Tom Ryan

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Articles

May's What Are You Reading?

2 days ago | tomryan.substack.com | Tom Ryan

With the news of the day, the week, the month—all of it so chaotic and frenetic, let’s do something different to bring a little light. May’s “What Are You Reading” hits earlier than in past months, and for the first time, comments are also open to all subscribers (paid and free). Books are often the perfect medicine, the needed nourishment, during trying times. I’m always curious about what you are reading and, if possible, adding to my reading list.
A Sacred Walk

4 days ago | tomryan.substack.com | Tom Ryan

Yesterday’s mention of our blessed minutes with the wild horse in North Dakota spurred me to consider other elevated moments from our coddiwomple. Among the most euphoric was our Christmas week walks across the empty dunes of White Sands National Park. This is the longest video I’ve ever shared here. At close to eight minutes, it may be too long for some, but I offer this sunrise walk for those in need of peaceful bliss.
Rainy Day Cozy

5 days ago | tomryan.substack.com | Tom Ryan

It’s rainy and raw here today. It’s been that way all week, save for a few splashes of blue sky. We’ve not had many downpours, but the consistent showers have us in a 36-hour-long flood watch. We made it out briefly to the pond, but retreated after two hundred yards. Now we are home, warm and cozy in the hobbit hole. The windows are closed, the heat is on, Billie Holiday warms each room, and there are books to read and naps to take.
Meeting Margaret & Ian

1 week ago | tomryan.substack.com | Tom Ryan

We met Margaret and Ian in the woods this morning. There’s a reason they are standing this way. And you’ll see the reason in a moment. One of our local pleasures is bumping into off-season visitors to the White Mountains. I ask questions, offer suggestions (if asked), and point out must-sees and some of the better walks and hikes. Unlike being on the road, where I am the outsider, I get to play host in the local woods.
A Short Sunday Morning Samwise Story

1 week ago | tomryan.substack.com | Tom Ryan

Outside the quiet western entrance to Badlands National Park, there is a pull-off and parking area for a horse trail. Since Samwise and Emily are limited in where they can walk in the national park, we walk this short loop a few times to stretch our legs. We always have it to ourselves.
The Way Home, Chapter One: A Final Morning with Our Bison Brethren

2 weeks ago | tomryan.substack.com | Tom Ryan

Over the next few posts, I’ll revisit our road home from the American West. It begins with a final morning in Badlands National Park, as seen in this video. Next is Wounded Knee and beyond.
Home Sighs

2 weeks ago | tomryan.substack.com | Tom Ryan

This is Manuel and Woody, two charming characters who changed the tone of our trip. We’d just spent a rough couple of weeks in Morro Bay, and I was disheartened by the actions of a longtime reader who had turned into a stalker. The reader, who lives in the Pacific Northwest, followed us to Tucson and then Morro Bay. I’d considered ending our trip, but Manuel and Woody, and Robert, the mutual friend who introduced us, brought song, laughter, and wonder back to our travels. They saved our odyssey.
April’s What Are You Reading?

2 weeks ago | tomryan.substack.com | Tom Ryan

We’re just back from seeing the country, and my most recent reading list is heavily non-fiction. I’m fascinated by George Bird Grinnell’s life and work. A conservationist and friend of Theodore Roosevelt, GBG deserves a great deal of credit for being one of the most influential people in staving off the extinction of the American Buffalo, also known as Bison. After graduating from Yale, Grinnell fell in love with what was then considered the American West.
Greetings from the White Mountains of New Hampshire

2 weeks ago | tomryan.substack.com | Tom Ryan

Greetings from the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The same thought occurs to me whenever we return home after seeing the country: was it all a dream? We are such homebodies, and I’m so private in this simple country life that even now, after so many of these coddiwomples, none of it seems real. Instead, it feels like I’m just waking up and rubbing the sleep from my eyes. The word ‘fantastic’ aptly matches the mood.
Where Are We?

2 weeks ago | tomryan.substack.com | Tom Ryan

You know itās time to go home when you wake up in hotel rooms the final two days of a five-month-long trip, wondering where you are. We spent last night in Manchester, Vermont, one of northern New Englandās charming spots. I like to get home after 18,000 miles driving around America early enough to stock the fridge, empty the HMS Beagle, do laundry, and make our bed. Weāll be home around noon when weāll begin re-entry.