Rare red-tinged Scotch broom along Hwy 202, Astoria, Oregon. A good example of how deficient and/or damaged life can radiate even more beautifully than the healthy. #Scotchbroom #Astoria #Sundamagedplant

When fiction hits harder than fact because it's fact with the names changed.

Currently reading and now understand why it's considered one of the greats of 20th century literature.

Two trees stand sentinel on both sides of the ground trail of the Avondale Forest Walk County Wicklow, Ireland. An old dry stone wall is seen in the right background, covered with vegetation with the Forest Walk structure just visible above it.

Avondale Forest Walk, County Wicklow, Ireland

A rainbow stretches long and low over The Burren in County Clare, Ireland. The mostly empty car park for Aillwee Caves is seen below in the foreground.

Rainbow over The Burren County Clare

Can't even begin to express how much I enjoyed Dispatches from Elsewhere.

Just learned these are bird's nest fungi.

My apartment has a Frigidaire stove and a Hotpoint refrigerator.

Small mushrooms with cupped heads growing from a moss covered fallen branch resemble suction cups on a woody tentacle

Spotted these little cupped fungi while walking a wooded path a few days ago. They make the branch resemble a tentacle. #mushrooms #PNW #OregonCoast #FortStevensStatePark

A weathered log of driftwood with waves and swirls colored gray, white, and black by the elements sits on the beach far from the surf at the mouth of the Columbia River in Northwest Oregon.

From a distance, this piece of driftwood looked like a small seal with its head raised to the sky. As I got up close, it proved to be more interesting. Love the colors and shapes. All driftwood is unique, but this one was especially so. #PNW #driftwood #SouthJetty #Oregon #ColumbiaRiver

Violet webcap, Cortinarius violaceus, among twigs, moss, ferns, clover, and dead leaves. Two yellow pine needles rest stop the cap.

Finally spotted a violet webcap in the wild. Was starting to get purple mushroom envy.

Some sort of burgundy colored shelf mushroom growing from a moss covered stump. It has a series of bulbs of the same color that makes it look like a hammerhead worm. Beautiful and unusual, and just a little creepy.

I've never seen a shelf mushroom grow like this. Another smaller one was growing out of the other side of the stump. Beautiful and unusual, and just a little creepy. #mushroom #KwisKwis #OregonCoast #PNW

"On Horror"
Time to begin again
Time to wield bloody pen
Compose with wicked hand
Compose some sordid strand
Tell dozens of eerie tales
Tell none of many flails
Bleed, spook, thrash, and rage
Bleed twisted mind onto page
Time to wield bloody pen
Time to begin again

With that, I've written every day for four years in a row.

My Labor Day tradition is to watch a movie starring the laziest man in Los Angeles County.

Even when you can't see it, the sun still rises and shines.

Thank you and sorry for your loss, as well. Dogs are the best people. My rain dog Brother left his soul shadow imprinted on me like a tattoo.

A long-haired large black dog named Brother wearing a green bandana enjoys a sunny day laying on unmowed grass amid lawn daisies with the struts of a bridge and the bay beyond in the background.

Two days ago, 29 May 2025 just after 11:00 AM, my best friend and greatest constant companion passed at home in our arms. Brother will forever leave a massive hole in my heart. Mornings are the hardest, and I wonder when they will finally stop hurting so much. Farewell, Brother.

Sorry. I haven't identified them.

"Pacific" (a triolet)
She left me breathless
And able to breathe again
How she did it, I can only guess
She left me breathless
A life of anxiety and stress
Promised to drown me, and then
She left me breathless
And able to breathe again

Multiple small brown mushrooms grow out and of the decaying trunk of a tree stump with moss in the background

Spotted (Haiku)
Beauty from decay
Pistol-butted parasols
Hiker thanks towhee
#haiku #NaPoWriMo #NationalPoetryMonth #mushrooms #PNW #nature #hiking #KwisKwis

"I'm longing to linger 'til dawn, dear."

The peace and tranquility solitude provides the introvert

Exclusive love traps us. Expansive love sets us free.

I'm thankful for that one person who makes me feel calm and at ease merely by her presence.

Looking for suggestions for writers, poets, artists and accounts that discuss books to follow. Any recommendations greatly appreciated.

"It was very exciting for her, taking his dignity away in the name of love." ~Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

Already liftin my spirits being here on Bluesky. And so much nicer seeing the gentle beauty of the app icon than the harsh black eks.