Author: asiwentwalking

Hiker Style

Humphreys PeakArizonaJune  2013 If you like to categorize, if making order out of randomness is your type of thrill, put hikers into three categories.  N’wait, I’ll do it for you. 1I was leading a hike of fourteen people when some hikers approached from ahead.  They stopped walking, I stopped walking, my group, behind me, stopped… Continue reading Hiker Style

How to Name Your Child

Spruce KnobWest VirginiaMay  2014 If you are expecting a child, I’m here to help you name it.  These days, parents seem to have no qualms about naming their children…  pretty much anything.  Why not?  I’ll supply you with nine names from the area we cover on this particular Highpointing trip, Spruce Knob and environs.  See… Continue reading How to Name Your Child

Marys Rock

Blue Ridge ParkwayVirginiaSeptember  2010 I think it’s delightful, oddly gratifying even, that something like a road that is 469 miles long can be considered to be a park.  In fact the Blue Ridge Parkway is the most visited National Park unit and has been nicknamed “America’s favorite drive.” It’s not just transportation, one place to… Continue reading Marys Rock

Plover Preservation

Panorama PointNebraskaJuly  2013 Standing on the highest land form in the state of Nebraska, looking southwest.  In the far distance, we can see the Rocky Mountains.  East and southeast holds the multitude of windmills of the Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska, or MEAN, wind farm.  Looking west, bison. I understand also that this is the… Continue reading Plover Preservation

Telescope Peak

Death Valley National ParkCaliforniaMarch  2019 Telescope Peak is more than 11 000 feet high.  My friend Mike once climbed up and over this peak on his way to Mount Whitney. Calling the park where Telescope Peak is located, the telephone conversation begins this way… “Death Valley National Park.  This is Aubrey.  How may I help… Continue reading Telescope Peak

How We Talk Here

AlabamaNovember  2013 Before Lisa and I head out on our trip to Alabama, one of my students, whose vocal style hints of her formative years in the South, suggests that I be “real patient” when I attempt conversation with the folks down there. “Yeah, why’s that?” “They talk real slow,” she says, real slow. Reminds… Continue reading How We Talk Here

My Brother Laurence

the California CoastJanuary  2009 January 23I fly into SFO and am greeted by a friend of my brother.  He shuttles me to Laurence’s apartment in the Mission District. As we greet each other, I note that Laurence is nearly gaunt, but in good spirits.  He is feeling much better since he began taking morphine yesterday. … Continue reading My Brother Laurence

Worms In Relationships

Harrison Hills ParkPennsylvaniaJuly  2018 While hiking on the dirt path, I notice two five inch brown earthworms on the ground, near to each other.  I pick one up — boys can do this without getting grossed out — and place it right on top of the other.  They wriggle about, each oblivious to the identity of… Continue reading Worms In Relationships

Jerry Siegel’s House

ClevelandOhioMay  2017 We’re on our way home from Cleveland Clinic in a rental car, Lisa is driving.  It is quiet for a few minutes before she says, “Y’know, this whole thing with anal glands…”  She lets the thought hang. This is not Lisa’s standard introduction to conversation. Nonetheless, anal glands are real.  Dogs have them,… Continue reading Jerry Siegel’s House