I just spent 3 perfect days in Acadia National Park. It was beautiful. The temperature was just right. We climbed at Otter Cliffs. We hiked the Beehive and South Bubble trails. We ate lobster rolls. We were our very best and very happiest selves. At least, I know I was. And then I came home […]
I found myself almost uttering these words as we listened to fireworks explode over Binghamton and Vestal and regretted not going to a hill above the city to watch. It was a perfect, hot 4th of July night and we were walking the dog and trying to catch a glimpse of the action. The thing […]
The air is poison. Wildfires in Canada are making a smoky haze here. It’s sunny but you can’t see blue skies for the smoke. Spending time outside gives my coughing fits. For some reason this has gotten me thinking about why it is so hard to do easy things that are good for you? Especially […]
It seems this year the weather keeps holding me back, mostly from climbing. I guess my luck ran out last year, I got too many perfect days and I’m paying for it this summer. Like this weekend I had hoped to climb my first stomping ground in the Gunks, but they called for rain and […]
I feel like I’ve been trying too hard to make things work. I don’t know where the line is between trying to force a situation to happen and to just let things be. Like this weekend when I drove to Albany, NY and tried to climb, but it rained. And then thundered. And then hailed. […]
Above the tree line I find myself wishing I was a bird. Sometimes after a day of hard climbing the back of my shoulders will tingle. Probably it’s nerve damage. Or maybe sunburn. But I like to think my bones are trying to grow wings. I think about the sound of a turkey vulture diving […]
I could just sleep in It’s just after 10pm and I’ve got the day off tomorrow. Despite this I’m getting up in 6 hours and 46 minutes in order to go climbing. I’m racing through the mental math as I write this, now only 6 hours and 45 minutes if I fall asleep RIGHT NOW. […]
In March 2022, I brought my nieces to the trampoline park for one of their birthdays. I can’t honestly say they liked it. I did. I think they didn’t. They spent the whole time running from one thing to another without actually doing anything. They were desperate to have fun but didn’t try to actually […]
It’s early for a garden. But it’s time for us. We can’t wait anymore. We’ve been planting gardens nearly every year we’ve been together. Summers in the finger lakes were our most successful crops. We had so much zucchini we were leaving bags of it on people’s doorsteps. One guy caught us and told us […]
In typical me fashion, I agreed to teach caving again within days of returning home. I was tired. But the wonder was still there, underground. There were so many bats. Man, I love bats. Unfortunately the students did not agree. It was cold. It was wet. I like to think the suffering was good for […]
