Today is the day before we celebrate with family and friends our mother’s life and mourn her death. This quintessential morning walk evoked so many memories of my parents, driving cross-country from Vermont for a job opportunity in this corner of southeastern Washington, so far from family and the familiarity of the East Coast. This …
Mom died today, August 5, 2014. She was 91 years old. Before my father passed away in 2006, we five children promised to take care of his beloved Eleanor, as he would have done. My mother was strong, independent and curious; as you can imagine, she often balked at our requests to help. In different …
One of my summer goals is climbing some (one at least?) fourteeners here in Colorado. My schedule is hectic but today was free, so I decided to practice with Mt. Audubon, a 13,233 peak only about an hour’s drive from our home in Boulder. The day was picture perfect, clear at sunrise and about 65 …
I find it intriguing that Walla Walla Valley and the surrounding Blue Mountains are such a draw to so many of us who called it home as children. The pull of the place is very powerful: the wide-open fields, the clear skies of summer, the grassy smells of farm lands, the familiarity of riding bikes …
Mother Dove has been sitting on her lone egg in the nest just outside my office window for several weeks. On the west side of the apartment two swallows are feeding two little ones in a mud/twig nest plastered against the porch ceiling with droppings littering the deck floor. Why is it that the dove’s …
Today’s walk was reminiscent of Belize, the heavy cloudburst during the night causing the humidity of the morning to skyrocket. I was soaked by my own skin within minutes of reaching the puddled, reddish-sand trail. The heaviness of the air enveloped me like a moth in its cocoon. I like the closed-in feeling. The downed …
Is bicycling in the mountains a paradox? Riding uphill (Olde Stage Road) from 5400’ to 6087’ with 15% grade at one spot (my speed barely registering on the bicycle computer) and then losing all the elevation within minutes as I squeeze the brakes tightly to keep below 30 mph and avoid gravel (and near-certain spill) …
I waited patiently for darkness to fall, hoping to catch the super moon on the first night after its incredible luminescence. Instead, the sun became the dominant prelude, the first act over-powering the waiting symphony of the moon shining proudly at the closest point of its orbit to the Earth. The backdrop of the Rocky …
“We’re not in Kansas any more, Toto!” Monday evening sky in Lincoln, Nebraska. Although my plane landed in Nebraska, my car rental reservation was for Kansas City, Kansas. A nice man straightened me out (given the small airport and no one else in line, he seemed pleased to help). My internal navigation system (no GPS …
My stomach muscles tighten as I slip into the pool, never quite knowing what the temperature will be. Today, it is refreshing and cool, a sharp contrast to the looming ninety degree weather. The laps slowly slip one after another, the bubbles tracing the movement of my lingering fingers deep beneath me, following my arm …