Down by the Creek
Hundred Acre Wood, South Carolina, U.S. – Warm winter days are best spent at the creek, laying back in the soft sand bed of a shoal, sun on your chest, watching the white tufts of cloud drift across the deep blue sky.
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Friends of a Long Year is a weekly, private mailing list bringing stories to your inbox like the olden days. It's written in the spirit of Mary Austin. It was once called Place Without a Postcard, which neatly summarizes what I like to write about.
Archive
Solstice in a Strange Land
Abbeville, South Carolina, U.S. – Aimless driving is not the most ecologically sustainable thing you can do, but I do miss it sometimes. Driving is a kind of meditation, especially in the wide open empty spaces of the southwest where I grew up.
Six
Hundred Acre Wood, South Carolina, U.S. – Five was one of those years that seemed to fly by. I feel like you just turned five and now you're six? How did that happen?
Like Learning to Ride a Bike
Hundred Acre Wood, South Carolina, U.S. – And they're off. Riding bikes and reading. My work here is nearly done.
An Invitation: Welcome Friends
Hundred Acre Wood, South Carolina, U.S. – I started a club in the form of an email newsletter. If you'd like to join or know why you might want to, and where the name comes from, read on.
Halloween
Hundred Acre Wood, South Carolina, U.S. – A rock star, a rock star leopard, and a rock star flying squirrel walk into a bar... a candy bar that is.
Walking the North Carolina Woods
Shining Rock Wilderness Area, North Carolina, U.S. – As long as we've had feet, humans have been walking everywhere we can. This fall seemed like a good time to get back to that original mode of travel.
The Light Is Clear In My Eyes
Hundred Acre Wood, South Carolina, U.S. – Summer heat never bothers me. It's the humidity. These days I find myself itching for that first moment the humidity breaks and you can feel Autumn in the air.
Summer Teeth
Hundred Acre Wood, South Carolina, U.S. – I am so far behind telling these stories I am skipping a few things in the interest of catching up. I spent most of the summer unable to write. Unwilling perhaps? I'm not sure, all I know is I feel like I lost a summer.
Eight
Hundred Acre Wood, South Carolina, U.S. – Happy birthday girls. I can't believe it's been only eight years since you arrived, it feels like you have always been here, like we have all always been here.
Now and Then It Keeps You Running
Hundred Acre Wood, South Carolina, U.S. – Between frugality, a pandemic, and wanting to avoid the soul-sucking of consumer culture that eats at us all, we ended up just camping in the house we rented. Who needs furniture anyway?
Wouldn’t It Be Nice
Hundred Acre Wood, South Carolina, U.S. – Living in an RV won't make you self-sufficient, it'll make you something better: self-reliant.
Hands on the Wheel
Hundred Acre Wood, South Carolina, U.S. – I once had the opportunity to float for a while in the confluence of two great rivers. It was hot, the middle of summer in the Utah desert. I waded out into the cold water and floated along for a while, half my body in the Yampa River, half in the Green River.
Reflections
Athens, Georgia, U.S. – Three years on the road.
Pre-Apocalyptic Driving Adventures
Hunting Island State Park, South Carolina, U.S. – Just keep driving. You'll get there. Eventually
Distant Early Warning
Hunting Island State Park, South Carolina, U.S. – There is nothing like a good storm by the sea. The smell of salt on the wind, the slash and clatter of palms as the wind comes ashore.
High Water
Edisto River, South Carolina, U.S. – Sand, sky, birds, and water everywhere
Snow Day
Watson Mill State Park, Georgia, U.S. – Anyone living north of Georgia will probably chuckle at this amount of snow, but it was enough to put smiles on everyone's faces.
Learning
Watson Mill State Park, Georgia, U.S. – The quiet winter forest, full of that cold naked, dazzling light, is the perfect place to remain still and watch, learn.
Traveling
Newport Beach, California, U.S. – The peculiar habit of leaving home for fun.
Walking
Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. – The world is large, feet are small, better get started.
Holiday Island
Edisto Island, South Carolina, U.S. – Christmas at the beach in Edisto, South Carolina. The real Santa Claus is the ocean.
Birthday at the Beach
Edisto Island, South Carolina, U.S. – Last year we promised Elliott that he and I would have our birthday at the beach. This year we made it happen.
Land
Watson Mill State Park, Georgia, U.S. – Land reciprocates. The deeper you go, the more it reaches out to you, into you. The more you become part of the land, the world, the more it becomes part of you.