Tag: S_07_#42

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Books and Bookstores

Besides roaming the high desert, our days are spent reading. There is always at least one piece of reading material within arms reach.

Since retiring, we’ve moved away from non-fiction reading (no more textbooks) and have been enjoying fiction and history.

Reading requires sources of material. While many of the walls in our house hold overloaded bookcases, the local branch of Deschutes County Library is a constant and reliable source of reading material.

E-books and audiobooks have become an inescapable part of reading. It’s nice to have a few dozen different books in hand .

Though an e-ink screen is convenient, slipping a bookmark between pages is an irreplaceable part of reading.

Bookstores and libraries, are critical outlets however, technology has forever altered that experience.

Our first visit to Powell’s City of Books is etched into memory. Something about the air in a bookstore; paper, ink and dust, if it’s the right kind of store.

Yes, a lot of our reading material is captured via a hold place through the library’s online website  .  .  .  then downloaded to an e-reader or picked up on weekly stops.

But one still needs to occasionally step into a good bookstore.

Book searches via keyboard are efficient, but nowhere near as fun as rummaging through shelves, craning your neck to read spines, and pulling an interest prospect.

The website may offer a brief preview, but that doesn’t compare to turning to a table of contents, running a finger down the index or reading random pages at will.

Online you scroll through known authors or subjects, while at a bookstore you are immersed in a genre and exposed to unknown works.

Reading research is very different in a bookstore  .  .  .  that is why we never miss the opportunity to push open the door when we come across one.

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Another Nice Fall Day

Pffftttt  .  .  .

The fall storms this week moved in and on rather quickly.

That is typical of high desert weather. If you wake to dark clouds on the west of the Cascades, there is a good chance it will rain for a couple of days.

North end of the Crooked River Canyon

On the eastern side of the mountains, a storm front can sweep through in a matter of hours, leaving the remainder of the day clear. We generally try to take advantage of that pattern.

Late fall storms interrupted our week, but there were breaks that offered perfect days to sit by a river.

The day starts with rigging a fly rod or two.

Fall means I shift my fishing rig set up.

I’ve not tied on a dry fly in the last two weeks.

Tiny nymph patterns, doubled up on sinking strands of mono get fished near the bottom. This is the method employed until the end of Feburary.

A Fall day fishing the Crooked River

The bird population has thinned as well. Migration patterns mean majority of birds have  .  .  .  well  .  .  .  moved on.

There are some resident ducks and the osprey did a brief fly-by. However, we’re not pestered by the Magpie gang and the amount of bird song is definitely diminished.

The day was sunny and warm, for late October.

Mending the line

One other thing, there are fewer people, which is much appreciated.

The river is at winter levels, exposing a lot of rocks

We can set up our chairs and enjoy the river sounds without distractions. Which is pretty much what we’ll keep doing until the snows come  .  .  .  and even after that.