yule

thankful

Thanksgiving

Thank you to the muted view

through a burlap curtain

out of the window by our bed

cedar trunks and the scitterings of squirrels

Thank You for the postcards

with quotes that I love

and candy left in 

the boots I always wear

Thank you Jesus

Thank you Wendell Berry

Thank you coconut oil popcorn

Thank you Red Sox fan on Frankfort Avenue

who always looks alarmed

who we see everyday on our walks

Thank you to the Earth for turning

Thank you Sojourn

aliens and trespassers

in a foreign land

Thank you past

you were our constant companion

you are done

Thank you future

Thank you new heartbeat

You're welcome.

lately

lots of fly fishing. 

traveling all over.

hiking in the redwoods.

so much trout goodness.

fall walks, everyday.

watching my girl finish her first 13.1

ryder loves pumpkins & leaves

homemade pumpkin waffles.

sweet gestures from my dude.

slinging clay with my best on a saturday morning. 

scotland

 

 

 

 Maybe it's the rainy cold weather but I haven't been able to get Scotland out of my mind.
I remember being so pleasantly surprised by the beautiful city of Edinburgh.
Highlights include:
meeting amazing people--locals & fellow backpackers.
staying in the best hostel in all of Europe.
eating fried snickers for the first time.
hiking to the top of Arthur's Seat.
laughing at the most entertaining free walking tour.
looking at old castles.
playing in the rain.
sharing strangers' laptops over the community breakfast table.

odyssey.

across the foamy heads of breakers
through alders
along roads ground to gravel
by ice fleeing a late Spring
into the company
of creatures better suited for water than land
and strangers offering parentage and brotherhood
to the wanderer
lost and found
at home in the world

right+anglers.

Over the weekend the three of us headed up to Brookville Tailwater in Indiana.

I started us off by catching a 15 inch brown trout with my San Juan worm. 

Ben followed by snagging a couple with his elkwing caddis, dry fly.

Then Jason beautifully pulled in the papa brown with a royal wuff, dry fly.

We had the best time.

Standing in a rushing stream with nothing but the sound of nature as friends pulled in their lines.

Beavers & other woodland creatures watched as we celebrated our win over the running trout. 

I found so much peace in it.

fly or die.

This past weekend Ben got the chance to borrow a canoe and paddle the Cumberland River with his friend Jason in search of trout. 
Always interested in a challenge, the boys fished with dry flies the whole time (which many say is way tougher), they battled July heat, and a raging generator that made the water in the river rise and fall unexpectedly.
They slept in hammocks, ate freeze-dried food, and caught plenty of brookies, browns, and bows!
I'm proud of my dude & I continue to be inspired by his willingness to be uncomfortable for the sake of adventure & fish. 

Denali

Picture a patagonia-clad chick and a hairy Scotsman in a flannel, being sent to Army basic training on a beautiful day in Heaven, and you'll get pretty close to our trip in Denali.
I could walk you through each spongy step over the tundra, every curve of a canyon wall, and each mangy bear we laid eyes on but you'd probably get bored (and I definitely would). Instead, here are the highlights:
-the smell of primrose and lemon balm on our first hike up mt Margaret
-the wind whipping our tent so that it sounded like an opening kite on a spring day
-being two of the few lucky people that see the mountain clearly.
-losing an iPod and getting over it because birds sing all night in Alaska.
-getting swallowed by tangled brush
-a charging caribou who changed his mind
-crossing a river that Alaskans call a creek and filling up our boots with 45* water.
-coming upon another tent 8 miles into the deep wilderness that has no trails.
- dreaming that the portal to Heaven is right through that clearing
-hearing the man from the other tent scream his head off at midnight
-seeing a white grizzly in the backcountry
-looking for grayling and reading proverbs on a stream bank
-running from a thunder storm with 45 lbs on our backs
-being offered a free ride to anchorage
-having somewhere familiar to stay with new friends when we got there.
Denali was awesome