Douglas Wood

THE MYSTERIOUS SIGN: In my wilderness guiding years, spanning decades and thousands of miles of ‘canoe country,’ we would sometimes come across the famous, red-tinged rock paintings of the North. Pictographs. The red color due to the ferous oxide compound used to make them. The paintings are always haunting and mysterious, their creation dating back hundreds, even thousands of years,

ROSEBUD: At the end of the great film, Citizen Kane, Charles Foster Kane dies alone, isolated and unfulfilled in his vast estate. This happens in spite of his achieving unimaginable wealth, fame, and power in his life. In death, his last word is ‘Rosebud,’ which we discover refers to his favorite childhood toy. A sled named Rosebud. That lost child,

THINGS ARISE: One of my favorite quotes is, ‘Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.’ Sometimes attributed to Lao Tsu and sometimes Basho Matsuo. But grass is not the only thing that arises, that ‘grows by itself.’ Here in our piney woods things are beginning to happen underfoot, beneath last year’s leaves and needles. The very first Bloodroots, a

DEAR CAMPFIRE FRIENDS: How about a little Good News to start the day? Big developments from the old garage at the Cabin-in-the-Woods! For all who have followed the continuing odyssey of the little St. Patrick’s Day waif, Paddy (Paddington J. Cat). About a week ago Paddy—who had been terrified of… well, everything—let me touch him, just lightly brushing a paw