Leaving My Shell to meet a Turtle

Spontaneous Photography
I was out riding my mountain bike the other day, my iPhone stuck in my jacket pocket, and was stopped mid-pedal by this scene. I took out my iPhone and shot the image below. Then, I just stood there and stared at it for a while. I am not a religious person, but my spirit is tied very deeply to this Earth. It is what makes me believe in God. To me, this image is like the Light of God bursting onto the Earth. That is why I love photography, or maybe that is why I see photo subjects as I do… I so appreciate the beauty of this amazing planet of ours! Further up the path, you travel between the two enormous Cottonwood trees and ride parallel to

Young and Dumb in the Yukon: Part 5 ~ The End
I was trudging back to my cabin from the lodge in Kevin’s big Sorel boots, only half noticing my surroundings, since the only thing on my mind was a hot bath. I’d helped cook for the breakfast crowd and smelled like bacon fat. As I rounded a stand of trees I saw Tom backing out of my cabin and scanning the area before pulling the door shut. I stepped behind a tree, not sure if he’d seen me. I stood there for a whil

Young and Dumb in the Yukon: Part 4
Liz began to cry when she unwrapped the hand-painted gold pan from the white towel. She insisted that I take it back, but once I saw her face light up as she discovered the detailed mountain scene painted on its face, I knew that I wanted her to have it. “Liz, please accept this Christmas gift from us. We’re so grateful to you and William and your sons for taking us in. Without your generosity, we’d pr

Young and Dumb in the Yukon: Part 3
After about 20 minutes of waiting in the darkness, locked out and freezing on the front porch of a cabin in the Yukon in December, Kevin returned to where I was sitting.  He said he was able to get the window open with my Swiss Army knife on the third cabin circling the lakeshore. I followed him there, hobbling and losing my footing, while he opened the front door for me. He quickly lit a fire as I unlaced my

Young and Dumb in the Yukon: Part 2
Once Kevin and I were back on the Al-Can Highway – after having blown a tire, nearly broken through a frozen lake and almost having slid into another one, and despite the chill blowing in from the broken tailgate window, we were in high spirits. As the sun went down on the third day of our trip, we began looking for a place to pull off to sleep. We drove and drove and couldn’t find anything more than a simple p