Gazette 2016 by James Phillip Thomas

azette G December 2016

Dubai, Nairobi, Ahmedabad Amsterdam, Utrecht Tennis Bahnd

Caffeine Murphy

Gazette 36

Sydney, Morgan, Susan & James Thomas & Murphy 1316 SW Mitchell Lane Portland, OR 97239-2826

Gazette 2016

Gazette inspiration from: Apple, iPhone6 & 7plus, iOS 10 & OS Sierra, apps, Enlight, Daring Fireball, Medium, Instagram: voxdoc, Moment lens, Canon EOS5D, GoPro, River City Bikes, cylindric Mac Pro, emoji

e n i e f af

offee and the respite associated with sitting and sipping are integral to cycling, travel and work. Portland & Seattle have quality baristas, as good as any I have met around the world.

While you are sipping your cup, if you want to reach us... jim@voicedoctor.net susan@voicedoctor.net morgan@twinsis.us sydney@twinsis.us

: voxdoc : susan_sienko : morgan_thomas3 : sydney_thomas

: docvox : susan.sienko : morgan_thomas3 : sydney.thomas

(503) 341-2555 (503) 341-0767 (503) 867-0796 (503) 867-0798

oice remains my daytime play. Exploring how the voice works and how it remains healthy, the various ways it can be broken, how it can be fixed when broken and, how video instruments can be utilized to visualize the motion that generates sound keeps my mind active and inquisitive. Computers and digital video improve with faster and higher definition capabilities (one of my favorite teaching explorations). New monitors and computers ordered at the end of the year are set to make better pictures in 2017. Teaching opportunites about voice continue to pop up around the world and that leads to travel. This also seemed to be the year of the textbook as I also wrote a few chapters for several Laryngology textbooks.

Gazette 2016

Health

njoying a lazy 7 AM breakfast at the Bubinga bar (my first wood project at home looking into the kitchen) seated with one leg under me on an Italian leather stool, I feel a pain on in right back area. Somewhat reminiscent of the back pain I had a year ago, I wonder if I have pinched another nerve. I head to the bathroom and lay down on the stone, where an intensely heated floor was previously very relieving for my sciatica. Funny though, I can’t find a comfortable position. I roll in all directions. Nothing stops the pain. This is behaving more like a kidney stone. I’ve never had one, but it has that quality as I search for a comfortable position, now writhing on the floor. There is no way I am going to drive anywhere, not to work, not even to the emergency room. Susan drops her work and retrieves me, taking me to the emergency room. Fortunately they aren’t busy at 8 am on a week day. I only threw up for 30 minutes in the lobby filling out paper work and waiting, apologizing for the vomiting attacks to the only other patient in the waiting area. After a CT scan and a chat with the urologist, I opt for endoscopic surgery to pulverize the stone with a laser. A stone in a tube seems like a mechanical problem, so the proposed alternative of waiting six weeks to see if this 10 mm object will pass through a 5 mm tube while I enjoy the associated pain doesn’t pass muster. I have eaten breakfast, so I can’t be put to sleep until after 5 pm. The pain suddenly lets up so I offer to go to my office and wait out the day. Standing up to leave apparently puts the stone back into my plumbing and I keel over in pain. I change my mind and offer to stay in the hospital until surgery. After that, all is uneventful, perhaps except for the stent that remains hanging out (that I finally pull out myself a week later). I can again stop my bike at the top of a bluff, look around and with no one watching take a good piss into the wind, pain free.

Music

The Bahnd - Alternative Liturgies for the hungry.

Gazette 2016

The Trinity Bahnd covered Carole King & Green Day in alternative liturgies for the hyngry & said goodbye to Bahnd director Joe Rose as he headed to Connecticut. The Trinity Choristers with director Amy Polo perform monthly during 1st Sunday Church of the Commons while I tickle the black and white keys.

Trinity Episco p al Cho risters

9 !"

2016 cycling totals for James — 449 hours in the saddle, 8142 km horizontal, 98 km vertical—strava.com James joined Rapha.cc’s #Festive500 challenge between Christmas Eve and New Years finishing at position 1423 out of 82,378 participants with 684 km.

Family & Friends Family

by Susan

This year provided many opportunities to get together with my family. In May I met Stephanie and Kendall in Vancouver, BC for Kendall’s gymnastics meet. It was fun to watch her compete with her teammates and then explore the areas outside of Vancouver.

Special thanks to Suzanne for doing the background research on the hikes and towns we visited. I can’t believe she got me to walk over not one, but two suspension bridges, especially the really long bridge at the top of the sea to sky gondola. In September I travelled to Toronto to celebrate my sister

Stephanie’s 50th birthday. It was fun connecting with family and friends, but the best part of all was Stephanie’s surprise when I showed up on her doorstep to help get things ready for the party. Thanksgiving brought my parents to Portland for the week. We always enjoy the time together and I especially appreciate the help setting up the Christmas tree. This year Stephen decided that we needed a family Christmas and Vancouver, BC was our destination. We had a wonderful time exploring the city, shopping the Boxing Day sales and celebrating the holidays with family. I’m sure we will have more family time next year, as Stephen and his girlfriend, Sanaz, got engaged on New Years Eve, so a wedding in 2017 is anticipated.

Gazette 2016

Biking

A new bike from Jim for my birthday in March was the beginning of my bike adventures over the summer months. While the majority of the biking involved commuting to and from work, I increased my mileage with a wine ride with coworkers Cole and Cathleen, the 125th anniversary Multnomah athletic club bike ride with Valarie and Martha and a ride from Spokane, WA to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho with Anne Oakley. Biking is certainly a lot easier with a nice, lighter bike. I am hoping that the next year

was with Murphy on the trails in our neighborhood, I did manage to get in a few hikes with friends and family in the Oregon Wilderness. The highlight hike was our family hike to Oneonta falls. Unlike most of our hikes, which involve hikes along trails, for this hike the river was the trail. We climbed over a log-jam at the beginning, taking us to a breathtaking canyon. Here we hiked through the river in cold water as deep as my underarms until we reached the falls at the far end of the canyon. While this is an extremely popular hike with lots of people, it was worth the adventure.

Tennis

brings longer rides exploring Oregon, the ability to clip in and out of my pedals witho u t falling a n d t h e skill to change my tire by myself.

Each year I try to improve my tennis game through lessons and matches. This year I played on my USTA women’s 3.0 team, our summer World Team Tennis team and on a USTA mixed doubles team along with Jim. I also participated in our club’s singles and doubles tennis tournaments. Although doubles is not my forte, I am trying to make a valiant effort at improving my game and my partner Lisa and I learned a lot about doubles strategy throughout the tournament and improved our skills significantly. I am looking forward to another year of tennis with continued lessons, practice and co-captaining my women’s 3.0 team with teammate Melanie.

Work

This year has been a year of changes and growth in the Clinical Research Department. In April, Maria left to While the majority of my hiking further her education as a physician’s assistant. With her departure, our

Hiking

department expanded with the arrival of ReneĂŠ and Cole to help support the continued expansion of the drug studies and the new physicians joining our medical staff. Despite the initial lack of desk space to accommodate our increase in staff, ever yone is settled into their own space and working on a variety of projects and studies which continue to keep the department very busy. Even with all the changes, we managed to have a productive year with several articles from our longitudinal study of boys with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy accepted for publication, thanks to a great group of collaborators. We also submitted quite a few grants for funding. We did receive notice that we received funding for one planning grant and

are waiting to hear about several others. We are looking forward to all the new projects that our department will be participating in this year and hope with additional funding that our department can have continued growth and productivity.

Travel California

Exploring the Claremont campuses, strolling down the Santa Monica pier, hiking in the nearby hills, enjoying the cuisine and taking in the sun was how the girls and I spent their March break. We got the opportunity to join family friends, Lisa and Emily, as they went to Ontario to watch Sam play in a tennis tournament for his school Pomona/Pitzer. We had a fabulous time and it was an enjoyable and relaxing get away from the rainy Oregon winter.

Stockholm

This year the European Academy of Childhood Disabilities hosted the first joint meeting with the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine and the Australasian Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmenta l Medicine in Stockholm Sweden. C a t h le e n , Mike and I thought it

Gazette 2016

sounded like a great opportunity to attend this historic meeting and visit Stockholm, a city that none of us had visited. We rented a wonderful penthouse apartment in the Vasastaden area of town. The conference was fabulous with nonstop lectures from the early morning to early evening, providing us with new information that we could use in our current research while enhancing our knowledge related outcomes of the treatments we offer to the children we see. We walked ever y where through the beautif ul city taking i n a l l t he amazing architecture and visiting the many museums that the city has to offer. Although the historical museums were interesting and educational, I totally loved the Abba museum. My friend Maureen and I danced and sang our way through the entire museum, totally embracing the entire experience, while Mike watched, thinking we were totally crazy. I thought the town of Stockholm was phenomenal and would go back again anytime.

whirlwind weekend filled with art, history, eating great food, dancing, reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones.

Reflection

As I write this years story, I realize that next year will be very different as the girls graduate and may be working in cities not as convenient as Seattle. It makes me appreciate the importance of cherishing the time we have left with them whether it be hiking, exploring different restaurants, shopping or even going country line dancing, as the things we currently take for granted, may be more difficult next year. I look forward to watching where life takes the girls as they begin their next journey.

Mexico

In November we travelled to Mexico City for Ferminâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 40th birthday party. Fermin planned a costume party in celebration of his birthday and although dressing in costume is not my favorite thing to do, it was a great fun seeing all the creative costumes people came up with. It was a

Woof, Woof! 7 years since I last wrote (only one year for you humans). It’s hard to believe that it’s been 14 dog years already with the Thomas’s filled with hikes, snug g les, treats and sleeping on the bed. Between the girls and Susan I get my share of walking. This year Susan and I again kept up our goal of 1000 miles per year. I really love our Saturday’s where we explore all the trails in the neig hborhood. Since no one is up and on the trails at 7:00 am, I get to walk off leash for the majority of the walks. I think I can claim that I walk more than 1000 miles because I run so much more than Susan does on those walks. The girls sug gested a lot of great hikes for us to do this year. The hardest hike was Oneonta Falls. I had to climb over a massive log jam to get to the next part of the river, which was then followed by water that was way over my head and required swimming. Althoug h the girls loved the hike, swimming is not my favorite activity, sliding and rolling in snow is much better. This winter has been filled with a lot of snow already. I totally enjoy g lissading down the hills and just romping around in the snow.

I have g ained 12 pounds since moving in and can you believe my vet put me on a diet and a serious workout schedule!! As if I am 6 pounds overweig ht and should decrease my food and snack intake and increase my mileage during my walks! Susan believed her and started decreasing my food at breakfast and dinner, in addition to reducing the number of t reats that I get in my M onster Mouth each day w h e n they leave for work. I was starving at t h e beginning , but I am adapting and have already lost a few pounds. Hopefully that vet will be happy now!

y h p r u M

This year also provide d me opportunities to stay with my foster mom Kirsten and her family and then Christmas vacation allowed me to spend time with Tracy, Hannah and Zach. Althoug h I am sad when the Thomas’ leave, I have such wonderful places to go visit that it makes the time go by quickly and I always have lots of fun.

Gazette 2016

I’m g lad to have a lot of friends that think it’s great to have me sleep with them. Fortunately my foster mom Kirsten started the trend and quickly Morg an and Sydney followed. Gia, Kirsten’s daug hter, is also glad to share the bed and some snug g les with m e. O ve r t h e Christmas vacation I recruited Zach, Tr a c y’s s o n, to follow the trend. It ’s g reat that I have a special b e d in all t h e homes that I visit often. While Susan and Jim haven’t

given in to the trend, the girls think that Jim & Susan move downstairs during their bathroom remodel, I should be able to hop in their bed. Only time will tell to see if it actually happens, Susan is definitely a rule follower. I ’ m looking for w ard to another year of adventures and if you want to k eep track of me and my adventures you can follow me on instragram @murphdog 2014. Wishing you an adventurous 2017. Murphy

Seek seekqua & Wyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;East viewed from Klick itat

L o ve , h g u a L , e L iv untain o m y r e v e Climb oment m n e ld o G Savor every

Wyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;East harvest Gazettesunrise 2016

ight

Charles & Pam T homa sâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home in Penn sylvania

d oo W t en i c n A

Oh the stories that trees in the Northwest tell... ...from the burned out forests on the slopes of Klickitat to massive stumps, persisting from early settlement felling of the Northwest forests & still bearing springboard scaffold marks over 100 years later, to the new trees launching skyward from the old.

Gazette 2016

Tennis remains a favorite hobby. Susan competed in a Multnomah Athletic Club doubles tournament (above). Jimâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s USTA team advanced to 3.5 sectionals competition in Spokane, Washington (below).

Tennis

Morgan’s Memories by Morgan

a minor in entrepreneurship. I am hoping to find a job in the business This year started off flying back field but am keeping my options open. from Peru and moving into my first apartment off campus, with two roommates, Tori and Sydney. This was a different experience than living on campus, but I much prefer it. I moved back home for the summer and worked and during my senior year I am again living in the same apartment building with Sydney and Tori.

Living

School This past year I finished my junior year of college and started my senior year! It feels like it went by so fast and it’s crazy to think it’s almost over. I don’t know what I want to do after college but I hope it includes working and traveling. I am pursuing a degree in marketing and management with

Gazette 2016

Love Your Melon This past January, my friends Tori, Sydney and Natalie became ambassadors for Love Your Melon. We brought the ambassador program to our campus at Seattle University. Love Your Melon’s mission is to give a hat to every child battling cancer in America as well as support organizations who lead the fight against pediatric cancer. Through this I have gotten to meet the most amazing kids and bring a smile to their face. We have visited families as well as hospitals and spent the day with kids with cancer. It’s amazing to see the how positive these kids are and how much the gifts mean to them.

from summer camps but I enjoyed the challenge. I knew nothing about cars as well as didn’t know how to back in to parking spots. Now I know how to park and a lot about cars. I got to drive all different types of cars so now know what kind of cars I like. One thing I don’t miss about Enterprise is having to be at work around 6:45.

California Over spring break Sydney, my mom and I went down to California with Lisa and Emily Malech to visit Claremont and watch Sam play tennis. The weather was amazing and it was nice to sit outside. Of course both Sydney and I got sunburnt and it didn’t rain, which was a very nice change from Seattle weather. We spent some time on the campus which was very different from Seattle university as well as the city which was different from Seattle. We went on hikes, shopped and watched tennis. We had a great time with great friends.

Work This summer I had a management internship at Enterprise Rent-a-car where I worked a lot of hours but also leaned a lot. It was very different

Canada

2016 adventures

This Christmas was celebrated in Vancouver, Canada with my aunt, uncle, cousin and grandparents. We went to Vancouver and spent the week exploring the city and spending time together. We ate a ton of food, walked everywhere and played in the snow. Unfortunately, we couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t bring Murphy on this trip, so it was another Christmas without him. On Christmas day we opened gifts, had breakfast, then went to Grouse Mountain. It was nice to see snow on Christmas day. We went on a light walk, took a sleigh ride and drank hot cocoa and cider. It was nice to have all the family together to celebrate the holidays. Of course, there was a lot of shopping on Boxing Day and a lot of good food throughout the city.

This past year I went to a couple Timbers games and one Sounders game. I love to watch soccer and the Sounders had a good year! I also went to two concerts, Macklemore and Old Dominion! Both were amazing! Macklemore was a small show where 500 people got free tickets. It turned out the venue was across from our apartment so it worked perfect. We went to Old Dominion with friends to celebrate being done with fall quarter. It was a great way to end the year. I love living in the city and being able to go to cool events. This summer I went on many hikes around Oregon including my favorite, Oneonta Falls. This past winter we went snow shoeing on Tri-County Ridge at Barlow Pass. This was a very cool experience and something I hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t done in awhile. Also any hike where I can bring Murphy I love.

Gazette 2016

At the end of the school year we went boating on Lake Washington with friends. This was a perfect way to enjoy a Seattle summer. In November, Hollynd came to visit us and spend the weekend exploring Seattle. It was nice to have an old friend visit. We wandered the city and showed her what Seattle life is like. Over Thanksgiving break my grandparents from my mom’s side spent the week with us. We ate, shopped and spent time with friends and family.

22 It’s crazy to imagine that I am already 22. This is the first time my parents didn’t come up to celebrate my birthday as it was on a Tuesday. However, I went to dinner with Sydney and my friends, Tori, Natalie and Iman. I again celebrated my birthday over Thanksgiving with my family and friends in Oregon. I am looking forward to what next year brings as it is a big year for change with graduating and finding a job.

Gazette 2016

Thomas Family Portrait

Happy Holidays from

Murphy, Sydney, Susan, James & Morgan

Feeling 22!

by Sydney

his year was filled up with school and work! It’s crazy to think that I am in my last year of college and looking at the next step! I’m excited to see what the next step is and

what 2017 brings!

Seattle University

I finished up my junior year and started my senior year! I am still doing Marketing and Management with a minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. It’s hard to believe that in six months I will be graduating and moving on to the next chapter. I am enjoying every minute of this year. This past January we moved offcampus to an apartment near school. We are still living with Tori, and we love living where we do. Capitol Hill has so much to do and so much to see. My favorite class was this winter term, where we created a Marketing plan for Microsoft about Bing and presented it to them. It showed me what it takes to create a Marketing plan and to be able to present it to Microsoft was an amazing experience. This year

I become a Marketing Manager for Seattle University Recreation. I have been able to learn about everything the Recreation department has to offer, working with a team, and spreading the word to students through social media about all the different activities there are to do. This past year, we attended to Macklemore and Old Dominion, concerts, which were both so much fun experiences. My friend Hollynd came and visited us for a weekend before Thanksgiving break. It was so much fun to show her Seattle, where we go to school and just enjoy the weekend. This past year has been so much fun, and I’m looking forward to the next six months. I went to a Sounders game in Seattle and although I am still a Timbers fan, it’s fun to cheer on the Sounders when I am in Seattle .

Gazette 2016

California:

With a busy year of school and work, I traveled to California for Spring Break. We went to Claremont, CA to visit our friends, Sam with his mom and his sister along with our mom. We enjoyed watching Sam play tennis, the sun, Santa Monica, shopping, hiking and relaxing. I also enjoyed seeing the Claremont Colleges campuses, as they are very different than Love Your Melon: Seattle University. It was a great break This year I became an ambassabetween school! dor for Love Your Melon. Love Your Melon supports pediatric cancer, and donates 50% of their sales to help this cause. Morgan, and two friends, Natalie and Tori, and I brought this program to Seattle University and started a crew here. I am also the Public Relations Manager for the crew. I have been able to see what social media can do to spread awareness about this cause and support something that is such a great cause. With Love Your Melon, I have been able to spend a day with a local family whose child was celebrating their third birthday and being one year cancer free. As well as spending a day at a local hospital giving away beanies, and coloring with the kids was so much fun and an amazing way to see what this organization does. Overall this past year we have been spreading awareness to the community about this amazing cause. Be sure to check out loveyourmelon. com!

hours a week, going in at 6:30 am, and working on the weekends showed me what real life is like! I enjoyed getting to drive the Tesla that we had at my branch, it was my favorite car I drove this summer. Getting to work with the people at my branch, try something new, meet new people cre-

Summer:

This summer was filled with work. I had a Management Trainee Internship with Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Portland. I learned a lot throughout the summer especially in sales and customer service. Going into the internship not knowing anything about cars, I now know a significant amount ated a fun work experience. Overall about them, their features and the this summer was a fun experience, different kinds of cars. Working 45+ at times it was hard and stressful but looking back at the experience, it was a fun and story filled summer. When I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t working, I tried to go on as many hikes as I could, especia l ly ones where we could bring Murphy! I also enjoyed going to Timbers games and a Sounders game, shopping and happy hours around Portland with friends and family!

Gazette 2016

Vancouver Christmas: This Christmas we went to Vancouver, Canada for a week with my momâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family. It was nice to see my aunt and uncle, my cousin, Kendall and my grandparents as well. It was fun to go back to Vancouver, as it has been many years since I was there. We spent time shopping, walking, eating and exploring around the city. On Christmas day we went to Grouse Mountain, which was an amazing time. We wa l ked around t he mou nt a i n , went on a sleigh ride and had some hot chocolate. After Christmas it was Boxing Day and time to shop a g a i n . I love d spending the holidays with my family and Vancouver was an amazing place to see. â&#x20AC;&#x2039;

Ibrahim Issa, Razan Mohammed and daughter Amar with their first snowperson while visiting Mt. Hood.

Fellows A teaching day in early 2016. OHSU medical student Andrew Summers, visiting fellow Ibrahim Issa from Jordan, Julia Zhu visiting from Changzheng & University of Washington. Visiting former fellow Manish Munjal & Pooja in Gujarat.

Visiting former fellow Redwan Kalash in the UAE - he left Damascus for security reasons to practice in the United Arab Emirates

Gazette 2016

i a b u D My first exploration of the Middle East began in Al Fahidi, Dubai, along the waterfront, resting in the XVA Art Hotel, with the Persian heritage wind cooling towers catching the sea breezes & morning wake up by the Muezzin. Close by, the megalopolis of new Dubai displayed architectural one-upsmanship in unprecidented fashion.

Europe They know how to throw a party in Genoa Three meetings over two weeks in June took me to Rouen, Genoa and Amsterdam. I stayed in AirBnB apartments, Bed & Breakfasts and rented a home, so I felt a resident in each location. I studied ner ve reinnervation with Jean-Paul Ma rie i n Rouen, France observing a few surgeries and riding a bike along the overf lowing Seine River, swans swimming o ve r t h e sidewalks. Train stops in Paris and Milan for several hours each allowed me to rent a bike and wander the city streets in seach of necissities; bakeries, charcuteries, fromageries and coffee shops. The port of Genoa, alive with seaport

tradition, from the churches ringing out the time, to the ladies in the alleys inquiring, “Andiamo?” and showing me a condom for translation purposes. Rapha Cycling club rented me a Canyon carbon racing bike for my stay in Amsterdam where I learned that a cyclist who stops at an i nt e r s e ction i s a problem , a s ever y pedestrian, car, m o t o r scooter and moving object assumes and predicts that a cyclist won’t stop for anyone. I only did it once. I rented an entire Amsterdam home which was just wide enough to hold my bike. living like a Dutchman. I hopped the train to Utrecht for a few hours with

Gazette 2016

Rouen Cathedral

Off to a date colleague Jurjaan Snelleman & partner Luise Kimm as they embark on a total rebuild of their recent home purchase, at the same time he is opening a new office in Amsterdam. Jurjaan, on his â&#x201A;Ź3 train station rental bike, showed me how to navigate the city. I even rode side-saddle on the back of his bike when he dropped me off for the meeting, moving my legs in at reasonably appropriate times. A short story on Medium about an afternoon in a Paris Train Station.

Tulip of Amsterdam B&B Kloveniersburgwal 9

Jean-Paul Marie

o c i x e M Former fellow Fermin celebrated with a costume party in typical Mexican style, the party lasting muchos horas into the night.

Ferminâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 40th birthday party with Paty, Susan and I.

Gazette 2016

Courtesy of Sachin Gandhi, October found me in Ahmedabad, India for Laryngology Summit 2016 where I not only presented, but did so in period costume and learned to dance Garba during the Navratri Festival celebrating the Goddess Shakti.

a i d In

Gazette 2016 2015 Scan the QR code to see the full set of photos taken in Kenya during my travels on flickr.com/photos/voicedoctor

ticks snapping in the flames, Dennis, John and I warm ourselves in the middle of their thorn walled compound. Shadows and glowing light dance on the undersurface of the acacia treeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s branches. A quotidian chill evening breeze rises shortly after the equatorial ocher orb plunges abruptly behind distant mountains. Every day it plunges, searing the western sky. Every day is worth watching.

Sleeping in Maasai Land In daytime, out in the savannah, you can bake here at 5000 ft elevation, but if you find shade, like the cheetahs and lions, you can be cool in the middle of the day. When the sun sets, the Mara wind picks up and the temperature plummets. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time to regulate temperature again. Every evening a fire encourages conversation. Draping a Shuka, the red Maasai blanket, around my shoulders for warmth, I listen in. Besides heat, perhaps the blaze wards off the long toothed creatures as well. Gazing up, Venus and Jupiter, siblings circling, dance together in the dusky western sky and initiate the night. Saturn and Mars appear directly overhead, then mix with the stars. Stars and more stars appear, billions pixelating the night sky. With essentially no electricity in the Maasai, counting stars is a futile exercise leading to a start on comprehension of infinity. Campfire stories include Dennis telling of lion strategy. Lions will move to opposite sides of the village and the upwind lion will release a smell, driving the cattle and livestock to an anxiety that sends the village herds into a stampede off to the other side of the village, where the other lions wait. The village

defense warning system is dogs. Dogs will send up an alarm by barking and howling. An hour later, fire dying, I retire beneath mosquito netting inside my mud and dung plastered home stay. Lizards on the walls, wind howling through the crevices, I crash into a deep slumber. Strange dreams start, the combination no doubt of jet lag, the outdoor water facilities and all the novelties of life this week in Sekanani, James Ole Lesaloi’s village in southwest Kenya. Waking in the middle of a dream at 2 am, I feel sweaty. In my semiconscious state I had vaguely noticed the wind died suddenly, perhaps only moments ago. The calm is stifling. I feel hot and sticky under the blankets. Wiping at my arms, I notice grit, and it clings to my sweaty arm. My shoulder stings, then my right leg has a hot spot. I reach for my mobile phone, swipe on the LED light. The dots aren’t grains of dirt. I have been joined in bed by hundreds of ants. I jump out of bed, brushing my entire naked body, twitching at any vague sensation. Standing on the concrete floor I feel little burning spots on my ankles. Hopping and swatting at my ankles, I dance in the dark. Without my contacts in, my light shines on a blurry, vibrating line on the floor leading to my bed. I bend over. I am standing in the middle of a highway for thousands of red ants. I run outside, a little naked, I’m not about to pull on underwear that I haven’t cleared of red dots. It is warm outside without the wind. Dogs are

howling and barking in all directions in the village. The dark night doesn’t sound much friendlier than inside. Even the outhouse 50 feet away seems unnecessarily distant. I return to bed briefly to grab some clothes, return outside, shake them and dance a few more steps at every tingle. Back inside, I explore the floor with my cellphone light. There is another line of ants near the entrance. My bedroom sized hut is cozy, at about 12 by 8 feet. Empty floor space is precious, more so when shared with ants. I decide to brave the night air again. The air is exceedingly calm now. I dress. Stars more numerous and more brilliant than earlier around the campfire, punctuate all the heavens, the Milky Way a white watercolor wash thrown across the sky. A meteor burns through Cygnus before flame out. I am not interested in returning to bed. I stargaze for two hours, bats flying around. I can hear a low pitch wooing sound and crickets in the brief moments between salvos of barking from the dogs. The dogs carry on, crazy in the village. I wonder about those lions. Are they just outside my compound, spraying scent into the night air. Seeing a lion sprint across the dry grass into our compound is not on my Africa check list. I move a chair just barely inside my door (in an apparent ant free zone - two feet from the two lines fasciculating across the floor). I nod off into a fitful sitting sleep, feet tucked up under me, not so much different from my economy seat on SwissAir. I even shut the door after a bat flickers too

Gazette 2016

close to my face, his radar on the fritz. At 5:30, I open the door again. Black before dawn, the dogs are still out of their minds. I hear a cowbell ring in a steady rhythmic pattern, so someone must be making an effort to silence the dogs. There is a very thin sliver of waning moon over the hills in the east. Of course dawn eventually comes. Mike comes outside as hazy light reaches up into the sky. He gathers up sticks to light beneath the 55 gallon drum for my morning ablutions. I tighten my Shuka around me and join him by the heat. 20 minutes later I am off to a steaming shower out in the tin shed.

My host family in their dwelling rise at a more normal hour, bringing Kenya’s Nestle instant coffee out. I debrief on the night. We wander over to my hut and find the line of ants outside, fire ants, who have tunneled into my room overnight.

“Oh, and when the dogs are barking, stay inside,” Dennis adds, “a pod of elephants wandered into the village during the night.” The dogs weren’t crazy.

Nupur Nerukur (above) demonstrates augmentation laryngoplasty at the Nairobi Surgical Skills Center. Chimmy Omano-Olende (right & below), Joyce Aswani (below, 1st on left) & Asmeeta Patel (below, 2nd from right) organized the 1st East African Voice and Phonosurgery Course in Nairobi, which brought me to Kenya and the continent for the first time.

Left: Goat for lunch. Scan the QR code for a story on Medium.

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Klick itat Cascadia is blessed with more peaks than I can climb in a lifetime. Klickitat glows in the evening at the far side of the Cascade Range, visible from home. Loowit anchors the northern view from Portland. Yet, despite their proximity and many photography walks along the flanks of select NW peaks, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seldom, no almost never,

ventured to the apex of one. This year my friend Amy put together group adventures that got me and others out and to the top of both Loowit and Klickitat. For my eyes there is the severe white grandeur of the snow covered peaks, but also the details on the ground below.

n i a t un o M g n i b m i l C L oow it

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Following a week in Dubai’s heat, I returned to sleep at the base of Loowit, the maiden. Starting the climb early in the morning, late spring revealed fungi and flowers on the recently thawed lower slopes beneath the coniferous forest. We broke out of timberline to slopes of snow, still crusty from the night. Step by step we made our way up the white slopes. We reached the cornices of the volcano’s curving rim created when she blew in 1980. Trying to peer over the rim took more courage (or foolishness) than I had, but I wandered parallel to the rim, staying a healthy margin away from the melting edge. We savored the vistas across the Willamette valley to the south and north to Tahoma, also covered in white. After obligatory chocolate at the top, the descent follows. Fortunately Amy had a supply of garbage bags. No need for fancy skis in this spring crud. Find a snow tube, sit on the plastic bag, tuck your ice axe in beside you and let yourself rip down the slopes, putting a few thousand feet behind you in no time. The following month, a higher goal on a mountain which had not been decapitated by a magma explosion. However K lickitat’s lower slopes had been denuded by wildfire last summer. This opened up vistas among the dead wood totems on the lower slopes. The evening found us on a shoulder of the mountain, bivouacking, melting snow for the evening meal and for tomorrow’s water supply. A blazing sunset and meteors put

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us to bed. We rose after midnight for an slopes as thunderclouds moved in, reachextremely dark start up the steepest sec- ing the trailhead to turn back and notice tion of the mountain. At the false summit, the anvil on top of clouds whirled about us as dawn K lickitat, sendbroke. We made the actual ing bolts of fire peak in late morndown onto the ing and then mountain. the sun broke through! T here wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t enough sun to melt the snow that day, so the slopes were lightning fast for any descent. I chose to walk, but a slip and one of our climbers zoomed about 200 yards down the mountain before managing a halt. We even got to watch a rescue helicopter arrive to pluck someone else off the mountain when the pilot entered his own vortex ring and descended somewhat uncontrollably into the glacier taking off his left landing skid, but able to bounce off the glacier and resume f light. He hightailed it out of the mountain valley, perhaps a bit humbler. We left the snow packed

Quite often I stop, not just to smell the roses, but to admire the smallest of life. To compare the bright tidbits of color with the massiveness of the vistas, mountains, forests & trees.

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Occasionally I wander off the beaten path, not lost, although those following may find themselves in a thicket.

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From the Mountaintop

To be alive

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