Nocturne

Image taken of the Earth by Voyager, 5.76 billion kilometers away, in 1991, at the suggestion of Carl Sagan. Credits: NASA, 1991. I’ve retouched the photo to take out the original light reflections from the Voyager camera. That tiny white dot a little off center to the right is Earth. You may want to clean(…)

Dark Side of the Hill

Much as I love immersing myself in the beauty of mountains and the peace that I find there, my recent refusal to write about things that make me angry or that I find unnecessarily ugly or unfair is tantamount to sticking my head in the sand. It’s not all pretty pictures, as you all know.(…)

Summer Walks Part 3- So September Blue

View of the Shirane-Three Peaks, with Mt. Kitadake, the second highest mountain in Japan, off to the right side. Here Mt. Noutori rises above the clouds. The valleys hid in shadow below, while the world above basked in late summer sunlight. Conversations heard along the trail. “Where did that dog come from?” “What dog?” “The(…)

Summer Walks Part 2- The Lungs of the Mountain God

Descending from Kurobe Peak. Up here, with the whole sky above and the whole world below, you walk a fine thread between the sublime and the perilous. It is a chance to learn the limits of those quaking muscles and the borders of your sanity. You learn, over time, to cradle yourself in a tranquil(…)