“We are all just walking each other home.” Ram Dass My days follow a simple pattern. I walk, I read, and I nap. Today, I wander through our neighborhood alone. Current events reveal a world gone mad. I am careful to not dive deep into the follies of mankind. It’s a whirlpool of regret. Wars, … More Friends, Canes, And Walking
“If I knew the way, I would take you home.” The Grateful Dead Thirty five degrees: good walking weather for January. I drove two miles west to the trailhead. The sky was pale blue and smeared with transparent milky clouds. I turned my collar up against a brisk breeze. The forested trail, damp from recent … More Zen Creek
“What a great time to be alive, if you love the theater of the absurd.” David Lynch November arrives. Cooler, wet weather accompanies the calendar. It comes dressed in familiar garb. A grey sweater of cloud warms the heart, if not the skin. Overcast skies diffuse the autumn light. Primary colors morph into pastels. Trees … More The Fall Of Color
“It is a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in the broken world.” Mary Oliver A breeze puffs and stops. The neighbor’s oak leaves float across our fence. They dance, twirling in descent, and settle atop the river rock in my yard. Friction with the earth holds them in abeyance of … More Autumn Light
“Life is not what one lived, but what one remembers …” Gabriel Garcia Marquez I head south from my house in town. The road winds past the Westside Fire Station and the Catholic Cemetery. Further on, I pass the high school and the airport. Orchards of pear, apple, and peaches come into view. I cross … More Lost Lake
“There is nothing to do. There is nowhere to go.” Thich Nhat Hahn I had an appointment with an oral surgeon in The Dalles, OR. It’s 20 miles east of my home in Hood River. The morning sun made freeway driving difficult. At one point, I gunned the engine to speed by a cluster of … More Riverwalk
“How many times can a man turn his head, and pretend he just doesn’t see?” Bob Dylan Wind and more wind scours the Hood River Valley. It’s an elemental force for which we are known. The Columbia Gorge is the largest air transfer route through the Cascade Mountains. When the prevailing winds return in the … More Blowin’ in the Wind
Spring Trees, the audio version. Click here and follow along with the text. First, a few notes. I’ve been reading Late Migrations by Margaret Renkl. (thanks Ginger!) and The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. Today, May 10th, 2024, my brother Earl/Butch turns 80. He has Alzheimers Disease and lives in a facility in … More Spring Trees
“How long must we live to learn how to survive?” Jhumpa Lahiri from Roman Stories March chores. I rake leaves. I pick up broken branches from January’s storms. I gather the debris for composting. Crocuses peek out from under the white bark birch. I rest for a bit. I drag out the tiller. I turn … More March Chores
“Why are we not better than we are?” Eric Trethewey from Frost on the Fields, a poem I walk the streets of my neighborhood alone. I search for harbingers of spring. I find omens instead. Crumpled masks litter the gutter. A feral cat skitters away to a hidey hole. It’s the mucky middle of winter. … More Mid-Winter
Good Blood, Bad Blood 