harpoon point-to-point

i've been road biking for 5 years at this point, but it's been a way to work out--not something i truly enjoyed. after participating in the annual harpoon brewery point-to-point ride in windsor, vt with my family, i understand why so many are obsessive with biking (a la skiing) these days! a great day, a wonderful (hilly & tiring ride) through vermont, a great cause, and some good beers to to top it all off at the end of the day. nothing i could possibly imagine to complain about! i will definitely be there next year--and might upgrade to a longer ride!

we spent a few hours the next day kayaking down a portion of the connecticut river, with an outfitter attached to the path of life sculpture garden (a very interesting establishment that would survive only in vermont).

hops at harpoon's windsor, vt brewery

http://www.harpoonpointtopoint.com/

what we need now

i never thought i'd read something like this in the harvard business review. i thought this article was pretty well put. it describes well the balancing the human "survival act," as it's called in the article, with our higher values.

"So how do we learn to rise to our best selves more often?
The first answer is to acknowledge how often we fall short of the ideals to which we aspire — and how much help we need in living them more fully. We need humility in place of hubris, and even a sense of shame, where it's warranted, as a spur to behave better."

philosophers would probably get into this being a very "human" conundrum...as most animals wouldn't have to debate about self-interest vs. generosity. but seems like something we all grapple with, all the time. brings to mind that e.b. white quote:

i arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. this makes it hard to plan the day.-e.b. white (we'll let it slide that he's a cornell grad.)

http://blogs.hbr.org/schwartz/2011/08/what-we-need-now.html

focusing on what works--the outliers

we hear a lot about failed development projects, things that implementers can improve on, wasted development aid funds, development projects which do more harm than good...you get the picture. think bill easterly.

i listened to a talk from the positive deviance initiative (based at tufts university, although that's not why i'm writing about them) yesterday. the positive deviance method focuses on what is working, and allowing people to live better, right at this moment. instead of going into a community and telling people what will work, the method listens to members of the community and identifies the outliers. those who are succeeding against the odds. not the sick, but those who are thriving. and again, instead of telling the community what they need to do to improve their predicament, the method encourages the community to realize the solutions--and implement them.

yes it sound a little crunchy, and yes, it's probably really difficult to monitor and display concrete results (good or bad). but, it sounds like a good way to work in this field if you want to be an optimist.

http://www.positivedeviance.org/

weekend in denver

tim and i flew out to denver a few weeks ago to have a mini-reunion with my high school girlfriends- i hadn't been out since i cracked my leg a year and a half ago! i know colorado is beautiful year-round,  but i almost appreciated it more in the summertime. we packed in quite a bit in 3 days! these are shots from our "hike" in breckenridge.

columbine- the state flower! and i learned something today!

snow on breckenridge

weekend in the north country

we just returned from a tiring, but rejuvenating weekend in westport, ny. had the chance to catch up with many good friends, had some laughs, and attended an amazing chapel service on sunday morning. quite a long ride from boston--but certainly worthwhile.

lake champlain experienced record water levels this year --and landslides happened.
so,camp dudley is housing a few campers in yurts!

another incredible sunset at the schoolhouse

crowne point bride--almost completed!