I don't think I've ever seen such a distinct "half-a-tree".

A tree sits under dramatic skies – one half brushy, one half naked branches. [Fuji X-T5 / Tamron 18-300]

Dips and rises in Lava Beds National Monument.

A rocky hole in the ground in the foreground, and a cone-shaped hill in the background. [Fuji X-T5 / Tamron 18-300]

They're on a snooze cruise with the summery sun.

Two tabby cats snoozing on a warm floor. [Fuji X-T5 / Fuji 23 1.4]

We're packing! My wife and I leave in a couple days to serve as Volunteer Rangers for the Forest Service in Western Montana through September. Although I love California, it'll be nice to have a change of scenery for a while :) Moreover, it's been a good chance to sell/donate a bunch of things and generally downsize life and reflect on what we'd like things to look like in a year.

A car sits with its doors and trunk open, packed with things. [Fuji X-T5 / Fuji 23 1.4]

My Friend Squelch

I learned a lot making DewDrop, and have been really enjoying using it. So I was thinking about other things to do. Bless SomaFM, it's a lovely service, but my god the Mac app is hideous. So I thought I might take a whack at that. Thus, SQUELCH.

Squelch doesn't offer all the same features that SomaFM's own app does (you can't favorite songs, see playlist histories (yet?), see all their news and updates, and that sort of thing). I might add some or all of that later, but simple feels nice, and I feel like it's pretty neat as it is. I'd built a website for someone who makes lovely crafts with color customization, which made me really want to do that in one of my own projects, and this seemed like a good fit. Meanwhile, the visualizer was a fun learning experience; it taps into the computer's live audio using CoreMedia and the vDSP framework to do frequency analysis, then maps the audio into the bars with custom weighting – notionally I wanted it to feel authentic without actually bouncing around to the distracting extent that reality dictates, haha.

Anyhow. Still a couple of issues (mini-player quirks, and uhh that visualizer I was so proud of doesn't work when you're using other audio destinations e.g. AirPods as some people are prone to do), but I think it's pretty neat. Plus this time I actually remembered to build in an update checker from Day 1, so when I fix those issues it'll tell you...

Feels like my wife and I have been so sporadically sick that we haven't been able to get out much! So although this hike was abridged, it was nice to get out a bit.

All sorts of things going on with a tree's bark – moss and scarring. [Fuji X-T5 / Tamron 18-300]

A little hole in the trees in the hills above Oakland. A bit gloomy, but it was like 85 °F in the Central Valley today, so this was very welcome.

A view toward a group of trees in a forest; a gap in them shows a path within. [Fuji X-T5 / Tamron 18-300]

Morning sun hitting a little grassy hill. There were so many woodpeckers around!

Trees covered in Spanish moss sit amidst green grass in the morning sun. [Fuji X-T5 / Tamron 18-300]

New things sprouting up as morning rolls in. We'd gone for a quick hike in little hills to the west, which *for now* remain green. Not for long, I don't think.

A little stubby plant grows off of a lichen-covered rock. [Fuji X-T5 / Tamron 18-300]