The smell of ripening wheat wafted through the dusky air. The light played with the textures of the various fields as I stood atop Steptoe Butte. The color filled scene below is almost overwhelming with its beauty and shapes. My eye doesn’t know where to settle as my camera tries to capture the entire scene – an impossible feat. I try to focus on a few small things, the red barn glowing in the setting sunlight, the light wind rustling the wheat field below, a car driving along a dirt road. All of these things are beautiful and fill my senses.

 

As I venture around the Palouse region of eastern Washington and Idaho, I am filled with wonder. The small towns are charming with their history filled old, brick buildings lining the downtowns. The old cars, from before my childhood, occasionally gracing a field. The locals charming, as they tell their stories of generations that have lived on and worked this land.

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I visited the Palouse after being gone for more than 20-years. I went to grad school at Washington State University in Pullman, WA. My time here was filled with classes, books, and work, I never had the time to explore the region, so this recent time here has me seeing it with fresh eyes in a way that I never did before. The charm, beauty, color, light, and texture are everywhere. And I am energized by the creativity around me in a way I have not been in a long time.