Creative Nonfiction by Andrea Badgley
The sun is shining and today is warm compared to the snows of last week. It’s 6pm and I’m on the couch listening to Cat Stevens’ “Peace Train” on the record player, wondering how sore my glutes and hamstrings will be tomorrow. My husband and I hiked today on trails about 20 minutes from our … Continue reading St. Patrick’s Day hike
This year for Christmas, we got rain instead of snow. This is our fourth winter here in Blacksburg, and we’re still holding out for a white Christmas. Minnesota delivered snow for Christmas each year, knee deep to children, and every year since we moved away, the kids cross their fingers. Snow at Christmas is … Continue reading Warm winter hike
I hiked alone yesterday. I needed to get out of the house. Actually, I needed to get away from our kids. They’ve been home for what seems like weeks now (13.5 days, to be exact), and I couldn’t take the bickering and wrestling and whining and begging and pouting and grumping anymore. After two weeks … Continue reading Running away to the woods
We were occupied with sports and travel every weekend this autumn, and as a result, did not go on a single camping trip during the most beautiful season in Appalachia. So when it was warm and sunny on the day after Christmas, we took advantage of it and hiked for the first time in months. … Continue reading Warm winter hike
I’m in Park City, Utah for the annual Automattic Grand Meetup, and I had originally signed up to run the WordPress 5K this morning. After all the wine I drank last night, though, I decided to go for a solo mini-hike instead. I took these photos on the trail behind our hotel as the sun … Continue reading I was going to run a 5K
Portraiture is possibly my favorite form of photography. Faces show character in every laugh line, every weathered wrinkle, in tan lines left by always-worn sunglasses, in the trickle of sweat through trail dust. In the scraggly beards of men who have walked the woods for weeks. On our drive through Catawba valley, my husband said, … Continue reading A journalist I am not (R)
