I’m listening to….

Posted on by November 5, 2016

I’m listening to a channel on “Calm Radio” ( calm.com ) called “Wisdom” this morning.

All of the music is Asian music.

Wisdom.

How come there’s no bluegrass music when I listen to the “Wisdom” channel?

I didn’t want to listen to bluegrass, anyway….no matter how wise it might make me.

Funny how that goes….but….I do feel like my head is expanding a little with new….wisdom.

That’s a good feeling.

Still no rain here….in spite of reports of a 20% chance last night.

What’s a “20% chance”? What’s that about? No one would take me seriously if I bragged that there was a “twenty percent chance” that I might do anything.

Why bother to even tell us about a sliver of a chance when it doesn’t come to be?

Here’s another bicycling video.

Wisdom.

There’s a good bit of wisdom in pursuing the thing that it built slowly and with great attention.

Maybe “have less, have better” should be a good mantra for me?

And….why no bluegrass on the “wisdom” music channel?

Too fast and frenetic?

In too much of a hurry to gather any “wisdom”?

what’s madness?

Posted on by November 3, 2016

https://youtu.be/ayv41ZmNWtk

Here’s a commercial for North Face.

But….it’s a good one, and it raises the question…or provides the instruction….to question “madness”.

What’s madness?

Is it pursuing an obsession to a crazy degree? Doing things that don’t make sense to most of the world? Doing crazy stuff?

Or….is it living the life of “quiet desperation”?

My life is beautiful….my job is good.

What do I have to worry or complain about?

Nothing, really.

(My job is really good….kind of hard, but….really good. I case my mail and then go drive around out in the country and bring it to the people. That’s a good thing. I’ve worked in a cubicle….worn a tie all day….so driving around out in the woods is a good thing….I know that.)

I think what’s crazy is how much it chafes to be on someone else’s schedule all the time.

But….again, but…they pay me to do that.

They rent me….and I let them.

Being “out there”….a new breeze on my cheek….ocean wind and falling water…..gershhhhhhhhh.

We need an adventure soon.

so dry

Posted on by November 2, 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR2gR6SZC2M

It’s dry as heck here.

“Dry” is easy….you can work outside and the ground isn’t soft and muddy….you can play and not get wet….delivering the mail is nice.

But anything green is hurting.

All these plants must be hunkering down….waiting for something to come.

They can’t just turn on the tap and get something wet to drink.

It needs to rain here someday.

If I haven’t used this video before, I don’t know why.

Isn’t Sister Rosetta Tharpe something else?

Comes out in an Aunt Bea coat and outcools all these twerkers out there.

Cool is cool, no matter what kind of wrapper it comes in.

“…but then I got better and enjoyed an awesome party.”

Posted on by November 1, 2016

“But then I got better and enjoyed an awesome party.”

In this video, though, it’s pronounced “PAHRTAY”.

If I could not read, I’d just have to enjoy the scenery and wonder what this fellow was saying.

How many videos can I post about riding somewhere that is different from the place I am?

The place where I am is pretty great….why all these videos?

Because….the whole world is pretty great!

Not better, necessarily….but great in its own way.

I want to see more of it.

I want to show my children a whale that isn’t in an aquarium.

I see so much of great worth on each of my daily 72 mile drives around the countryside delivering the mail….turkeys, deer, maybe a bear….leaves turning, crazy majestic views that I didn’t really understand until some of the leaves fell from the trees….new people to say hello to.

I have no reason for my wanderlust….my plate is full.

Man.

I’d love to do some travelling.

Build it….

Posted on by October 31, 2016

How many people are there in the world who do this kind of stuff?

I’ve known talented people with varied and accomplished interests….and I’ve seen a lot of good videos about things other people have done.

So….how many talented people are there “out there”?

We are pretty amazing, aren’t we?

See the World….episode 1 (2 parts)

Posted on by October 30, 2016

This is the first part of what (now) is a nine part video series.

The first part is in two videos….and I may have used this first part in an earlier blog…but it’s worth a repeat just to get the ball rolling again and to start the series at the beginning.

It’s pretty amazing.

I think that the guy making these is from Canada (shows that I haven’t watched all of these very carefully….I’m not even sure where he’s from) and he’s traveled all over the world on his bicycle.

I like his style….easygoing.

His name is Iohan Gueorguiev….

Seems like a pretty decent fellow.

I was going to run these concurrently…..but I think that, if I remember, I’ll run one of these videos every Sunday.

It’s kind of sadistic to put all these long videos on the blog….but these are so good.

Makes me want to pump up the tires and go.

 

travel. no money.

Posted on by October 29, 2016

Here’s a short film about traveling….with limited money.

Man.

That’s right up my alley.

My Dad used to say that when he had money, he didn’t have a lot of time….and when he had a lot of time, he probably didn’t have a lot of money.

That’s the way it goes, I suppose.

I like to watch these people traveling around.

It’s always interesting to see new places….even if it is only a video.

having a camera…

Posted on by October 28, 2016

Nate went to the park with Jenny last night and learned how to turn and start out on his own and (sometimes)….stop.

That’s on a bike, of course.

Jenny taught him how to ride a bike!

Nate told her that now he could ride his own bike on our bike riding trips now.

When Jenny told him that he really wasn’t ready for that, he replied that he needed to start riding his own bike because “Dad makes me do all the work when I ride the tagalong behind him”.

That’s what I get for making him push me for a bit….now he’s convinced that he was the ant pushing the elephant, even though I only made him do that once…..or twice.

That’s when a joke goes too far…when your child is anxious for independence so that they can get away from your “bad behavior”.

Oh, well….I think that it’s pretty darn cool that he knows how to ride a bike now.

Sparrow was talking to Jenny about how good they both smell yesterday, and when Jenny asked if Daddy smelled good, Sparrow told her that I smelled like “sweaty hats”.

Sweaty hats?!

I guess that I do probably smell like sweaty hats.

Darn.

I need to pamper myself more….use something more fragrant than Lava soap (on my hands….I’m not tough enough to use it in the shower….or that dirty that I need to use Lava soap all over….) so that I don’t smell like sweaty hats all the time.

Sweaty hats?! That’s pretty funny.

(Aren’t bikes cool?)

And….what did we do before GoPro? I remember a canoeing video I saw back in the early 80’s where the guy took a camera and filmed himself paddling out in the “wild”. I thought that was pretty amazing “back in the day”. It was nothing like all these guys are doing now, though. We can record everything. I should get a camera and record a day on the mail route…..but….they’d probably fire me. I don’t think that you’re allowed to film a “day on the mail route”.

 

a good party….Tahoe Adventure Film Festival

Posted on by October 27, 2016

This looks like a good party…..

Check out Fred Beckey….with the ladies….in his eighties…..in a tux.

Pretty crazy life.

They had an adventure film festival in Asheville earlier this month that was called….I think….the 5Point Adventure Film Festival….but….I didn’t go.

We don’t do stuff like that.

That would be so boring for the little guys.

I’m pretty shocked, though, when I go up to Asheville how much it feels like the city has changed.

More traffic….more people.

It’s not quite as mellow and slow-paced as I remember it being.

I think that it feels pretty self-conscious about its “cool factor”, too.

That’s OK.

It’s OK because it really is still a pretty cool place….and, because I can leave to go home anytime I want.

It’s funny how a place where you used to live can become a “nice place to visit” so quickly.

(Hah! “Quickly”? Like 20 years or so “quickly”? That’s funny. Time is passing…..)

Look at Fred in that tux!

Oh, man! Jenny taught Nate to ride a bike! He was riding up and down the driveway when I got home from the mail route! Talk about an adventure!

being here….

Posted on by October 26, 2016

https://vimeo.com/169730250

Here’s another nice video….a short one this time.

It’s called “Being Here”….produced by Outdoor Research.

(A disclaimer: I don’t always have time to watch all the videos that I post on here. Who has time to watch an hour-long video of some guy rebuilding his Jeep engine? Maybe me if I need to rebuild my Jeep, but not a normal person. Nobody normal would watch that! Nobody….normal….would.)

I watch this and think about wanting my family….and, because of the video content, my wife and daughters, to be able to feel comfortable out in the world.

Comfortable….and, because the world is the way it is, and, because it’s not always “safe” to even just live….even if there’s nothing to harm us, really….brave at the same time.

(I want to feel BRAVE, too….)

I want their world to feel BIG!

I want us….whether we’re male or female…to feel all the potential of a big world.

What does the person who made this video say early in the film?

Something about “feeling trapped….over domesticated…..soul hungry…parched….like I might wither away”….and how getting out into the world frees her from those feelings.

I made our world small because it was hard to get out and experience it sometimes.

That was pretty crummy.

We need an adventure.

We need more of an adventure than going to Costco and hitting all the thrift stores we see.

It’s still a big world.

I need to teach Nate to ride his bike.

That’s a start.