Coyotes In The Mist

On Christmas Day, heading back across the darkening Yosemite Valley to the Awahnee to get ready for the Bracebridge Dinner later that evening, through the mist I spied a pair of coyotes looking for supper about 400-yards out and on the move across a snow-covered meadow: Let me strive to  forget my disappointments with the …

Next — Perhaps Last Of The Year — In My Occasional Series Of Stray Dog Chronicles

Seeing as today’s bike commute would mark my 200th of the year, I didn’t let a little  morning rain dampen my desire to pedal to that milestone and to work (OK, it was more than a little; I was drenched by the time I got to Westchester). Were I made of less water-tolerant stuff I …

Blooooooooo Moooooooon

Tonight’s blue moon, two days from its full stage on the last day of the year and the decade, as seen from my office window via the 6.1x digital zoom of my cam with the lens against the eyepiece of my 12×25 binoculars and the whole thing balanced on my knee with my leg propped …

Gotta Love A Good Work-Around

In the big scheme this ain’t much. But in the annals of making lemonade outta lemons when it comes to improv’d bike repairs, it’s worth mentioning. It all started the week before last when one side of my left pedal malfuntioned while on the way to work. Now these aren’t your normal every-day platform pedals …

The Story Of My Mother And The Mountain Lion In Yosemite On Christmas Eve

So here’s how things went down. After breakfast Christmas Eve morning in the amazing Awahnee dining room followed by a visit to the Yosemite Village store to pick up some hairspray for mom (which she’d forgot to pack), it was decided she would hang out at the hotel while Susan and I did some sightseeing. …

Music To My Ears

In 1985 I decided I was going to be a tenorsax man. That’s me on the right (click to biggify) shortly after I went to Baxter-Northup Music Company on Ventura Boulevard somewhat on a lark and bought a used Bundy on a two-year payment plan. She was not at all pretty to look at as …