Two Artists Tuesday | The Direction of Intention

Once Again Walk [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on February 17, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

What is the truth of it? It is the question of our times, isn’t it?

We walked this path through our beloved Bristol woods a million times in the past. Always in the daylight. Rarely at sunset. Since they built a ropes course that cut through a significant portion of the woods, a course that draws rowdy crowds, we stopped hiking there. Too many people. Too much noise. We walk our trails to get away from the chaos. We mourned it.

A candlelight Valentine hike enticed us to return to our woods. We signed up for the latest possible slot, knowing there would be less people later at night. We almost didn’t go. We felt exhausted from the day. We ran through our list of reasons why we should stay home but rallied, tied on our boots, and drove to the woods.

The Pringle Center at the head of the trail was buzzing with activity. People who’d finished their trail walk made valentines, ate cookies and drank hot tea. We passed through long enough to check-in and then stepped into the quiet of the night.

The muscle memory was surprising. I believe we could have walked the path blindfolded. The trail was like an old friend celebrating our return with luminaria. It was as if we easily picked up a conversation after years of absence, as if no time had elapsed. Our feet knew where to go.

There was no hurry. We lingered. We stopped and gazed at the stars. We listened for deer. We had time to walk a second loop. We were the last to leave the trail.

We sorted through many of life’s trials and tribulations walking this path through Bristol Woods. We’ve made significant life decisions on this trail. We often began our walks with troubled hearts and left the woods with quiet minds, ready to live another day. On this night, the eve of my 65th birthday, walking our second loop, all alone, the last people on the trail, we talked of what we are learning as we age, what illusions we are no longer chasing, what simple abundance we find ourselves embracing, what freedoms we find as we put our lives into perspective. We talked of gratitude for each other and reveled in the opportunity to once again walk in quiet through our Bristol woods.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE WOODS

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Filed under: Gratitude, Perspective, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: artistry, bristol wood, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Gratitude, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, opportunity, perspective, reflection, story, studio melange, the melange, Valentines Day | 1 Comment »

Under The Wet Moon [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on February 10, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Astrologically, we are in the sun sign of Aquarius. The water bearer. I was surprised to read that the corresponding moon cycle is known as the wet-moon, a reference drawn from Hawaiian mythology. This cycle “…corresponds with Kaelo the Water Bearer in Hawaiian astrology and makes the Moon known as the “dripping wet moon”.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the zodiac of the west aligns so perfectly with the symbology of the Pacific Islanders. In Hindu astrology, “Aquarius is known as Kumbha Rāśi representing the symbol of the water pot.” The cultural traditions on Earth are drawn beneath the same constellations.

During the opening ceremony of the Olympics, a commentator referenced The Pale Blue Dot, a photograph taken of Earth in 1990 from the Voyager 1 space probe. “In the photograph, Earth’s apparent size is less than a pixel; the planet appears as a tiny dot against the vastness of space…” Incidentally, the photograph was taken on February 14 – according to the 12 month Julian calendar – a solar calendar created by humans on Earth, during the period of the wet-moon.

I suppose our definition of “belonging” depends on the parameters we choose. And, make no mistake, it is a choice. We can choose to identify ourselves according to divisions, something like the color line. We can choose to identify ourselves according to imaginary lines on a map. We can choose our tribes according to cultural differences.

Or, we can choose to identify ourselves according the unities. We can choose to recognize that we live under the same stars and orient to the same constellations. We can step back, deep into space, and look at ourselves, a dot no larger than a pixel. Our differences are not nearly so vast as our sameness. No amount of rhetoric or propaganda or white supremacy or religious extremism can alter the fact of our sameness.

The word February comes from februa, a Roman purification festival held during the period of the wet-moon. Under the wet-moon, athletes from all over the world, athletes representing 92 different cultures, 92 shapes drawn on a map of Earth but not visible anywhere from space, marched into a stadium in Milan, Italy, waving flags, symbols of their home nation. Their competition made possible only by the existence of others who also dream of gold, silver and bronze, a shared dream beneath the same constellation of stars.

It has all the makings of an ancient purification festival. And, just in time.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE MOON

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Filed under: Identity, Metaphor, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: aquarius, artistry, astrology, belonging, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, moon, olympics, story, studio melange, symbol, the melange, The Pale Blue Dot, tradition, unity | 1 Comment »

A Run On The Wheel [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on February 3, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

One of our first FLAWED cartoons features a gerbil running hard on a gerbil wheel while his supervisor-gerbil watches, smokes a cigarette, and says, “This work thing sucks.”

I found a revisioned truth in that original cartoon drawn over a decade ago. Kerri calls it “The Oligarchy versus The People. There is a class of gerbil that works hard on the wheel. There is a class of gerbil that profits from the work.

This morning while making breakfast I had another revelation about the cartoon. With the latest release of Epstein File documents, with the number of rich and powerful white men named in the files, with the damning accusations and implications running rampant through the files, I was struck by the blaring absence of investigations into those men. There is a class of gerbil that is subject to the law. There is a class of gerbil that the law refuses to touch.

The department of deception (formerly known as the department of justice) is refusing to release at least 50% of the documents. Given the picture painted in the latest batch of releases and the 100% certainty that they are covering-up for the worst-of the-worst, one can only wonder if there is a bottom to the depravity. Actually, we already know the answer to that question.

Though, there is a subtle reversal of roles happening on the ol’ gerbil wheel. We-the-gerbils-that-do-the-work are witnessing the power-gerbils running scared – and running faster and faster to escape the truth of their twisted lives. They will find, as we have, that a run on the wheel goes nowhere. They can run ever-faster but they cannot escape the truth of the wheel. And while they run they can be certain that we are watching them sweat.

There may be some justice after all.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE WHEEL

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Filed under: Metaphor, Perspective, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, depravity, disparity, division, Epstein files, flawed cartoon, justice, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, law, oligarchy, story, studio melange, the melange, truth | 1 Comment »

The Full Realization [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on January 27, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Recently, as she signs-off her video updates, Heather Cox Richardson reminds her audience to “take care of yourselves.” To eat well. To get plenty of rest. The times are extraordinary. “It will get worse before it gets better.”

We live in interesting times and they are getting worse.

We watched much of Jack Smith’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. As I watched I had a sad realization or perhaps I finally admitted to myself what I already knew: the republicans will never stand up. There is no line in the sand for them; there is no lie too big to spew, no violation to the Constitution too egregious or corruption too appalling to embrace. There is no honor in their intention. There is no oath that they intend to honor.

In fairness, I am not totally correct. Cicero wrote that there is “Honor among thieves”. Criminals have codes; they are loyal to their fellow criminals. Watching the republican loyalty to their criminal-in-chief, I suppose that is a form of honor, no matter how sordid. I want to tell Cicero that some things never change.

Kate told us that she is having trouble sleeping. I’m hearing the same sentiment from many in my circle. She lives in Minneapolis. She is not viewing ICE through a screen. It’s more than a report on the news. It’s visceral. It’s hard to sleep when your neighbors are being executed or “disappeared”. In fact, I’d suggest that sleeplessness in the face of brutality enacted upon your community is a sign of an intact-morality. It’s an indication of a moral conscience.

Taking care of yourself – resting – is only possible when there is no doubt that others in the community are capable of resting, too. When masked thugs are busting down your neighbor’s doors – without a warrant – when 5 year olds are being arrested as the-worst-of-the-worst, when citizens are being murdered on the street, it is damn hard to sleep.

It’s been too cold for us to walk the trails. Walking is one of our main strategies for taking care of ourselves. And, truth be told, even when we manage to bundle up and hit the trail, we’re finding it harder and harder to escape the cold realities of ICE and full realization that the thieves in the republican congress reserve their loyalty – only – for themselves. It’s an exclusive club.

“It will get worse before it gets better.” Eat well. Get plenty of rest if you can. It seems that we are going to need it.

read Kerri’s blogpost about The Trail

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Filed under: Perspective, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: Alex Pretti, artistry, Cicero, corruption, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Honor, ice, Jack Smith, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, loyalty, Minneapolis, Renee Good, republican, story, studio melange, the melange, Thieves | 1 Comment »

Just As It Is [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on January 21, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Thirteen years into our relationship, ten years after we said, “I do,” I learned something new and startling about Kerri: she used to be a woman who wore hats.

The woman I know refuses to put on a hat. She makes a wrinkly face when I suggest she try on a hat. Even in the bitter cold she resists the warmth of a stocking cap until frostbite is imminent. She is not a woman who wears hats. She is a woman who openly disparages herself-in-hats.

Imagine my surprise, then, when in the process of cleaning out her studio closet, she pulled out multiple hat boxes. In each box, was – wait for it – a delightful hat!

It must have been the look of shock on my face that propelled her to take a step back in time and model the hats. Donning the first hat she was instantly sassy. The next made her buoyant. She turned up the brim. She pushed a hat to the back of her head. She cocked one to the side. Each hat evoked an attitude. Each hat summoned a story. A performance. An event. A meeting. A fundraiser. A photo shoot…a playful spirit.

The hats liberated her like a mask liberates an actor. Each had a unique personality and the power to infuse her with its magic persona. I saw a bit of Diane Keaton, a shade of Audrey Hepburn. I laughed and clapped at each performance. I admired the power of the hats.

In time, the hats were restored to their boxes. The woman who does not wear hats returned. She told me that it was time to move them on, to sell or donate the hats. To make space.

When we first met, in a conversation about change, she told me that she believed people do not change, rather, they become more of who they are. The masks fall away. Time and experience erodes the fortress. The armor falls off. The hats return to their boxes. What remains is beautiful just as it is, just as it always has been.

*****

(Snark Alert) And then there’s this: if you are, like me, trying to make sense of the AWOL Republican party, there can only be one of these three options for their unwillingness to do their jobs and uphold their oath to the Constitution: 1) They all appear prominently in the Epstein Files. 2) They are like their leader: puppets for Putin. Or 3) They are stealth fascists who never really believed in Democracy in the first place and had no intention of serving the Constitution. To continue supporting this authoritarian madman is political suicide yet they remain silent and, therefore, complicit. They either already know that there will never again be free and fair elections so there’s no need to worry about their precious seat – or see numbers 1 through 3 above. What else? If you see any other explanation I’d love to hear it.

read Kerri’s blogpost about HATS

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Filed under: Identity, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: artistry, cleaning closets, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, hats, identity, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, make space, masks, personality, story, studio melange, the melange | 2 Comments »

The Real World [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on January 20, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

It’s only been in the past year that I’ve regularly doubted what I write. More than once over these several months I have questioned the worth of my words – and then pulled my post. The scrubbed posts are political rants about injustice or hypocrisy or my disdain for the enablers of rising authoritarianism. It feels good to spew bile when being force fed so much toxic waste from the rancid remnants of the grand old party. But do I need to share it? After a bit of time and reflection I realize that my need was to rant, to get it out of my mind – but that does not mean you-out-there need to swallow yet another dose of toxin from me.

We started writing ahead because it gave us time to refine and edit. It gave us time to develop our ideas. We’ve found that there is a danger of writing a week in advance: the assault on our nation by our government is happening so fast that our reflections are yesterday’s news by the time that they are published.

Kerri listened to my latest struggle. I had written yet another rant and felt that this particular thought-vomit had merit. I wrestled with my desire to post it. She quietly brought me back to the ground. She acknowledged the darkness, both within me and in the world, and reminded me that my walk on this earth is a pilgrimage toward the light. She asked me to consider whether or not my words were better spent helping others in this time of darkness to also step toward the light. I dumped my post. I felt relieved.

I was thoroughly admonished by my “weekly statistics”. Of particular concern to the algorithm-police was the rapid decline in my amount of screen time. It’s way down. It’s true. I am spending less and less time hurtling down the social media causeway. I am finding that alternate reality mind-numbing and increasingly less healthy. After all, the point is to keep me hooked. I am aware of the constant wash of anger and anxiety, the designer drug called fear-of-missing-out.

Every time we hit the trail, every time I turn off my phone, I feel as if I slowly come back to my senses. I re-enter the world of actual importance. I re-enter the world of living breathing 3-D humans instead of the flat-Stanley world of screen-names tossing bombs or affirmation at each other. We pass real people on the trail. We feel their presence. We say, “Hello”.

We stopped in awe when the winter sun electrified the pine needles. Just for a moment we entered timeless space, the place beyond the noisy insanity and manufactured division. Awash in the warmth of winter light we knew – beyond all doubt – that all everything we needed was right there, waiting for us in the natural order of the real world.

read Kerri’s blogpost about PINE NEEDLES

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Filed under: Awakening, Language, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: affirmation, artistry, darkness, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, division, doubt, ideas, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, light, Rants, senses, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

Bill Moyers’ Question [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on January 13, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

I wish someone could explain to me how diminishing our position from global superpower to a regional hemispheric bully makes us great again.

I wish someone would explain to me how isolation in the world is preferable and more powerful than global alliances. Especially given that our prosperity is a function of a global economy.

I wish someone could help me understand how learning and education has become anathema to our national identity. How is it that ignorance is preferable to inquisitiveness?

I’d like to understand how so many of my fellow citizens doubt what is obvious, apparent, what is right before their eyes, and fervently grasp onto lies (also obvious) as their chosen reality. For that matter, where-oh-where has our free press gone?

I want to know why science, data and fact are eschewed in favor of quackery, falsehoods and spin? When did we sign up to be the poster-nation for penny-wise-pound-foolish? As Kerri says everyday after surveying the latest wreckage, “Well, at least our Froot Loops are gonna be safe.”

Although I am curious how we managed to elect and assemble a kakistocracy (government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state), I really wish someone could explain to me why they have not yet been tarred-and-feathered and run out of town. Protecting pedophiles, murdering citizens, threatening war both north and south, making a mockery of justice, profiteering, dismantling our constitution, weaponizing our data…why are they still being protected?

Lately, we walk our trails to unplug. To clear our minds from the latest horror of the nation-run-amok. To sort. To reclaim our attention span from the sharp fragments flying across our screens. To reaffirm what is real and what is not. To ground again in what is important.

On our latest loop I recalled, years ago, Joseph Campbell said that our mythology was dead. “You just have to read the newspapers,” he said as proof. Crime. Business-as-exploitation. A government increasingly protecting big business at the expense of the people.

A mythology is more than a cute story. Living mythologies reaffirm and reinvigorate the values of the people. They are the glue of society. Mythologies are “living” when the community lives the values reinforced in the stories. The Boston Tea Party is part of our national mythos. Paul Revere. Washington crossing the Delaware River. Rebels fighting for their freedom against an authoritarian king. Think about the value sets implicit in our founding story. We do not assemble on the 4th of July simply to coo at the nice fireworks. Or do we?

I wish someone could explain to me where our values have gone. We did not fight a world war against fascists only to become fascists. When did e pluribus unum, unity through diversity, become exclusive, ugly white nationalism? When did the shining city on the hill, a beacon for all, a land of promise and an aspiring moral exemplar, become the neighborhood thug?

Bill Moyers asked Joseph Campbell if a dead mythology could be revivified? Campbell paused and answered, “I don’t know.”

I guess it’s up to us to answer Bill Moyers’ question.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE WINTER TRAIL

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Filed under: Identity, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: artistry, Bill Moyers, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, fact, fiction, ignorance, Joseph Campbell, justice, kakistocracy, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, morality, mythology, questions, society, story, studio melange, the melange, values | 1 Comment »

For Every Little Thing [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on January 6, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

If you came to our house over the holidays you’d find trees, trees, trees everywhere. Trees of all shapes and sizes. Some wrapped in lights. Some adorned by a single silver ornament. Some without adornment of any kind. The outside invited inside. Until recently, when we moved it to the back deck, a large tree-sized branch wrapped in happy lights dominated our living room, 24/7, 365 days a year.

It should not then come as a surprise that last year we moved the aging wooden glider from the deck into the living room. It now sports fuzzy white pillows. Dogga knows that when we say, “Let’s go to Minturn!” it means we are headed for the glider. He meets us there.

Our most recent outside-in addition is the chiminea. It was a wedding present and over the past decade we’ve loved it and used it often. Sitting on the deck one night this past summer, Kerri was eyeing the chiminea. “What?” I asked.

“In the fall, when the weather turns cold, I think we should move it inside,” she said.

And, so, we did. The chiminea now lives in our sun room with a plant sitting atop the chimney. Happy lights pop on within the burn chamber at sunset. Each evening at snack-time we sit at our bistro table and enjoy the warmth of the light glowing from within the natural clay.

20 recently said, ‘I hope you two appreciate each other.” We laughed and reassured him, we literally recounted for him, the many ways that we, each-and-every-day, express our appreciation for each other. She thanks me for making breakfast. I thank her for washing our clothes. We have, in our past lives, taken for granted the daily kindnesses that others offered us and that we offered to others. We’d somehow allowed the myriad tiny-generosities of our past relationships to lapse into the mundane. We learned from our mistake.

In this, life’s second chance, we take advantage of every opportunity to express our appreciation.

In fact, the idea behind our Minturn, the force that brought the chiminea inside, is the creation of opportunities for appreciation. They are spaces we create, places we stop so we can sit solidly in the moment, sharing a simple snack of bread and cheese, sipping a glass of wine, and feeling the full abundance of our lives. And, the greatest abundance of all is the conscious cultivation of appreciation for every-little-thing, especially cherishing the time we have together on this earth and the opportunity to fill each moment with appreciation for each other.

*****

about this week: there is a peril, it seems, to writing ahead these days. we had decided that this week – the first full week of a new year – we wished to use images of light as our prompts, we wished to linger on the possibility of light, of hope, of goodness. though our blogposts might stray from that as we pen them, it was without constant nod to the constant updating of current events – a mass of indefensible, unconscionable acts. we pondered what to do about these blogposts we had written and decided to keep them. we hope that – whether or not any absence of the happenings of the day, whether or not the chance these written words seem somewhat inane at this moment – you might know that those events – of corruption, illegality, immorality – do not distill or distort our intention – to bring light and hope to this new year – the first days of which bring more insanity and unnerving instability. we are still holding space for light.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE CHIMINEA

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Filed under: Gratitude, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: appreciation, artistry, chiminea, cultivate surprise, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, generosity, Gratitude, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, second chances, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

Drop Into The Moment [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on December 30, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

In the summer months the deer trails are difficult to spot. In the winter, the opposite is true. With the absence of foliage and a clean canvas of snow, while the deer remain elusive, their well-traveled pathways are easy to see.

In mythology, deer are often messengers or guides. They call us to kindness, presence and remind us to trust our instincts. I especially appreciate the call to presence since it is there that kindness and the purity of instinct can be found.

Retribution is about past grievance. Fear is a monster born of an imagined future. Both retribution and fear would have us turn our backs on the present moment. They would have us ignore the deer because they cannot survive in the present moment. The present is, after all, the only place that is actually real, substantial. It is in the realm-of-the-real that kindness abounds; it is the only place that the quiet voice of intuition can be heard.

It never fails. When we see a deer on the trail our laundry list of woes immediately evaporates. The deer calls us into the present. We stop all movement just as the deer has stopped. It models presence for us. We drop into the moment with it. We feel. We listen. We meet its eyes. It senses us and we sense it. There is no past grievance or future fear. There is nothing more important to do or a place more compelling to be. Time suspends. We fill ourselves with the awe of the relationship-of-the-moment.

And then, just as quickly, the deer leaps and is gone. It releases us. We reenter time. Refreshed. Giddy. Light of spirit. Reminded once again of the power of living in the present.

In the presence of the deer we are no longer lost in our minds. That is its message to us, its encouragement for how to best live our lives.

In the summer months we convince ourselves that they are rare, hard to spot. In the winter months, we are reminded by their tracks that, although we may not see them, these guides are all around us. Their message to us is always available. Always.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE DEER

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Filed under: Awakening, Gratitude, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, fear, Guidance, instinct, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, kindness, messenger, mythology, presence, present, retribution, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

Like Freshly Fallen Snow [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on December 23, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

I wonder if you are having the same reaction that I am having? Each time I see an article or video about the year-in-review I slam closed my computer. I change the channel. I flee the room. I don’t want to review, revisit, reconsider, ruminate upon or attempt to make sense of what happened in this nation – to this nation – in the past 365 days.

People review the events of the year-gone-by so they might turn their eyes to the blank-page-hope for the future, just as it is common for people to slowly wander the rooms, touching walls and doorknobs – saying goodbye to their house before it is put onto market.

Mostly, the walk-through-the-past is meant to help us connect to who we are, reinforce what we value, to reaffirm what most matters before stepping into the unknown future and the forces of change. We touch the walls, not only to say goodbye, but to carry their spirit forward with us.

I’ve no need to touch the walls and doorknobs of the past 365 days. Through contrast, the events of the past year have already served to affirm what I believe and sharply clarify what I value. They have opened my eyes to both the deepest ugly and the brightest light in this democratic experiment, in human nature – and in my nature.

Lately, Kerri and I have been cleaning out the house. We’ve been discarding what is no longer useful. We’ve been re-imagining our space. We’ve been doing the same work in our relationship and with the people who populate our world. We are rounding the corner into the new year perhaps clearer than we’ve ever been. We know what side of the divide we stand on. As the nation soils itself and the communal nest, we are cleansing and simplifying our home, affirming our ideals and our sanctuary.

It’s been true our entire lives together: a new snow beckons us to strap on our boots and make a play-path in search of a bit of adventure and an opportunity to be surprised by beauty. It is this spirit that we carry forward into 2026. The blank-page-hope beckons like freshly fallen snow. Strapping on our boots we actively and intentionally step into the expansive white canvas eager to cultivate our capacity for surprise.

read Kerri’s blogpost about SNOW PATH