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The students at the craft school are all on spring break, which means a cut back in hours at the coffeehouse and a bit of lounge time during the afternoon shift. Today I sat on a tall wooden [...]

My friend Kelly says, “Oh, just rangbop it!” when my mind gets too muddled and I furrow my brow without even realizing it. She is speaking Buddhist but I catch her drift. What she means is that [...]

This is how it works: You work tirelessly and mostly alone as a writer. When you are strong, every moment contains the elements of a lyrical phrase. There is no turning off the voice. The only [...]

Evan and I drive to Zac and Sammy’s house at the base of Roan Mountain. They are brothers in fifth and fourth grades respectively and we both teach them at the Montessori school. Their mother, [...]

Mia and I are two glasses of wine each into the Bob Dylan show in the Asheville Civic Center and it is better than sex. It is better than summitting a mountain and better than stars on a new moon [...]

I leave mid-afternoon to hike up the Horse Rock Trail. This is the fastest way to the ridgeline of the Black Mountains, gaining 4,000 feet in elevation in 2.7 miles to summit Celo Knob. It is [...]

I finally clear my plate enough to begin editing the book, which I have left myself approximately three weeks to do. This, of course, is hardly enough time but I am determined to submit by the [...]

There is always a lot of list making first: Bumble bees making love to dogwood flowers, kyanite on the crest of Celo Knob glistening in the sun, a new freckle on my left forearm, sunlight on the [...]

It is hard not to flinch at the beauty of the world when my perception flickers like a radio station interrupted by static. Working on the side of the Black Mountains on Joe’s farm this morning [...]

It is May Day and everything begins anew. The thunderstorm clouds have finally passed over the rim of the Black Mountains and I gaze at the slate grey slant of Celo Knob on my way to – yes – a [...]