CaptainOrange

Murray Stairs 2013 I’m reaching out to you from the stairs of the Arts Tower. It’s March 27, 2026, and I’m 54 years old. I’ve just spent the last twenty-two minutes running from the basement to the 11th floor, over and over again. In ’95, I knew the panicked, empty feeling in my lungs, leaden legs, the taste of blood, and a competitive need to prove that I was good enough. For 17 years, I returned to the same place to test myself. I became obsessed with finding the absolute outer boundary of my physical self. After 3 decades, it’s about something else. It’s about endurance. It’s about self-knowledge. It's about 60% slower than it used to be :( I want you to know that I’m still running. I’m running because I want to be able to engage with the child still inside myself. I need to be curious, to struggle, and to persist. I want to inspire you with the idea that the things we choose to do—the rituals that make us who we are—don’t have to be surrendered because we get old or frail. We c...

Wendy had a conference in Calgary in early March and, as is my wont, I tagged along for a mini vacation. I took the opportunity to catch up with Dave ahead of Quest New Year.  He toured me around some of his favourite trees. Dave loves trees, so that doesn't narrow it down much, but in this case it meant Douglas Fir. They were majestic in a very classical sense. Broad, straight, and tall. Calgary has number of them along the banks of the winding Bow River. We talked about trees a lot during the visit, and at one point he told me of a tree that he had seen, where the North Saskatchewan River exits the Rock Mountains, known as  The Whirlpool Point Pine. This tree is thought to be one of the oldest trees in Canada. The actual age is not known with precision (the reasons are various and I'll avoid trying to sound like an authority), but 2000 years is a modest estimate. Dave dropped a pin on my map and told me, if I had a chance, to go walk around. He let me know that the locaiton ...

Artists rendering of our Christmas tree Christmas(ish) Letter I make the season difficult. In some ways it is made that way for me and in others, I bear total responsibility: Moving Dad twice in November was more than either of us bargained for. We moved him once from his apartment into my Uncle David's house. Then we abruptly moved him from there to a great place on the riverbank--with a brief couple of days staying at my place in between. I was glad to help out in his time of discord and need. Also, he took me out for veggie burgers basically all the time :) Three (onion) Rings for the Elven Kings... In a similar vein, Merlin came to stay with us for a couple of weeks at the end of November. Some things about the visit were difficult, but on the whole, I was glad to get to know him a lot better and I managed to use him as an excuse to play a bunch of games and buy myself some new clothes. Win/Win! Merlin is a bit older looking than last time I saw him Once we had the house to our...

Anwyn and I are back from getting this year's Christmas tree. It was hard to find the time to travel 2 hrs to St. Brieux and then back, given how trying the last month has been, but I'm glad I did. The Road about 2/3 of our trip was on a pretty good one lane highway. The remainder was a hodgepodge of gravel of varying widths. With the recent snow and ice, some of those parts were treacherous (icy, bumpy, narrow). The Rescue On one of the gravel bits, at a 'T' intersection, we found a pickup truck who missed the 'T' all the way off the road in the ditch at about a 30 degree inclination. I can't believe I neglected to take a picture. The occupant was fine and I was going to take him to a nearby farm and see if we could get some help. We decided to first try the tiny ratchet straps that he had in his glove box. Miraculously, they survived just long enough to drag him up and out of the ditch. One of them snapped just as he got back onto the road. Wildlife - Down...

Caves Were Promised! stovetop espresso (of course) brad brought the tiny camping espresso maker that we gave him more than 20 years ago. We have used it on various hikes including in Italy. Now, in Greece :) Attempted Breakfast We tried and failed to get breakfast in Stoupa. There was only one place open (VERY local) and there was only toast on offer. Could also have been a language barrier? We got coffee and set off on an exploratory hike at the beach. Shoreside cave we spent a bunch of time carefully climbing our way out through razor sharp rock formations to the entrance of a cave. It is too cold to swim in at this time of year (without wetsuits) so we had to settle for a few photos from the outside . I amused myself by utterly exhausting my arms and shredding my hands while carefully climbing the rock formations. Another Cave? After searching for over an hour, through even more dangerous rock than this morning, and based only on a single google maps post, we managed to find a beaut...