Hi, everyone, from a snow covered Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Natalie and I took the kids snowshoeing yesterday. We all looked at these scattered dimples on the snow that looked like little oval shadows scattered across the snow. Droplets of water from melting snow up in the tree branches crashed into those craters. The changing nature of snow from hour to hour is worth pausing for a moment.

Well, I’ve got three things on my bed stand these days:

The Push by Tommy Caldwell (2017) — I am nearing finishing Tommy’s autobiography. (He’s so young, I am sure that there will be a second one day.) The first half answered many questions about Tommy’s life that I followed through bits and pieces in print publications, mostly Climbing magazine, in the early 2000s. He talked about being kidnapped in Kyrgyzstan (including the titled push), his marriage with Beth Rodden, and losing his finger. I didn’t realize how early he had been contemplating the route on the Dawn Wall. I’ll do a full review in a few weeks.

Alpinist 65 — Issue 65 just arrived in my mailbox this week. It has an essay by the great David Roberts, art by Sujoy Das, and a feature profile and history of climbing the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. I only started, but Katie Ives leads off with a fascinating essay that includes a reflection on a Hans Christian Anderson tale, The Snow Queen. (It reminded me of my early take on the Lion the Witch and Wardrobe; I was drawn to the wintry wonderland of Narnia for the enchanted conditions more than the dramatic saga.) It is on news stands now.

Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul  by Howard Schultz with Joanne Gordan (2011) — I am reading this for myself for my work at Habitat. I don’t go to Starbucks much, especially when there are many great coffee shops in our community, but this book deals with an organization’s core values, and what it means to hold on to them, especially in a crisis. We’ve been revisiting our core values and it has even made me consider what the core values of this blog ought to be.

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