Endurance Philosophy

The transpiring of Father's and Mother's Day leaves me contemplating none other than my father and my mother. I am incredibly lucky that I have two amazing parents. I grew up in a house where I felt loved and appreciated, and I was taught things; I would say that thanks to my parents I came out to be an entirely decent human being.  As is, I believe, typical, my parents instilled in me a love for certain things. The things they appreciate, I also learned to appreciate. This isn't to say that I haven't become my own person with my own passions; I certainly have. However, there are things that I love which are direct descendants of the loves of my parents.  From my father, lighthouses; from my mother, loons.  Let's begin with lighthouses.  Portland Head Light, Cape Elizabeth, ME At first glance, lighthouses seem to be virtually extinct. GPS and satellite navigation have provided the mariner with a much richer base of sensory input while navigating in adverse condition...

This is the first in a series of posts about Maine Public Lands that is featured on the Adventures with Matt and Lindsay  blog. Head over there for more posts about our adventures.  It was Friday night. The last Friday night of the school year. We had made it through; there would be no more standing in front of a classroom trying to get 20 teenagers to figure out a math problem. Actually, there hadn't been any of that for a while, because of the global pandemic that we are living through. So, no more sitting in front of our laptops hoping that our students were figuring out the problems that we had assigned for them on their own.  We decided to celebrate by loading up our canoe, driving north, and generally being very far away from other people for a weekend. It seemed like a good plan at the time. We arrived at the Bigelow Preserve near Eustis, Maine, just before 7:00 Friday night, and realized that we were far from the only people that had this idea. The place was packe...

Preface: This post is a bit of a mess. There are several ideas and thoughts that are in my head, and this is the best way I know to get them out. This blog was created for selfish reasons; so I can put my thoughts into soft-reality (bits) and post them. It's a way for me to create a record of what I experience through my days. It is not meant to be from the perspective of anyone else. It's not meant to be correct, or incorrect. It's just meant to be. You may pass judgement on it; that is your prerogative. Although, my purpose here is not to create something for you to judge. It is simply to offer my perspective, for whatever it may be worth. (In my view, not much.) In kind, I am interested in learning more of your perspective. I am not interested in your judgements of mine.  I am at a loss. Frozen. Trapped by an open door. Like a deer caught in the headlights; paralyzed by predicament. It seems there are an abundance of awful things happening. And while I know that reading ...