All Posts Written by "ken"
The Olympic ride of FDR
Great wealth seems always to inspire much conflict. On the Olympic peninsula, the wealth was the timber. There were those who saw the mighty trees of this most virgin of forests as treasure to be taken, a prize to be won with determination and the misery whip. There were others who saw the value of […]
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Midnight Rambler
It is the middle of the night. Or more like morning, I suppose. I don’t know. It’s dark and a little cold, and although the wind is crashing through the tops of the trees behind me, the air is calm here where I am, standing on a little strip of grass above the sandy beach. […]
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A Tidewater concerto
It is the sound, the sounds, that I will remember best. The entire mix of noise and noises. The muffled wingbeats of a merganser, flying low along the water. Almost audible whirling vortices slice off his wing tips, casting ripples on the surface. Clicks of some insect, I don’t know what, but they sound like […]
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Mats Mats Bay
It was still dark when I got on the road, another couple of hours before daybreak. Of course, this is the time of year when that’s more likely, days getting shorter and the sunlight, which always feels rationed here in the Pacific Northwest, is even less of a factor. The dark season. I got to […]
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A Follow-up
A bit of a side track, but I thought I’d mention it anyway. I was in Port Townsend the other day and while I was there, I figured I’d like to find Sentinel Rock, the place where the Duke of York carried out his vigil during the time of tension with the Clallams. (I wrote […]
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The Duke of York, part II
In the fall of 1859, on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a mail carrier was found murdered in his boat. His mail pouch had been rifled and his personal belongings were missing. Suspicion immediately centered on a young Indian who had been fishing in the area at the time of the killing. The settlers […]
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Away
In the day-to-day of work and responsibility, there are damn few moments that are completely within one’s control. The job, the gas tank, the kids and the yard all make their claim on a limited supply of time, money and energy. Does it not make sense then, that we must get away? If only for […]
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The Duke of York
When Port Townsend was in the process of being formed, the chief of the local Clallam Indian tribe was a man by the name of Chetzemoka. A friend to the settlers, he was widely referred to as the Duke of York, presumably because some of the round-eyed newcomers had difficulty pronouncing his name. It was […]
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Wetland reality
A river delta is a fertile place. In fact, for sheer fecundity, a healthy estuary beats all comers. No Brazilian rainforest, no tropical reef, no matter how pristine and fertile, can touch the ability to support life that you’ll find in those special intertidal zones where the river meets the sea. Salmon fingerlings and other […]
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A story of sea kayaking and science on the rugged coast of Alaska. Coming – Spring 2014.
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