Month: January 2020

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Autumn in the Glens of Alladale

When I am imagining and building a trip from pictures and imaginations and urges, these days much of that is for wildness and open air. Space for the winds to blow and be seen in the grass. No humans for as far as my eyes can stretch. It was on this type of hunt, I went down rabbit trails of reviews, pieces of media, and snippets from social, and somehow, this all led me to Alladale Wildness Lodge, which I started mentioning in the previous post. Alladale's owner and staff have been working…

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January, Virginia and Spontaneity

January brings a surprise: I like it. After the rush of the holidays, the vacuum of space is a new, and, despite the regularity, unexpected gift. Time to invite friends by for brownies, without planning the occurrence months ahead. Time to go on walks without our phones. To notice the baguette bag floating down the sidewalk, the new paint coating half the manhole cover, the oddities that flash by and then are forgotten. Today: a man brushing his teeth walking down Houston Street. And in the…

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Bonnie, bonnie Scotland

As the year draws sleepy here into a new, this blog now returns to its homeland, where it originated and whence it was born: Scotland. 10 years after we met, we returned in November for calm, wildness, and time with the dearest of friends.  I had arrived in London about 5 days before Walker, and took a tour de friends: meeting up with so many in London, Leeds, Edinburgh and St Andrews. I took trains each step and met Walker up in the capital of the north of Scotland: Inverness.  The…

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Welcome, 2020!

(Written December 18th, 2019, posted today, iPhone photos and all.) I took today off to breathe, but really, to catch up around the house: to clean pockets of receipts that have accumulated, iron a few straggling shirts, and maybe make some hummus. But first, I sat on the couch with a hot water bottle, struggling to warm on a bitter day here, and fell asleep. This is how this season has felt: more to do than energy or motivation can meet. A longing for a season of rest, when really this season…