Topic: Personal
I took this photo today from the top of the Kamiak Butte, a 'quartzite steptoe 1,000 feet above the Palouse'. The area in view is a part of the Palouse Prairie; undulating hills, lots of dryland farming, wheat, soybeans and lentils. In fact, Pullman has an annual Lentil Festival every August. The concept of winter wheat was explained to me for the first time. We practically ran up the trail to stay warm, although the air was so cold I started to wheeze; not wanting to fall behind, I pounded up the final switchback and stood gasping at the top for a minute before I was able to straighten up again. There were patches of snow lacing the mossy branches along the trail, and a strong wind whipped through the treetops making a sound like a waterfall.
We've had our turkey dinner, and we sat around the table afterwards and just talked over homemade pumpkin pie. The idea of illegal immigration came up and just about everyone in the room had a slightly different opinion on it, and of course as the representative colored immigrant in the room, I had to put in my buck twenty (more than 2 cents) on the issue too. It was wonderful to be able to talk about immigration policy, with people who have relatively informed opinions, with my experience as an naturalized immigrant, Milly's as someone working in the US on work visa and is considering going for a greencard, and then to find out what Americans (Sheven and her family), even liberal ones, know and/or feel about the issue. Sheven was raised atheist by her hippy parents. Isn't that interesting? Most people who are atheist aren't raised in the non-faith, they turn that way,
