One of many 2016 highlights: Elise graduating from Lewis & Clark, and us all traveling to Swaziland to celebrate! Below is a gallery of images; click on any image for more info and a slideshow.
View Jan 1 2016 up Canyon Mountain from our land in southern Oregon, site of Alder Creek Community Forest (ACCF; see www.aldercreek.org).
Biochar production in January in memory of Jim Long, former ACCF board member and longtime supporter (and biochar enthusiast).
Launching spring semester 2016, Lewis & Clark environmental studies (ENVS) students in one of my upper-division courses draw connections between "Big Words" (common/vague abstractions).
ENVS seniors advertising March event they organized with first-year enviro dorm residents, part of a semester-long blogging collaboration (ds.lclark.edu/eallc/).
One of Joy's many visits to Oregon, this time to visit our family friend Sue Shaffer in Canyonville...
Family getaway home slowly taking shape spring 2016. Drop by in ten years and it will be ready for you!
Grandchild Kahdo and grandpa (JDP brother) Bob in Eugene. We all got to see Kahdo grow another year. Another grandchild (of sister Mary) due soon!
Environmental theory class field trip, April: first stop, current and former Douglas County Commissioners!
Students also visited Doerner Fir, world's tallest, in Oregon Coast Range just outside Douglas County.
Environmental theory students camped on our land in southern Oregon before returning to PDX.
Lewis & Clark ENVS students sharing research at annual spring poster session in April.
Some members of our ENVS class of 2016 as we celebrate four years together.
A few graduating ENVS seniors organized a celebratory campout at Oxbow Regional Park.
Portland dealing with Trump candidacy in its own quirky way, May 2016.
Elise and a proud daddy celebrating her graduation from Lewis & Clark!
It took a lot of time and effort for Elise to get that diploma: I'm so happy for her.
Joy and some of her cousins in Swaziland posing for a selfie. We all traveled to southern Africa in May to celebrate Elise's graduation.
Joy and Elise at Mahamba Gorge, one of our special places in Swaziland.
Joy, Elise, and a few of their Swaziland cousins and friends, in Mahamba Gorge in May.
Elise and Joy with Bongie and close family members/friends, Swaziland, May 2016.
Bongie, Joy, and Elise climbing a little hill above Joy and Bongani's place near Nhlangano in southern Swaziland...
...and relaxing on the front porch of Joy and Bongani's home overlooking the Shiselweni middleveld.
Before we left southern Africa we flew to Cape Town and visited Babylonstoren, a fancy garden providing inspiration for their own Canyonville fancy garden ideas...stay tuned...
Lewis & Clark students presented their work on sustainability at our annual environmental studies national conference in D.C.. June 2016.
Unitarian congregation chamber choir giving their final performance of the year in June (alas, I had to watch given my May absence).
Running across that famous bridge and back during June Breakthrough Institute conference in Sausalito.
Lots of biking this summer in prep for big Cycle Oregon week in September! This was their July weekend ride near Corvallis.
ACCF July summer camp kids learning about map and compass. Which way is the right way??
ACCF summer camp kids then taking a hike on our land to apply their map and compass skills.
Here are summer camp kids practicing land cover data entry...
...and entering actual land cover data in the field, applying tree ID and digital skills to help construct a map of ACCF vegetation/habitat.
Ah, how time flies...here with a few classmate friends prior to South Umpqua High School reunion in July.
Bongani and Joy with family friends Bub and Phil Rich at their place near Canyonville, July 2016.
August ACCF instructor seminar, part of our professional development service to Douglas County teachers.
Sister Mary and I hiked to Cliff Lake to celebrate her birthday in August. Cliff Lake is a favorite...Joy, Elise, and I have been there boatloads of times.
The trail from Cliff Lake following forest fire of several years ago. Lots of regrowth!
In fall 2016 I took a sabbatical to work on several scholarly projects, including this new EcoTypes initiative (ds.lclark.edu/ecotypes/).
I also used fall sabbatical to launch weekly Jim Sings (You a Song) podcasts! See facebook.com/jimsings/.
Cycle Oregon's weeklong fall tour to the southwest Oregon coast, down the coast, then back...hundreds of miles on the road, and thousands of feet climbing...nothing for a true cyclist, but definitely a challenge for me.
Trees along the Cycle Oregon descent from Bear Camp Summit, one of our big climbs of the week.
More ACCF fall learning adventures in October, almost all of them organized by our school coordinators Jessica and Rich. It's great to have this learning happen on our land!
Fall camp with a few students from our Lewis & Clark Kojosho karate class. Here my buddies Mike and John are working with white belts...who know how far they may go?
Joy and Elise working with U of O landscape architecture student Zak on their proposed garden ideas in Canyonville; Zak will be doing a design as part of his senior project.
Now it's definitely fall on our land in southern Oregon; this photo from late October.
Local students have adopted the Alder Creek riparian trees to learn more about them. We had a lot of rain and runoff this fall!
Getting ready with Rich and Jessica for an ACCF field adventure on a sunny day in early November.
My friend Lauren and I headed off to the coast in December for a biking adventure…but the weather had other plans.
Here we are at Heceta Head Lighthouse. If we couldn't bike, we could at least sightsee!
Christmas eve candlelight service at our Unitarian congregation with Joy and Elise.
Elise, Joy, and I volunteered with others to sing carols on Christmas day at a local veteran's convalescent hospital. We three have done this a million times; it was a good way for us now-grownups to spend Xmas morning.
...and always to see her sister Elise in Portland!
March 2016, now moving toward springtime on our land.
My odd little Swaziland morning routine: tea and Latour.
Elise and Joy with Bongie and Bongani at a little resort in Swaziland.
Elise and Joy on a quick photo tour of Cape Town.
Our little Canyonville cohort at the South Umpqua High School reunion.
My several thousand temporary bike buddies during Cycle Oregon in September.
Selfies were a good excuse to stop peddling for a moment at least!
Bongani, Elise, and Joy during a fall visit to PDX.
Here's to all things we leave behind in 2016...including the great PDX jazz club Jimmy Mak's, which played its last show on NY eve. Wishing everyone strength and humor as we enter the unknown.