Travel
12.31.15 ‘Last stop’
We’ve been hanging in the woods. This is the first day we’ve seen sun. Birdie has taken to the woods like she was born to them. And being a West Highland Terrier, she certainly is made for a slightly more rugged terrain than our living room. Watching her plug her little nose to the ground…
Read More11.28.15 ‘I lift my lamp beside the golden door’
Today I fed and petted a stingray, hung out with my two young nieces, met a mermaid and learned that there are whole companies out there making a mint selling day planners and personalized stationery in this day and age.
Read More11.27.15 ‘Our eyes can be just the right size’
Since we are now on that steep snowbank of holiday season, careening at gathering speed from Thanksgiving to Hanukkah to Christmas to Kwanzaa to Festivus to New Years to Oh Lord Another Year Has Passed, I offer up my annual tradition: My short story, “Home for the Holidays,” which combines a feud, holiday lights, and … murder. You’ll never see decorations the same way again.
Read MoreHow to get lost, on purpose, in your own head
Went hiking yesterday, did about 6 or 7 miles in very light patchy snow up towards Gertrude's Nose in the Mohunk Preserve. Went with a small group of people I didn't know and had some light conversation along the way, but mainly I like to go hiking to be in my own head, and I…
Read MoreWhatever gets you through the night
Is there anything better than a virtually unbroken night of sleep? (Does anyone literally have an unbroken one? I mean, where you don't even get up to pee?) I had that last night, just one quick up and then back down. When the alarm went (gentle NPR, no buzzer) I was in the midst of…
Read MoreOn a B road heading for the sea
Heading out of town this weekend, going up to Boston. Nice thing about the train is you can pack extra food and not worry about whether anything's going to be considered "liquid" or a "gel." I've made some more of the awesome Caveman Crunch (civilizedcavemancooking.com/grain-free-goodies/caveman-crunch/) and have dried fruit and real fruit and am taking…
Read More2009: Fiji – New Zealand – Australia
In 2009, I hit a birthday milestone and was lucky enough to have a full-time freelance career that allowed me to take three weeks off for a journey I’d been wanting to take since I was about 12: Australia! Now, the package deal I secured also included a brief stop in Fiji (pro: made the…
Read More2007: Colorado Backcountry Hiker Trip (July 15-20)
“I am a frayed and nibbled survivor in a fallen world, and I am getting along. I am aging and eaten and have done my share of eating too. I am not washed and beautiful, in control of a shining world in which everything fits, but instead am wondering awed about on a splintered wreck…
Read More6.5.04 Hadrian’s Wall Walk: Heddon-on-the-Wall to Wallsend
Alongside the remains of the fort and a faux Roman bathhouse and some wall is this 100-foot space-age tower which overlooks the site and allows visitors to get a semi-aerial perspective. That perspective includes the cranes at the harbor, brightly colored and noisily doing their thing. In one fell swoop you get First Century, Nineteenth Century, and Twenty-First Century. And guess which one is the butt-ugliest?
Read More6.4.04 Hadrian’s Wall Walk: Chollerford to Heddon-on-the-Wall
I was trying to find some way to put it out of its misery because I was clearly an evil horrible person with honking big feet and this was the least I could do.
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