Yesterday evening, upon my return, a parade went through my neighborhood.Call: “Whose lives matter?” Response: “Black Lives Matter!” Call: “Get outta your homes, and into the street!” Repeat. I got outta my home and into the street to see what was going on. I didn’t know what the revolution would look like. I always thought… Continue reading The smell of whale burp
Category: travel
A few days in Joseph, Oregon
I didn’t rinse off my paddleboard after this trip. I wanted it to absorb and hold the water molecules of Wallowa Lake. This water is sacred. I think all bodies of water are sacred, but this lake seems acutely so. I paddled to the middle of the lake. I laid on my back, face to… Continue reading A few days in Joseph, Oregon
Port Townsend
The areas of the brain that process emotional thought and response are larger, percentage-wise in the brains of orcas than any other animal. So said a sign at the visitor center in Port Townsend. Port Townsend is a place that I love. Historically, some people say it’s “the city that whiskey built.” I didn’t drink… Continue reading Port Townsend
Sol Duc retreat
No computer, no TV, no cell service Sol Duc resort sits down on the floor of Washington’s Olympic National Park. Sol Duc is said to mean “sparkling water,” and was discovered by non-natives around 1880. Sitting in the hot sulphur water, about 30 of us watched a man high up on a rickety ladder, replacing… Continue reading Sol Duc retreat
transformation betwixt land and sea
Plankton are abundant here. “It smells very biological,” said one man I met in the sparsely filled parking lot. One area in particular did smell like the brew of a million creatures. The South Slough Reserve is so understated, I think it goes unnoticed by the crowds. It was America’s first estuarine research reserve, established… Continue reading transformation betwixt land and sea
Notes from January
We gathered on my living room floor near the flickering stove to start our group meditation. The orange tabby loitered in front of me. The small dog jumped in her round bed, 2 feet away. “So, tell me what brings you here to meditate? “ The cat started to chase a bug. The dog stared… Continue reading Notes from January
England smells different and other facts
The US verses the UK. Similar but different. At first glance, birds, squirrels, knobs, switches, levers, handles, toilets, breakfast, trains, blackberries, hotel lights…. seem the same. Quickly, they turn out not to be the same. Right away, crows are different. Or, rather, they have Jackdows, which look like crows. They are among the crow family.… Continue reading England smells different and other facts
Cheerfully unbalanced
(Written somewhere in Dublin, possibly while on a train going somewhere). October 2017. I’ve been feeling something and finally have named it: forced interface. I’ve said fuck a lot, moreso in Ireland. Used like this: “Fuck!” “What the fuck?” “Fuck this!” Also intermingled occasionally with: “Jesus Christ!” I’m having a great trip. The cussing is… Continue reading Cheerfully unbalanced