Monica
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Tongariro Crossing Take Two- that was then, this is now
Way back when, at the very start of the new millenium, I traveled to New Zealand and Tonga. The purpose was simple- a friend asked me to go to Tonga to avoid the impending Y2K disaster and greet the new year,… Continue reading
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Go to Dog Mountain
Our pets serve as silent, non-judgemental witnesses to our lives. They are memory-keepers who may hold more of our past and our secrets than our own families. Times like these chase me into dream worlds, sanctuaries of whimsy and humor. Places far from hateful… Continue reading
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Chasing Nature
The short-eared owls aren’t yet rare, but we still stand breathless waiting for them to fly moth-like as they hunt at sundown. We listen for their raspy barks in flight, watch for them to land on a post, rootwad, or… Continue reading
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Far from the crowds- a holiday staycation
The weather said, “Go winter camping!” with clear days and the night sky lit up with a fullish moon. Camping below Mt. Rainier, or high on Artist Point, with coral sunset bathing the mountains followed by the radiant moon and… Continue reading
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Winter Round One-Whistling Past the Graveyard
In the Pacific Northwest, fall brings windstorms and rain, sometimes in torrents. If the jet stream from Asia lines up just right and picks up moisture from typhoons or other sources, an “atmospheric river” forms; meterologists describe it as a… Continue reading
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Waiting to see what winter brings
Autumn is a season of giving and a prelude to the fear winter brings. Gentle storms wash loosen leaves from trees, to be gathered in piles for mulching summer-parched plants. Fruits, berries, and seeds that escape the beaks of birds… Continue reading
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Graceful as a hippo in a tutu roller-skating on greased marbles
Auyuittuq has only fragments of trail- bits that you celebrate like a delerious drunken sailor before they disappear into a gouged-out riverbank or a rockslide. You start out at Pangnirtung Fiord on sand and feel like this will be a super-easy trail.… Continue reading
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When the land shapes the living
In the Puget Sound region, we march slowly toward the lifestyle depicted in the science-fiction comedy Wall-E; Amazon will send a drone to your door soon so that your delivery arrives in an hour. We deliver groceries and restaurant food,… Continue reading
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Color and life in a barren land
In the Pacific Northwest, we tend to become hunched and dull during winter, when the slate grey days end too soon and the evergreen trees loom monotonously dark green. We board planes flying to sunny places, where light sparkles on… Continue reading
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The plan versus reality: Auyuittuq Trek
This has been a historic year for weather in many areas. My home, Washington state, has been hot and drought-stricken, resulting in failed crops and historic wildfires. This post is a week late after a historic windstorm swept through, leaving… Continue reading
A Place of River and Sky 