You and the most youthful of your youthful companions are on a road trip, one that will eventually cover 3615 miles in a couple of weeks. Basic arithmetic will tell you that means a lot of hours in a car, covering a lot of road. A lot of nights at drive-up motels. A lot of … Continue reading The things you never knew
You buy a pint of blueberries at the farmer’s market. Or, if your city backyard just happens to be overgrown with blueberries, you pick them yourself. Then you lie on your porch swing with a book and the pint of blueberries at your side. Reach in for a handful without looking and toss them into … Continue reading "You ought to have seen what I saw on my way. . ."
That right there is the longest floating boardwalk in the world, at least according to the sign at its entrance. She finds this hard to believe –the very longest? in the entire world? what about all those floating boardwalks you see in movies set in places like Indonesia and the bayou and swampy places like … Continue reading The Continental Divide
Soundtrack to Route 2: Alberta to Montana to Idaho Come on now child, we’re gonna go for a ride Just our hands clasped so tight, waiting for the hint of a spark I don’t need no dreams when I’m by your side. We were born and raised in a summer haze Letting the days go … Continue reading Soundtrack to Route 2
The two travelers clambered up the mountain, on the lookout for the bears sighted earlier and the cougars known to be frequenting the trails. The young one stomped her feet on the rocks and the older one sang, the better to scare away the wildlife. Once they cleared treeline and reached the summit, they sat … Continue reading From the mountain: three small talks
At twilight the herd of elk came walking down from the mountain pass. Single file they walked, and from a distance they looked like a string of camel picking their way through a green desert. Closer and closer they came, a dozen or more, until they congregated in a tight knot by the snow fence, … Continue reading Waterton
This is what will happen to you on the day you drive the length of Route 2 from eastern to western Montana. Before you get behind the wheel you will stand beside the car and turn in all directions, marveling at the boundless sky. You will see the 75 mph road signs on this two-lane … Continue reading The sky is everywhere, especially here
If she were a better photographer, or in fact, any kind of photographer at all, which she obviously isn’t, to judge from the photo to the right there, she would know how to crop the thing. Then the “Ahrndt U Hungry” words and the accompanying chicken would appear much bigger. They would be the center … Continue reading Road trip, day one
In the beginning there was the pink backpack, miniaturized for a kindergartner’s small frame. In the backpack was a brown paper bag lunch: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, an apple, a granola bar. And a note on a scrap of white paper. No words –this was a kindergartner who didn’t yet know how to … Continue reading Turn around, turn around
Goodies from my mailbox and camera
Telling all sides of the parenting story
Waking Up to Your Dreams
On James Baldwin and Diverse Literature
Putting those recalcitrant toddler cancer cells to bed...
your own PDK for writing
a collection of beautiful words.....
Objects, Memory and Meaning
If it can't be said in a hundred words, then it can't be said in a thousand.
sewing a handmade wardrobe
"drink from the well of your self and begin again" ~charles bukowski
Musings on poetry, language, perception, numbers, food, and anything else that slips through the cracks.
Thoughts on the world around me
Alison McGhee 