adventure daily.
Obviously this isn't technically a "commute," but I've been getting out before work a lot to ride -- often a similar distance or duration as I would if I were riding to the office -- so I'm going to count these rides as one towards my goal of 20 commutes for this year. Due to …
Continue reading "20 commutes in 2020 — #3: Work from home."
I love really cold runs. I'm not sure what it is about getting outside and exercising in the frigid air that is so exhilarating. Maybe it's the empowerment it brings to have beaten the temptation to stay hunkered down in a warm house. Maybe it's the fact that everything looks and feels so crisp. All …
It's that time of year. Mornings are chilly, and smell like leaves and woodsmoke. I can see my breath as I sip coffee on the porch, hands and feet numbing in the cold air but myself unable to step back inside. It is too crisp and beautiful, and that smell of leaves and woodsmoke---it's my …
Following in the tradition of last year, on this particular Sunday, which is to us just a Sunday like any other, Evan and I headed outside for a day on the water and in the woods, paddleboarding from the Petersburg hydroelectric dam to the 4th Street Bridge in Huntingdon (which is conveniently located behind the …
Winter snuck up on me this year. It seems like just yesterday that I was returning home from Japan, with the end of summer and all of fall ahead of me. The leaves were still green, the air was still warm, and friends gathered around the fire pit outside. Now, the first snow of the …
There is nothing that makes me feel more socially awkward than standing around in a group of high school students. Though it wasn’t all that long ago that my mid-20’s self was in their shoes, I now find myself feeling like I’m unable to relate, and my usual fun-loving and personable self seems to shut …
It's hot as hell again. Not even a slight breeze to offer some relief from the sweltering, humidity-laced heat that hangs in the air. I don't think I have stopped sweating since I left the air-conditioned hotel room in Kyoto yesterday morning. I sit here at my computer, my damp fingers on the keys, trying …
Continue reading "The woods and the waters and the people that make a home."
Steam rose from the pavement, the short summer shower doing nothing to quell the intense heat in the air. I rode out of town, each pedal stroke pushing out bits of frustration and doubt that had been plaguing me for days. Every part of me was grateful to be on a bike---my legs felt strong, …
It's about that time of the semester when there are more and more afternoons that I just can't stare at a computer screen any longer. I can't spend another minute in a room without windows, cooped up in a world of papers and projects and deadlines. Some days, the pull of the fresh air is …
helena kotala 