Author: Fred D

We live in a troubled world bereft with alcohol, opioids, sensuality, materialism, power, money and other ‘highs’ sought by so many to deaden their pain and problems.  The fleeting ‘highs’ such provide ultimately only exacerbate and grease the slippery decent into hopelessness. A few days ago John Muir’s well know statement, “The mountains are calling…

Ernest Hemingway was once asked to write a story in just 6 words.  He wrote . . . “For Sale. Baby Shoes. Never Worn”. Yesterday, high in the Smokies in a graveyard behind a small, century old church nestled in the forest I read Hemingway’s hauntingly untold story on a tiny tombstone. Standing there, the…

Today was one of those special ‘Life is Good’ days spent reliving a favorite childhood pastime . . . submerged up to my knees building a dam in the stream that flows by our home. Birds flitting through a sun-dappled forest chirping nest gathering songs; salamanders scurrying away from under overturned boulders; sand imprints revealing…

Signs often signify crossings. Each of us once stood before childhood crossing signs, dependent on others for safe crossings. Lord willing, each of us will someday stand before life’s elderly crossing signs, once again reluctantly and gradually dependent on others for safe crossings. Each of our life’s paths will one day end before a final…

One never knows what they may encounter wandering the forests . . . a stately whitetail buck sporting a handsome pair of antlers . . . or a turkey who obviously has a head-up on the rest of the flock 🙂

‘TSA’ – Tell Someone About … i.e. … If You See Something Say Something. This message is prominently posted throughout today’s airports and transportation terminals . . . a gloomy but necessary warning reflecting the state of the tenuous world we live in. Long before 9/11’s tragedy and the TSA’s formation it initiated, If You…

Dall Sheep Rams – Denali National Park, Alaska QTC – Quote . . . Thought . . . Contemplation Quote Jesus – These things I command you, that you love one another – John 15:17 Dietrich Bonhoeffer – Nothing can be more cruel than the leniency which abandons others to their sin. Nothing can be…

Happy New Year??? Remember giving and receiving that greeting 366 days ago? I do, and am grateful I’m still here fogging a mirror to wish you a Happy 2019 as I enter my 76th year on the planet . . . I know, I’m old! But, (I’ve learned to dislike that 3-letter word) let’s take…

Among the more frequent queries asked by folks who I suspect are politely pondering my sanity are: “Why do you live in Alaska?” “Doesn’t it get really cold up there?” “Isn’t it dark all winter?” It’s been said, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Last evening, standing on a bluff above the Matanuska River…

Due to area posing soil issues, a 1.6-mile stretch of the Foothills Parkway in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was left uncompleted and closed for decades.  Modern construction technology intervened, cantilevering the highway over the problematic area, and the Foothills Parkway was recently completed and opened to traffic. This morning we took Foothills Parkway…