Archive • david's eyes • Buttondown

September 15, 2025

The leaves. When did they get there? Three, golden and resting on the trail that I've been riding all summer. How long have I been looking up instead of...

August Heatwave

August 11, 2025

It's been five months since I last wrote. Five months. In my head this seems significant, like that much silence would cultivate into something. Some people...

Raindrops in the bird bath

I'm writing this from the kitchen table in the new house. Kitchen tables and writing: maybe it's the one bastion where conversations still happen organically...

The moving letter

February 18, 2025

Fact: My son turned 10. Fact: We had to move. Again. Fact: Fourth time in four years. Statistical probability of another move within 12 months: Hopefully 0....

December 20, 2024

In the chaotic early days of our solar system, a massive collision shattered a single primordial asteroid. But instead of scattering to the cosmic winds, two...

December 2, 2024

The clock at the Albany train station is broken, an Oregon winter sundial. This seems to be a cosmic joke considering that it was the railways that forced...

Thanksgiving and Biking to Work

November 25, 2024

Including random photos as I didn’t take many since the last newsletter Pine green vastness folds into the ochre and flame of fall. The rhythm of the rails,...

A lil' fall update

October 8, 2024

Hello out there. It's a cold and windy day here in Seattle. The leaves are turning all sorts of shades of reds, oranges and yellows, still clinging to the...

The seasonal temperature, humidity and light in Seattle pair perfectly with its shades of greens, blues and whites. After a week in the heat and humidity of...

Last Saturday we were able to welcome Thomas Hugh Harvey-Petersen. The delivery and labor were both thankfully smooth and both Mom/son are healthy, something...

I'm sorry I haven't written recently. I'm going to try to sprinkle in any photos of what has been happening recently. Job has been pretty difficult. Much of...

Sun meets water meets skin

January 28, 2024

Central Park. Cold, but sunny. My confidence in this sweater was a little too high and the cold part is beating out the sunny part. I find water, so many...

End of the road

December 8, 2023

A small bit of housekeeping to start this one off. Tinyletter is shutting down in February so this will be my final newsletter here. It's been a wonderful...

The car's first name is

November 13, 2023

The coyotes started at 3am... A bark and then a series of howls. Call and reply. It takes me back to camping deep in the Oregon trees at 9 years old. We...

November 8, 2023

First things first. This coming Friday to next Saturday (10th-18th) myself and Andrew will be driving from Seattle to San Diego. We're packing for an ol'...

October 15, 2023

First of all, I want to apologize for taking so long to write. There have been a number of things that are gradually eating away my day(s). I want to blame...

My car is the greatest automobile ever assembled. The pinnacle of Japanese engineering. On the day he was compared to a covered wagon we forded a river. We...

I was curious the other day how old my Gmail address was. Turns out I signed up a few weeks after it launched, when exactly I don't know, I just remember...

If you can get past the overly flowery beginning this newsletter gets better

Rhythm. It's funny we say how life has a rhythm. Even the word itself indicates a music moves through us and around us. We glide from note to note, step by...

February 19, 2023

Gaël is 8 (and has been for a month now). So I'm late writing this one. January came and went a little quick. This is usually where I would write some form...

Busy is better than boring....

November 20, 2022

You are all invited to my birthday. (And Shelby's - mine is the 10th, hers is the 11th) The details are as follows: * When: December 17th / 18th * Where: Mt...

October 3, 2022

I've been feeling a little off. The daily routine lacks pillars that that make me feel whole. Exercise, regimented diet and regular sleep. There has been far...

Short walks and talks

September 22, 2022

Here is something simple and wonderful that I have enjoyed this fall: going for walks with my son. The heat of the summer has dissipated and the days and...

Beaches and teleporting bugs

On the best roads, the miles unwind themselves. This is true whether your means of transportation is walking, running, biking or driving. The right time of...

Reading about zombies and picking up waterlogged logs

There is no handbook to parenting. Actually that's not true. There are way too many (and I'm not counting the blogs). Not that I've read any, but for this,...

New York Part 3 Part 1

The original idea was that this would be a "Part 1" and "Part 2" series. Each part written in the airports bookending the trip. Reflection before and...

"Do you know what the word 'etiquette' means?"

Gaël's favorite foods are pizza, pasta, hamburgers, smoothies, crepes…and cupcakes? ("Dad you know I have a lot of favorite foods" - also adding that he has...

Magnificent Seven

January 31, 2022

Note: Winter birthdays are great, but they lack the ability to hang out by the lake, swim, BBQ and pick blackberries. So this next summer I want to...

I'm kind of a big deal. People know me.

January 1, 2022

One of the rules of the newsletter is not to send these out on holidays, but New Years Day is a Tier-3 holiday. --- Seattle is frozen. Snow fell on Monday,...

Happy Thanksgiving

November 25, 2021

I haven't written in a while, I've been moving through the world and searching for words. One family tradition is to go around and share things we are...

Don't overthink it

September 6, 2021

tl;dr I went to New York and had a great vacation ---- Here's a theory: to experience a city you have to move through it. By moving, the city will be felt....

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears

August 14, 2021

Seven days in Oregon. Two dads. Two kids. Deep cold water. Clear. The trout are huge and they swim right next to us. We spend at least 20 minutes trying to...

Tiny Adventures

Tiny Adventure #1 Was it hot in Seattle? I don't know. Look up the average temperature in Ahwaz, Iran. Or Phoenix. That's a city. People live there. Human...

The Newsletter about The Newsletter

I was really excited to do the follow-up on the last newsletter offline. But it took a little work. First I had to make the envelopes. I take old paper bags...

****** is whack & Stuff [Part 1]

Gaël and I have started playing this game. It started at the froyo place. Remember the froyo place? Anyway it's been taken a step farther. We close our eyes...

****** is whack & Stuff [Part 2]

Apologies for the quick follow-up. Part 2 of this newsletter is printed on physical paper and will be sent to an address of your choice if you want....

Tuesday Morning (as told by my phone)

Excercise was getting a little difficult lately. Mostly due to the fact that I do it alone. A friend suggested reaching out to online communities so I went...

Walking in the wetlands

February 22, 2021

No wandering Magnuson today. Needed to switch it up. It wasn't raining so I needed to go outside. Have you heard about the Washington State Arboretum? I...

January 17, 2021

We celebrated Gaël's 6th birthday yesterday. Super smash bros and pizza/white cake/neapolitan ice cream. I put up superhero posters (Avenger themed). While...

December 16, 2020

End of year digital purge. Stayed on social networks, but dramatically unfollowed and paired down. Feels really good. In the spirit of that, drop this...

Team Daddy and Gaël

November 3, 2020

"TEAM DADDY AND GAËL!" Every time before we do something now. Puzzles, basketball, soccer, video games, cooking or watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles....

Post hike: a perfect vacation

September 16, 2020

The shorter version: As usual Kevin put together an amazing video. The longer version: San Francisco - ate all Chinese pastries. Finally got 8 hours of sleep...

The sloppy hastily written pre-hike newsletter - reader beware

September 1, 2020

The pre-hike newsletter is always written last last last minute. As soon as it is sent I'm off south for a week of hiking and hanging with friends. I may be...

Blackberry Saison

These preceding weeks are full of warnings why not to eat the green berries. To wait just a liitttttllle bit longer. Classic tug-of-war of wills. Sagely...

The Rules For Eating Ice Cream

Since Gael missed a preschool gradutation, the YMCA had them make little hats and gave them diplomas. We went out for froyo afterwards. The nice lady asked...

First of all, the weather is so darn lovely, I'm going to try to write fast. Shorter for you, shorter for me, everyone wins! --- I have found the way to...

Morning runs - already quiet and solitary - have become intensely so. If I leave exactly at 6:30, when I crest the hill the sun will be breaking over the...

Ginger Chicken in Albany Oregon

In Corvallis for a week to wait out a school closure. Spring is fickle here in the Northwest, sunshine comes in spurts and bursts between rain. That week we...

A spicy dinner party recipe

February 20, 2020

Prep time: 30 minutes Cook time: 10-50 minutes Ingredients: 3 random couples 3 random bags of groceries 1 small kitchen Directions: 1. Swap grocery bags,...

January 26, 2020

Gaël turned 5. He's flashed all the kid's routes at the climbing gym - getting good. That night we dug out an old night light and counted stars. Passed out...