“Peace is the tranquility of order.” This quote from St. Augustine opened one of the tiny devotional books I used for meditation when I was in high school. The declaration, as I understood it, made sense to me; indeed it seemed self-evident that observing rules, keeping things in their designated places, approaching tasks methodically, and …
In Search of the Torrent Duck I don’t know how our guide José did it, but from his seat in the front of the minibus—as it’s moving at 60 km an hour up the mountain—he hollered, “Torrent Duck!” Manolo, our driver, slammed on the breaks and pulled over to the side of the road. How …
What the hell, I’m going to try it again. I’m throwing the gates open for guest posts. Why? Honestly, my head’s not in the blogging space right now and I could use some help maintaining the heartbeat of my blog until I’m back at the keyboard. Guidelines? Be afraid, be very afraid. Essays ONLY. No …
I should know the names of the trees by now, but I do not. I can’t tell the hemlock from the spruce and the only deciduous trees I can truly recognize are the big leaf maples, because they are easy. Oh, the lodge pole pine, I know the lodge pole pine because of the smell …
I remembered to grab my camera because I thought that the fog would make for great photos. And it did, but also, because it’s so gray, the birds act like it’s still early morning. I stopped my bike, but the crunch of my wheels on the gravel made the great blue heron — perched on …
I’m keenly aware of my own talents as a musician. I don’t always sing on key, I can’t always perform without a cheat sheet, and I get stage jitters. This isn’t false modestly, I’ve heard myself recorded without post processing. I’m an okay musician. I have decent timing, I can deal with complicated chord progressions …