Wildflower of the Week: Golden Banner

Lucky for me, my favorite outdoor activity is much easier to do with a four month old than is Travis's. Last Saturday Travis got a little fishing in while Huck and I had lunch, but most of our outing to Golden Gate State Park was spent hiking: a short hike with a park naturalist, and a 2.5 mile hike (hilly and at 9,000 ft) that was quite taxing after our sedentary week at sea level.



Like most babies, Huck loves walking and riding, and he'll put up with the occasional outdoor diaper change as long as it's not too cold.

There's always something good in the NYT magazine

Hale men occasionally tend towards hippyism. Dad had some seriously long 70's hair and Uncle Rosebud drove a sweet VW bus. My occasionally sloppy appearance isn't hate, it's heritage.

I sometimes attempt to directly stimulate my inner-hippy through books. I read some of dad's old Richard Brautigan novels and Confederacy of Dunces with much enjoyment.

Several years ago, I picked up Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for a quarter at a used book sale, hoping for a similar reading experience. I was sorely disappointed, I can't think of a worse book that I actually waded all the way through.

Anyways, Rosebud passed along an article from NYT Magazine that was what I imagined Zen to be before I actually read it. "The Case for Working With Your Hands" uses words like "gestalt" and "metacognition" as unpretentiously as possible to make a case for physical work as a stimulant to intellectual vigor. Nothing in the article should be particularly controversial -- it's pretty commonsensical -- but it's a good summary of the dangers of cubicle-conformity wrapped up in a particular guy's story. Worth a read.

Also worth a read is the latest Point-Counterpoint where Jim and I bloviate on tenure.

Anniversary

Elaine and I have been married 9 years as of today; I cannot believe how fast the time has passed. Thanks to all who have supported our family in large and small ways.

My grandfathers, my dad, and I all managed to hit the lottery in finding wonderful women to spend our lives with. I hope that Huck will be so lucky.