Last week was my first non-running week this year. Not for lack of desire, though. I was so busy at work; throw in a painful tooth extraction, a worsening of my shoulder tendonitis, and so on, and I figured maybe I would slow down some and test whether the shoulder would get better or worse…
Oh this era has its ups and downs, its hopeful movements and its harsh realities. One reason I got so involved with literature and the arts decades ago is because they can usher in another dimension of reality that may inspire us to be better, to celebrate life, to watchdog and correct the wrongs. Watching…
This is the 7th anniversary of my father’s death. I spent the day forgetting about it and remembering it. I ran a beautiful hour through Mundy Park. I explored different places, including an old logging road. I had an awesome run and remembered something my mom recently told me: my dad used to run before…
Winters in Vancouver don’t have much snow or very cold temperatures unless you get at some elevation. What we do have are endless days of rain, wind, and–occasionally–the near freezing clear night with many stars, which sleeps soundlessly until a layer of frost brings on the next morning. Our rainy season feels moody, and I…
Wouldn’t you know it that on Saturday, I fell on a trail run and the brunt of my weight ricocheted to my bad shoulder, which I’d just had physio on the night before. It’s funny how when things like that happen you are paralyzed with pain while the nerve receptors in the body do their…
On my 45-minute run on Saturday I ran around Como Lake, and it was raining very hard! I noticed that there is a new local resident: a young great blue heron. This little guy kept me company, somewhat, along with the ducks, for the lake trail is small (1k around). I ran around it 6x…
I’ve been spending nights curled up in bed, with the sounds of cold rain washing through the cedars outside, reading Neil Peart’s Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road. Though the book is over a decade old now, its relevance is timeless and Neil, the main lyricist–and of course Rush’s great drummer–is a writer to…
There’s a documentary on Netflix called John Denver Remembered, and it’s pretty good. Growing up when I did, with parents who had his albums, his music was an integral part of my life from childhood on. My musical tastes are pretty eclectic. I like hard rock, a little rap, some old Kentucky fiddle music (from…
As the rainy winter season lingers, I find myself both loving the cooler running weather and wondering if we’ll have another heat wave and drought from May to September this year. Yesterday after work I ran on a campus trail that was super muddy; the light was beautiful, so close to dusk. The run was…
Despite my call from the wild, I’ve had mostly an indoors weekend. I had some projects that had to be done, including the finalization of Ron Melchiore’s Off Grid and Free: My Path to the Wilderness, a truly awesome book that I hope off-gridders everywhere will enjoy. The Kindle version is up at Amazon now,…
