Family Portrait

I'm probably visible as a camera-shaped speck in the reflection in somebody's eye.  We woke up a few weeks ago to big falling snowflakes, but by the time we bundled up and got out there, they were done.


Bird at 8 o'clock!  BIRD!

The little hunter never rests, even when he's supposed to play nice.  Except for the 21 hours of sleep each day.

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Brandon Part I

Brandon belongs to a growing class of people who do two maddening things: kick my ass and make me look fat.

While that's entirely true, it's not the whole truth: he's an up-and-coming young gun, an absolute beast of an athlete who will go a long way in the sport of triathlon.  He's also a good dude who I must take care not to insult too heavily, as he also makes delicious pizza.

I'm spending some time with him to "help build his digital presence."  Translation: ordering him around while I fiddle with the camera and the strobes.  I revel in this, because it's the only time I can make him suffer without being at risk of perishing myself.

Our first session was running; you'd better believe you'll see some swimming and biking before too long, too.  And for anyone keeping track, he's coached by the inimitable Nenad, so don't expect Brandon to be getting any slower anytime soon...


Flying down the trail


Resting between bouts of pain


Aforementioned bout of pain

Check out his corner of the web here, or go stalk him while he sells shoes, or look for him at the pointy end of pretty much any race within a 100-mile radius of Reno.

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Portland

A few weeks ago, Ethel and I escaped to Portland for a weekend visiting our peeps there and enjoying a momentary change of scenery.  It seems that we've been heading there about once a year; it's a city we enjoy visiting and our friends there are awesome people (awwwwwwww).  Our visits usually coincide with Southwest fare sales; this time we had the distinctive luxury of planning our getaway while on vacation in Europe.  Southwest's site was SOOOO slow from our cafe internet connection in the Dolomites. :)


Sunset (I don't care if you get sick of these; I'm a sucker for being glued to airplane windows)

We rarely have an agenda in Portland; we're interested in coffee and food and whatever else is of immediate interest.  This trip featured some fall colors, so that prompted various explorations around Chase and Lauren's neighborhood.


Drab and bright


Mighty pink


Glow


Local growth

One of our lazy days, we pushed east into the Columbia River Gorge and hiked along Eagle Creek to a variety of waterfalls.  Even though it rained continuously, that's no reason to have a bad time.  Also, makes me grateful for waterproof camera gear.


Autumn approaches


At Punchbowl Falls


Damp growth


Metlako Falls churns in the distance


Diffuse light bathes the leaves


Murphy's new boyfriend; goddamn treehuggers


Draped

The hike was capped off by a trip across the river into Washington (White Salmon, specifically) for tasty nibbles and microbrews, neither of which are in short supply in the Pacific Northwest.
 
Our other pursuits included visiting Jon and Willi at Perch to drool over comfortable couches, going to a vintage-Halloween-themed acrobatics show, eating ourselves silly at food trucks, exploring dodgy parts of town via running shoes, and eating the best sushi of my life at Bamboo.  Not to pontificate, but wow.  While Reno's sushi represents a nice intersection of the quality and price curves, making a near-unbeatable value proposition, it's gonna be tough to forget what we savored at Bamboo.


Olive acts alert in between naps

Good times.  In other news, I got back from Stockholm late last night; the week was a total whirlwind of business, nonexistent daylight, and expensive everything, but it was awesome nonetheless.  I oughta be caught up to that point in my photos sometime in the next few months...

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