http://www.woodswanderer.com Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:22:17 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en All cranked up on sugar and caffeine, I cruised down the highway at 75 miles an hour and it seemed perfectly normal to me.  I followed a bare-pavement highway all the way through the snow-covered mountains of New York and Pennsylvania, finally arriving in Ohio a day and a half ... http://www.woodswanderer.com/2008/12/31/a-pedestrian-at-heart/ After reviewing my last few downbeat posts, I think it's time for a little levity.  Renee, one of my readers, recently posted "seven random and weird things about me" at her site, combatpacifist.blogspot.com, and suggested that I do the same.  So here goes: 1.  As a kid, I used the birthmark ... http://www.woodswanderer.com/2008/12/24/seven-random-weird-things/ Every time I go deep into the woods, I am astounded by the fecundity of nature, by the myriad life forms taking root all around me.  Living things abound, even in the dead of winter.  The planet is teeming with them.  The oceans are soups chock full of plants and ... http://www.woodswanderer.com/2008/12/17/evolution-is-religion/ After the freezing rain had turned to snow, I bundled up, grabbed my dog's leash and stepped out the door.  Matika ran ahead of me, naturally, excited by the prospect of a long walk.  We reached the trailhead after a short drive, then laid tracks in the pristine snow.  We ... http://www.woodswanderer.com/2008/12/12/tracks-in-the-snow/ Everyone is going green these days.  I can't figure out whether this is good or bad.  The optimist in me wants to believe that we've finally reached the tipping point in ecological awareness – that being green, once marginalized, is now going mainstream.  But I worry that it might just ... http://www.woodswanderer.com/2008/12/05/going-green/ Just about the time the first homeowners put up Christmas lights, I feel it.  Oddly enough, the feeling usually comes in the middle of the day, when the muted, overcast light of late November isn't enough to read by.  After a long walk in bone-chilling rain, I'm happy enough to ... http://www.woodswanderer.com/2008/11/28/the-season-of-long-nights/ As a lover of all things wild, I find myself torn nearly every day by two distinct realities: the economic and the natural.  Theoretically, there is no conflict between the two since economics mimics the rules of survival laid out by nature, and nature follows the basic principles of economics ... http://www.woodswanderer.com/2008/11/21/two-realities/ Midday.  Matika and I stretch our legs.  There's a light flurry of snow falling, which is probably why we have the hill all to ourselves today.  The forest is mostly shades of brown and gray.  Matika cavorts about the open woods, looking for a chipmunk or squirrel to terrorize.  She ... http://www.woodswanderer.com/2008/11/17/view-from-the-hill/ A couple weeks ago, I stood beneath the old maple tree in my back yard amid a shower of leaves.  A steady breeze coming on the heels of a hard frost was doing the trick.  My old maple is one of the last trees to give up its leaves.  On ... http://www.woodswanderer.com/2008/11/12/fallen-leaves/ Like most people living in America these days, I am deeply concerned about the state of the economy and have been closely following the presidential election as a consequence.  A seismic shift in the political landscape occurred two days ago – there's no doubt about that.  But it remains to ... http://www.woodswanderer.com/2008/11/06/a-seismic-shift/