I chose to open Story Sparks this month with a beautiful sunrise photograph taken by a Canadian friend Amar Athwal. You can find more of his wonderful photographs at banffmoments.com. Dostoyevsky wrote that in a time of despair, “beauty is more important than bread.”

For years I’ve misquoted William Shakespeare’s words in Romeo and Juliet by saying “Waiting is such sweet sorrow” instead of using his word, “Parting” as being the source of the sadness. I say “wait”  often. It’s a command I give to Caesar while I untangle his leash or pick up his poo.

The picture of Jerry and me and John the cat was taken in 1977. I know exactly because of the shirt Jerry’s wearing and the major mis-communication that occurred that October. He had gone hunting six hours north; I had planned a long weekend with friends in Ashland, Oregon four hours south.

A few years ago, I was privileged to be on a stage with two National Book Award winners, Barry Lopez and Ivan Doig. It was a great evening for me personally to be answering questions, talking about writing and stories with the likes of these two fine writers. I recently read an interview done by David Jaspar of the Bend Bulletin with Mr. Lopez, In the article, the nature writers talks about storytelling and how exploring that activity with indigenous people has been such a huge part of his travels and writing.