My son, like many kids on the spectrum, enjoys puzzles. Perhaps it’s the spacial relationships. Or, perhaps, the finality. When it’s done, it’s done. No abstract finish line to interpret. There’s either a hole somewhere or there isn’t.
I like my camera. Well, I confess, I like puzzles too. Here’s what happened when we decided to mix the two.
Every April in Eastern Washington, the snow melts, the green buds appear and the goldfinches return. That’s when those of the literary persuasion arise from their winter isolation to share what they have written, read and dreamed. Each new edition of Get Lit! (now in its 15th year) offers something for posers and prosers alike, and 2013 was no different.
We enjoyed a choice of venues and topics that covered the spectrum, from library balconies to hotel conference rooms, from pie and whiskey to red-eye gravy. The list of participants was long and varied, from regional favorites Kim Barnes and Jess Walter to the back east based Jaimy Gordon and Joyce Carol Oates.
The panel discussions are my favorite events. They are the most intimate, and therefore, the most interactive. I enjoyed discussions on philosophy, facial wounds and simmering sauce. Kim Barnes was most impressive.
Hope to see you there next year. 
Due to warm weather and early runoff, Snoqualmie (Sno-qualm-ee) Falls, just east of Seattle, is running high and loud – its misty plume enveloping its northern wall like sea rain.
Windmills have long been a favored subject of painters and photographers. Now, you can add bloggers to the list. I have a particular affinity toward the sleek, new breed of wind turbines popping up all around the West.
Recent heavy fog and near-zero temps conspired to create interesting frost formations on thistles and other foundations.
The magic mode on my Olympus camera offers some unique distortions to typical exposures. Utilizing this function, I transformed an Alaskan coffee-house into a fun house. The picture above was shot in the watercolor sub mode. The selections below are labeled by function as well.
Soft focus.
Pop art.
Fish eye.
Drawing.
Reflection.
As some of you have no doubt noticed by now, the look of Edited by Mjollnir has changed since last week. Gone from the header is the authentic, yet disturbing, little troll. In his place is the mythical hammer from which this blog borrows its name.
The change came about as a result of WordPress dropping the MistyLook theme. I could have continued to use the ML format in legacy form, but the obsolete program would not have been supported by WordPress changes. WP offered a new theme, Misty Lake, that was similar in design, but not identical, so I decided to seize the opportunity to perform a complete overhaul. In addition to the cool, black background and revamped header, I also introduced new widgets to the sidebar, such as the calendar of posts and blog community short list. I hope you enjoy the new, improved Mjollnir.
I had originally planned on posting a short piece about the passing of 2012, but this year, there seems to be an excessively large number of retrospectives in cyberspace. I mean, one can only revisit the Presidential election and Mayan Apocalypse just so many times before Rip Van Winkle knocks on the door. Instead, I’ll just highlight one of the more interesting stats from my blog for the year 2012; the top ten countries ranked by number of visits to Edited by Mjollnir.
The top two, as might be expected, are the U.S. and Canada. Number three is Australia, no real surprise. After that, the list becomes a bit more eclectic. Indonesia comes in at four, followed by Brazil, Germany, Spain, India and the U.K. The tenth spot is actually shared by three nations, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Poland. It should be noted that China’s hits are actually subdivided into three locations: Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. If the PRC’s three flags were bundled and counted as one, they would slip into the nine spot.
Happy New Year everyone. 
