I’m not much of one for the whole pilgrim narrative and trying to figure out what to do with a 20 lb. bird (and its leftovers) is a bit of a conundrum. Still, despite the sorry events of this last week, there’s so much for which to give thanks. For many years, Thanksgiving has been […]
There is something magical and vaguely biblical in traveling across a frozen body of water. The color of ice is an indicator of how strong it is. Clear ice with a bluish hue is the most stable and has twice the strength of opaque ice, which appears to be white. Grey ice indicates water below […]
I had very mixed feelings about dog sledding. On one hand, you hear people talk about Huskies and how they love to work, that they are unhappy unless pulling human cargo across snow and ice. Sort of like you hear people talk about how Shepherds and other herding dogs are happiest when rounding up livestock. […]
As I made my way around Lake Minnewanka, words from Marilynne Robinson’s great novel, “Housekeeping”, provided a narrative text to accompany my journey around the perimeter of the frozen lake. “Imagine a Carthage sown with salt, and all the sowers gone, and the seeds lain however long in the earth, till there rose finally in […]
A deep freeze of frozen rivers and snow clad peaks reminds us how insignificant we are, frail and impermanent. You can’t help but to feel small in this endless landscape of rolling grasses, rugged mountains, and infinite sky. “Adieu to disappointment and spleen. What are men to rocks and mountains?” ― Jane Austen, Pride and […]
I am so glad to have a camera. I’m not a professional photographer but, thanks to the critical eye of a constantly disapproving parent who was, I can snap a decent photo. Being able to record the world around me, as I see and experience it, allows me to revisit unforgettable moments of pure ecstasy […]
Looking at the world from a boat or from behind a camera, the view is uniquely solipsistic. You are a soul unaccompanied, nearly abandoned as you try to decipher the visual signs of the world unfolding before you. My favorite books growing up were stories of shipwreck, abandonment, and deserted islands. I suppose this might […]
For Buddhists, the mountains are Gods whose faces we should not be stepping all over. Nor should we be replacing the flowers in their hair with high energy food wrappers and plastic water bottles. I’ve been thinking a lot about extreme adventure sports and adrenaline junkies as I’ve been leaving my own carbon footprints all […]
Henry David Thoreau wrote that In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World. As we witness and contribute to the erosion of our natural world, I think those words are more true and relevant now than ever. I love taking pictures. Not for the end result of a perfect frame, the impossible shot, or simple […]
I flew all the way to the Himalayas but what I found there is also in my own backyard. Yosemite is like the girl next door. You don’t realize how beautiful she is until, well…you realize how beautiful she is. It’s like you wake up one morning and, through your bathroom window, you catch a […]
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