Some days nothing much happens. That line a day summary looks very long when you sat in your house all day. Other days you jamb ridiculous amount of activities in a relatively short number of hours. Those days you flop down on the chair, exhale and assess. And that’s where I find myself today. The…
“It is a serious thingjust to be aliveon this fresh morningin this broken world.”– Mary Oliver, Invitation I woke up twenty minutes before the 4:30 wake-up call and contemplated skipping the planned sunrise hike. But I wouldn’t skip an early morning business flight, so why skip on this? With no good answer I got up…
It always happens this way. The leaves start to turn, and suddenly accelerate into a burst of color. Meanwhile, you’re busy with life, knowing the wave is washing over you but not getting out there enough to see it. The rains come, often with wind gusts, and it ends before you really noticed. The alternative…
This is a good year to think about how we use our time. Working is necessary, but so is recreation. And family time. And all the rest of the segmented buckets of time. Use it well or lose it forever. I don’t suppose its a good time for international travel. Or going to concerts. Or…
“Le sommet de la plus part d’icelles est desgarny d’arbres parceque ce ne sont que roches. Je l’ay nommee l’isle des Monts-deserts.” – Samuel de Champlain(Translated into English: “The top of most of them is bare with trees because they are only rocks. I named it the island of Monts-deserts.”) French Explorer Samuel de Champlain…
As hikes go, The Beehive is everything you’d want and wouldn’t want rolled into a quick hike. Looking for diverse terrain, stunning views and challenging but non-technical climbing? Beehive. Long lines cued up waiting for people to overcome personal fears of heights? Also Beehive. You either embrace them both and treat it like a Disney…
Most of my sunrises are solo affairs. Occasionally I’ll recruit others to join in, but even then it’s generally a small crowd. So sitting atop Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park with hundreds of people is highly unusual for me. But that’s where I found myself. The alarm went off at 3 AM, we wrapped…
The Gulf of Maine is a corner of the Atlantic Ocean embraced by Cape Cod to the South and Nova Scotia to the Northeast. The longest stretch of land in between is part of Maine, which gives the gulf her name. If you look at Alexander’s map, which this blog is named for, the body…
“I hope you’re haunted by the music of my soul When I’m gone” – Greg Allman, My Only True Friend There is what feels like a thousand Black-capped Chickadees living in the holly bush next to my deck. They’re the state bird of both neighboring Massachusetts and Maine. New Hampshire, sitting between these two states,…
Returning to the poem The Ship and Her Makers this morning as I consider the smoke alarm in my hotel room that chirped all night. Such is the glamorous life of travel. Writing instead of sleeping in is a habit I’ve developed, and there’s no sleeping in with a chirpy roommate. Consider: THE TREES We…
