First post of 2008...

and at least it's not March yet. I have taken a small break from blogging and because of it probably lost what little readership I had. But after some badgering from others and an amazingly insightful weekend in the woods I figured I would dive back into the great world of the blog. Several big events have happened to me in the last couple months that were definitely blog worthy but this weekend in Sipsey really got me thinking about a lot of things. The woods tend to do that to anyone that will stop and listen to the wind and rain. There really is nothing compared to laying in a mummy bag while the rain lightly patters the tent above your head. It's 30 degrees outside but out in the wild temperature is relative. At least it's not 15 since that is below my bag's temperature rating :).

One really neat thing we saw out in the woods were these tree etchings and if anyone else besides me has never seen these before its an old Arborglyph in a beech tree. The Indians used to carve them into trees to mark specific places of interest. They are really cool you can place your hand in the sun beams and see that that is how they carved designed it. If you look really close you can see the face inside the sunbeams.

Sitting around the campfire talking with my father and his friends I really realized how great it is to be twenty-something. In this stage of life you can converse and connect with the widest range of age groups. My wife and I have been enjoying helping with the youth at our church the last couple of months and we really feel like we have connected with them. I can talk to my 2 years from retirement co-worker about NPR and our favorite shows on there. Work with people from college co-ops to people my grandmothers age and have conversations about the intricacies of pulp digesters or relationships. It was such a great feeling to be able to relax around a roaring fire crackling in a clearing surrounded at a comfortable distance by tents that were setup while we still had sunlight. We talked about politics, marriages, work and past hiking trips for hours. I was 20 years younger than anyone else there and couldn't have been more a part of the conversation. Now it could have been the wine talking but we had to run out of wood that started out in a pile about 3 feet high before the fire was started but it was a great night. This will hopefully be the beginning of another long run of entries I really love reading others and I hope people enjoy reading mine. I have read a few good books since my last blog so bear with my concise reviews all four of these books were good reads:

The Poe Shadow - Mathew Pearl (5 out of 5) I really enjoyed Pearl's first book the Dante Club but this one was soo much better. I would recommend this to anyone who likes historical fiction. It's set in Baltimore with a young socialite trying to solve the mysteries surrounding Edgar Allen Poe's death.

Into Thin Air - John Krakauer (4 out of 5) Personal account of a magazine writer who gets his shot at Everest. He is on a crew that looses several hikers in the deadliest Everest season to date. Very well told story he is the author of "Into the Wild".

I Am Legend - Richard Matheson (3 out of 5) Much better than the movie. I don't want to ruin anything if you haven't seen it but about the only things the same are the name of the main character and the title. A good post-apocalyptic world where a disease caused people to turn into vampires.

Sailing Alone Around the World - Joshua Slocumb (4 out of 5) A biographical narrative written in the 1800s about a guy who was a longtime ship captain who builds his own boat then sails it by himself around the world. It is more interesting than it sounds he is a great writer and he spends alot of time stopping in neat places all over the world.