The Road Taken

It feels like yesterday, looking down a dark, brooding path diverging ahead. In my early twenties, a tinge of excitement mixed with apprehension, wondering what was around the bend. It’s a feeling we all know: an itch to be scratched – a mysterious dream pushing us to take the first step down a new path. Leaving the well-lit and comfortable road, we begin a…

Pieces of Contradictions

I’m surprised to hear about the new Beatles song, Now and Then… I hate it because it represents all I dislike about over-processed modern music, but I love it because it’s The Beatles. Back in 1976, after the band’s breakup, Beatles producer George Martin told Rolling Stone his thoughts about a potential reunion, “What happened was great at its time, but whenever you try to…

The Stoic Cowboy of Pendleton

Her eyes follow, reflecting a certain admiration and curiosity with his every move. “Sigh…” she looks back at me with a smile that holds a hint of disappointment… “Damn, these Pendleton cowboys are something. Now I understand why you live so far away from your hometown,” her laughter building. “Not easy living up to Old West versions of Captain America…” My mind wants to reply,…

Let’er Buck: Riding With the Women of Summer

The beautiful blur of grace and speed. A simple photo can’t quite capture the rhythm and flight of imagination these women arouse when they ride. Still, watching them, it is impossible not to feel the electricity, the connection of the dance between the rider and her horse. A dream to catch, and here begins the pursuit of the Women of Summer. Wandering around horses…

Paradise Lost and the Existential Quest of Spring

Art is not an imitation of reality but a way of expanding upon it to grasp new meanings of who we are. The artful mind can take us to places the most beautiful scenes in nature cannot. It can reveal pieces of the human soul that are not easily understood, giving us a glimpse into infinite possibilities.

West Lake Culture of Romance

上有天堂,下有苏杭 There is heaven above, and Su-Hang below… and it is here in Hangzhou, China, where I returned after a three-year absence. Truth be told, this was the heaven I needed after the past three years. Eight days of quarantine bliss, where the only voices I had to deal with were my own.  A perfect recipe to re-enter a country where I had spent…

The Edge of Autumn

“A pathway into autumn… I like this. It’s how I envision the fall.” She turns and flashes me this image. It is one in a series of autumn shots around Kamyk nad Vltavou in Czechia, taken on my last hike in October.  She leans back into the pillow, continues to flip through the photos, and stops when she comes to a poem I had…

Summer in the Sierra Mountains

With effort, I slip through the early morning fog, my mind elsewhere. One step, then another, my thoughts floating back to the Sierra Mountains ~ a youthful spirit riding and climbing versus this old soul shuffling out the door. A few hours later, I fold into a seat on a flight back to Czechia, the morning haze beginning to lift.   It feels more…

The Melancholy of a Czech Spring

Spring inspires. Her enthusiasm reflects the warmth of sunshine and I cannot take my eyes off her. A flash of her wry smile and I’m slowly lured in… For me, the season of spring is the innocent version of Eris, the Greek goddess of strife. When the weather turns warm and life becomes comfortable, she arrives with one goal: to weave a web of…

Ukrainian Philosophy of the Heart

Every day, rolling out of bed, I start with the recognition of a simple tenet of my life: “love what you do and do what you love.” A philosophy I’ve intertwined into every fabric of my being, but this morning I stare at these words I’ve just typed, and I’m lost.  A photo taken in Kyiv at the Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square), stares back…