acadia national park – K. M. Alexander

December 18, 2018

2018 in Ten Significant Photos

In our ever increasing world of social media, we all share a lot. But how often do we take a moment to look back? If you’re an Instagram user, then I am sure you’ve seen people share their “top nine.” If you haven’t seen these, here’s how they work: the Top Nine app goes through your feed and selects your “top” photos based on the numbers of likes and builds a grid-collage with those photos. It’s always bothered me. A “like” is worthless. It holds no value. It’s applied to photos of new babies and on pics of brunch with equal abandon. Using this as a metric, Top Nine ignores the most meaningful events one’s life in exchange for the false reality of pseudo-engagement.

This ritual is different. By personally selected the ten significant photos that matter the most to ourselves we are forced to reflect—that reflection requires thought and contemplation. We’re forced to choose what mattered and by doing so, we select moments of meaning over moments of popularity.

The rules are simple, pick ten photos from your year that are the most significant to you: positive or negative. Some moments will fall by the wayside, that’s intentional. Culling is important. Focus on what is essential. I’ve been doing this publically for five years now and I look forward to it every year. It puts things into perspective.

Enough talk! Let’s take a look at my 2018 distilled into ten significant photos.

The beginning of 2018 marked a small achievement for us. Kari-Lise and I have lived in Seattle for a decade—I think that makes us locals. I’ve never regretted moving. Much of my year was spent in my city—and I often found myself reflecting on its current challenges and how despite ups and downs living here has changed my life for the better. This town has captured my heart in a way no other place has, and it’s truly become home.

I didn’t attend too many conventions this year. But I did manage to join my friend and fellow writer Steve Toutonghi and attend ECCC 2018 here in Seattle. Overall, it was a great experience to come together with so many and celebrate the stuff we love, be sure to read my con debriefing where I go into more details.

One nice thing about living in the PNW is how easy it can be to escape from the constant rush of urban life. I’d even say it’s a critical part of living here. Mid-spring Kari-Lise and I joined some friends and headed out to the Washington peninsula—we traversed some of our favorite locations in Olympic National Park, Cape Flattery, and along the Strait of Juan De Fuca Highway. I love it out there.

I read a lot this year—Goodreads tells me I’m over 14k pages (and there’s more piling on even as this post goes live.) As usual, my full reading list along with my favorites will be coming after Christmas. It’s been a banner year for me and books, I read so many that I absolutely loved, so many in fact that it’s going to be nearly impossible to choose.

Last year, in my last photo, I talked about unexpected change—for us, it came in the form of our backyard garden plans being completely upended by a fallen tree. This year, we began to work on rebuilding. After a busy summer and fall, most of the structure is in place for something exciting. I can’t wait to see where we end up in a few years. I think it’s going to be something special. (That enormous beast in the foreground is Willamina, our English Lop.)

This summer, Kari-Lise and I celebrated fifteen years of marriage. I’m forever grateful for a partner like her who stands beside me and supports me, and I can’t imagine spending my life with anyone else. She’s an incredible person, and my days would be empty without her. We celebrated by heading up to Whidby Island and spent a long weekend hanging out and exploring. Read the trip report and see more photos here.

Toward the end of summer, Kari-Lise and I flew to New England to attend her brother’s wedding in New Hampshire. Afterward, we extended out Anniversary celebration and took a small road trip to Maine and Acadia National Park, Lovecraft Country (the area not the book,) and then Salem. It was my second visit to New England, and we saw much more of the country than we had before. It’s really a special place. Read the trip report and see more photos here.

Kari-Lise debuted a new project as part of the Lush Life 6 show during the resurrection of Roq La Rue Gallery here in Seattle. Venerate is an ongoing series focusing on modern women artists working today and the connections to pioneering women artists of the past. You can find out more on her site. It’s been exciting to watch her engage with these themes, and I cannot wait for you to see what’s going to happen in this series.

We traded in our two old cars in for one new car—partially to help reduce our carbon footprint but also because we really don’t need more than one car. It’s our first new vehicle in nearly fifteen years, so it’s been a shift. A week and a half after driving it home, the car was hit by a van while parked in a parking lot. So, for the last several weeks, it’s been getting repaired. Thankfully no one was hurt, and insurance covered everything. Still, that’s not exactly what you want to happen to your new car.

Well, I might as well announce this now. Kari-Lise and I are recruiting a crow army, and they work for peanuts. It started this summer with a family of four—two parents and a few fledglings. But it has grown, considerably. Now when we wake up in the morning there’s a whole murder waiting for us. Things are going exactly as planned. Consider yourself warned 2019. We’re coming.

In Conclusion

I changed the title of this series. I thought “significant” carried more weight than the often overused “awesome” and it hits closer to what this ritual attempts to capture. This is, after all, about reflection.

It was harder than I expected to find my ten photos. Usually, I have an abundance, but this year a lot of my experiences were closer to home. There were many circumstances where I kept my phone in my pocket and skipped photo documentation. Instead, I chose to live in the moment. Overall, I think that’s a step in a positive direction, and it’s something I want to keep encouraging in my life.

How about you? What did you experience in 2018? What are your ten?

Want to revisit photos of past years? Click on any of the links below and check out my photos from that specific year. It’s interesting to watch subtle changes year over year.

2014 • 2015 • 2016 • 2017

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September 11, 2018

Trip Report – New England

We have returned, slightly jet-lagged (but recovering), from our trip to the northeastern United States. New England as a whole is lovely. I’ve been there only once before, making a trip to Rode Island and the surrounds. This time around, Kari-Lise and I went for the Labor Day weekend to celebrate the wedding of my brother-in-law in northern New Hampshire. Then we extended our visit into a week-long road trip—an extended celebration from our anniversary trip in July.

We made a big loop, heading north out of Boston, then swinging east into Maine before we headed down the coast and back to Boston. This time around I figured it’d be the best to break it down around our three central stops: Lincoln, Acadia National Park, and Salem.

Lincoln, New Hampshire

Lincoln is a small tourist town nestled in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. It’s beautiful countryside full of rolling hills covered with thick forests of deciduous trees. We were a few weeks early and weren’t able to experience the fall colors, but the soft green hills were lovely.

The wedding weekend was a three-day long party for us, and it was a blast. It was great to connect with family and meet new people. The ceremony itself was held atop Loon Mountain, a ski resort accessible via a gondola. It was a quick service at one of the most beautiful settings I’ve seen, and it was an honor to be invited to attend. My brother and sister-in-law now live in Hawaii a bit of a jaunt from New Hampshire but not too far from the Pacific Northwest. Clearly, we’re going to have to go visit. I’ve never been to the Hawaiian Islands.

Coming from Washington State, it was difficult not to go in all condescending over the classification of “mountain” in New Hampshire, especially comparing them to our hills here at home. They’re a titch on the small side. But, dear reader, I resisted, at least until now. (They got us beat when it comes to wind, however.)

The stunning location of the wedding atop Loon Mountain

Maine & Acadia

Stephen King's house in Bangor, Maine — Stephen King’s house in Bangor, Maine

After the weekend, Kari-Lise and I drove the back roads of Maine making our way toward Mt. Desert Island and Acadia National Park. Maine is a rolling landscape pocked marked with lakes and rivers and small towns. We made a brief pilgrimage through Bangor to the site of Stephen King’s house and saw his infamous gate. I have to be honest, it felt a little weird to be standing outside his house. I’m a fan, and his work is a big influence on my own, but at the same time, it was like a strange little invasion of privacy. So, I’m sorry Mr. King, but you do have a cool gate.

From Bangor, we drove to the island. Much of the landscape reminded me of home: a myriad of lakes and rivers, glacially formed valleys, rugged coastlines. Our home base was an old hotel in Southwest Harbor a small village on the western side of the island located along Somes Sound. It was a nice little post for the next three days.

Lobster is everywhere and… it’s fine. I’m not sure I understand the hype. When it comes to my preferences for sea bugs I’m much more partial to crab, heck, even shrimp. Lobster, on the whole, tastes relatively bland to me. It lacks the sweetness found in other crustaceans. I tend to like it better as an ingredient in something—a salad or a bisque. We did have lobster and grits at a restaurant called Coda in Southwest Harbor, and it was phenomenal. So when done right, it can be really effective. That meal was easily the best on our trip.

Acadia National Park was stunning. We spent several days in the park. The first day was dominated by an eight-mile hike to the top of Pemetic Mountain. (Here’s the trail which we hiked and then combined with this one.) We also caught the sunrise atop Cadillac Mountain, witnessed several sunsets all over the park, ate popovers at Jordan Pond House, explored the craggy coastline, and toured a few gardens. I feel like we caught most of the park in those packed days. Acadia is a busy place—even in September after the kids go back to school. It’s tiny, and as such, it can get a little crowded especially around points of interests. (Not too dissimilar from Yellowstone in July and August.) It continually is in the top ten when it comes to visitors, and I can see why.

The Claremont (Photo by Kari-Lise)

Relaxing above fancy croquet courts (Photo by Kari-Lise)

The Bubbles from the end of Jordan Pond

Kari-Lise on the Pemetic Mountain trail

Near the top of Pemetic Mountain (Photo by Kari-Lise)

Atop Pemetic Mountain

Descending the mountain (Photo by Kari-Lise)

Sunset (Photo by Kari-Lise)

Sunrise from Cadillac Mountain (Photo by Kari-Lise)

Sunset hunters near Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse (Photo by Kari-Lise)

Sunset lights the window of the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse (Photo by Kari-Lise)

Salem, Massachusetts

After Acadia, we drove the last leg of our road trip heading south to Salem, Massachusetts. Taking time we stayed along the coast and passed through Essex County aka Lovecraft Country. Things have changed a lot since ol’ Howie’s day, but we hunted down (roughly) the location of the fictive Innsmouth near Essex Bay. It’s charming. Rural in some places, built up in others. The towns and small farms are picturesque. It lacks much of the foreboding and uneasiness one would expect reading Lovecraft’s writings—even with the summer thunderstorms passing overhead. But I can see the appeal. A lot of history in that part of the country.

The Witch House in Salem, MA — once the former home of Judge Jonathan Corwin and the only building with ties to the trials still standing — The Witch House in Salem, Massachusetts — once the former home of Judge Jonathan Corwin it is the only building with ties to the trials still standing

We arrived at Salem that evening and walked the town wandering through The Burying Point graveyard during a storm which certainly added to the mood. The next day was our last in New England. We opted to stay in Salem since it was near the airport and was full of all sorts of weirdness. On the more serious side, we visited the House of the Seven Gables and the Salem Maritime National Historic Site. Both were excellent.

Longtime readers know that I’m a sucker for history and both Kari-Lise and I love roadside attractions. So, of course, we took the opportunity to visit some of the goofier museums in the area. There’s plenty of both to be found in Salem. It seems like every corner has some museum willing to spin you their version of the Salem witch trials. We hit up two: the Witch Dungeon Museum and the Witch History Museum. Both had that bizarre dated feel that I love. You know the type: disjointed narratives presented in a dim room filled with lovingly crafted mannequins that haven’t been dusted in decades. Both told the tragic story of the Salem Witch Hunts, and both tried hard, but the life-sized dioramas from the 70s made the whole thing feel silly rather than serious. Luckily, they paled in comparison to our walking tour with a local guide named Jeff. His knowledge of the area was impressive, and his tour opened up the story in a way the museums can’t achieve. He has an intimate understanding of the stories of the victims, and he really made the tragedy feel more alive. It was an excellent cap to our time in Salem. The next morning we packed up and made our way to the airport for an early flight home.

The Witch Dungeon Museum started with a mock trial, the actresses were legitimately good, despite the challenge of having to converse with a mannequin

Sometimes you pretend your neighbors are witches to get out of trouble, and then people start going alone with it because they want their land

The hanging of witches by a potato sack

The Witch History Museum had slightly better mannequins and a few moved

A witch and her familiars

The United States is enormous and there’s as much to see here as there is in the wider world. Unplugging from the internet and the news cycle was refreshing. Mentally living in the moment had a recentering effect. Coming back really put the drama on social media and in the twenty-four-hour news cycle into perspective. It all feels so small and so much of it is incredibly petty.

It was a fantastic little trip. Much fuller than I had anticipated. Celebrating a wedding, visiting a national park, and delving into some history was an excellent way to spend a week. The weather worked against us a few times, but it was good to go beyond Boston and explore the countryside.

Travel is energizing for me creatively, but it’s good to be back home. Autumn is quickly settling into Seattle, the nights grow longer, there’s a crispness to the air, and the rains have returned. And, as always, I have books to write.