Street Life

Intimate detail photographs in the city environment.

Excerpts from a Tour of Idaho, #35

jpallen City Life, Nature Life, Street Life , , ,

1

I arrive in McCall greeted by unseasonably cool and wet weather and meet the Camp Director. He apologizes for an empty camp and the rain, both not ideal for our reason for being here. The empty camp was expected because of COVID. The weather, which started as a dry and hot spring has turned into a wetter and cooler one. It is decided to make the most of it by taking a few photos around camp then making our way to the marsh. After hiking a ways in the marsh, the rain is coming down harder and I find a place to rest in the company of a large boulder poking through the brush and a single stem of small yellow flowers.

Rain on the marsh pond…
Its fragrance soaks the forest,
Dripping from the pines

2

The Hotel in Idaho Falls is very crowded. There is a softball tournament happening this weekend! I like baseball in all forms and it is fun to see the gear and the excitement of the young players. However, a nervousness prevails at the lack of physical distancing in the hotel hallways as I am thrust into an energetic mask-less crowd.

Faintly seeing through
The dusty hotel window…
The bird’s morning song.

3

In Tetonia, a person I met at the facility guides us to a nice spot on the edge of the canyon above the Teton River. In the distance, the Grand Tetons rise into the clouds. It was a good start to our visit at this location; to see a favorite spot of someone who, when asked, “Where are you from?” answered, “Just down the road.” It struck me that someone could spend their entire life in one place and be content. It felt to me the landscape was part of him and he part of the landscape.

In the summer sun…
The ancient basalt surfaces,
Whispering their tales.

4

A drive through the Salmon River Canyon from Stanley to Salmon:

The humming of tires,
Fading into the spectrum…
Canyon’s evening light.

5

Arriving in Salmon the streets are empty. It is after dinner and the summer sun is shining late on the longest day of the year. I stop and ask directions to the Stagecoach Inn. Two patrons keeping their physical distance banter back and forth until they are sure of its location. I am grateful for their kindness and find the hotel easily. I inquire about a riverside room and am awarded one because it is a slow night. Another reason to be grateful! I unpack some food and sit on the balcony over looking the grassy shore and the Salmon River. A man wearing a protective mask walks his dog to river’s edge and for a moment they both stand in the rushing river’s silence.

I wake early and returning to the balcony, enjoy a warm breakfast in the cool morning air.

Over the mountains,
Peaks the morning summer sun,
Dancing with the leaves!

6

On the last day of the journey I drive through rain along the Clearwater River. It the first rain since day one in McCall. The fog rising from the river and skirting the mountain ridges reflects the evening sun. This has a settling effect after a week of many miles and long days. Arriving home I am too tired to do much else but sleep. In the morning I wake up early and smile.

Striking its own chord…
In rhythm with weed eaters…
Cricket’s morning song.

Lunch Hour, #17

jpallen City Life, Street Life

Putting the key into the ignition, I realize it has been seven days since I’ve driven. On State Route 270 the only car in sight is passing, we nod and share a wave. Arriving in town I take a walk on Main Street. It’s hard to believe it is a weekday lunch hour. I walk by two people and keeping our distance we nod and share a smile. I pause gazing up and down the street. Across the way there is the sudden sound of a door closing. The proprietor engages the lock.

Twist of a key ring
Echoes up and down the street…
A choir of bells 

Action – Effect, #10

jpallen City Life, Street Life ,
Cityscapes – Awareness

The person in the photograph featured is Logan, a local university student. On Fridays, he stands on the corner of 3rd and Washington Street, bringing an awareness to drivers and walkers passing by about climate change. He has been doing this since he organized our local Climate March on April 12, 2019, or possibly longer.

Another person who invested time in increasing awareness who I met recently is Peter. He is author of the book ‘Healing the Big River, Salmon Dreams in the Columbia River Treaty‘. Peter drove the entire length of the Columbia River, from the headwaters at Canal Flat Canada to the Pacific Ocean at Ilwaco, Washington. The book is a photographic document alongside essays of those he met along the way. Here are two quotes that touched me:

“In the summer some 80 years ago, my grandfather went to the shore near the Windemere to greet the return of the salmon. Days went by, then weeks, maybe a month. No fish. What is wrong? My grandfather wondered if the creator was angry for some reason. We did not know about the building of the grand Coulee Dam that stopped our salmon from coming home. We are still waiting.” -Alfred Joseph, Chief of Akisq’nuk First Nation.

Peter Pochocki Marbach Healing the Big River, Salmon Dreams in the Columbia River Treaty (Brown Printing Portland, Oregon, copyright Peter Marbach 2019), 26

“My generation will be some of the last people to know glaciers on the mountain peaks. We will be some of the last to love many oceanside places. Some of the last to remember summers not consumed by wildfire and choked by smoke. Some of the first to get used to the term ‘climate refugee’. My generation will be one of the last to have lived in a time before this loss became – to some degree – inevitable” -Graeme Lee Rolands

Peter Pochocki Marbach Healing the Big River, Salmon Dreams in the Columbia River Treaty (Brown Printing Portland, Oregon, copyright Peter Marbach 2019), 45

Peter brought to me an awareness of how our actions today affect not only people here now, but also our future generations. He also brings to our attention that the U.S. State Department and Global Affairs Canada are engaged in talks that are aimed at updating the Columbia River Treaty. He is getting the message out that there is now an opportunity to make our voice heard for the people who depend on the salmon runs and the river.

I am grateful for Logan’s and Peter’s actions.  They serve as a reminder to stop and pay attention every day, to not give up and continue to do my part, and to realize the effect of each action I take on our earth and the community that depends on it. 

bird song, winter? spring?
snow drops sprout in snow removed
morning alarm rings

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