I recently finished reading Anne Rudloe’s book on beginning Zen, Butterflies on a Sea Wind, and found it a breath of fresh air in explaining the whole retreat-and-meditation part of Zen within the scope of daily life. I had the pleasure to meet Anne and her husband Jack last fall during a visit to one of my favorite spots in Florida, Wakulla County, when I finally had a chance to tour their Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory, a place like no other, where you see the small creatures of Florida’s Big Bend estuaries up close. The Rudloes embody environmentalism, their staunch stands to prevent the “Miami-zation” of the Panhandle’s coastline grounded in their intimate knowledge of living as a part of an estaurine coast teeming with life. They are fine people. And until I read this book, I had no idea that Anne practiced Zen. But it fits. The book does well to illustrate how the practice resonates so well in a life given over to preservation. Check out this great little video on YouTube where Anne talks about her experience recovering from cancer and how her connections to Florida’s outdoors helped her through.

Dispatches from the road, Summer 2007

One of the best ways to relax is to grab a rocking chair on the porch of a historic inn and just sit there all morning reading a book. And so I did. Day after day. Off US 23 / 74 between Sylva and Waynesville, NC, tiny Balsam, NC has welcomed guests to enjoy cool mountain breezes since the early 1900s, when the railroad dropped off folks for a stay at the Balsam Mountain Inn. It’s an eclectic place, three stories tall and all wood, with wide hallways that make you feel like you are outdoors, even on the top floor. Each is decorated rather colorfully, and not all the doorframes or windowframes are quite square anymore, and there aren’t any phones, alarm clocks, or air conditioners. It’s a cheerful place, with dining fit for a gourmand, but my favorite part … was the rocking chair. Four magazines and two books later, I’m feeling more relaxed than I have been in months!

Dispatches from the road, Summer 2007

When he died in 1908, Joel Chandler Harris left behind an unparalleled legacy– more than 60 stories retelling the oral traditions of Georgia slaves. A printer’s devil to a plantation owner and publisher in Eatonton, Harris had the opportunity to collect these stories heard on the plantation, often shared by slaves with the plantation owner’s young son. He published them in part as a magazine series Uncle Remus Magazine, complete with illustrations. On my travels through Georgia over the years, I’d passed the sign many times and this time we decided to find the museum dedicated to Harris’ work, a nonprofit community effort found along business US 441 in Eatonton. Inside several former slave cabins, dioramas, artifacts, and historical ephemera bring the authentic pre-Disney Uncle Remus to life.