The sweetness of a Pacific Northwest summer is not lost on me. Work has been full of high school graduations, Scandinavian heritage festivals, long lost shipwrecks, Roe v. Wade protests and beer cans scattered in the Columbia River. In my free time, I’ve put down my camera in favor of books, donned a swimsuit and sun hat instead of cargo pants and sneakers. Going out of your way to leave the DSLR at home is against a photojournalist’s instinct, but it’s providing the renewal needed to charge through the chaos of summer in a tourist town. Finding I’m not one of those people who can just go 24/7. I need to empty my head before filling it with the next dish, just live and brew until there’s something worth sharing.