For the love of the outdoors… A beautiful day to pick grapes “Grape Harvesters needed. Sign up here.” I was standing in line to buy a bottle of wine at our local winery and saw this written on a piece of paper on a clipboard. How cool would that be?…

It’s not time yet… Imagine this when the slope is bathed in yellow… I’d like to tell this to the stores that have had Halloween candy on their shelves since Labor Day. It’s not time yet! But this is not about the commercialization of our holidays…but another reminder from my…

Words to live by… “I GET TO shovel all this snow!” — my wise friend, John Foley, amid cancer treatments Trying to remember every day is a GET TO… I hope I get to shovel snow like this again… John and I exchanged many emails during the course of our…

These Rambles are testing me… Two years ago, I was crazy nervous as I launched my book into the world. I can still feel the butterflies in my stomach as I sat in my office, rehearsing my little talk and staring at the Zoom screen as people’s faces began filling…

The magic of music… The radiating beauty of a sunset (amateur photo by me) I love music. Songs can make me cry, laugh, or just smile from ear to ear. Nothing brings me more joy than belting out my favorite tunes while cruising down the road. Music has gotten me…

Remember this… “You are allowed to be disappointed when it feels like life’s benched you. What you aren’t allowed to do is miss your opportunity to lead from the bench. If you’re not a leader on the bench, don’t call yourself a leader on the field. You’re either a leader…

Call it what you will… About an hour after I sent out my last Ramble on the imaginary bears, I set out for another noontime run with my best friend, Sunny Hot. “Where are you going?” Alan asked. “Just over to the lake and the little lookout. I’m not running…

Think about this… What do you see? (photo taken by me.) Sometimes seeing is deceiving I’ve seen a lot of bears on our hiking trips. Sometimes as many as two or three in one trip. They’re usually hanging out in the lower-elevation forests. Which makes sense; that’s where the berries…

Thought for today… “Glimmers are a cue in the day, either internal or external, that sparks a sense of well-being.” — Deb Dana, clinician and author of Anchored How this works… A paint chip on our deck in a perfect heart shape. A little glimmer of love. (Photo by me)…

When the mountains speak, you listen Views from the rock pile! Photo taken by my husband, Alan Fisser Some mountains are easy to climb. They have well-maintained trails, and you can mindlessly follow them to your destination. Others have no path, but when you’re lucky, you find someone’s report about…