Autumn in Seattle

A few images for you from a new collection, all taken in Washington Park Arboretum. Without further ado, some seasonal colour:


These maple leaves were really this shade of reddish violet. I've never seen this shade in them before.


This one would probably make a nice desktop wallpaper. Feel free to use it as such.


This is Vernal Witch Hazel. The green commingled with the bright yellow just really caught my eye.


The full collection has another twenty-nine pictures, some of which would make nice gift cards. You can page through the set here.

And for any of you who might want to help out this presently unemployed software cat herder, using the discount code HELP at checkout will take 25% off the cost of any prints you might care to order.

(no subject)

Today marks the start of [Inter]National Novel Writing Month. I'm going to be having a go at it, primarily in support of darkmuffin, who is doing the Young Writers version and has a goal of 10-12,000 words. His work is already in publication, and a second piece will be releasing this month- he's been participating in workshops at 826 Seattle since we moved back into the city a few years ago. He's a good kid, and a better writer than I was at his age.

I don't know if I'll make the 50,000 or not. If I do, I'll go a step farther and say the thing will run out in the 75-100k range, but realistically, I'm an ex-journalist and hack short fiction writer, and usually tap out in the three to five thousand word range. I like the idea which is percolating around in my head, and have some of the basic research done on it.

To give you a quick synopsis, it's an alternate history starting after the first failed efforts toward bringing the Island of Newfoundland into Confederation with Canada in 1869- when the younger son of a Ferryland seal-hunter discovered a way to craft an engine which ran on seal oil and screech...and resulting in an independent Republic of Newfoundland which suddenly found itself in the unusual position of being a major hub of trade between the US, Canada and western Europe, with this new Engine powering locomotives, ships, and airships.

Not quite 1,200 words in, but I'm calling it a night, lest my crushing depression convince me that the whole thing is dreck and I trash it all before seeing where it goes. Not even going out shooting pictures this afternoon helped significantly, which is a bad sign. Did get some nice images though, and some should theoretically be saleable, even if I've yet to sell a single image in two years of posting them.