“It was about an hour after sunset. The Catlin Gabel campus was completely still all around. But yet, nothing was still at all. Not even the tiny bright green fern sprouting from rich soil. The wind went crazy and there were way too many bird calls around to keep track of, and yet not enough. … Continue reading
“What we call places are stable locations with unstable converging forces that cannot be delineated either by fences on the ground or by boundaries in the imagination […] And a city is a particular kind of place, perhaps best described as many worlds in one place” -Rebecca Solnit, Infinite City, A San Francisco Atlas- In … Continue reading
“Always there was a timelessness, a residue of the sacred, and a lingering feeling that I was witnessing something spectacular.” -Charles Finn, Wild Delicate Seconds – I recently came across a thin volume of nature writing in my local bookstore. It was fairly nondescript, save the beautiful woodcut of a Water Ouzel wading through surf … Continue reading
“Wow! We’ve seen 147 Trillium! Look at how prickly that Oregon Grape is! Can I try tasting this Indian Plum leaf? Look at how gnarled that Douglas Fir bark is! Did you know that it’s illegal to pick a Trillium? Hey! That’s the call of the Winter Wren! That’s an awesome bandit costume you made!” … Continue reading
You can never tell with them. Dangerous and riveting creatures altogether. Best to avoid them because they can do and will bring you [pain]…but they are so utterly fascinating, so unpredictable, so allowing, that you find yourself drawn to them almost against your will, against your better judgment, against all sense and sanity, day after … Continue reading
Earlier this year, I became engrossed in the idea of storytelling, questioning the ritual act of recounting or creating events, and weaving people or places together through the power of words. Why do we tell stories? My thoughts were inspired by the Oscar-nominated documentary “Pina,” directed by Wim Wenders. It is a film depicting the … Continue reading
“No one could write truthfully about the sea and leave out poetry” -Rachel Carson- The roar of the ocean is everpresent, our soundtrack, sometimes cut by tiny needles of trees or more substantial trunks, ever rising. With each crest of a wave, thousands, millions of water molecules fall, drawn by gravity to the water’s surface, … Continue reading
“I love how I feel after I hike. Sometimes if I haven’t hiked for a couple weeks, I notice the difference the most. I feel lighter, physically and emotionally. My worries seem farther away.” – Bluebird (camper), age 10 – A couple weeks ago, I wrote my first installment of two about a camp experience … Continue reading
“As Prue walked, she cast her eyes about her; no one she knew had ever ventured here before. So soon in her journey she felt like the first explorer of some alien world … [She] stopped and leaned against a fir tree, taking in her verdant surroundings. As far as the eye could see, it … Continue reading
I touch the Earth because there are so many things I do not see. -Alex Caldiero- (quoted in Red by Terry Tempest Williams) A few months ago, I wrote about how capturing the essence of a city is best done through snapshots- brief views of a place that each capture its character. At the time, … Continue reading
in the midst 