Double Art and Nature Win

A sketch of the Wells Fargo building and jail at the Yosemite History Center.

A double win for me today! I spent most of the morning outside with Yosemite Sierra Artists for a plein air session just down the street in Wawona at the Yosemite History Center. It’s a destination that I have often wanted to spend some time in with a sketchbook, and I’ve been passively following YSA … Read more

Seven (or Eight?) Summits?

“We’ll bivy here, and go for the summit in the morning.” It’s the classic play – calling your parents to see if they have the money to fund your next grand adventure. Fortunately, instead of spending $150K to pursue the canonical Seven Summits – the highest point on each of the seven continents – one … Read more

Obata Weekend

Sketch of people at Superintendent's Bridge

It was a bit of a false start in the morning in terms of connecting with our instructor, but once that minor detail was sorted, we were off to the races. Sarah Sugarman is a Tuolumne Interp ranger in the summer and works for NatureBridge during the winter, and has been living full-time in Yosemite … Read more

Yosemite Nature Notes evening presentation

Yesterday I did something that I rarely make the time to do – I went to one of the Evening Programs put on by either NPS or DNC Interpretation. After a long day at work, it can be hard to motivate for anything other than a relaxing evening at home. However, this program was being … Read more

NaNoWriMo musings

I finished! During the month of November, I and more than 32,000 other people around the world each completed 50,000 words of fiction. This was just over 19% of the people who signed up. Collectively, according to the NaNoWriMo stats, the word count of everyone who participated and uploaded their writings to the NaNo web … Read more

NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month

There. I did it. I pushed the little sign up button on the NaNoWriMo page and now I’m basically committed to writing a 50,000 word novel next month. Hoo boy. Part of me is really excited about the challenge, and another part is wondering what the hell the first part is thinking. First of all, … Read more