Sara, Snow (the dog) and I took a quick little hike down at the Bowl and Pitcher. It was a beautiful summer day for a hike.
Puget Pilings
After Ryan and Heather’s Steilacoom, WA wedding Shannon wanted to dip her toes in the water. I drove us (Jon, Shannon, Sara and I) a couple blocks to Sunnyside Beach Park and I took this photo. Steilacoom is a wonderful little town on the sound. Must go back.
Steilacoom
Tyson and Rachel Baker right after the Armstrong’s wedding in Steilacoom, WA. Great place.
Huckleberry’s & Camping
Some of you might know that I do all the design work for Huckleberry’s Natural Market. It’s work that I thoroughly enjoy. They’re a great company with a great mission:
“to produce for and provide our customers with the best tasting, most healthful food possible and to pledge a commitment to social and environmental responsibility.“
Today’s ad (above) features a photo I took years ago on a backpacking trip with my friend James. Nothing pleases me more than getting to use some of my adventure photography for commercial use (insert comment about selling out as an artist here), and then bragging about it on my website!
James and I were camped at a little lake for a couple of days before we decided to spend the last night up on the ridge. We hauled everything (including a few gallons of water) up to a great meadow on the ridge and made camp. The views were beautiful and we could see for miles. It was different camping up high on a ridge vs. by a lake in a valley. We had no access to water and we were severely exposed to incoming weather.
Late that afternoon we noticed very dark and ominous clouds approaching our location. We gathered as much firewood as we could to prepare for rain. We burned all of it waiting for the storm, then we called it a night. Half an hour later we had access to fresh running water in the form of a stream running through James’ tent. Thunder and lighting was cracking and flashing all around us. The sound of the wind and rain was like a freight train. A few hours into it I had to go to the bathroom. I was a little worried to leave the “safety” of my tent, but when nature calls you answer. I only walked a few feet away from my tent because the visibility was almost zero. I turned around to look at my tent and I could barely make it out in the “fog”. We were literally inside of a thunderhead cloud. The moisture was thick as smoke. I took a leak quickly and hurried back to my tent. The rest of the night was spent sleeping lightly in between loud thunder claps.
It was still raining the next morning. We somehow managed to get a fire going using James’ wet wood fire starting skills. The fire was nice but nothing could dry us out in that rain. We solemnly packed up all of our wet gear and bushwacked our way down the mountain for hours in the rain. 10 years later I scanned in some old backpacking photos and put one in a natural market ad. Totally worth it.
Boy or Girl?
Our baby’s gender announcement.
Northern Quest from Spokane Raceway
Watched some racecar action at the Raceway. The dark clouds threatened all evening but never fully delivered. Caught this shot when the sun broke through. Quite dramatic.
Back Blinds
Makin’ horizontals all diagonal. Backlit laundry room folding doors.
16 Weeks
Sara Dee at 16 weeks. Proud mama to be.
Sleepy
I thought it was cute how they were both so tired on the comfy couch.
ACL (part 2)
It has been exactly two months since I blew my knee out and exactly one month since I had surgery to fix it. Surgery was easy – I was asleep for the whole thing. Recovery is the hard part. The first week after surgery was awful, way worse than I thought it would be. The second week was probably just as bad, but I was accustomed to the pain so it was just normal. By the third week I was back working full time and off crutches, and now, well into the fourth week I’m hobbling around pretty good. My physical therapist says I should be walking without a limp in another month’s time.
Here’s a video I found that accurately shows how they replace an ACL using a patellar tendon graft. It’s pretty amazing what modern medicine can do.
Dr. Tom Halvorson is the orthopedic surgeon that fixed me up. He specializes in sports medicine and tells me that I will be skiing by November if we have snow. I highly recommend him.
Banks Lake, WA
This photo is at least a year older than the post date. Went on a little climbing/camping trip with Ken, Jon, Mandala and Sara. This is a top 5 sunset photo for me. It was gorgeous. As great as the photo is it doesn’t even do the real thing justice.
New sign going up at Ferguson’s. One step closer!
After being destroyed by a fire, Ferguson’s Cafe on Garland Ave is getting very close to opening back up. Can’t wait.
12 Weeks 6 Days
If ya don’t know, now ya know!
Garland Ave. Space Monkey
This guy came into the office and told us a fascinating story about space monkeys. Then performed an interpretive dance on Garland Ave.
ACL (part 1)
Al
most a month ago Sara and I flew down to Sun Valley, ID and met up with my dad and Lil’ Carol for some skiing and celebrity sightings. Ever since I was a kid I had wanted to go to Sun Valley and now it was going to happen! I couldn’t wait.
Since I never really do anything halfway, on Sunday, April 8th, our first full day there, I completely tore my anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in my right knee. Or more accurately;
- Mid portion ACL rupture with displacement anterior to the tibial insertion.
- Over a 7 mm interval, fluid separates the medial meniscus posterior horn and its capsular insertion – focal meniscocapsular separation.
- Minor stretching of the medial patellofemoral ligament with focal grade 2 sprain at its femoral insertion.
Yeah, whatever. I blew my knee out. Life is full of surprises.
I figure it’s karma. About a month prior to my injury I was riding with my friend Mike at 49° North and saw him take a pretty sweet, natural air, in some glorious powder glades. It was perfect until the landing, where he cased it and cartwheeled. I heard him laugh it off and I kept going, not stopping until I reached the bottom. It turns out he destroyed his knee (ACL tear) and I didn’t even stop to see if he was OK. I went back for him, but he had gotten tired of waiting for help and somehow rode limped shuffled his snowboard out of the trees to where someone else could find him. I felt terrible for not checking on him after his crash. One month later, karma got me back.
In my case, I wasn’t in the trees, or in powder. Nor was I catching air or doing any fancy tricks. Nope, I was just hauling ass on a perfectly straight groomed run. I tried to make a sudden stop and failed – hard. Luckily it was in the afternoon, so I was able to get quite a few great runs in before my vacation was ruined (I should add that my wife’s vacation was ruined at this point as well).
Ski Patrol was very quick to respond and I got to take my very first (and LAST!) Ski Patrol guided toboggan ride down the mountain. They were great and even sent me a “Get Well Soon” postcard a week later.
Fast forward a few weeks, a few orthopedic doctor visits and a few physical therapy sessions and I get ACL replacement surgery on Tuesday, May 8th. Exactly one month after the crash. Check back for a post on that little adventure in a couple weeks.
Also, check these out! I made some animated gifs with the MRI images of my knee. These are so cool!
Spokane Humane Society
I recently had the pleasure of creating the new Spokane Humane Society website. They are a great, non-profit local public charity dedicated to the welfare of companion animals.
In the past year I’ve been able to do some great design work for the Humane Society. Newspaper ads, facebook cover photo designs, brochures, billboards and now the new website. They’ve been a pleasure to work with.
Just over one year ago we got our awesome dog “Snow” there. She’s the best. The adoption process was pretty easy, although we could tell that they really want to make sure the animals go to a good home.
If you’re thinking about adding a furry new member to your family, I highly recommend rescuing an animal from the Spokane Humane Society.
Jake on the Box
Huckleberry at Priest Lake Map
I was hired to create this illustrative map of a Priest Lake property development area. The client wanted a map that showed the character of the area with a kind of hand drawn treasure map feel to it. I think it turned out pretty good.
I’ve always loved looking at maps. Perhaps it’s because I’m fond of backpacking through the wilderness, map in hand. But I think there’s more to it. Maps contain huge amounts of information. You can learn so much about an area just by looking at a map. It’s great!
Click here to see another map I created for my wedding invitations.
Winterwalk
Happy Holidays from the Douvilles
