Family Lexicon
I was walking along the Alpe Adria Trail in 2022, strolling with a friend on the trip through a forested section in Slovenia, and in the course of our conversation, I mentioned ‘family lexicon’. She asked me what I meant by…
We All Know How it Ends
I could tell Luke, our then-four-year-old neighbor, was trying to work out something by the intent, scrunched-up look on his face. He and his sister, nine-year-old Delilah, loved to come to our new house in Bend because it had three…
Taking Risks
One of the phrases I grew weary of hearing during the early days of the pandemic was “Out of an abundance of caution…”. I understand that when exercising judgement, it’s appropriate to consider all the information available, the source and…
An Outward Focus
A friend (two different friends, actually) forwarded an article from the September issue of the Atlantic titled “How America got Mean.” The author, David Brooks says he’s been obsessed with two questions for the last 8 years: Why have Americans become so…
What Are The chances?
I read an article long ago, which I have not been successful in locating again since, that (as I remember it at least) described a few reasons why when we run into people we know, it’s not as statistically improbable…
The Case for Plan B
[Guest post by John Potter] Photos courtesy of Damsel in Distress. All the reputable wilderness checklists include having a contingency plan, and wilderness training generally includes how to use one (e.g., make one, share it with the group, etc.). Everyone…
Small World
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, also known as Bacon’s Law, is a parlor game that became popular in the 1990s when, in an interview with a magazine, then-prolific actor Kevin Bacon mentioned that he had “worked with everybody in Hollywood or…
Lessons from Derek
Our middle son Derek was born severely disabled in 1987. Seventeen years ago, he died on Mother’s Day in 2007, right before what would have been his 20th birthday. With the recent Mother’s Day, I paused to reflect on the lessons I gained…
The List
Years ago, inspired by my friend John Mackey, I created what I call The List. When I would meet someone, and find myself thinking, “it would be fun to go backpacking with this person…”, I would add their name to The…
Secret Club: Coffee Roasting
Our lives are enriched by our passions. As we become interested in something, we learn more about it. If it’s a practice, as we do it, we become more skilled. It’s fun to share these with others, and sometimes they also become intrigued. I…