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Blowing & Drifting

Life in and around Northfield, Minnesota.

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  • Antarctic Flags (Antarctica photo essay 13)
  • Drinking Glaciers (Antarctica photo essay 12)
  • The Swan’s Nest (Antarctica photo essay 11)
  • Manmade Antarctica 2 (Antarctica photo essay 10)
  • Manmade Antarctica 1 (Antarctica photo essay 9)

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RSS Snow & Gravel (my Tumblr blog about cycling on gravel and snow)

  • dfitzger: reddit: Weekend was quite rad http://4.srl/2fBZYei
  • The Arrowhead 135 ultra-marathon | Northern Wilds
  • "Tips to make your fat-biking more fun, from Duluth’s Diana McFadden" (Duluth News Tribune)

Category: tanka

Daily Tanka: The Road

The Road
The road was really
A trail for logging machines
Dad picks his way through
Mud, water, rocks, windfall trees
Deeper into the forest

Posted on November 4, 2017November 5, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, diversions, family, history, nature, recollections, tanka, Upper PeninsulaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: The Road

Daily Tanka: The Route Out

The Route Out
The rough camp road starts
Just before Aunt Mayme’s house
After the curve where
Grandpa had his wreck, after
Selma’s farm, the bar, the church

Posted on November 3, 2017November 5, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, diversions, family, history, nature, recollections, tanka, Upper PeninsulaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: The Route Out

Daily Tanka: Preparation

Preparation
First, load the Scout
With hot dogs and buns, pancake
Mix, milk, and bacon
Did we ever bring any
Fresh fruit or vegetables?

Posted on November 2, 2017November 5, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, family, history, nature, recollections, tanka, Upper PeninsulaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Preparation

Daily Tanka: The Hunting Camp

The Hunting Camp
Is our hunting camp
Still standing in the real woods?
Head toward the Big Lake
Then bump east down the fireroad
To the clearing on Mud Creek

Posted on November 1, 2017November 5, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, autumn, family, history, nature, recollections, tanka, Upper PeninsulaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: The Hunting Camp

Daily Tanka: Squirrel

Squirrel
Squashed, the gray squirrel
Reaches toward the fresh acorns
That drew him down to

The wide, ugly street, and then

Under some dumb, ruthless car

Posted on September 13, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, autumn, diversions, Minnesota, nature, Northfield, tankaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Squirrel

Daily Tanka: Loopy

Loopy

Hot laps in the heat
Puffball mushroom or big skull?
Curved stump or vulture?
Crickets or a biker?
I might be dehydrated

Posted on September 9, 2017September 10, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, cycling, diversions, Minnesota, narcissism, nature, Northfield, photos, summer, tankaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Loopy

Daily Tanka: Night Sounds

Night Sounds
The night weather turned
From a picknicky corn smell
Lit by fireflies' flares
To an earthy fog muffling
The tireless crickets' lovesongs

Posted on August 10, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, Minnesota, nature, Northfield, photos, summer, tanka1 Comment on Daily Tanka: Night Sounds
Daily Tanka: Outing

Daily Tanka: Outing

Outing
A walk in the woods
Then beers, a game, and pizza
At the brewery
With the girls: a pretty good
Summer afternoon outing

Posted on July 30, 2017September 10, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, Carleton, diversions, family, girls, Minnesota, miscellany, narcissism, nature, Northfield, parenting, photos, stupidities, summer, tankaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Outing

Daily Tanka: Wasted Weather

Wasted Weather
Next summer, I won’t

Get a new bike right before

I break a finger

And have to waste perfect days

Of sun and heat and blue skies

Posted on July 29, 2017September 10, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, diversions, miscellany, narcissism, stupidities, summer, tankaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Wasted Weather

Daily Tanka: Casted

Casted
How can a tiny
Bone in a tiny finger
Need such a big cast?
Or make me so damn sleepy?
A month in this dumb getup.

Posted on July 28, 2017September 10, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, diversions, miscellany, narcissism, stupidities, summer, tankaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Casted

Daily Tanka: Surgical Center

Surgical Center
Reduction of the
Proximal phalange on the
Left hand’s fifth finger
Percutaneous pinning
What’s your name and date of birth?

Posted on July 27, 2017September 10, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, diversions, narcissism, Northfield, photos, stupidities, summer, tanka, thing I learned todayLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Surgical Center

Daily Tanka: Lorde

Lorde
Lorde’s “Melodrama”
Is a riveting album
In my head I hear
The music’s many strange sounds
Almost more than the lyrics

Posted on June 30, 2017June 29, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, diversions, media, summer, tankaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Lorde

Daily Tanka: Birdbath

Birdbath
Entropy afflicts
Our birdbath, which attracts filth
Arboreal and
Avian but is cleaned out
By a summer thunderstorm

Posted on June 28, 2017June 29, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, Minnesota, nature, Northfield, summer, tankaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Birdbath

Daily Tanka: Liberal Arts Sounds

Liberal Arts Sounds
Backhoes groan, scraping
Songbirds whistle, flickering
Crows shriek, circling
Locomotives blast, blocking
Work trucks beep, esrevering

Posted on June 27, 2017June 29, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, Carleton, Minnesota, Northfield, summer, tanka, workLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Liberal Arts Sounds

Daily Tanka: Plein Air

Plein Air
A hole in the clouds
Lets dusklight paint the cornfield
A tassle yellow
The hole closes and the field
Turns back to a husky green

Posted on June 26, 2017June 29, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, Minnesota, nature, Northfield, summer, tankaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Plein Air

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