(listening time: 5:34 minutes) One humid Sunday in July, Asha and I entered the woods and veered left at the fork in the trail as we often do.* Several yards later, I turned around and saw Asha had stopped. She wasn’t intently smelling ferns or searching the sky for the source of a sound. Her […]
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Stepping into the fog
(listening time: 4:23 minutes) One foggy December morning, when the snow was too deep and too icy to walk comfortably in the woods, I asked my beloved to drop Asha and me at the town line on the way to work so we could walk home along the road.* “Be careful. It’s foggy. People can’t […]
Considering delight
(listening time: 6:36 minutes) Asha waits patiently while I lace up my sneakers and gather everything for our walk: keys, sunglasses, bug hat, binoculars, hand lens, dog treats and leash. On our way out the door, Asha picks up her Frisbee. I tell her to leave it and promise to throw some sticks for her […]
I miss what was
(listening time: 4:11 minutes) Asha and I have returned once again to the familiar wooden bridge in the clearing. I was drawn here today because beavers are building a dam under this bridge. With the resulting changes to the landscape, this spot feels like a microcosm for the world which is changing so rapidly. More […]
Leaning into beauty
Listening time: 4:38 minutes This morning, Asha and I headed out in the early spring snow to a favorite clearing with a stream. In the past weeks, I’ve noticed the once burbling water now rushes and has become more of a pond that has flooded the trail beyond the bridge. I attributed this change to […]
Hello, Black Birch
(listening time: 6:42 minutes) One afternoon in early August, Asha and I paused during our walk, by the side of the road, to listen. It was raining acorns. “Is this normal? A sign of climate change?” I wondered, because it seemed like too many acorns too early in the year. As I looked up into […]
Damn mosquitos
(listening time: 3:52 minutes) By the time Asha and I return to the car, I’m close to tears. Summer has barely started and I’m ready for fall. On the short drive home with the air-conditioning blasting, I wonder where it’s cold in July and August. I rule out New Zealand because I won’t put Asha […]
Approach, retreat, bark
(listening time: 3:56 minutes) One overcast morning I was walking along a trail deep in thought – perhaps about how snow pants make such a difference on cold days like this one – when, up ahead, Asha did a double take and barked. It took me a few seconds to locate what had startled her […]
The art of walking
(listening time: 5:50 minutes) One summer morning Asha and I walked along a new-to-us trail that I’d been eyeing for some time. I wondered if it would bring us to the bridge over gentle waters from a different direction. It did. And it took us past a serene beaver pond. Yet I returned home feeling […]
Beyond the rickety bridge
(listening time: 4:12 minutes) From time to time, Asha and I explore new-to-us trails. Last spring we headed down one such trail. We walked about a mile, then turned around at a rickety bridge because I felt the trail was taking us far from home. I was curious to see where this trail would have […]
