Okanogan, Wa.

We are in Okanogan, Washington and will head into Canada in the next day or so, through a town called Oroville that I can't wait to see.

Michael's veggie processing has gotten a lot easier as he has problem solved to modify the various glitches that have come up. He is always working on the truck and hasn't had time to write. He's out tracking down veggie oil right now. The responsibilities for the physical maintenance of this trip are exclusively on him and I really appreciate the knowledge it takes to work through all he has had to just to get us this far. Hopefully he'll write sometime.

I see the beauty around us like photographs and have my own delight and yours in mind when I take the pictures. (I wish I knew more about how to transfer them into this narrative so I could show you more...maybe I'll catch on to all this eventually...)

The natural world is so precious, fragile and hardy, all at the same time.
Yesterday a woman had arrested in the Safeway in Lake Chelan. That was a picture I didn’t take but the ring of shopping carts and the eyes of the paramedic when I asked if I could help were a huge impression on me. The woman was beyond help and it was such a public but sanctified little spot that was established for the drama and loss of her life, the Safeway chapel of Chelan. The bustling store and the calmed corner where death had visited in such stark contrast. I was reminded to be alert for grace and the power of such impressions on reminding me of gratefulness and connectedness.

The poor are really evident here on the east side of the mountains. The pickers, mainly from south of the US border live in shade less tent concentration camps, white poor travel with small children, rats, bunnies, cats and dogs and sleep in tents (in the shade) along the river. I didn’t get pictures of them either… Nature I’m safe with and it obliges me with images that 'please' but don’t necessarily burn their way into my consciousness as much as these others I mention.

We will be in western Canada for a week or two, or more. It will be interesting to observe the differences and similarities between our countries. If I don't write again for awhile I hope your Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemorations will be solemn and lead you toward deeper peace and commitment, as well for us.