A few weekends ago, we had a "bachelor party weekend" for my brother in anticipation of his marriage. We rented a cabin on the bluffs above White Salmon in the gorge. The view was hard to absorb: Hood River to the west, Mt Hood to the south, Mt Adams to the north, the desert off to the east, and the river below us. I found a nice spot for my tent in a weathered grove of oaks right on the edge of the bluff. I laid there in the dark and watched the tops of the oaks whip around in the punishing and relentless wind. It was magical.

Signs of life.