Time Marches On

Fall foliage, NW Savier at 29th. SOOC (slightly straightened).

SPOILER ALERT

Don't read further if you don't want to know that it's time
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
   With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease....
-- John Keats, "To Autumn"

Summer in Portland is drawing to an end. The trees don't lie. This was one of several colorful specimens on Nob Hill.

----------------------------------
I, too, am marching on.

But at my back I always hear
Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near.
-- Andrew Marvell

This afternoon I attended Kelly's memorial service. I met people I hadn't seen in three decades: children who now have grown children of their own; a man whose vigorous preaching I remember, now stooped and with a voice that trembles. Like the autumn leaves, like Chaiselongue's sudden departure, this was a reminder of my own mortality.

One hundred days ago I had a sudden urge to begin blipping. My father was a photographer, so it may be in my genes. The most rewarding part of this adventure is the amazing people I've met around the world. Oh, the amazing sights I've seen through your eyes! Koala bears and ice floes, ospreys and bougainvillea, personal treasures and secret gardens, art and artifacts, youngsters and oldsters, pets and pet projects, great cities and small islands.

I'm gratified that a few of you have found some of my images pleasing and some of my musings worth pondering. I very much appreciate your comments and your replies to mine. But all of these things take more hours in a day than I would ever have imagined.

My work - the work of a scribbler - has been put on the shelf. Nobody pays me for it, but it's mine to do. If my exchanges with you dwindle, if my blips have gaps, it's because it's time to pick up my work again. I'm not disappearing, just slowing down. I wish all of us continued success in accomplishing what is most necessary and nearest to our hearts.

See you soon in blipspace. And thanks in advance for celebrating my 100th blip.