Reconnecting with personally important people
Renewal
I ran across a newspaper article reporting a past employer as having lost tens of millions of dollars last year. This triggered a wide range of memories.
Images of people and places and events from 20 years ago formed in my mind, and as those images crystallized, I wondered: what happened to the people who were important in my life all those years ago?
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A bittersweet visit with friends old and new
Group exercise
This past week, I spent several days working on issues and opportunities with hundreds of other conservationists. We gather annually to collaborate and seek consensus. Sixteen years I’ve been doing this, and these past few years, I’ve been finding this meeting is becoming increasingly poignant and bittersweet.
Norm will always stand tall in my memory
Ring ring, sounded the telphone. “Hello Tom, this is Norm McClure.”
An hour later — possibly two — and I would likely have several pages of notes in hand after another in-depth conversation with Norm about conservation and range management.
This phone call came every two to four weeks throughout the year I served as president of the Washington Association of District Employees. During that time, I learned a lot from, and about, Norman Robert McClure.
Norm leaves a legacy of good conservation practices on his land, and also a legacy of stewardship and caring among the many lives he touched while he was with us.
Adventure touring on a scooter: priceless
Packed and ready to roll
With a few days of vacation left, and great weather promised by the soothsayers on TV, I loaded up the Burgman 650 scooter and headed toward Mt. Rainier, Palouse Falls, and Mt. Adams. I found a campground to remember, and one to forget. The scooter is now a pseudo dual-sport motorcycle, after successfully navigating several miles of Forest Service gravel road!
