It was time to get back in the saddle. A winter had passed, and a spring. It had been a winter of dark days in a cozy new home, a place where they would watch the storms from their couch as it crossed the mountain. Spring brought new beginnings, cherished visitors, new life, and loss. … Continue reading
Smoky summers are back here in Ashland and it’s about time we prepare to get out of town, fleeing to the clear skies in faraway hills and valleys and the coast. I always meant to write up a short post on our gear list in hopes of helping future travelers prepare for their journeys. Jeff … Continue reading
“You could be sad at how many stories go untold, but you could also be delighted at how many stories we catch and share in delight and wonder and astonishment.” The esteemed Brian Doyle (1957-2017) Cold, salty water seeps into the mesh tops of my cycling shoes, as the crunch of sand bites metal cleats. … Continue reading
Why do people live where they live? What draws them to come together, converging? And what causes them to leave? These are mysteries of humanity that may be contextual, or maybe just a result of our animal selves. We are driven by magnetism and hormones and fear and desire…to live by ample water and food … Continue reading
I am fortunate to work at a school with such an incredible arts program. Whether students spend one year here or fourteen, they have many chances to share their creative selves with teachers and each other daily. From performances at Grandparents and Special Friends Day, to Revels and Spring Festival, our students consistently blow us … Continue reading
“Our mission is to plant ourselves at the gates of hope- a different, sometimes lonely place, of truth-telling about your own soul first of all and its condition, the place of resistance and defiance, from which you see the world both as it is and as it could be, as it will be; the place … Continue reading
It’s dogwood season. The time when color comes back into the world, fragile green leaves craving the sweet kisses of sunlight. They (and we) gather it close, soaking it in, feeling the fresh breaths of spring. Outside my back door is a dogwood tree. Most of the year, it grows unassumingly out of a concrete-enclosed hole … Continue reading
“I don’t know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should … Continue reading
We settle. We move. We root. We travel. We pack. We observe. We learn. There are so many places we may find our feet and so many paths we can take. I recall a train journey I took a year and a half ago from Tacoma to Portland. I had just graduated from Seattle University … Continue reading
Somehow, through a combination of seeking out and happenstance, I have found myself walking through the opening to a labyrinth at times of uncertainty and transition in my life. These labyrinths have presented themselves in many unique designs, constructed materials, and locations throughout the years- a labyrinth painted onto canvas at a retreat on spirituality … Continue reading
in the midst 