The Clear Backpack

The Clear Backpack

Carol and I finally broke down and bought ourselves clear backpacks. You know the kind I’m talking about. A bunch of different types of kid toys are often packaged in sturdy, clear bags with straps for carrying them around. Our kids would use them to store their Legos...
Autumn Arrives

Autumn Arrives

As a kid growing up on the east coast, autumn was always my favorite time of year. Summers could be brutally hot, compounded by oppressive  humidity. Winters were unpredictable with snow and cold one day, rain the next which froze on the roads creating treacherous...
A Blur Of Bartenders

A Blur Of Bartenders

Clink go the glasses, chunks of ice cascade into tall, frosty mugs, the bartenders are a blur of activity: one has a swinging brown ponytail and overalls, gold hoop earrings sway from her earlobes, arm tattoos and a side tatt revealed when she raises her right arm to...
The Holiness Of Redwood Trees

The Holiness Of Redwood Trees

Some things just never get old, spending time among the giant redwood trees of Northern California is one of those things. The coast redwood, sequoia sempervirens, is found only along a narrow band of coastal California from Big Sur in the south to just above the...
A Bibliophile’s Guide To Book Hunting

A Bibliophile’s Guide To Book Hunting

I’m a hunter. My prey aren’t deer. I don’t rise before dawn to stalk lakes and marshes in search of waterfowl. I have no desire to roam the Serengeti and bag a trophy to hang on the wall of my study. I don’t own a gun. I’ve never shot a gun. A bow and arrow? Leave...
Joy, Love, Peace

Joy, Love, Peace

The sun has just risen over the peak of Haleakala, the 10,053 foot high dormant volcano that dominates the East Maui landscape; it’s a picture-perfect morning as Carol and I make our way down the white sand dreamway that is Keawakapu Beach here on the island’s south...