I spent most of this past week in northern Arizona on a personal retreat. It’s important to practice what I preach, and over the years I’ve recommended to many people that they take retreat time. I also recognize that with a full and varied work plate as a...
One of the hazards of road travel is the tire debris. If you’ve ever wondered why there are so many pieces of metal-lined rubber along the side of the road, it’s the result of retreading. While retreading is cheaper and perhaps more environmentally friendly (clearly...
I’m reading a book entitled Play Everything. In it, Ian Bogost posits some interesting ideas about play. He’s a philosopher and game creator and has clearly thought deeply about the subject of fun. One of his first illustrations is about pulling his daughter through a...
I visited a new-to-me canyon last week: the Catwalk Recreation Area in southwestern New Mexico. The place is named after an old wooden walkway that was erected over a mining-related water pipeline installed in Whitewater Canyon over a century ago. While the mining has...
I grew up in the desert—although our yard did not reflect that. Albuquerque, New Mexico gets less than ten inches of rain a year, but I lived in the more fertile Rio Grande River Valley, in a city well supplied with aquifer water. We had grass and pine trees in the...