LEE AND JIM, BUDDIES.

Without these two guys in my life, I would probably have turned out much more normal, which would be sad. Truly two of the greatest and most eccentric people in the known universe. My uncle and dad. To hear them banter and argue...they'll probably go to their final resting places someday never realizing there's a name for their relationship with each other: BFFs. When aliens eventually land here, please let these two be the first humans they meet. They'll love us. Or they won't. One of the two. Titans. ____ #dads #uncles #pnw #leica #oregoncoast #44people

A post shared by Joseph Long (@josephivanlong) on Apr 15, 2017 at 11:35pm PDT

THERE'S ALWAYS THE BRONZE.

MOMMY!!!
one of the children yelled from bed.
I love you! You're my favourite parent!

Good night!
(I calmly shrieked back to this child from a few rooms over; this child was disgruntled at me for any of a thousand reasons, or all.)
I love you, and you're one of my favourite children!

Oh.
(the child trumpeted back with confidence and a distinct lack of sorrow. )
Well, I'm sorry, but you're not one of my favourite parents.

As Kurt Vonnegut might say: and so it goes. Happy day, all.

JIM THORPE.

The Olympics start tonight.
I, like seventeen billion other people, am a sucker for them.
Because sometimes they're awesome.
Despite the fact that, indefensibly, there's still no speed reading, synchronized wrestling, or sand dune jumping events.
Four-hour tape delay?
Hmmm.
I wish NBC would hire Chuck Klosterman to do commentary.

VERY LITTLE TRAVELS : "Bad, Bad People" (video)

VERY LITTLE TRAVELS: Insurcountable (Neskowin, Depot Bay, Oregon Coast) video

iPhone-shot musings on Olympic parenting, set against the miserableness of the Oregon Coast. There's probably still events in Rio happening, or Zac Efron videos on SnapChat, so that might be a better bet, but if those don't appeal to you, then totes take a look. It's fifty-seven seconds.

BOY AT BEACH ILLEGALLY USING COFFEE CUP TO COLLECT ROCKS.

Medium roast, hold the whip, with salt water and crabs.

EXPLORATIONS: CAPE KIWANDA, KHAL.

Albert Einstein, Albert Schweitzer, Isaac Newton, Fred Jones, Steven Spielberg, and Genghis Khan, as well as Khal Drogo, were all children once too.

And some of them probably played on the beach. I hope Einstein did.

The ways in which childhood shapes every person differently.

I'm considering writing an unauthorized novel about a young Marlon Brando and the summer he visited his great-uncles at the seashore.

This is the book cover. Now I just need to write the book.

EXPLORING: HAPPY CAMP.

to go home.

ALMOST.

The wind almost hit my face like baby chainsaws, almost ripping the skin off; the air so dense with cold I could almost swallow it like oxygen porridge. I could almost hear the hyenas in the distance waiting for my warm body to freeze up so they could grab a late afternoon snack.

"Anyone wanna help me put up Christmas lights?"
I asked.

Yeah.
she said.
I'll come help.

And she did.

For the fourth year in a row.

Man, I almost like this human.

Also, this image is nowhere near any Christmas lights. It's near a beach. A beach that was cold, wet, and windy, and where we almost got dragged out to sea by force of the almost-gale force winds. Why this image then?

Because I said:
I'm going out for a stroll to see the seashore. Anyone wanna go?

I'll go.
she said.

And she did.

Man, I think I really do like this human.

More than almost.
____

thanks, Sasha Suzanne for the lovely hairstyling

Fly away. Return home. Love. Food. Community. Fly away. Return home. Repeat. I try not to take those things for granted. The chance to settle and the chance to wander; the gift of flight and mobility and the gift of foundations and permanence; the social ecosystems to balance that can make life wonderful. Happy holiday season, world. Be nice to people. And all living things and beings. ____ #44landscapes #oregoncoast

A photo posted by Joseph Long (@josephivanlong) on Nov 30, 2014 at 10:18am PST

The ocean is never far from my heart. And on super good days, it's not far away from the rest of me either. ____ #netarts #44pacificnwplaces #44landscapes #oregoncoast

A photo posted by Joseph Long (@josephivanlong) on Nov 28, 2014 at 10:52pm PST

INDEPENDENCE FOR ALL-ISH.

INDEPENDENCE, PT. 1. / Flags of Freedom.
Well, today's the day the flags on Main Street are blowing in the wind, and I listen to Neil Young (see above) and know that I am surrounded by those who will stand by me.
(Note how I just sneakily crammed the titles of three five-star songs in there)
And our son stomps around in his faux-British accent and wood sword with duct tape with orange Crocs on backwards. This here's what America's all about. Happy happy, all.

INDEPENDENCE, PT. 2 / 
How many GOOD SONGS can you think of with titles that include the words:
: freedom, independence, fight
(Not that those are the defining words of today; they just get used a lot)
They can be variations (e.g. free, independent, fought)

They do have to be of sound quality.

The pen is mightier than the spear,
but a good stick 
can write huge messages in the sand that 
aliens will able to read from light years away.
The power of thinking big.

FAROUT FARADAY.

- Daddy?
he said with casual earnest.
- I'm going to make some poison today. Can you please get me some baking powder? And some...gunpowder?

- Well.
I said.
- I think we might be out of baking powder.

Manhattan Beach / Rockaway, Oregon

BUCKET LIST #71. 
Kiss my wife at five different beaches in one day.

Check.

TWO LADS ON TOP OF WORLD.

Melody of Certain Four Amongst All the Sand in All the Seas (Homage to Blonde Redhead and All the Love in All the World).