Flight
In my Junior year of high school my buddy, Brad Watson, discovered a rope swing, an outrageous ropeswing, in a steep canyon below Holmes Point Drive. “It’s radical,” he kept…
Illilouette Canyon
Today I climbed the canyon where my ashes will be strewn. I hope it may be some years hence, but here it will be. What better place in the world…
Copse
This English word goes back to the 16th century and is a short form of "coppice." It means a cluster of trees that springs up continually even if cut for…
Light in Darkness
I’ll never forget that campfire. We students listened to our professor telling us of his alcoholic father and the frequent tirades he had endured in his youth. Words and objects…
Winter Gifts
Sigurd Olsen recounts ice skating on a January night out his cabin door across a wild lake frozen smooth and clear as glass. The lake was rimmed with old white…
Thanks Giving
I’ve been busy! Here’s the first blog post in a month or so, for Thanksgiving. More to come soon. Thanks for you! It’s clear to me that the ability to…
Fall Weather – Turning Inward
Autumn marks the beginning of the end. Something primal in me responds with keen, fierce attention. My eyes are wide to the turning trees, my skin surprised by the sudden…
The Space Between Trees – Fullness in Emptiness
It’s a rare pleasure to be simply still at some moment during the day. Afternoon naps are a lost art and day dreaming a near impossibility since the emergence of…
Autumn – The Coming Rest
Barely the equinox, and leaves are already turning. The hills are eager for the fall this year, grateful after months of parched skies, thirsty even for the morning dew which…
Walking
“My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-seven now, and we don't know where the heck she is.” ― Ellen DeGeneres I hope I…