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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)
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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: art

Daily Tanka: Loons

Loons

On Bear Point, I saw
Only gift shoppe bears
I didn’t see loons
But I heard them on the lake
Invisible dinosaurs

Posted on June 16, 2017June 20, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, borrowed content, diversions, nature, photos, sport, spring, tanka, travelingLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Loons

Daily Tanka: Reunion Weekend

Reunion Weekend
Reunion weekend
Campus tours are upside down
A few kids amid
A shuffling, sandaled swarm of
Retirees in college hats

Posted on June 15, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, Carleton, Minnesota, Northfield, summer, tanka, workLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Reunion Weekend

Daily Tanka: Ballers

Ballers



Forty-some hours at
Basketball camp was enough 
Time to be without
The girls, who came home happy,
Tired, sweaty, and more skillful

Posted on June 14, 2017June 16, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, family, girls, Minnesota, miscellany, parenting, photos, summer, tankaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Ballers

Daily Tanka: TNG

TNG



Tuesday night gravel
Means facing the hot headwind, 
Soaking up the views
Into the river valley,
Then riding tailwinds back home

Posted on June 13, 2017June 15, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, cycling, diversions, Minnesota, narcissism, nature, Northfield, photos, sport, spring, tankaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: TNG
Daily Tanka: Uncertain Terrain

Daily Tanka: Uncertain Terrain

Uncertain Terrain

A bicycle ride
Is a rite of oneness with
Certain terrain and
With uncertain terrain too.
There is value in the act.

(After John McPhee, The Survival of the Bark Canoe)

Posted on June 12, 2017June 15, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, book report, borrowed content, cycling, diversions, Minnesota, narcissism, nature, photos, reading, sport, tankaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Uncertain Terrain

Daily Tanka: Procrastinating

Procrastinating
The simplest pleasure
Of procrastinating is
Putting off pleasures:
Finishing this book, drinking
That beer, going for a ride

Posted on June 11, 2017June 12, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, diversions, narcissism, reading, tankaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Procrastinating

Daily Tanka: Graduates

Graduates
Parents’ arms leaning 
Up and toward their graduates
A black-gowned river 
Thumbs tap, phone screens flicker, and
Photos ascend to the cloud

Posted on June 9, 2017June 11, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, Carleton, diversions, Minnesota, Northfield, photos, school, summer, tanka, workLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Graduates

Daily Tanka: Daily Tanka

Daily Tanka
I need many lines –
Ten, fifteen, even thirty –
Filled with dozens of 
Words and syllables I hate
To write a five-line poem

Posted on June 8, 2017June 11, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, diversions, narcissism, photos, reading, stupidities, tankaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Daily Tanka

Daily Tanka: Keys

Keys
Each workday, I lock
The office door, pocketing
My keys only to
Pull them out in a minute
So I can unlock my bike

Posted on June 7, 2017June 11, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, Carleton, cycling, Northfield, stupidities, tanka, workLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Keys

Daily Tanka: Graduation

Graduation 
I try to avoid
Wistful parenting, because
Time flies straight and true
But ending fifth grade means that
We have no little kids now

Posted on June 6, 2017June 15, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, family, girls, Minnesota, Northfield, parenting, tankaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Graduation

Daily Tanka: Birdbath

Birdbath
The freshened birdbath
Draws visitors from the air
Finches sip shyly
Robins gulp, beaks tilted up
Starlings splash, water vandals

Posted on June 4, 2017June 4, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, Minnesota, nature, summer, tankaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Birdbath

Daily Tanka: Field Day

Field Day
I’ve spent four Field Days
Manning the ball-throw events
And the first exchange
In the 4 x 100
Relay: I’ve earned those sunburns

Posted on June 2, 2017June 3, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, family, girls, Minnesota, Northfield, parenting, school, spring, tankaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Field Day

Daily Tanka: Lost and Found

Lost and Found
The gym’s lost and found
Table evokes mystery:
Lonely socks, shoes, gloves?
Textbooks? Earbuds? Underwear?
No rink, but two hockey skates?

Posted on June 1, 2017June 3, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, Carleton, diversions, miscellany, Northfield, sport, stupidities, tanka, workLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Lost and Found

Daily Tanka: Award Day

Award Day
Most darts miss the board
So when an award comes through
For a professor
Who sought and accepted help,
I’m thrilled for him and his work

Posted on May 31, 2017June 3, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, Carleton, tanka, workLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Award Day

Daily Tanka: Iron Range Towns

Iron Range Towns
Though I don’t know them
The towns of the Iron Range
Seem familiar
From childhood years of watching
Weather forecasts from Duluth

Posted on May 30, 2017June 3, 2017Categories 365 for 2017, art, Minnesota, recollections, tanka, traveling, Upper PeninsulaLeave a comment on Daily Tanka: Iron Range Towns

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