I want to do whatever it is that presses the essence from the hour. Mary Oliver Lulu and I went on our first hike of the year together last week after a long and quiet winter. Yes, she is the beautiful standard poodle you see in the photo. Though it was a short hike, IContinue reading “Hiking with Lulu”
Tag Archives: Aging Hikers
Strolling with the Desert Fathers
Let the unknowable touch the buckle of my spine Let the world turn in the trees, and the mystery hidden in the dirt swing through the air. Mary Oliver Twice a year in the spring and fall I go to visit a friend who has a rustic cabin in the Painted Desert of Arizona nearContinue reading “Strolling with the Desert Fathers”
Good-by to the Lodge
The world is always ending somewhere. It just depends on whether it falls in your line of vision or not. Akwaeka Emezi On Monday morning I got up and opened my laptop, as I do most mornings, and was surprised to see a message from a friend that said simply, “Oh no!” I clicked theContinue reading “Good-by to the Lodge”
Hiking Broken
Let go or be dragged. Zen Proverb Readers of my blog may recall that I fractured my shoulder about six months ago. When it happened I recall feeling hopeful that I would have the entire autumn and winter to recover, then would be back on the trail by spring. Isn’t that the way it isContinue reading “Hiking Broken”
Far from the Crowd
Those who dwell. . . among the beauties and mysteries of life are never alone. Rachel Carson The spring after my disappointing hike of the Washington section of the PCT ( see last week’s post, Still Hiking with Leah), I went on a backpacking trip in early May up the Elwha River in Olympic NationalContinue reading “Far from the Crowd”
Yes I Can
“Time is the substance I am made of,” wrote Jorge Luis Borges. “Time is a river that sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire.” There’s no scrambling up to theContinue reading “Yes I Can”
Bearing Witness
It is what I was born for– to look, to listen, to lose myself into the soft world– to instruct myself over and over. . . Mary Oliver The painting you see above was transferred from the riverbank to the canvas by my grandmother, who was an accomplished oil painter. My grandfather was an earlyContinue reading “Bearing Witness”
Petals and Patience
“Patience” comes from the same ancient roots as “petals”—to open like a flower, to unfurl, to receive the stroke of a moth’s tongue and the ministrations of a bee. And so we are given “passive” and “patient” and “passionate.” Kathleen Dean Moore in Wild Comfort The flower you see in the photo above is aContinue reading “Petals and Patience”
Remember “The Mountain”
The answer may not be in the mountains, but shouldn’t we at least check? Anonymous As my readers know by now I grew up in Tacoma, Washington with a view of “The Mountain” outside my bedroom window to the east. Everyone referred to it that way, though there were other mountains visible in the nearbyContinue reading “Remember “The Mountain””
An Old Woman Walks the Tightrope
I chose that quote to begin today’s post, not because I am a painter, but because I am broken. So far, like Humpty Dumpty, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t seem to put Colleen together again. As I shared in A Post from Rusty Truck Acres a few weeks ago, IContinue reading “An Old Woman Walks the Tightrope”
The Solitude Trail 