Ken Steinhoff; Photographer, Story-teller, Road-warrior

Ken Steinhoff and I worked as photojournalists at the Athens Messenger in the late 1960’s. He stayed in the newspaper business, but got bumped up to a desk jockey job, I went on to other things. In retirement Ken went back to what he loves most, telling stories about people, places and history. He posts most of these at http://www.capecentralhigh.com/ We recently got together in Athens and spent a day driving around Southeast Ohio, trying to remember sites of some of our old stories, and catching up. Ken’s new van interior resembles the Volkswagen Squareback he wore out on those same roads. The only difference is it’s fitted with the latest in digital equipment instead of short wave and scanners and the best digital cameras. Oh, and there is more of the driver, and he has less hair than I remember. I’ve aged my share too. Ken has projects planned to keep him busy for the next forty-five years. I hope the road warrior has as many years as he needs. He does really good work. Check out that site.DSCF0527

Jon Webb; Glint of Humor and Joy

At a distance I would not have recognized Jon had I passed him on the street, nor he I; forty plus years changes a body! But as I got closer, and the small talk proceeded, I began to notice bits of body language that hadn’t changed. As the memories of that time begat one story and another and another, suddenly there was a thing that touched me: an unmistakable Santa Klaus glint in his eye, a window into the humor and joy that is at the heart of the man; always has been, always will.

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Tibetan Vampire: fun is universal across time and culture

Talk about a mystery. Where does a Tibetan kid in remote Litang get a set of wax vampire fangs? I mean, I had these things 60 years ago in West Virginia. Watching him play vampire to a couple of rarely seen Westerners brought back my childhood. I can remember what the teeth tasted like after I chewed them into a ball of wax. Fun is universal, it crosses culture and time.

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Making a New Year’s Resolution? Don’t!

It’s good to have traditions for the New Year, but not all traditions are positive. One I have done without for many years is to make a New Year’s resolution. Here’s why:

You will break it. Sad to say, nearly all New Year’s resolutions are broken, probably within a few weeks to a couple of months of their making. Oh, the motivation is pure. Say, you really, really resolve to lose that ten pounds you gained over the holidays, not to mention the three to five pounds that crept up on you over the year, like they have each year since you passed twenty-five. Don’t be too hard on yourself, it happens to the purest among us. It’s just the natural aging process, our wealthy society, our holiday binging philosophy, and just plain human nature.

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Sequim Marimba Band playing for the Free Clinic Walk

This is a short clip of the Sequim Marimba Band playing Saturday September 18th for a benefit health fair and walk for a free clinic. This band has been around for years and keeps evolving and getting better and better. Wherever they play the sun shines, despite the fog and rain of a Northwest autumn.

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Kettle Valley Rail and Wine Trail

The Kettle Valley Rail Trail isn’t all remote mountain views and trestles; we rode beside grapevines and past winery doors on a section from Penticton to cute little Naramata. I liked Naramata, lovely by the lake, but also because it reminded me of Australian names, many of which end with …ata, sometimes …atta. Homesick for Australian wine country again.

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Character(s) at The End of the Road, Homer, Alaska

After a good hard bike ride up East End Road out of Homer, we decided to celebrate the rare sunshine with ice cream for a late lunch. We bought a carton at Fred Meyer’s and took it outside to their …

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Just Another Spring Day In Tucson

Just another spring day in Tucson. We rode our usual mid day 24 mile bike ride to Saguaro National Park, around the one way loop road, and back. After two days of unusual cool rain, the day was in the mid 80’s and the usual bright sun.

After a wet El Nino winter, the annual brittlebush and ocotillo are blooming strong, with other cactus just beginning a two month bloom.

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