The natural world, life, and dogs.
Winter is slowly easing toward spring in my valley. The red-winged blackbirds have returned, early harbingers of changing seasons. I heard Canada geese honking as they flew above the forest yesterday. Soon the sandhill cranes will arrive. The snow, while still thick on the ground, is ever-so-slowly melting, reducing, disappearing. I always miss the snow… Continue reading Fences VI
Just before waking up this morning I was embroiled in a fast-moving dream, with many characters and locations. Toward the end, a friend and I are running away from something – a bar fight? an assault? – and I have a mark under my right eye, not quite a black eye but noticeable, enough that… Continue reading Dreamscapes
The following is sampling of the sorts of thoughts that flit through my mind while I’m out running in the forest with my dogs. Since they can’t talk to me (except through their body language), for much of the time we’re out there I’m carrying on an internal dialog with myself. While the specific threads… Continue reading Random Thoughts During a Winter Run in the Forest
February is my favorite winter month in these mountains. Fresh snow carpets the landscape, making everything clean and bright. The skies clear and temperatures drop, often below zero at night before rising along with the sun through the day. Stars blanket the night sky, easily seen, so close it seems you can reach up and… Continue reading Fences V
It's 7:47 am and the weather app on my phone says it's minus 2F outside. I suspect it's actually a few degrees warmer, but certainly in the single digits. There are no clouds in the sky, portending a gorgeous morning once the sun rises high enough to spill her bright and warming light through the… Continue reading Diamonds on the Snow
Without music, life would be a mistake.Friedrich Nietzsche Music is the background to our lives. What music we listen to, sing to, dance to – or create – changes with us as we grow and evolve, from infancy to the day we die. It expresses our innermost emotions, gives wings to our desires, and memorializes… Continue reading Music
When I was about eight years old, my family got a puppy, a beagle-mix we named Trinket. Oh, I loved that girl. While she wasn’t the first dog in my life, Trinket was the first dog who grew up with me, a part of my life from age eight until I left home at eighteen.… Continue reading Swimming in Circles
Yesterday I enjoyed one of those times in nature that leave me awestruck, enthralled, fully engaged, and grateful. Everything was perfect: the weather, the snow, and the company (my dogs). We started early in the morning, running up, up, up the mountain on freshly-groomed trail, the rising sun breaking over and through the tops of… Continue reading Into the Woods in Winter
Snug Hugs I still remember my father’s wonderful rib-cage-crushing hugs. Slow squeezes that started easy and just kept snuggling down. Oh, how I miss them. He knew how to make sure I knew how much I was loved and cherished, all in a single hug. A hug is like a boomerang - you get it… Continue reading Hugs
kerfuffle (noun): a commotion or fuss, especially one caused by conflicting views. We had a kerfuffle here in the wee hours, 3:00 am, two days ago (Wednesday, January 22nd). Something woke Conall. He let out of low growl from his post on the floor beside my bed. That woke me. Conall stood, took a couple… Continue reading Plea to Universe: Enough Skunks, Already!
Wild Sensibility 