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Reading The Overstory by Richard Powers has been on my to do list for a couple of years and I finally accomplished that this week. It was worth the wait. It is an excellent look at the natural world and Powers does an amazing job of weaving the stories of nine characters together to form an incredible picture of the world of trees and nature. He manages to examine trees from every angle imaginable and he exposes readers to ideas and emotions about trees and their complicated existence. It is a fascinating read.
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It was a gorgeous morning in Minnesota and I spent it canoeing on the Cannon River with my friend Bruce. For four hours we paddled on excellent water and saw dozens of bald eagles, kildeers, a pair of geese with their goslings, and a host of other birds out enjoying the day. It is amazing that so close to a major metropolitan area we can get away and enjoy the silence and beauty of a place like the Cannon River. Lucky.  Several years ago, my good friend Joe Sears and I climbed two frozen waterfalls near Livingston, Montana. The day was beautiful. The ice was in good condition. The climbing was going well until Joe had a problem. Read about it in my essay just published in The Dolomite Review from Michigan. Click here to read An Arena of Ice.
There is a famous Taiko drumming group in St. Paul called Enso Daiko. We had heard them about five years ago in a show in Red Wing. I loved the drumming, the flair and timing of the drummers moving about the stage. It was an incredible show and I learned that they offer an introductory workshop. I thought about it off and on, but didn't attend one until today. Wow. It was a great experience. A dozen novice drummers got a chance to bang on the huge drums and make them boom. During the two-hour workshop, we learned how to hold the sticks, how to position ourselves to hit the drums, and how to put together one small song on the drums. Below is a photo of the studio and the large drums we played. What an interesting and exciting time.  I came across a reference to a book called The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd. The book is about many experiences Shepherd had while hiking and climbing in the Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland. She wrote the book in the 1940s, well ahead of the many books about nature and outdoor adventures that followed; however, the book was not published until 1977. It is not a long book, but it is very insightful into how it feels to be in the mountains, experiencing all the that mountains offer to those who get out and enjoy them. The book is a fine read, but when I place it in perspective that she did the hiking and writing in the 1940s, it truly seems amazing.
I recently received a notice that I am a member of a class action law suit against a company that illegally downloaded books from a publisher and used them to train their AI. One of my books was included in that event. I filed a claim. I doubt there is much or any money involved, but I do believe that copyrights should be respected. I don't believe an AI company has the right to simply steal works and use them for their own profit. It will be interesting to see how AI develops and what effect it has on authors, artists, photographers, and others who create materials and sell them.
I've always enjoyed watching ice hockey. It is a fast-paced game requiring speed, strength, and skill. Like many, I remember watching the Olympics in Lake Placid in 1980 and the game that became called The Miracle on Ice. It was fun to watch all the skiing and sliding sports at the recent Olympics in Milan and Cortina, but it was especially pleasing to see both the US Men and Women win gold medals in hockey. Their games throughout the tournament were amazing and the results very impressive. Fun to watch.
I came across a treat of a book called Eventually a Sequoia by Jeremy Collins. In it he recounts several adventures to the Amazon, Nepal, Alaska, Utah and more. His writing captures the adventures well, but he was invited on each of the adventures to "observe, find a connection, and draw," as he described it. His artwork adds a unique view to each of the journeys and the larger-than-life characters he travels and works with. Those characters have taken on project greater than themselves, and Collins joins them, bringing back incredible memories of those travels and projects.
After postponing his climb the yesterday because of weather, Alex Honnold came back today and successfully climbed the outside of Taipei 101, one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world. While I am not interested in free solo climbing (without a rope or other systems of protection) or climbing on a building, I have to say that what Alex did is an incredible performance. When a climber is on natural rock, the nature of the holds generally varies, meaning he or she is using different angles and muscles during the ascent. As was easy to see today, Alex had to perform the same or very similar movements hundreds of times consecutively. I can't imagine the strain on his arms as he pinched the window frames and cornerpieces that were his handholds. To make those repeated movements while suspended as much as 1,700 feet above the street takes a mental power as strong as any medieval fortress. This was truly an amazing performance.
I'm pleased that my essay "Snowshoe Showdown" was just published in The Dolomite Review, a literary magazine from Michigan. It is about my first snowshoe race as part of the Northern Rocky Mountain Winter Games in 1997. I went to the race unsure of what running on snowshoes would feel like. It was truly exhausting, but I was happy with how I raced and the end results. You can read it here.
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Photo by John Jancik
AuthorDr. Steve Gardiner is the author of nine books and over 1,000 articles. |