Posts filed under Wednesday Thoughts

I don't Want to Miss Anything

 
"Up with the sun at four to watch sunrise and the sight of the awakening land. It seems a shame for eyes to be shut when such things are going on, especially in this big country. I don't want to miss anything" 

Wednesday Thoughts

Alaska on my Mind

    We were staying at a friends dry cabin outside Denali. At this point we had been in Alaska for more than one week and I felt more in love with Alaska than ever. But I have already made a choice, and I am satisfied with it. We all have our heart at various places in the world, that is very common, and I just keep spreading mine across this world too. After dinner I found a book in the book case, "One Mans Wilderness". I started reading it, and the first few lines of the first chapter caught my attention. "Up with the sun at four to watch sunrise and the sight of the awakening land. It seems a shame for eyes to be shut when such things are going on, especially in this big country. I don't want to miss anything" . That is how I feel, that is what I do. I have been spellbound by this big country too, and now there is no turning back. Why can't we live here forever too? Later on, before we flew back, I bought the book, because now, this is how I will remember my love for the wilderness and the open space that Alaska offers. I will dream about it instead of being a part of it, at least for a while.  

 
Posted on April 5, 2017 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Alaska, Wednesday Thoughts and tagged 2017 Alaska Denali Denali National Park Glowing Denali perspective Mountains Wilderness wilder Adventure Winter travels Winter Adventures.

But what about northern Wisconsin and beyond?

 
I do like the UP, there is something about it up there, it's like Alaska or something, I mean, that's the only place I have been in all of the United states that reminds me of all of the UP. It's like a separate kind of place you know, with their own deal. Plus everybody really needs each other up there, you know, there's no joke I mean in the winter up there, you better damn well know your neighbors up there. If you see a car stalled you better stop. That's what it takes to build a community. You got to need each other and they still do in the UP so that's a cool place. - Greg Brown
 
 

Wednesday Thoughts

The Northwoods

    If you drive far enough north you will reach the end of the Wisconsin border and hit the Michigan border, and once you are across the border into Michigan you will be in the UP as they call it. Northern Wisconsin is called the Northwoods, by some people including us. That is where we go to get our snow and deep forest fix. A few weekends ago we went there with a bunch of friends, and of course as always, a snowstorm was coming through right as we started our journey up there. But, we made it, and had a great weekend. Well, we didn't bring our skis which was a bummer since we got tons of snow, but we went for some hikes in the woods. I love walking through snowy forests, it's one of the best things I know.

 
 

A little bit of Sweden?

    Wisconsin does look like Sweden a bit, well a tiny bit. There are lots of small lakes here, and up in the North Woods too. There are many many other tree species and plant species though, that I don't recognize from home, neither Sweden or Alaska. This summer (I know this was the goal last summer but for real, this summer..) I will try my best to learn some more about the plants in this region. I think I did pretty well this past summer though, we hiked in a lot of different state parks and I tried to identify as many flowers and plants as I could along the way. 

    How about you? Are you a fan of walks through the forest? Or would you rather be in the mountains, or maybe on the tundra, or just downtown?

 
Posted on March 8, 2017 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Wisconsin, Wednesday Thoughts, The great wide open and tagged Wisconsin2 northern Wisconsin Northern woods North UP Michigan Snow snowscapes Deep Forest Winter Adventures snow 2017 snowfall.

United States of Chaos

 
The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. - Isaac Asimov

Wednesday thoughts

 
 

A parallel Universe?

    I bet you've been reading the news lately, I have. I have actually never really been into politics that much, well maybe certain issues, but there are a lot of things I don't understand when it comes to politics, so I stay in behind the scenes. To be honest I have no clue if this government and president (ok I know for a certain fact they are VERY different) are any different from previous governments and presidents. I mean, I know a whole lot more about the government and politics now, compared to what I knew a couple of months ago. I listen more, I try to read more and so on. But how can I be sure that the reason I am doing this is because of all the hiatus that is going on right now, were there similar (OK maybe not THAT similar, but still...) issues that happened behind the scenes of the previous government and president, that I didn't know about, because the sources I read and listen to weren't upset or thought that things were wrong? (I know, I  know, probably not...)

Be careful which way you lean

    Unfortunately I am leaning more to one side (left, democrats), rather than another, and the problem that arise, when you lean in either direction, is that you tend to read news that are somewhat leaning towards your side of view, you listen to news and friends that are leaning in the same direction as you. The problem here is that you almost never quite understand why and how someone can NOT agree with you, or can lean the other way. I think it is really important (as hard as it is) to try an read other news sources (BUT what are the other reliable news sources please help me out?) in order to get a more nuanced view of the world (no not that view, not changing the concept of for instance evolution etc, but just get a different point of view). 

    I have been listening to many many podcasts, to get a better understanding of the current situation, well the current view of left leaning (mostly) podcasts. Here are a few of the podcasts I follow:

 
 

The guardian posted an article not long ago that covered some popular podcasts, left, right and alt-right if you want to know more about the other side:

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/jan/18/podcasts-trump-presidency-political-left-right-alt-right

When it comes to articles these are the major ones I usually check:

http://www.motherjones.com/

https://www.theatlantic.com/

http://www.amerikaanalys.se/

 

What do you read or listen to about the political situation?

 
Posted on February 15, 2017 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Science, Wednesday Thoughts and tagged Science Politics USA US Save America.