Tuesday's postcard, a brief respite and some notes on the door..

September 19, 2023

North wall, the lichens of Amphitheater crater, northwest of Odessa

About that (swim) stroke…

It was a week ago, when I was in the water not far from the Spokane Falls, that I was startled for a moment to see something large in the water headed my way. It turned about to be lovely dog who, like many before her, was either overly friendly or just concerned about my welfare. It’s funny except it kind of hurts when a big dog bats you in the head with big paws, so I try to greet them at an arms length and at least try to persuade them them I’m not drowning. That usually does the trick, and it did this time. Still, bless her canine heart, she was waiting for me at the shore as I got out. I took a photo of her and posted it on facebook with what I thought was a funny critique of my “stroke—by which I meant my swim stroke. Regrettably, this was misunderstood by some as a reference to the other kind of “stroke” which I did not have. Thank goodness.

That said, I have been under the weather lately. I got dreadfully sick on my way to a Beautiful Wounds book event in Seattle in April, stemming from a swollen lymph node in my neck. It was signal from a dental problem that will put me back in the chair this morning (I have a wonderful dentist) as we work our way through this. So, for that I’ll ask your patience. I should be back to normal (whatever that is) in a week or two.

In the meantime: the paper version of The Pacific Northwest Inlander with my cover story on swimming with the Spokane River’s wild redband trout should still be on newstands today and possibly tomorrow if you haven’t picked up a copy. If you miss the paper version, or live outside the circulation area, you can go on-line and read it here.

Also—and this relates to today’s postcard—fall is definitely in the air and this is a great time to get in some special hikes before the snow flies. There are some wonderful hiking guides available from Bruce Bjornstad Spokane’s Rich Landers and others but if you’re into scabland hikes and the like east of the Cascades you can also check out the Field Notes section at my Rhubarb Skies website.

—tjc