Meditations
If you’re my age, you might’ve grown up watching a film, The Bridge On the River Kwai. It tells the story of British and American GIs in WW2 who were POWs, forced by the Japanese to build a bridge over a river separating Bangkok and Rangoon. It won
Meditations
(L.Sagatov) Barn's burnt down -- now I can see the moon. Mizuta Masahide (1657–1723) studied under the patron saint of avalanche haiku, Matsu Bashō. ❄️❄️❄️ Come Let's go snow-viewing, Til we're buried. (it's no surprise that avalanche hunter and zen redneck
Meditations
Traveling along the coast of Maine. See you next week -
Meditations
My good friend Terry O’Connor was killed in an avalanche in the Lost River Range in central Idaho last month. He had been skiing in some of Idaho's more remote ranges this spring, and as such, camping is usually required for an early start. Only a week
Meditations
Bear with me. Years ago, I worked on a mountain rescue team in the northwest. Yet I hesitate to call it a ‘team’ because it suffered due to the presence of an overwhelmingly charismatic, yet mercurial individual we’ll call James. James had broad shoulders, a square jaw, and a
Meditations
I always considered my father to be a master gardener. In the last quarter of his life, he would enter his strange and inspired flowers into the county fair and talk shit to his competitors, often well-heeled ladies that had, as he wryly described it, “the help.” My wife’s
Meditations
Ok, I lied. This will be the last Meditation for the season and it will be briefly about memory and beauty. People tell me that these meditations are like being led into different rooms, but never to an absolute conclusion. Why should this be so different? Time slipping away. That
Meditations
I was recently invited to speak at a friend’s memorial. And so I began by acknowledging my fellow speakers, referring to a recent study on...fear. The study found that people feared public speaking more than death itself; in other words, more people would rather be in the box
Meditations
Avalanche by day Pisco Sour, Haiku by night. Now Free like the wind (libre como el viento). Jerry Roberts, Rōbert (pron: Rō’bear), aka The Reverend, aka The Assistant Spiritual Director, aka The Zen Redneck, was promoted to the ranks of eternal enlightenment on the first day of autumn. He&
Meditations
I knew that inventorying the clouds was an important part of the job. I had just forgotten how important. I know now that it means everything to me. Far out on the desert to the north dustspouts rose wobbling and augered the earth and some said they'd heard
Meditations
"If our father had had his way, nobody who did not know how to fish would be allowed to disgrace a fish by catching him." Norman Maclean Chase Wharton’s father was a long-time National Park Service ranger and superintendent and Chase has continued along this path. We
Meditations
An old friend of mine was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in the fall of 2021. Normally, this is a fairly quick and immediate death sentence. He lived way longer than they expected him to. I went to see him a week, maybe a week and a half before