back from the woods

What a great weekend!  We hiked the Odum Scout Trail, which isn’t very long and is generally rated 5 out of 10 for difficulty, but let me tell you – it was plenty difficult for me!  Considering this was the first time I’ve carried a pack since March, I actually feel pretty good today!

Here’s SB [...]

vacation: the good

Wow!  Thanks for the encouraging words, and thanks especially to those who shared your own vacation woe-stories!  It certainly makes it easier to think that we did the right thing by throwing in the towel on our Frontier House vacation!
So…back to the story.  We drove home Tuesday afternoon, ending a 34 hour round trip from [...]

Frontier House

Recently I mentioned that I was about to embark on my own version of Frontier House, and that little adventure began last Monday.

Memorial Day morning, SB, the boy and I drove to Swan Cabin near the Joyce Kilmer Wilderness area in North Carolina.  We knew the forecast was for 50% chance of rain for the first two [...]

It’s springtime in Alabama

Don’t blink, or you’ll miss it.  SB and I went backpacking last weekend – a short trip to the Cane Creek Canyon Nature Preserve about two and a half hours northwest of Birmingham, in Colbert County. 

The Preserve is owned and operated by the Lacefields – a husband/wife team who have been steadily buying up property [...]

saturday sky

Saturday Sky posts aren’t something I participate in generally, but with a sky like this, I had to post the picture.  I love birch trees.

Some hours later, the sky looked like this.  How do people get a good shot of the moon?  This was taken while laying on my back on an enormous downed tree, [...]

living in the moment

I’ve said many times before that spending time in the woods is my rejuvenation.

Even starting today with 27 emails from just one of my three bosses hasn’t touched the lingering sense of calm from being in the woods. 
Click the picture for bigger pics and brief descriptions, if you like.

Why I don’t hike in the summertime

You know how memory fades over time, and things aren’t as bad in retrospect as they were at the time?  That’s the way I’d started to remember hiking during the summer.
SB needed to hike a short distance for his next column (!!!) and I decided to tag along since it was only 5 miles, we’d [...]

rejuvenation

I feel like a new person today.  I always do after spending the weekend in the woods, but it’s been so long since we went backpacking that I am feeling doubly refreshed today.

Darlene told me to take lots of pictures, but the colors of wintertime are a combination of brown and gray, with an occasional shock of moss [...]

geometrid

When we were camping the other week, I swear  I saw this stick move out of the corner of my eye as I was climbing out of the tent.

How cool is that?

We transferred the caterpillar to a twig and watched it go into its defense mode.

Amazing.
 

Mt. LeConte – the wordy post

I hope you’re not sick of the pictures.  I should be kind and put them in a Flickr folder and just link to that but I’m a giver.  If your one love is fiber, here’s what I have for you today

Yes, I’m attempting toe-ups again.  This time using yarn I dyed while flirting with the [...]

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