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"The journey toward health and sanity is nothing less than an invitation to wake up to the fullness of our lives as if they actually mattered..." -Jon Kabat-Zinn

The Sagan Series (Pt 1) - NASA The Frontier Is Everywhere

Guess What We Did Tonight...

Mullets, T-Ball, vacations and friends/family, some now gone. Anali giving me the evil eye. Mallory preciously goofy at 8 years old. Yep, watching old family videos! Many shots with the video pointed at the ground filming when you thought it was off. Boy,I need to get some more of those 8mm tapes converted to dvds soon.

I miss my 8 and 10 year old little girls but it is great that they turned into such wonderful women who happen to be our two best friends!

I miss you Mom, Uncle Norman, Great Aunt Elsie and Ann O'Grady!

Barriers

Most of us build up barriers to exercising or just getting out and doing things. Fear of the unknown is a big one. It is so much more comfortable to be in your home/apartment/cave.

My personal battle with barriers are multi-dimensional. While walking this morning I realized how I kept myself from walking much when my back was bothering me and not realizing at the time that it would have helped my back to walk more. How stupid is that for a physical therapist?!? The walk I took this morning was only about 2.5 miles but 6-7 years ago was not in my mental picture of what my back would allow me to do. The past month I walked 9 or 10 miles on a rail trail in the center of Washington State. Yes, I still have a bit of a problem and I know my current real limitations but that doesn't mean that I can't improve some more with regular exercise, weight loss and strengthening.

Yesterday's barrier was more of a mystery to me. I was feeling down for many reasons and I just moped around feeling sorry for myself. At dusk I finally went outside and walked just a quarter of a mile and it made a difference. It literally cleared my head and I then became motivated to do SOMETHING. That included dinner with my wife, viewing various art venues downtown and coming home and working on my drawing skills. It was weird like a switch being flipped and the 'real' me was back, enjoying life!

New Year's Day

The year has dawned as the old one ended; cold and clear. A perfect day to get out the camera and snow-shoes. I strapped my trusty blue and silver supports over my insulated boots. I then headed east through the small meadows and stands of Ponderosa Pines to the edge of the basaltic cliff rimming the Latah Creek drainage. Then lazily southward and up to the ‘viewpoint’ a few blocks from home, stopping occasionally to snap a picture of snow shadows and tree silhouettes. The most striking visual on this very cold, still day is the cascade of brilliant crystals of snow and ice that tumble silently from the pine needles and apparently from the moisture in the atmosphere itself. I surmised this from the fact that I saw the same event from an empty wheat field this morning while cross-country skiing. There was nary a tree or power line for over 500 yards in any direction. Tumbling gracefully, these ethereal and ephemeral glints of gossamer ice make you think of stories of the snow fairies of northern mythologies. It is certainly easy to understand the cultural need to explain such unabashed beauty.
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Snowshoe at Dusk

I went for a brief, yet hilly, snowshoe this evening at the Arboretum. The snow is deep and fairly dry. As I lurched down the trails I felt lonely and vaguely like Mary Shelley's monster or the big-foot in the famous video. Luckily I missed running into the cross-country skiers that I came up behind. I didn't feel much like talking, not to mention it would feel weird me being alone. In the dark. In the snow. Monstrous.

Thanks HDT; I Think I Will

"Take long walks in stormy weather or through deep snows in the fields and woods, if you would keep your spirits up. Deal with brute nature. Be cold and hungry and weary."
Henry David Thoreau