The changing of seasons calls for rest... The details I only see when I stop and rest It is full-on fall here. The trees are making their magnificent and amazing transformation from green to gold. The warm summer days are replaced with crisp, cool mornings. The seasonal change is obvious. And I love it all. Change can be beautiful…and magical…and transformative. But the trees will soon lose their leaves and go dormant for the winter. Change also means loss…and grief…and letting go. As I...
6 days ago • 4 min read
For the love of the outdoors... A beautiful day to pick grapes “Grape Harvesters needed. Sign up here.” I was standing in line to buy a bottle of wine at our local winery and saw this written on a piece of paper on a clipboard. How cool would that be? I wrote down my email and told Alan I’d signed us up to be grape harvesters. A few months later, the email came. It provided all the necessary details: when, where, what to wear, lunch hour, and pay rate. Pay rate…I thought it was a pure...
15 days ago • 3 min read
It's not time yet... Imagine this when the slope is bathed in yellow... I’d like to tell this to the stores that have had Halloween candy on their shelves since Labor Day. It’s not time yet! But this is not about the commercialization of our holidays…but another reminder from my favorite teacher, Miss Nature, on the topic of patience. Last week, Alan and I took a spontaneous drive up into the mountains to check out the aspens. While we went in search of gold, we found mostly green and...
19 days ago • 4 min read
Words to live by... "I GET TO shovel all this snow!" -- my wise friend, John Foley, amid cancer treatments Trying to remember every day is a GET TO... I hope I get to shovel snow like this again... John and I exchanged many emails during the course of our friendship. We talked about writing a book together, but unfortunately a higher power had other plans. This week marks the nine-year anniversary of his passing from the same insidious cancer I had. He was a lifeline when my boat was sinking....
28 days ago • 3 min read
These Rambles are testing me... Two years ago, I was crazy nervous as I launched my book into the world. I can still feel the butterflies in my stomach as I sat in my office, rehearsing my little talk and staring at the Zoom screen as people’s faces began filling it. I was excited, and a bit terrified. Ok, maybe a lot terrified. I’d felt that mixture of adrenaline and fear in other big moments. But this was different. This was not a presentation to policymakers or nonprofit professionals....
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
The magic of music... The radiating beauty of a sunset (amateur photo by me) I love music. Songs can make me cry, laugh, or just smile from ear to ear. Nothing brings me more joy than belting out my favorite tunes while cruising down the road. Music has gotten me through many solo trips across Nebraska and Iowa. (Yes, I am one of those you see tapping the steering wheel and jamming out in the driver’s seat. Be thankful the windows are closed; you do not want to hear me singing.) I’m a sucker...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Remember this... “You are allowed to be disappointed when it feels like life’s benched you. What you aren’t allowed to do is miss your opportunity to lead from the bench. If you’re not a leader on the bench, don’t call yourself a leader on the field. You’re either a leader everywhere or nowhere.” -- Abby Wambach, all-time leading scorer for the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team Learning to lead from the bench Fenway Park is pretty awesome. (Apologies to my Cubs fans...I don't have any Wrigley...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Call it what you will... About an hour after I sent out my last Ramble on the imaginary bears, I set out for another noontime run with my best friend, Sunny Hot. “Where are you going?” Alan asked. “Just over to the lake and the little lookout. I’m not running with the bears today,” I joked. He smiled and said, “Bears are over there too.” I laughed and jogged up the driveway. I was just going for a short run. I didn’t even bring water. As I trotted along, I kept replaying my little jokes and...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Think about this... What do you see? (photo taken by me.) Sometimes seeing is deceiving I’ve seen a lot of bears on our hiking trips. Sometimes as many as two or three in one trip. They’re usually hanging out in the lower-elevation forests. Which makes sense; that’s where the berries are. They’ve been every shade of brown to gray to sleek black. While I’ve “seen” many bears, most of them are not real. The majority end up being tree stumps or chunks of a log. My favorite is the Boulder Bear I...
2 months ago • 6 min read