Metal tree sculpture with a rust-colored trunk and a wide canopy of hanging silver bead chains, rising from a dark steel planter on a concrete plaza in Memorial Park, Round Rock, with green trees and a pastel sunset sky behind it and two people walking in the distance.

A Willow of Steel and Light

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Among the trails I bike around Round Rock, Memorial Park along Brushy Creek often gets me to stop. Sometimes it’s the wildlife I see along the creek, and sometimes it’s a new piece of artwork the city has unveiled. The … Read More

Rocky mountain creek flowing toward the viewer between dense shrubs and willows turning yellow and gold, near the Snowflake Trailhead in Breckenridge, Colorado.

Where the Creek Leads

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Lens-Artists Challenge #418: Memories Memories have an interesting way of playing with our minds. Big or small, they stay vivid when they play an important part in our lives. That was true of this short, scenic trail in Breckenridge. We … Read More

Black-and-white photo of a metal road sign at a highway fork in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, reading South Texas 166 and North Texas 118, with a two-lane road curving in each direction beneath a partly cloudy sky.

Lens-Artists Challenge #417: Where Does It Lead?

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What does the title get you thinking about? Trails? Leading lines? Maybe animal tracks? There’s no single right answer, and that’s exactly the point. This week’s header image says it well: a signpost fork on a lonely stretch of highway … Read More

Black Jeep Wrangler parked on a dirt road beside golden and green aspens under a stormy sky on Boreas Pass Road in Pike National Forest, Colorado.

Mountain-High Colors

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On the second day of fall 2026, Keith and I traded our hiking boots for a scenic drive. Of all the places that came to mind, Boreas Pass rose to the top. We had driven a section of it back … Read More

A small waterfall rushes between large dark boulders on a mountain creek, with a fallen branch in the foreground, tall pines behind, and a patch of yellow and orange shrubs lit by sunlight.

Steeped in Color: Forest Bathing on Colorado’s Willow Creek Trail

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Last week, I shared a single photo from our first full day in Colorado. Today, I’d like to take you a little farther along that trail. We hiked the Willow Creek Trail in the Eagles Nest Wilderness, part of the … Read More

Morning sun forms a small starburst through tall cottonwoods in green, gold, and orange fall foliage along the Blue River in Silverthorne, Colorado, with a rocky riverbank and an empty bench in the foreground.

First Light of Fall on the Blue River

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I traded our backyard deck in Texas for Silverthorne, Colorado, this week, and the mountains wasted no time making the trip worthwhile. When I opened the blinds on the morning of September 22, the light was almost surreal. The fall … Read More

A weathered wooden footbridge with slanted rails rises from a reddish dirt path into a dense canopy of juniper and oak, rendered with a soft, painterly, amber-toned effect. Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve, Austin, Texas.

Bridges on Two Wheels

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #413: Bridges Those who read my posts regularly know how much I enjoy riding my bicycles. Whether on the gravel bike or the mountain bike, the breeze on my face and the scenery around me give me … Read More

Black-and-white collage of two São Paulo scenes: the cable-stayed Ponte Estaiada under dramatic clouds above, and the mirrored glass grid of an Avenida Paulista office tower reflecting neighboring buildings below.

Sampa in Shades of Gray

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São Paulo is home to close to 12 million people — 11.45 million in the 2022 census, and the city keeps growing. Most visitors describe it with words like huge, busy, and gray. I decided to lean into that last … Read More

Wide concrete emergency spillway of Canyon Dam under a clear blue sky, with the turquoise water of Canyon Lake and wooded Hill Country ridges beyond, framed by live oak and juniper branches.

A Canyon Born In Three Days

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Lens-Artists Challenge #412: Places Shaped by Water What are the odds of hiking through a canyon that is younger than you are? I don’t know how often that chance comes along, but in the Texas Hill Country it does. Canyon … Read More

Black steam locomotive No. 488 with red passenger cars parked at a rail depot under a blue sky with scattered clouds.

Weaving Through History

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Today, I want to reminisce about our 2010 vacation in New Mexico. We’ve always enjoyed the state’s historical sites and cultural traditions — enough that four years later, in 2014, we came back to Taos to get married. But I … Read More

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