The Narrative Image

When I compare myself to Monkey-cam, the most striking difference I notice is that I seldom leave the house without pants. But the second most striking difference is a relative absence of bodily monkey-fur. One line of thought suggests that in evolutionary terms, when we moved from sheltered forests to exposed African savannahs, we may have lost our fur as an adaptation to aid in heat regulation But another line of thought entertains the notion that we very nearly returned to the sea like our mammal brethren – whales and dolphins – during some kind of aquatic ape stage. This would explain also why we cry salty tears and have a mostly dormant diving reflex – and also why I resemble Shamu when I try on wetsuits. Maybe it also explains why the ocean is such a big vacation destination. Maybe in a way, going to the ocean is like going home. Perhaps ancestral memories stir in the corridors of our subconscious and whisper of fantastic seafood smorgasbords... ... a magical place where we c...

It be my grade school. That sign says ‘erected’. This view looks pretty much the same as it did over thirty years ago, except that there used to be a ‘portable’ right about where the basketball hoop stands. It was an extra room that used to sit on the playground. I always wondered why they called it a portable, because it never moved the whole time I attended school there …but I guess now I know. The building in the right half of the image used to be where they had ‘shop’ …I think… unless…maybe those are the restrooms.. All of us guys couldn’t wait to get into ‘shop’ to learn how to use power tools and make useful projects like coffee tables and napkin holders. In those days, the girls were expected to clamor becomingly for ‘Home Economics’. I spent my time making working models of execution devices. I made a handsome gallows with a working trapdoor. It featured a little mannequin whose head would yank off when the rope snapped taut. The little mannequin also came in handy for the mod...

Monkey-cam had been monitoring the internet for weather reports and once he saw the little smiling sun symbols in the weekend boxes, he began begging in earnest for another chance to see Cooper Spur before the onset of serious snow. Regular viewers may recall that Monkey-cam was in the process of testing some boundaries and chose our last Cooper Spur expedition as the scene for acting out his new found sense of independence. I kept suggesting lower altitude hikes because I was pretty sure the last weather front had deposited snow down to the 4000 ft. level, but when I got an email from Mr. Lloyd (of Long Shadow Photography - www.longshadowphoto.com ) reporting that the road to Cloud Cap was still open, I relented and started rounding up the hiking gear. Mt. Hood as seen from the Parkdale Ranger Station where you can’t get forest parking permits on Sunday because they’re closed. It’s a fairly long drive from Portland to Mt. Hood so I was glad to have Monkey-cam’s company. We tried to ca...