March 16, 2011

Spring Forward

March 16, 2011/ A Restless Transplant

Break out the Vans and lose the socks. With the Ides of March passed, Spring looms in the not so distant future. After a winter of snowstorms and cold rain, I am looking forward to the season change like an eight-year-old to the ball pit at McDonalds.

I am swamped with work and preparing for a week long trip back to Nicaragua.

When work and responsibilities pile up, I turn to these blogs for an escape;
The Blue Hour,
Grass Doe,
Whole Lard Lover.

Be back soon.

May 05, 2009

Jon Patrick from The Selvage Yard and his Leather Bag

May 05, 2009/ A Restless Transplant

My mom doesn't hesitate to voice her opinion about my posts and who I link to. She doesn't like some of my photographs of barns, she thinks Michael Williams is a dick and that his blog is over hyped, and she absolutely raves about Jon Patrick's The Selvage Yard. On Friday I met up with JP, as Jon Patrick is known throughout the menswear and blogging world, to interview the fine gentlemen that run design at Rugby for an article in next month's H(Y)R Collective.

JP dressed as you would expect a longtime menswear veteran and dedicated style blogger to, wearing classic staples of American and British fashion. However, his leather bag "really tied the room together" adding context to his dead stock 501's and mackintosh trench.

According to JP, he "found it [the bag] rotting in the basement an old Victorian house of a friend's, probably been there for decades and it was as brittle as an old dinosaur bone. took it home, soaked it in lindseed oil and cleaned it up with mink oil and it's now one of my most valued treasures. Not sure what the initials represent, but I'm intrigued and will never feel complete until I know..."

Meeting someone after reading their blog posts and tweets for months creates a unique sense of familiarity and insight into their thoughts. I had an awesome afternoon with JP and look forward to working with him on a column for the H(Y)R Collective.

Here are some more links,
The Selvage Yard,
Jon Patrick (Twitter).

February 24, 2009

Seaplanes

February 24, 2009/ A Restless Transplant

Growing up, I knew a family (The Vollums) who had a Turbo Grumman Goose. On weekends the Vollums would fly their Goose to a lake house in British Columbia or McCall Idaho. In under two hours they could be worlds away from their house in downtown Portland (Oregon). I will always remember my first ride in an "Airplane-go-water," as I lovingly called them.

Seaplanes are used for exploring the territories and connecting urban and remote worlds and thus are inherently rugged.

A couple times an hour, commercial seaplanes leave from Lake Union in downtown Seattle, shuttling commuters to and from the San Juan Islands and British Columbia. These seaplanes turn a 4 hour commute involving ferries and multiple highways into 45 minute plane ride.

This is what I imagine every seaplane pilot looking like.

Despite improved roads and highways, Seaplanes remain the preferred means of transportation in much of Alaska and British Columbia.

I want to live on a secluded island or lake and commute to work one of these guys.

The location of runways doesn't hold these guys back. Seaplanes can land on roughly 75% of the Earth's surface. Ohh the freedom...

Thanks to Seaplanes in the Great Northwest for some photos.