Walk Around

It's rare to find a flow in life where all needs align. Usually, some needs have to be traded for others. And sometimes it's hard for me to even know what it is I really need. Talking with my friend Blaine Benitez on this episode, I think he's someone who is working to understand the ebb and flow of life, pursuing his needs, and the discovery of them, in an intuitive way. And there's something bey...

Transcript This morning I went for a run in the woods, on these really beautiful trails that are used by snowmobiles. The organization that maintains the trails and works with landowners to allow access is called VAST - The Vermont Association of Snow Travelers. I'm not really sure if you're supposed to walk on them, but I don't really mind it, I mean I'm not a snowmobiler. I don't think it messes...

A short episode about a piece of music by Dario Lessing that I have been enjoying Elfe by Dario Lessing https://open.spotify.com/track/5DVGcnv54vwvqFxYg5rH7n This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.walkaround.run

Some writing about a bridge I used to run across all the time, and my thoughts on a manuscript I’ve been working on. Recorded by a small pond on the edge of a field outside Forest Grove, Oregon. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.walkaround.run

Transcript (sorry about typos) I've been trying to learn a short song on the piano recently. Because right now, I'm house sitting at the place across the road from the yurt that I live in. And there's a piano in here, an upright. It's not very clean, it's actually kind of out of tune. And that is just the kind of quality of sound that I like. Trying to learn something that someone else made, tryin...

I recently heard about a story telling event nearby. The theme was Rural Life in Vermont. It made me pause, consider: if I had an audience in front of me, what kind of story would I tell? Awhile back I set out toward what interested me. You could say that by today's standards, I set out to be a failure, because attached to that idea was no intention to make money. In other words, to most people, m...

Welcome to Walk Around—a new direction for this podcast. Last summer, 2021, I had an idea while walking in the high country—to make a podcast about walking. I've walked a long way, and to be honest, my creative path as an artist started right there, with walking. Walking itself is so simple, yet so corrective and health generating. For me walking, running, or any self-powered movement have always...

Winnowing It happened when the grass was flowering: pale puffs of dust, appearing with a breeze, or even from a tiny beetle landing on a stem. Just enough to send life outward. Snipe stood on a log that morning, just watching. I thought about the sound he makes as he flies all night and he watched me, and I watched him, and as usual, the sun rose. The good from bad, it seems the thoughts, or feeli...

I think it’s hard to be present, because I have been taught all my life that the point of life, the purpose of it, is to progress. There’s always some achievement or some better future off in the distance. Yet what I’ve learned is that the present is where life occurs. It doesn’t happen in the future, and it isn’t a goal. It’s actually happening right now as you read this. I decided to record some...

Wellbeing is a net. And we are a strand in the net. The strands around us are made of people, places, what we consume, produce, see, feel, experience. I think of this in the fading evening. The leaves and hills have changed slowly this season. The tops of mountains have snow. Distant hills disappear in morning mist. To the south the valley is hidden by mountains. The air cold in the morning, the g...

Thoughts about being present and ignoring obstacles—to focus instead on what you can do. Credits to the young hawthorne tree that has taken root on a hillside where I boil tea. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.walkaround.run

There is a little piano against one wall of this house I live in. I play it from time to time. When I first began, I noticed all the melodies I played were sad. I knew I had some sadness in me. Actually, I knew I had a lot. But, I didn’t really know what to do with it. So I played the piano most days, but the songs were always pretty sad. For one reason or another, I have been carrying some sadnes...

A story about following a coyote’s tracks in fresh snow. And, in turn, thinking about my own life. Full text below. Piano and story by me, Hudson Gardner. Tracks by coyote and deer. Snow by earth. … At the base of the hill, past the muddy shopyard and cattle fences, across the bridge that planks over Chimacum creek, and just before the salmonberry groves, were two perfect prints in the fresh snow....

In this episode, I share a poem I wrote, and a little about my writing difficulties and successes over the last year or two. I really like this poem, and think it is one of my best. So I hope you find something in it too. Music Credits: Liberty Bell by Darkside. Calligraphy of a Stream I A gray jays wing looks like old cedar wood grain. Grown from melted snow, and stolen sandwich bits. The jays mo...

Credits: Piano by Hudson Gardner, Fire cracklings by fire, Wind by Earth Untitled Trackless trackless mountain cloudwhat do I ask to be? To be you, to be you. Coming—going into nothingwhat do I ask to see? To see you, to see you. Trackless trackless mountain pathwhere do I ask to go? To find you, to find you. Trackless trackless meadow of flowersWhat do I ask of you? To believe you. To believe you...

Thanks for tuning in to this edition of Grass Journal, titled: Coming Into Contact With Ourselves. In this episode I discuss wilderness with Beau Vandendolder. He is a doctor of Classical Chinese Medicine, licensed acupuncturist, and Alexander Technique practitioner. He is also a dear friend, though I have seen him only sporadically over the five years we have known each other. He and I have one o...

Beautiful intro music by Anna Pallotta, cover of Regina Spektor Dear anyone, I hope the world isn't hurting you too much these days. What have you been up to? Today the sun came in through the clouds and the south facing windows. It made me remember how important it is to notice things like that. For a span of time, to have just a few thoughts of my own. But, I know you have felt a lot of that lat...

Dear subscribers, You can find my podcast on all major platforms now. Also, every episode will also be sent out on this newsletter. Here are some links: Spotify • iTunes •  ListenNotes •  Google • TuneIn Last week, I sat down at my birch table and recorded this episode more or less on accident in the bright late October sun. Things discussed * Community * How spiders move in the fall * Rent * Root...

Sangre De Cristo Mountains above Taos This newsletter is now a podcast too. I will send an email when the podcast is available on all podcast platforms. I also have a donate button on the bottom of this post. I have often felt confused in my life about how I fit into the world as an artist. Or in simpler terms, how my ideals can coexist with a world that is inevitably not ideal. Partly, the confus...