OVER THE PAST TWO MONTHS I’ve been slowly reading an absolutely brilliant book: The Nature Fix – Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative. Within its pages, Florence Williams explores the many ways nature benefits us cognitively, psychologically, physically and physiologically, doing so through immersive visits into natural environments around the world and
Book Review – The Nature Fix by Florence Williams Read More »
I SHARE MY LIFE with Joan, my wife. She is an extraordinary person. Warm-hearted and tolerant. She is the adult in the partnership, competent at dealing with life’s complexities in a considered and practical way. Without Joan there probably wouldn’t be a roof over my family’s head or funds for clothes and food. Well, not
I wouldn’t change a thing Read More »
I SPENT MUCH of last week cloud watching, lazy chap that I am. From a remote vantage point beneath Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains I spent five days doing little but watching clouds form, drift about, and then fade away. To some people, such a pastime probably sounds dull in the extreme. But to me
THE PHOTOS LIE – especially mine. Or so I have suddenly realized as I look back at the photos of my most recent walk (a two-night tour through Colorado’s James Peak Wilderness). I mean, the images do show some truth. They show places that really exist and conditions as they really were. But they also
I FINALLY SHARED a mountain night with one of my offspring this last weekend. Pretty late in the year, but goodness was it worth the wait! My approach to getting my children into the outdoors has always been gentle – to not force it. We’ve all seen parents dragging reluctant kids on walks, which never
SATURDAY WAS A BIG DAY for me. After 30 years of dreaming about publishing a book, and after many years of writing one, re-writing it, and then re-writing it again, my book was finally ready to publish. Originally, I’d chosen May 1 as the day it would happen, a symbolic date – the date that
A Momentous Weekend Read More »
I’VE BEEN ON a journey. And what a journey it has been! It’s been long, for one thing. And challenging. And full of unexpected twists and turns. It’s taken me to places I never expected to visit. It’s led to discoveries, to growth, to moments of joy. And goodness, but also to moments of frustration,
A Journey Worth Taking Read More »
TWENTY-FOUR YEARS ago today I stood alone in an Italy that very few people know. I was three days into my 18-month walk across Europe, and surrounding me were mountains that were far wilder than I’d expected, and far harder to cross than I wanted. It was a bit of a shock. The location was
The ‘Other’ Places Read More »
The location wasn’t anywhere well known or especially scenic. It was merely a rustic little cabin perched beside a modest little brook, a tumbling watercourse similar to many thousands right across Colorado. At first glance it looked like ‘just another mountain stream splashing across a few ordinary gray rocks‘. Nothing special. And technically, that was
A Cabin Beside A Creek Read More »
I’M A LITTLE LATE with this blog… but that’s okay: the snowstorm it covers was a little late too. Storm ‘Xylia’ (and who else dislikes the naming of regular weather systems as though they are hurricanes?) trundled through seven days ago, dropping almost two feet of snow on Golden – but for a while it
The Storm That Wasn’t In A Hurry Read More »