Reginald Spittle's Blog: See my book blog, page 31
August 1, 2019
It’s Tough to Top This Crater Lake View
Crater Lake provided the backdrop today for our hike to Garfield Peak, a stone’s throw above 8,000 feet and 2,000 feet higher than the surface of the deepest fresh water lake in the USA. Sue and I found the altitude a bit challenging for our lungs at first, but after a stop for snacks, made it to the top in less than an hour. We feel fortunate that our home in Ashland, Oregon, is just a two-hour drive from the national park.
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Matt and Karen Smith wrote my favorite national parks book, Dear Bob and Sue, in which they describe their visits to every American national park. Their presentation is unique and entertaining; check it out by clicking on the cover. They have just published book three in the Dear Bob and Sue series. Sue and I also enjoyed the Smiths’ book about their Grand Canyon dory trip, Dories Ho!
July 23, 2019
Sierra Nevada: A Beer Story Like No Other
Imagine having the opportunity to sit down with Ken Grossman, founder of perhaps America’s greatest craft beer company. As you sip one of his many brews, he tells you how, in 1980, he started a company that would eventually produce a million barrels of beer a year. As he tells his story, though, you sense that he is trying not to sound like he is betraying his humble nature. That is what it is like to read Beyond the Pale: The Story of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
With his bare hands, ingenuity and unflagging commitment, the longtime backpacker and bicyclist, now in his 60s, overcame obstacles that would sink mere mortals. He built a company with quality and sustainability as his guideposts; his brewery in Chico, California has become the city’s biggest tourist attraction. Sierra Nevada added an even more impressive facility near Asheville, North Carolina.
Ken Grossman’s story is remarkable in many ways. And his book came out before 2018’s fire that destroyed Paradise, just up the road from Ken’s brewery. His (and Sierra Nevada’s) response to that disaster reminded me of his dogged determination that created Sierra Nevada nearly four decades ago. He called a special brew Resilience and is donating all sales (not just the profits) of the beer to the Paradise recovery. And he convinced breweries across America to join the effort.
Beyond the Pale is an inspiring story and you can shop for the book by clicking on the cover above.
(In the interest of disclosure, my son works for Sierra Nevada in Chico.)
July 13, 2019
Seneca Says: Get on With Your Life!
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“Life is short.”
Seneca’s On the Shortness of Life is likely to transform your thoughts about those three words.
The Roman stoic philosopher’s vision of human existence viewed life as plenty long enough, if you use it.
“Just do it! What are you waiting for?” he would say if he were writing a self-help book in the 21st Century. Time is your ally if you don’t put things off.
Here are a few from a wealth of jewels from the English translation available on Amazon:
“Let us turn to private possessions, the greatest source of human misery. For if you compare all the other things from which we suffer, deaths, illnesses, fears, desires, endurance of pains and toils, with the evils which money brings us, the latter will far outweigh the others.”
“…it is easier to bear and simpler not to acquire than to lose, so you will notice that those people are more cheerful whom Fortune has never favoured than those whom she has deserted.”
“So we should make light of all things and endure them with tolerance: it is more civilized to make fun of life than to bewail it.”
“Fortune hands out such unfair rewards.”
“…there is a healthy moderation in wine, as in liberty.”
Seneca, an advisor to Nero, accumulated great wealth and was a controversial figure two thousand years ago. His words may make you wonder about the originality of current self-help writing.
July 12, 2019
The purpose of life is to be a nobody
Ladders is a favorite of mine, despite the ads. This piece included a reference to writer/philosopher Edmund Burke and kept me engrossed in thought.
Acknowledging unimportance liberates us from the grips of the self-centered voice in our head that’s chiefly responsible for many of life’s difficulties.
— Read on https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/the-purpose-of-life-is-to-be-a-nobody
When do you feel like a nobody in the way described in this article? I have found the peace of insignificance when I am trekking and writing.
July 7, 2019
On Darkness and Light
A quote from John Steinbeck ignites a thoughtful blogger’s post. I am happy to reblog this:
On Darkness and Light
On Darkness and Light
— Read on cristianmihai.net/2019/07/06/on-darkness-and-light/
July 5, 2019
Video: Solo Backpacking Yosemite’s Half Dome
Half Dome is one of the most iconic hikes in all of Yosemite National Park. This video takes us along for a solo backpacking trip with stunning scenery.
— Read on adventureblog.net/2019/07/video-solo-backpacking-yosemites-half-dome.html
Enjoy a look at a day in the park like none other…This video comes from Adventure Blog. Read about my Half Dome climb in Chapter 2 of Camino Sunrise. It was the toughest physical challenge of my life—until I took up long-distance trekking.
June 20, 2019
Memories Travel Up the California Coast
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A drive today along Highway 1 on the California coast recalled another time at this place, 49 years before. My best friend Craig and I, driving in my old VW bug, discovered Hollywood: a TV crew, a motorcycle, and a scene from Then Came Bronson. I would never have imagined that the old beetle named Clyde, my friend Craig and I would (in 2018) become part of a book I would write, Camino Sunrise.
June 16, 2019
A Most Unusual Journey for Father and Son
To readers and authors on Father’s Day:
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/06/best-fathers-day-gift-writing-book-my-dad/591268/
I may not write a book with my three sons, but I am thankful we have shared other memorable times together, like riding mules to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
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May 28, 2019
Find Your Happy Place
Think of the happiest you have ever been. Where were you? Is it a place or is it a state of mind that can be transported anywhere?
NPR correspondent Eric Weiner travels the world searching for what makes people happy. Bhutan, Iceland, Thailand, Great Britain, and more. America too. Then he goes to the least happy nation, Moldova. His book, The Geography of Bliss, is packed with humor as he shares his candid perspectives of people and cultures.
A self-described grump, he finds ways he can be happier (no spoilers here) and questions whether love is more important than happy. And, please, don’t be happy around the clock. Too much happy is almost as bad as none.
Is money a key to happiness? Or is it like hamburgers: one may fill you up, but are you happier if you eat five?
