Chimney Pot

Chimney Pot, a photo by DeForestRanger on Flickr.

Venturing rather outside my accustomed style, I decided to go with an "Industrial Revolution" interpretation of smoke using a neighbor's chimney as my model. Many people in the area heat with wood, so in these chilly days, smoke wasn't hard to find. I was aiming for an "old London" look here, and hope I achieved it in other eyes than my own. I still have to wonder how Santa Claus fits his bulk through one of these, but suspect that will always be an unsolved mystery.

Ganesha, a photo by DeForestRanger on Flickr.

This figure of Ganesha belonged to my mother, one of several dozen representations of him which she had in her home, and one of the largest. It was one of her favorites because in addition to the deity, it depicts his rat, a symbol of abundance and good fortune. According to one version of the legend, Ganesha obtained his elephant's head when his father Shiva became jealous of his mother Parvati's attentions to the boy and beheaded him. Later, in a moment of regret, Shiva replaced his son's head with that of an elephant. Ganesha is also known as the Remover of Obstacles and as such, was often propitiated with incense, flowers and sweets. Here, I have surrounded him with a metallic brocade and strings of exotic beads as my mother once kept flowers by his side.

The Mountain Rises

The Mountain Rises, a photo by DeForestRanger on Flickr.

There are few places in western Washington where you can find a view of Mt. Rainier unimpeded by telephone lines and poles and unmarred by human construction without committing some form of trespass, however minor it might be. A certain bend in a quiet dead-end road which arcs around the south side of Lawrence Lake is one of them. You may have to reach up tall and hold the camera above your head to keep the blackberry vines from invading the lower portion of the frame, but you have the liberty of time for few folk other than the residents ever pass this way. There is no McMansion hogging this view, only a tumbledown old stone cottage, now overgrown with ivy so heavily that the structure is almost completely engulfed but for its empty windows. And stranger yet, the homes further on are not particularly elegant, but then, they do not have the view and face the lake instead. One wonders why developers haven't exploited this corner of beauty, spoiling it for the rest of us. For now, we can be thankful that it is nearly as pristine as it was when the Longmires settled in the area a hundred and more years ago.

First Ice

First Ice, a photo by DeForestRanger on Flickr.

The first serious snow has come to the high country, and soon the Stevens Canyon Road will be closed to vehicles. It was slick today with compact snow and ice in many places, but I was able to get to Reflection Lake again for a short hike and a little photography. A crust of ice has begun to form on the north and west edges of the lake, almost enough to interfere with the reflection of the Mountain but not quite.

Mountain...Mt. Rainier..."MT." Those letters signify "mountain" first and foremost in my lexicon. "Montana" was my second thought...too far away...and "empty" registered much later. I live and breathe mountains, particularly "the Mountain," the icon of the Pacific Northwest.