She's right about at least one thing:

It's not getting what you want / It's wanting what you've got
      -Sheryl Crow "Soak Up the Sun"

This article from Reuters describes a recent study showing that children who equate happiness with money, fame and beauty are likely to be depressed later in life. This was precisely my experience. As I child, I often dreamed about being rich and famous. As an adult, I suffered through years of depression - medication, therapy, the works. Then, slowly, I realized that happiness comes from appreciating the beauty of right now, from recognizing the divine in one's self and in all other living beings, from replacing desire with acceptance. I realized that each time I wanted some thing, my desire grew until finally I got the thing; then once I had it, I was happy and content only for a short time before I became bored and dissatisfied with the new thing. Then I developed a desire for something else and the cycle repeated. I realized I spent too much time contemplating the past, as if I'd been happy then as I could never be happy now. Or dreaming of / planning a future in which I could be happy, having earned the right. I was very fortunate to be "dragged" into the outdoors. There I realized that past and future, while they each have a place, are not the main thing. Right now is the main thing. This moment. This place. Me, as I am. The world, as it is. There is as much beauty here and now as there ever was, anywhere; as much as ever there will be, anywhere. Somehow, this was more obvious in nature: everything is happening exactly as it should.

Okay, now you know what a wacko I truly am.

That's okay, that was meant to happen too. :-)

Posted by Me at 10:42 link

I'm not much of a country music fan, but I've always liked the Dixie Chicks. Now I like them even more.

The Elizabeth Smart story (what do you figure? 3 months until the TV movie?) gave my spirit a big lift.

Now I have a great excuse to continue eating lots and lots of Indian food.

And never again will I speak Ill of Carrboro. That's FRENCH Fries, Bubba. You know, from Belgium. I intend to express my love of all things French - French wine, French toast, French cars (well, maybe some limits should be imposed), French kissing, Jerry Lewis...

...the Bad...

The Senate has dealt a major blow to women's health by passing the ban on so-called "partial-birth" abortions, a vague term (not a medical term, but a political one) open to broad interpretation. The House is very likely to follow suit, but it's still a good idea to let your representatives know how you feel on this.

The war still looms as a threat to our soldiers, to our standing in the world, and to the environment.

Whatever happened to the peace-loving "Long-Haired Country Boy" of "Uneasy Rider" fame?

...and the Truly Sublime

But despite all this, what's really on my mind is the Banff Mountain Film Festival. We checked this out Wednesday night down in Princeton. I'm told last year's festival was much better, but I was blown away. Mountains, movies, Princeton - what's not to like? The festival tour is now leaving the Northeast, but if you get a chance to check it out down South or out West, I couldn't recommend it more highly. I'm going to try to see it again down in NC, as they show different movies at each screening.

Posted by Me at 10:41 link

With US gas prices up to 1/3 of European prices, the Senate is again considering opening up Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas exploration. According to this AP news article, just one vote could make the difference. Call, write and/or email your Senators and tell them tell them to vote against this VERY BAD IDEA. Opening up the ANWR would yield just 6 months of oil and gas; the environmental damage could last for centuries.

Posted by Me at 13:11 link

We survived another foray into the cold, cold winter hills. We decided to go for the Adirondacks, in spite of the forecast cold, because the forecast was worse for the Catskills and the Berkshires. There, rain was expected along with the snow and wind, to be followed by bone-chilling cold. Better, we figured, pure snow and wind and cold than the more deadly wet version.

So we slid out of the Garden State early on Saturday afternoon and were well-fed (Mexican) and warmly ensconced in our Adirondack Motel by 9 pm. A good night's sleep later, we found a typical Saranac Lake winter morning: about 20°, a few inches of overnight snow already plowed and blowing around a bit, a few flakes still making their way over from Lake Ontario.

After tea and muffins, we suited up and headed out to the Adirondack Loj. I asked the guy at the entrance station whether we'd need ice axe and crampons for Algonquin Peak (the second-highest summit in the Adirondacks). He said the crampons on our snowshoes would probably do, but that we should talk to the guy behind the Information counter inside the Loj. So we did. He said the conditions above treeline would likely be whiteout and suggested a few other hikes we might like instead. We chose Mt. Van Hoevenberg, a moderate 4.6 mile roundtrip. We bought a map and drove a short way back up Adirondack Loj Road to South Meadow Road (elev 2065') where we donned our snowshoes and packs and headed out at 10:25 am.

Crunching our way noisily up the road, we passed a hunter kneeling in the snowbank on the side, apparently locked in mortal combat with some unseen prey. We muttered the usual across-the-great-recreational-divide greetings to each another. 200 yards up, we turned left onto the trail, which turned out to be unbroken. That was okay, it was well-marked and mostly obvious. The trail led us first straight through a flat, mixed evergreen forest, then, after an abrubt left turn, we got our first view of the mountain top - rounded and tree-covered, with a few spots of snow-covered exposed rock. The trail led briefly through a low-lying area which is probably a swamp in summer, then we started climbing through a thinner forest and looping gradually right. The climb from here was steady and mostly moderate, with only one section where it was easier to turn sideways for upward progress. One section was pretty windy and I briefly considered turning back as the wind chilled me almost instantly. But soon enough the wind died down again.

The one routefinding challenge came after passing a small cliff on the left with a frozen waterfall. I followed the rule "when in doubt, go straight" and soon found the next marker. I scraped off the snow for the next hikers. At this point the trail turned sharply right and climbed more steeply for a bit, then levelled out and led through a "green tunnel" of small evergreens, heavy with snow, which encroached the trail from both sides. We put up the hoods of our jackets to keep (most of) the snow out.

A few minutes of this and we came to an open area with a SPECTACULAR view of the High Peaks. Sure enough, Marcy, Algonquin, Wright - all the big guys - were obscured by great clouds of blowing snow. The wind on our hill wasn't too much, but enough so that all we wanted to do was to snap a few pictures before heading back down. As forecast, the temperature had been dropping as the day went on. I'd guess it was about 10° at 12:15, with about a 15 mph wind.

There wasn't really a clear summit, but the map showed that the trail crosses the highest point (2786'), so we kept going until the trail started descending, then turned back at a lean-to, just past the second amazing view. If we'd felt friskier, we could have made a loop of it, following our trail to the Olympic bobsled run half a mile or so further on, then looping around right and descending to South Meadow. Instead we dived back into the green tunnel, then passed a group of three hikers on their way up. They were young, two women and a man, dressed lightly for the weather, I thought (fleece jackets, no parkas), and only the man wore a (very small) daypack. They moved much faster than we did. "How much further?" one of the women asked. "Not much!" I encouraged. The trip down was much easier, of course, and I couldn't resist breaking into a run a couple of times. At the steeper spots, I let myself slide on my snowshoe tails. The flat part seemed to last much longer on the way out, but I wasn't all that eager to get back to the car anyway. The young threesome passed us just before we reached the road. It turned out they, too, were from NJ. We waved as they drove off, definitely not something we'd have done in Jersey. We reached our car at 1:45 pm, making the whole hike 3 hrs 20 min.

The warmth of the car's heater was delicious! The next order of business was food. After finding the Caribbean Cowboy wouldn't open until 5:00, we settled on one of the many pizza places in Lake Placid. Fresh tomatoes, jalapeños, very light cheese. A big heap of veggies from the salad bar. Coca-Cola. Then back to the motel to clean up, veg and watch dumb TV. Later we did try the Caribbean place and were sorely disappointed. Oh, well. We had a little pizza left over from lunch!

Monday dawned mostly clear and cold: about -5° with 15 mph wind. A dusting of powdery snow. More tea and muffins. The drive back to Jersey was peaceful and easy. Surprised to find a Golden Corral in Saratoga Springs (clearly, all I think about is food). I did feel sad to see the snow thin out and the rivers thaw as we moved south. Yes, I know not everyone loves winter.

Posted by Me at 23:02 link