-
jasmine green coffee
This morning I didn’t scrub my coffee cup out quite well enough, so my coffee tastes like jasmine green tea. Hobos may ACT like they would glady stomach any coffee-like concoction, but I think at heart we’re coffee snobs. Nothing will make a person more appreciative of the vast differences in java brews than wide…
-
hot wedding
Ok, it looks like I will be getting married in the middle of the desert in the heat of the summer! We may be quite mad, but it may also be a stroke of genius. More to come.
-
didn’t want to stop
Of course Ann & I didn’t go to Tahquitz as we planned (it was snowing there I’m sure), but Ann was eager Sunday morning to climb something. So we headed to Big Rock again in drizzling rain, hoping for the best. It turned out to be perfect there, cool with brief spots of warm bright…
-
Mom’s New Self-Published Book!
My Mom, dynamo that she is, has just written, illustrated, self-published, and is now self-marketing a new book, What’s On the Beach. It’s packed with her artwork and expertise on Great Lakes nature, and looks like FUN too. I can’t wait to read it. She needs all the help she can get, so if you…
-
Walter’s Crack
The day I started bouldering, a little over a year ago now, I squared off against this problem. It’s a slightly overhanging crack that is wide and flaring near the bottom, then narrows at shoulder height so there are only a few key spots my fingers will fit in. That first day I couldn’t get…
-
Choosing a date
It sounds simple. So I thought we could start by figuring out what dates all four parents can manage to be at the same place. Then add siblings, friends, and other relatives. But already the puzzle pieces don’t fit together. This isn’t going to be easy, is it? I’m surprised that weddings happen at all.
-
Rearden Steel?
This metal in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged is almost a character in itself, with its unsurpassed strength and lightness. In the book Hank Rearden develops the new alloy through years of disciplined experimenting. I’ve always kept my eye out for the discovery of ‘miracle’ alloys, wondering if there would be a character like Rearden behind…
-
Last Move of the Day
I never want to call it a day when I’m at Joshua Tree. The fatigue of climbing seems to take longer to set in there. I was jealous of this climber rappeling off of the Hauser Buttress while I was packing up to go – he got the last move that time. When the air…
-
Joshua Tree in the Spring
Lots of things are blooming at Joshua Tree NP now and it’s pretty amazing just to walk around there. Ann & I warmed up at Quail Springs on the Poubelle (Trashcan Rock) on Tip Toe (5.7) and a few of the easy cracks there. We watch a little girl climb Tip Toe after we put…
-
What is a zerbit?
Once again, the all-seeing, all-knowing whirred wild web provides a definitive, final answer.