The Old Spiral Highway

Diane Rice Photography

Believe it or not, after having lived in Moscow for 12 years and in Lewiston for two, I've just now driven the Old Spiral Highway down the grade for the first time. Here it is in the foreground, and it's exactly as described. Beyond is the confluence of the Clearwater (at left) and Snake rivers, with Lewiston, Idaho, on the left and Clarkston, Washington, on the right. The feat yet to be conquered is to capture this shot on a haze-less day.

In a Fog

Buckskin Quarter Horse in fog frosted pasture

Sun trying to burn through the fog

Sun illuminates this cow on a foggy hillside.

I just liked the ranch flavor of this image with frosty barbed wire on a rustic wooden fence post.

The past few days have been cloudy and foggy here in Lewiston, and I figured it was time I added a post to this blog! Here's a sampling of what I came back with. Hope you enjoy them!

Gold in them thar hills

Alumni Band member, U of I Homecoming Parade

Although I’ll readily admit I’m a dedicated, dyed-in-the-wool summer devotee, I do love and appreciate the beauty of autumn on the Palouse. Summer’s heat has fled, leaving cool, crisp nights and making way for gentle rains that quench our heat-parched vegetation.

For me, the season’s signature mental image is of Moscow’s Third Street in the High School neighborhood just east of downtown. Huge hardwoods lining the street shout “Gold!” as pedestrians’ shoes scuffle through the fallen ore like Dorothy’s ruby slippers traveling the yellow brick road.

By this time, harvested rural wheat fields are flaxen stubble—like reverse 5 o’clock shadows on the rich, black earth beneath. Fall rains have nudged emerald winter grass upward, coaxing it to emerge through the loam and tease our mind’s eye into picturing the luxurious beauty of thick, verdant spring grass just a few months away.

Before we know it, snow will blanket the countryside. Skiers and sledders will joyfully head out the door, bundled in caps and scarves and mittens, to gleefully glide down crystalline slopes. Skaters will head to the rink or the pond to cut circular tracks in the glistening glass. Children will create snow angels, snow forts and snowmen. And snowballs.

And then, when we’re all worn out from our cold-weather escapades, we’ll gather inside for hot chocolate and cookies, toasty fires and warm conversations. And to dream about summer.

What a difference a month makes

One thing is gloriously certain about the Palouse: Change is constant.

I shot the photos above on June 17 and July 13, respectively. In that short time, emerald spring wheat drank in the spring rains and soaked up the sun's warmth and energy, maturing into the "amber waves of grain" so aptly described in America the Beautiful.

What a blessing to live in one of the most beautiful places on earth, where photographic fodder abounds.

The view from Steptoe Butte

View to the south from Steptoe Butte


The Palouse frames a Nootka Rose

View from the base of Steptoe Butte

I'm so blessed to live in one of the most beautiful areas of the country. The Palouse is home to an incredible diversity of landscape and scenery, and I love-love-love to preserve that beauty in my images. I have to schedule a shoot at Steptoe Butte at least once a year. On each visit, I discover something that I didn't notice or that wasn't at its peak the year before. So here are the highlights of 2010. I hope you enjoy my images as much as I enjoy sharing them with you.

The Emerald Time

One of my favorite times on the Palouse is spring—what I've heard called The Emerald Time, when seas of varied greens blanket the earth. The contrast of green wheat, this red barn and the unusual cloud formations caught my eye back in May. Can't you just feel the wind whipping??

Lincoln Jay

Birth Day. Don't you just love the little drool bubbles?

Day One. Mom and Dad chose this one for his birth announcement.

One month old. I know I'm biased, but isn't he just precious?

OMGosh, I can't believe how long it's taken me to update my blog with my new grandson Lincoln's photos! Life has been hectic, but it's truly wonderful to have a grandchild so close by. Today's his 2-month birthday. Time to get crackin' on an update! But it'll have to wait 'til the family returns from Mother's Day with Grandma Karen later this week.