I've always been aware of the moon -- its phase, its arc, its pull. Even more so here at Camp Many Moons! I gave this place its name for three reasons. 1. It was the nickname my brother gave me. 2. It suggests a Native American connection. 3. I want the retreat we've developed here … Continue reading (Many) Moons
June 4, 2021 - Sometimes you just need to turn off the words -- and the thoughts. A hammock is a great place for that. Mine swings just feet from the shoreline. Sometimes I come here to read and sometimes to think. If I stay here long enough, the words and thoughts stop...and I just … Continue reading Turning Off the Chatter
May 18, 2021 - Here we come! Hello, sun! Hello, people! Like the fiddleheads (fern fronds) unfurling at Camp Many Moons after a long and chilly spring, my friends scattered throughout the U.S. are gradually emerging from a year of pandemic hibernation to reengage more directly with society. Some are uneasy. Some are hesitant. Most … Continue reading Re-Emergence
October 20, 2020. A pink dawn brings thoughts, again, of the in-between's. The halfway. The middle. Pink is a middle color, halfway between red and white. Twilight is a middle time, halfway between daylight and darkness. (It occurs in both morning and evening.) Morning twilight is referred to as dawn -- that first light before … Continue reading Twilight Pinks at Dawn
September 20, 2020. A kayak can take you places a larger vessel can't - like into the weeds. Places where noise won't penetrate - like into the marsh. Paddling in the silence can help you breathe more deeply. See more clearly. Think more calmly. Get acquainted with your core -- muscular and spiritual. At Camp … Continue reading Paddling Into Silence
September 11, 2020. We've arrived at "the in-between." In the far-north, summer exits abruptly while autumn enters hesitantly and winter awaits at the door. The skies record this jerky transition. Before the changing of leaf-color comes the changing of sky-color. Moody. Uncertain. Evolving. Kind of like me. If we're honest, like most of us. Like … Continue reading The In-Between Skies
July 11, 2020. On Huron Bay, the sky changes moods frequently. What a treat! Some people prefer a consistently-sunny sky, such as in Southern California or Arizona, but I love variety. Clouds and mist and incoming storms fascinate me. I wonder, then, why our social divisions distress me so? I enjoy the challenge of unpredictable … Continue reading Yooper Skies: Beauty & The Beast
July 4, 2020. Happy Birthday, "We the People!" As I begin my 1,000-mile drive northward to my personal retreat, I reflect on the road our country has taken and my mind hangs on those words which begin our Constitution. We the People. What a grand idea it was, 244 years ago - a strong statement … Continue reading Knowing When to Retreat
August 28, 2018. Old wood-fired saunas carry memories, and I was washed with them as I bid a final bittersweet farewell to this sauna and the farmhouse next to it. Both were built by my Finnish-immigrant grandparents. This is where 21 children were born, created from the same parents. (Three died in infancy.) This is … Continue reading Sauna Sadness – History’s Mist
December 20, 2017. I'm about to purchase a rough and undeveloped patch of land on the waterfront of Huron Bay in Michigan's Upper Peninsula (U.P.). It's so rough that we can barely walk through it...lumpy and wet and thick with underbrush and fallen branches and rotting logs. Jeff is my partner in this adventure and … Continue reading From Navy Captain to Yooper Girl
