Category Archives: David Feela

The cone-shaped formations at New Mexico’s Tent Rocks National Monument stand tall, having survived an era of great upheaval. Good for them. As I approached the park entrance gate I overheard the employee on duty giving phone instructions to an … Continue reading →

The Irish call them “The Dark Hedges” and perhaps they once resembled hedges when James Stuart’s family first planted 150 beech trees along the avenue leading to their newly constructed 18th-century Gracehill House. Had he been born a century later … Continue reading →

When the telephone rang, I listened to my answering machine. A “holiday change of schedule” announcement from my new trash service was being unloaded by a recorded voice. The week before, my old company sent me a letter letting its … Continue reading →

Instead of pushing a cart with a wonky wheel, I walked over to pick up a handy totable plastic basket. None were in sight. I asked an attendant if she knew where I’d find one. “Not here, somebody walked out … Continue reading →

In my neighborhood a house has been boarded up, its grass crispy and uncut, a stubble of weeds longer than a 5 o’clock shadow. The absent owner leaned an enormous piece of plywood against the side of the house and … Continue reading →

Just like that noted Egyptologist, Howard Carter – the one who discovered King Tut’s mummified remains surrounded by a breathtaking array of splendid treasures – except in my case, no treasures. All I’d come noseto- nose with in the dim … Continue reading →

Travel plans blossom suddenly like roses as summer nears. Maybe a camping expedition to the lake come Memorial Day, just a warm up exercise. A national park after that. If the imagination is permitted free rein, soon enough you’ll be … Continue reading →

I pulled into the motel parking lot, shut off my engine, and looked around without stepping out of the truck. From a distance I thought the motel might qualify for a three-star rating. Then after a closer look, no, no … Continue reading →

I’d been trying to make my way to London with a woman they’d seated ten rows ahead of me on the opposite side of the plane for our wedding anniversary. That morning the airline informed us that our connection from … Continue reading →

I shut the engine off at the gas pump, but before I could even open the truck door a man who looked like he’d been living close to the knuckle stepped up to my open window and rested his hands … Continue reading →

After selling our three-acre rural homestead, complete with barn, pond, and irrigation water, and after moving into a smaller single-story house within the city limits, I received an email from a friend: Welcome to the hood. I’d been living in … Continue reading →

After the 2016 presidential election results skidded across the internet at my house, I had to wonder what went wrong with those enormous data-driven insights into how the race would play out. The Huffington Post, for example, predicted a 98.something … Continue reading →

A wild turkey crossed my path last year while I hiked along Petroglyph Trail, a recreational sidebar within the greater Mesa Verde National Park, on — of all days — Thanksgiving Day. It posed in the open for an instant … Continue reading →

If Rene Descartes traveled extensively during the 17th century like tourists of today, he might never have written, “I think, therefore I am,” but instead chosen the axiom, “I see, therefore I be.” As a philosopher whose explorations were confined … Continue reading →

There’s nothing like entering a dimmed theater to dramatize how thoroughly our senses slam shut, especially if it’s a sunny day outside. Sensory deprivation, that old story of having to rely on, even if just for a moment, yourself. Stepping … Continue reading →

The brown paper wrapper I carried out of the bookstore wasn’t for the sake of discretion. Truth be told, the bookstore refuses to handle plastic anymore. Ideally, the clerk told me, it was on the verge of going entirely bagless, … Continue reading →

When I parked beside the locked gate at the Cabin Canyon Recreation Site, the hefty entrance sign that had been bolted together out of 4-by-4 lay flat on the gravel, and the solid-steel, forest-green tube where campers are instructed to … Continue reading →

When I first learned that the gullies along most county roads in the Southwest are referred to as bar ditches, I thought they were named for the unfortunate drivers who’d had a few too many drinks before heading home and … Continue reading →

I was sitting in a comfortable chair one evening, reading a chapter from a vintage Western, when I glanced out the window to see a horse cropping the grass along my driveway. I don’t own a horse. I don’t want … Continue reading →

A couple we know sat down at a local coffee shop and told us of their excellent trip to Kauai, one of the Hawaiian islands which offers to tourists – among many pleasures – more than 9,000 acres of coffee … Continue reading →

The most fabulous video game of the 1980s turned out to be Pac-Man, its object to direct your Pac-Man (with jaw working) through an elaborate maze, eating every dot you spot along the way, all the time moving to avoid … Continue reading →

I never imagined myself as a Rec Center type. I bicycle gravel roads when the weather allows me to ride, and I own a secondhand elliptical exercise machine, tucked into a corner of the barn for those inclement days. When … Continue reading →

Increasingly what we need we haven’t got and to get it to us requires a corporation. The Post Office just stamps its feet and continues to manufacture more boxes. I don’t know about you, but increased shipping costs make my … Continue reading →

Yesterday while I was walking past our local funeral home, a young man — presumably an employee — tottered along the curb with one of those portable blower devices, raising a cloud of dust, sweeping down the street in a … Continue reading →

On my way home from a road trip to California I rented a motel room, which isn’t that unusual. What I didn’t expect is that I’d lose my credit card. To lose a credit card these days is not that … Continue reading →

If animals lived painless lives, then I’d believe in the literal Eden, where the human species earned its lumps by behaving contrary to the rules of the garden. But animals have suffered and died along with the rest of us … Continue reading →

This October, who is to say which will be scarier, Halloween or the World Series. The public is led to believe that professional sports represent the epitome of good health and physical fitness in their players. If you’re a baseball … Continue reading →

When Amazon announced it currently sells more Kindle electronic book downloads than it does traditional hardbacks and paperbacks combined, I got to wondering, What do people do with all the electronic books they’ve read? It turns out that technically (and legally), people can … Continue reading →

“It’s not easy being green.” —Kermit the Frog I never realized how difficult it is toting a political snack. All I’d planned was a short hike, no more than five miles round trip. I thought it wise to carry something extra … Continue reading →

I’ve slept in the desert at a motel I won’t name. It felt good to get out of the car. The road was hard but the bed was harder. I wish I’d learned to play a guitar. As you know, … Continue reading →

George Carlin: Born: May 12, 1937 Died: June 22, 2008. In Las Vegas if you stare up from the Strip at all the flashing billboards announcing which eternally recycled performers will be appearing, it’s easy to come to the conclusion that, … Continue reading →

The bus driver was in a foul mood, shouting out the window in broken English, “Whadda ya want?” when I politely inquired if his bus went to Rabat. Then he turned away from me, perhaps nodding his head, perhaps not, … Continue reading →

I owned a wood stove once. Actually, the stove owned me. It consumed every stick I fed into it, then it stared longingly out toward the trees. We were young, deciding to change our little threeroom house over to wood … Continue reading →

To escape the holiday snow that usually makes gigantic sugar plums out of the Colorado mountain peaks, we had to drive a long diagonal across Arizona, steer clear of that enormous rut known as the Grand Canyon, and ease ourselves … Continue reading →

Many people donate their discards to area thrift stores, and believe me, the stores are grateful. Donations are their inventory. But what most people don’t see, especially the ones who don’t shop there, is the mountain of useless junk that … Continue reading →

Recently, a Colorado Highway Patrol trooper pulled me over, or maybe it would be more precise to say, I made room for him on the shoulder. I had driven barely a quarter-mile from my house at a breakneck speed of … Continue reading →

I admit I’m no professional, but my compact digital camera captures such perfect pictures — even without smiling — and Paris is filled with such perfect scenes. The most photogenic city in the world. Just point and click. The Eiffel … Continue reading →

A hammock is a time machine. I purchased mine cheap at the Waba Sabi Thrift Store in Moab, Utah. Some guy named Eddie Bauer had his name stitched into the fabric, but that was all right with me. I have … Continue reading →

  I camped two nights in LaPlata Canyon, early June. Spring runoff was at its peak. The sight and sound of water just 100 feet from where I rested my head had to be exactly what the manufacturers of sound … Continue reading →