In the Open Air
The greatest thing about having so many different friends--especially the oddly creative friends I seem drawn to--is the constant challenge to look at things from a different angle, to try things a different way. My friend Mara, the painter from Sheridan , enjoys painting "en plein air." This is an artistic French term which means, reassuringly, "in plain air." You grab your gear, head out under the sky, and paint nature as you see it. If I were a painter, I would want to work this way. It's natural, it's outside, it requires a good mix of planning and spontaneity. Mara's work sometimes makes me wish I had time to take up painting again. We receive Backpacker Magazine, courtesy of an outdoor gear company who apparently thinks it will encourage us to buy more stuff. (It might be working) I recently read an article therein about Gordon Hempton , a man who has made it his life's work to seek out wild places in Washington state that are c