Orick, CA, Bald Hills Road: deer appear and disappear like drifts of powdery snow, plastic bags cling to barbed wire, collect in drift-fence rows -- Prices Always Low at Wal-Mart.

Cemetery, Fortuna, CA, US 101: bouquet of Peace roses scatters past a headstone marked "Baby Long," spills over "Killed In France" -- red tail hawk calls someone home.

Abandoned school, Arcata, CA, S St: yellow nylon rope on rusted flagpole, metal clasp’s irregular clang -- motherless calf on the playground.

Humboldt Bay, CA, SR 1: clouds scuttle by, run the sky -- brush strokes of family portraits.

Storm steals silence from the night: tide’s meter waves the wind.