloud skip past today; it looked familiar. 

I examined it closely and realised it is one I waved to 25 years ago, when I was eleven. 

I did not even know this cloud was around still. Good to see you, old friend. You've aged well. Thanks for the shade, and travel well. Say hello to Copenhagen for me, if you make it that way.
____

Tribute to Veruca Salt (Sunday Night Cinema)

Step Right Up (Visual Depiction of a Tom Waits Song in Progress).

Dangerous (Swedish-French Exploration Party).

A visual illustration of what it's like
to stand someplace that human feet 
have never tread up until this point,
and we are looking at the river sharks
indigenous to this particular secret portion of the river.

The cliff behind us was 200 metres straight down;
next time I will send our brave daughter with rope
and pitons to construct a ladder down to the cove 
at water's edge.

I will stand guard, and keep the wart hogs
at bay while she constructs.
We are dangerous, and we've got eyes 
that hit like heat.

And we make ends meet.


We are a little bit dangerous.

8 Miles High

Hiked Beacon Rock yesterday. A sunny oasis amongst weeks of wet. Magdelana split time between walking and bouncing on my shoulders. Becca, eight months knocked up, kept turning heads with her beautiful belly, and received half a dozen admiring comments about her Amazonian babeliness. So we huffed and puffed and made the top.

So many shades of green. Thick, dense, delicate, beautiful green. I love it here. Kept thinking that the toppa the rock would make a great concert backdrop for Colorblind Soldiers. They gotta get some better roadies first.