The late show

For the Twihards

Undoubtedly by this morning lots of devoted twihards have already seen some midnight showing of "Breaking Dawn: Part I." Completed my MFA program at a small college on the Olympic Peninsula, home of the world's most popular vampires and werewolves. Last year I took a graduation trip up the coast with a good friend, who dragged me (yep, that's my story) to the real-life town depicted in the books. The savvy business and community leaders in Forks have capitalized on the series' popularity, so much so that the remote small town has become something of a Twilight vortex. A Twilight Twilight Zone. (Seriously, it's a little weird. There are only so many Edward cutouts a person can handle.) The Quileute Nation down the road in La Push is also in on the fun but has taken a decidedly more low-key approach -- a sign that reads "No Vampires Beyond This Point," a coffee hut named after Jacob, and, on one convenience store cash register -- two bags of "werewolf hair," one marked "Jacob" and the other "Jacob's Cousin." The beaches are among the most beautiful in the world. (Below, top photo). But it's still an odd phenomenon, this worldwide mass pilgrimage to these tiny towns -- what do they hope to see, really? But I guess people want to feel closer to something that's touched them somehow. I get that. The woods and the bottom two photographs are on Makah tribal land north of La Push at Cape Flattery, the northwestern-most point of the contiguous United States.

...I went there because of a post card.

Real life angry bird

Terrible picture, but the bird deserves a shout-out for his sheer determination. Spent a lovely night in a B&B farm cottage in southwestern Wisconsin ... and a puzzling morning trying to find the source of a weird banging noise, which turned out to be this cardinal trying to bust through a window. When he saw me through the glass he looked at me like, "You're taking my picture? Open the #*&ing window!" I wrote a thank you email to the B&B and said I hoped the bird had given up by now. They said he'd been trying to break in for the past five years. Kind of sad and inspiring at the same time.

So it begins...

Yesterday.

A place to pray for miracles

A sunny post for a rainy day. A few weeks ago at the stunning  Holy Hill, a historical basilica that stands -- well, on a hill. Overlooks the landscape like Switzerland. Love the guy at the bottom left on the cell phone: "Hello, God? Are you there? It's me, Stanley." Note the circular windows in the tower... no glass, no nothing... just a staircase with a railing. Holy vertigo, batman.

Night stop

Big trees fall

From Cathedral Pines, a stand of original hemlock and white/red pines in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, Wisconsin. Felt like Little California. This what Wisconsin must've looked like a hundred and fifty or two hundred years ago, a patch of what was. Occupying my mind now: the twin trees that fell at Sequoia National Forest. I haven't been there but visited the redwoods along the coast, staring up the length of their trunks, trying to imagine how long they'd stood. Older than Jesus, some of them, a reference that's often employed but impossible to grasp. Practically immortal, supernatural. I tried to imagine standing there for thousands of years, quiet. Do they sense it, when one falls, after they've stood there so long together? Do they feel the vibration and know? What does it feel like to fall to the earth from that height, expanse, depth? What is it like when forever stops?

Reflecting pool

Someone's prince charming?

We'll never know...

Morning

Fog cover on Saturday morning. Not great for driving but it makes everything softer, quieter.
The photo below is from last year; a similar morning with changing light -- as the sun rises everything is yellow until the fog eventually burns off. Demise of a fallen cloud.

Demon derby

From Saturday night's "Monsterz Brawl". Last time I was there they tried to recruit me and my friends. I totally would do it but I have this thing about activities that could get my nose broken...