arches

this beautiful form took me from a mountain top in oregon to a cliffside in italy - such strength, such simplicity, such contrast between light and dark. i love the way it frames views and forms the foundation for beautiful spaces.

mt. angel abbey

arches at mt. angel abbey

arches overlooking the mediterranean in cinque terre, italy (tara byler sawyer in 1999)

side trip

on my way back to portland from silver falls state park i made a few quick stops - to enjoy the architecture and peace at mt. angel abbey, to savor what's fresh from the fields at a produce stand, and to soak in the colors of saturated pink poppy fields.
mt. angel abbey

finnish architect alvar aalto's library at the mt. angel abbey

a pink sliver hovering above the wheat fields becomes

a sea of brightly hued poppies

homebrewed kombucha

As the green tea-sugar water mixture cools in the recycled olive jar, the SCOBY waits patiently to be added to the mix and begin its fermenting magic. While waiting I listened to the men's semifinal (Roddick-Murray) on Radio Wimbledon.

I'm trying my hand at my first homebrewed kombucha thanks to Chris's generous gift of a thriving SCOBY (short for Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast). For those of you who haven't tasted kombucha - it is a sweetened fermented tea that has been described as an "immortal health elixir.

Kombucha, which dates back to the Qin Dynasty in China (250 B.C.), balances the middle Qi (spleen and stomach) which in turn aids digestion and allows your body to focus on healing. Just what I need!

First you brew tea (green tea in my case) and mix it with sugar water before adding the SCOBY to the concoction. I just bottled my first batch and will now wait for a couple weeks before I decant it into smaller bottles and get it ready for drinking.

what summer is all about

hiking through the high desert of central oregon to the smells of juniper and sage (and coming face to face with a rattlesnake!)
waiting for the campfire to be ready for roasting marshmallows
drinking margaritas and making s'mores
if you're a kid - playing in the hammock... if you're an adult - napping in the hammock
preserving all the memories

meet me in st. louis

from time to time i find myself on the road... and recently i visited st. louis. touring the grounds of the st. louis arch designed by eero saarinen and dan kiley was the highlight. going to the top of the arch was not. but hey, now that i've done that i don't ever have to do it again. that's what i love about life - there's always a brightside.