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Home / For Beginners / Walking in Circles – Common Bushwhacking Mistakes

Walking in Circles – Common Bushwhacking Mistakes

Off Trail in the White Mountains
Off Trail in the White Mountains

I got lost in the woods using a compass a few weeks ago when we were bushwhacking West Field, a seldom visited mountain peak near Crawford Notch in the White Mountains. I know how to use a compass quite well, so this experience was a real eye opener for me, and I’ve been thinking about it every day since, mulling over in my mind how I could have fallen off a bearing so badly that I ended up walking in circles.

We did get find our way eventually, but it took a while and got a little scary – given that we were out in the middle of nowhere, at night, and in the snow.

If you’ve never bushwhacked, picture this. You need to walk 1 mile north through moderately thick forest to intersect a trail that runs east to west. Sounds easy, and it can be in open country, but doing it in thick forest in a mountainous region complicates matters because there may be dense brush, big boulders, or blow down chocked stream beds that you need to detour around to make forward progress. We were constantly making little detours like this and I guess the bearing changes compounded over time, so that it took us 5 hours to walk that 1 mile (as the crow flies.)

But there’s more. I made an amazing number of  “mental” mistakes on that hike, that I understand are the norm among bushwhackers from initiates like myself, to very experienced whackers.

  • When we saw what looked like a trail or a herd path in the woods, we tended to follow it instead of rigorously staying on our bearing, because it was easier walking and we hoped it would lead us back to the east-west trail we were aiming for.
  • When we saw footprints in the snow (this is a remote area), I assumed that they were made by other hikers who knew the way out and followed them. They turned out to be our own footprints, from a previous loop through the area!
  • When we discovered that we had been following our own tracks, we started to distrust our compasses. Apparently this is a common mistake. We eventually came to our senses, but it is frightening to think that we could come to such a flagrantly wrong conclusion despite being experienced compass users.
  • Finally, we bended the map (see relevant discussion on Views from The Top) to fit what we were seeing, rather than realizing we were lost and didn’t know where on the map we were.  The local terrain (mainly a steep hill) looked like something we wanted it to look like, when it was another feature altogether.

I’ve received a lot of compass and navigation instruction over the years and been told repeatedly to avoid falling into every one of these traps. I’m not ashamed to have made these mistakes as much as I am amazed and disconcerted to find myself falling into patterns I’ve been warned about.  It’s rather humbling.

My friend Alex, a very experience bushwhacker, is delighted that I’ve had this experience. He thinks the best way to learn how to bushwhack is to make mistakes and learn from them. I can’t fault his logic, especially since I learned most of what I know about hiking and backpacking by making similarly stupid decisions.

What can I do better next time?

  1. Trust my compass and stay on my bearing, avoiding footprints and real or imagined pathways through the brush that look like easier walking.
  2. Find local landmarks on my bearing and walk toward them in order to stay true to my bearing. For example, sight a tree on the bearing and walk toward it. This is easier than constantly checking the bearing.
  3. Measure the time (with a watch) that we walk off bearing around an obstacle, so that we can compensate by walking back to the original line we were following (instead of parallel to it.)
  4. Measure the time we are walking in our intended direction very accurately so we can better estimate forward progress. Duration of travel, if estimated well, is a great clue to where you might be on the map.
  5. Don’t trust the map so much. There are a lot of features on the ground, like streams, stream tributaries, and small rises that never make it onto the map, but can confuse you if you try too hard to map what you are seeing to the map you are holding.

Hard stuff. But I have to tell you, learning how to bushwhack well is one of the most challenging and exciting forms of hiking that I’ve tried recently. There is an extreme level of mental acuity and observation needed, in addition to the physicality and foot work required to push through thick brush and avoid breaking your legs in hidden voids.

I think I’m hooked!

  1. If you haven’t already, you might want to try some competitive orienteering to sharpen your “terrain to map” reading skills. The skills required to be non-terrible at an O-event all directly transfer to the woods.

    Reading the land and map is definitely a practiced skill. I know that when i don’t do it, i get rusty, and to watch and expert perform is amazing. Furthermore, i think all the GPS type stuff makes me rusty.

    Glad you made it out OK,

    • I did some orienteering as a kid and hated the competitive, time-based aspect of it. I can try it I suppose, but it’s not really my thing. I’m actually quite good at map-reading when I have a trail as a point of reference, but the issue in this case was less about map reading and more about bearing discipline than anything. We were in a box of trails to the east, west, and north so it was really just a matter of walking straight enough in one direction to hit one and walk out. But it’s something to consider. I suppose I should bring a gps so we know where we are in a pinch, but the thought of using an electronic aid like that isn’t something I really want to do because I think it’s a crutch. That’s my personal point of view, only.

  2. Hey, ha….not too esy….following a compass that is. Generally, a few degrees off doesn’t really matter that much. It can really be frustrating sometimes to start thinking the compass is bad after an hour or two and you still haven’t picked up your selected trail or feature only a mile away. You start really wondering if you just missed it in all the scrub and crap you have been going through…been there. ‘Specially in the winter, there is often no real sign of a trail.

    Yeah, as a learning experience, it is great. . . after you get back. Anyway, as you say, if you are going out for a day hike, you need to plan an overnight whether it happens or not. Glad it was nothing more than an education on how NOT to use a compass and map.

    • I’ve concluded that every winter bushwhack should be planned as an overnight trip. We had enough gear to spend an unexpected night out, but next time I’ll bring a real shelter and a bit more insulation to make the experience a bit more tolerable if needed.

  3. Two more useful hint, possibly: have a catch line that you can find and get too, if you get quite seriously lost. And, when aiming for some feature/place, deliberately aim to either side of where you want to go on a catch line that will take you to that place because you’ll almost certainly get off track somewhat and then you’ll at least know which way you have to follow the catch line when you get there. E.g. aiming for a hut on the river, aim deliberately somewhat to the right, so even if you’re off track a bit and hit the river, you’ll know that you’ll have to follow the river to the left to get to the hut.
    I second the suggestion of orienteering, although with some reservations, as the orienteering maps tend to be extremely accurate, which is, as you mentioned, not always the case in hiking.

    • Didn’t realize that orienteering maps are more accurate. There was no catch line or hand-rail in this case and finding the canister was difficult because the top was very flat and surrounded by spruce. We finally found it by wandering around since we knew there was no more elevation to climb. But the real issue was getting out and going straight. The interesting or challenging thing about this peak is that the contours are widely spaced and gradual -at least I found that challenging because it removed a good location cue.

      • Chris is correct. Orienteering maps have a very high level of detail. If you follow the map closely and keep yourself located on the map you can get by without a compass. I’m not recommending that but it is possible.

        I ran into a similar problem last year when I decided to bushwack back to the road from a trail in an unfamiliar area. The road was impossible to miss but I turned the wrong way at the road and walked three miles the wrong way. Had I checked the map and oriented it when I hit the road I would have been fine. I wound up doubting my compass and map.

        I finally made it back to my car tired and humbled.

        Most people don’t pay much attention to their maps and compasses until after they think they are lost.

  4. Good stuff. I went out for my first bushwhack of the season the other day, with rusty navigation skills and a too-late start in the day, so failing to reach my goal was pretty inevitable. Other mistake made– jumping off the maintained trail too early. It helps to start the bushwhacking part when you have a really good idea of where you are in the first place. Whoops!

    On the other hand, I realized I like bushwhacking a lot because life would get kind of dull if you knew you were going to succeed at everything, right?

    • exactly – this adds a whole new dimension to “all who wander…”

    • Hi,

      I don’t have too much experience in bushwhacking, but from my point of view, the scale of the map you are using is a key factor.

      I live in Switzerland and our maps probably belong to the best in the world. However, if the scale is smaller than 1:25,000, I’ve often found it difficult to find my way, even when I’ve used official hiking routes.

      – Because the contour lines don’t meet the accuracy needed to identify the landscape surrounding you. So you won’t find represented every single elevation you see around in the map or will follow a rut you can’t find in the map, etc.
      – Because some of the paths, trees or other landmarks you see aren’t recorded (correctly) in the map.
      – etc.

      As long as I’ve used a scale of 1:25,000 or bigger, I’ve never got lost so far. Unfortunately, many of our maps for hikers (where the official routes are marked) are in a scale of 1:60,000 and with these maps I often found it difficult to find my way and even lost an hour or two in the worst case because I was looking for a detail in the map which wasn’t printed properly or wasn’t printed at all.

      Another factor is how well you are familiar with the style of a map. I once planned a trip in Norway which would have taken about nine hours in Switzerland according to how the map ‘looked like’, but it took us twelve hours instead. Why? I wasn’t familiar with the style of the map and tended to read the map as if it was a Swiss map.

      If there aren’t any detailed maps available for an area, then it starts to get really tricky. I don’t know how detailed the maps in the States are. In Switzerland, it nearly isn’t possible to get lost, given that there is no fog or any other conditions which change the area in a way you aren’t familiar with.

      Whatever your situation is, I always recommend to make yourself familiar with the style of map(s) available for an area before you hit the trail or even leave it into pristine land. And always take the biggest scale available with you, especially if you are planning to leave the trail! Otherwise, it is really easy to get lost…

      Happy trails / bushwhacking,

      PS If you like, you can get an impression of the official Swiss map here and print out whatever you’d like in several scales: http://map.schweizmobil.ch/?lang=en
      (1:25,000 is the biggest scale available; you can easily change the scale by using your mouse wheel)

      • I fell into this exact trap yesterday. I was trying to hard to match the map to the route approaching the peak, that I didn’t realize that the peak was staring me in the face. We figured it out of course, but paying to much attention to the map and trying to match micro-features to it is a hard habit to break.

      • I would say it in other words: If you map is detailed enough, it shouldn’t be a problem to match micro-features to it. But what I want to say is: you need to make yourself familiar with the amount of details the map pictures and then learn how to use the map in an appropriate way. To match details to the map is very important when using a map, but you must not expect more from the map than it can do for you. So, always try to find out first what kind of map you have: test the map in easy surroundings before you leave the trail and learn to use the map there. That’s the hard thing because you often won’t need the map there. Just do it all the same and get to know your map in safe terrain before you head off the trail.

        I got lost last year when I tried to pass a hill over its left shoulder. The problem was: this hill wasn’t recognizable in the map, the map only depicted the higher hill behind the one I was heading to. But I did only realize this too late because before I was following trails and there didn’t put the map to the test since the paths were so easy to follow. Another aspect is: I was focused too much on the contour lines and neglected to look for the edges of the forest: the map would have shown these quite accurately.

        (The good thing about it is: Thanks to my mistake, I found a place where I guess I could set up the tent should I pass there again.)

  5. Dude, really appreciate this. Thanks!

  6. Great posting, but I would add a #6 to your list – bring and use a GPS receiver loaded with the software for the area where you are hiking. We left the 18th Century a while ago.

    • That would pretty much remove the challenge of bushwhacking for me. The point (for me) is not to bag the peak or take the most direct route, but to use my wits. Different people, different strokes. We were never is any really serious danger – but then again we have a fairly high tolerance for such things. To each his own.

      • …I still haven’t joined the GPS age. Because when the battery goes dead you better be able to use the compass.

        Tree to tree or land feature is definately the most accurate way to get to your point. I have done miles between points, can to can to punch the card with really bad maps. It can be done pretty easily if you stay focussed.

        By the way – what a fantastic article. Great! This gives me a few new ideas for my outdoor skills course to make the compass skills portion better! Thank you!

  7. I have had a good amount of orientation/navigation training and experience.
    I remember reading about experienced hikers going in circles or getting turned around.

    I was doing a 10 day hike in the Catskills region of NY and decided to take a short nap on the side of a trail around noon on a nice day.
    After I woke I continued hiking and after a couple miles noticed that my shadow didn’t look right for the afternoon. I took out my compass and realized(or thought) that now my compass was broken as it was pointing 180 degrees in the wrong direction.

    Since I thought my compass was broken, I thought I’d hike a little more and see if the direction of the sun would change as the trail switched back and forth. Eventually I met some other hikers and asked them which way to a known landmark and when they told me, I realized that I had been backtracking for several miles.

    I just stopped and felt like I was somehow in the twilight zone . This kind of stuff can’t happen to me. I rested and rethought my steps and surmised that I must have gotten turned around when I took the nap.

    It was a very freaky an humbling experience!

    Anyway, I watch my compass more regularly after that experience.

    • I have a friend who always points her hiking poles in the direction of travel when she stops to take a break, to avoid a similar experience. It’s a cute trick.

    • I did something similar at the end of a long day – even went back uphill! It took a bit to realize that I should have been going down and it was fairly steep.

      So I guess this happens to everyone sooner or later.

  8. Wushwacking + a GPS = smart.

  9. This is scary. I’ve never had the problem because I’ve never bushwhacked. After reading this, I shall be very careful, even if I have to bushwhack a tiny distance. I can see how I, too, would tend to follow a path rather than stay on a compass bearing. A helpful post.

  10. Nice write up Philip, a good learning experience and an adventure. Taking an orienteering class is on my list for this year. Map reading is much easier out west where you can actually see, but add in the brush and tree coverage like we have in the east and it’s a whole different game. Glad to know all turned out well

    • Indeed! I was thinking about you last week. I met the CEO (and a Blacksmith) from Wetterlings in Sweden. Do they make good axes and hatchets? She seemed to know her stuff.

  11. I’ve always had a good sense of direction and when I lose my North fix, I get jumpy and nervous. I don’t know if I have an innate sense of North or just stay generally attuned to direction changes and topography since I grew up around maps.

    I did have a recent experience that showed me how easily I can totally lose sense of direction. Over the Thanksgiving break, I took two grandsons backpacking in the Caney Creek Wilderness in Arkansas and we camped one night on top of a mountain in pea soup fog and rain. During the night, I got up to relieve myself, and being the conscientious backpacker I am, I moved a couple hundred feet away to take care of business. When done, I couldn’t find my way back in the foggy, rocky woods. I could only see about twenty or thirty feet and everything looked the same. After stumbling around a while, I climbed a rock to yell for my grandchildren so they could holler back and give me a direction to travel. From the rock, I saw a faint glow in the distance where they had left a light on under the tarp and I made my way back. It was not in the direction I “felt” it should be. Had I been alone, I would have spent the night out because I never would have found the tarp.

    I learned a few lessons from that. I always take a couple sources of light when hiking. If I ever have to leave shelter during the night in like conditions, I’ll leave a light on for homing. I keep a few small plastic clips with reflective tape on them for marking the junction from trail to camp if I decide to watch the sunset from a nearby area. I’ll set a couple of those on my path to the designated lonely tree. Also, if it’s raining, I don’t think I really need to go so far. It’s all going to wash away anyway.

    • Grandpa,
      From my boy scout days forty years ago I have learned that I can easily lose my way back to my tent/tarp after a late night bathroom trip. So I currently use a tiny “Egear” battery lantern which I leave on in my shelter for use as a homing device.

      I love the idea of your friend’s to point the hiking poles in the direction of travel when taking a trail break…simple, effective.

      Also, I have practiced boy scout versions of orienteering and I always fail miserably because of the time pressure. That is why I carry a top map with a UTM grid and a wristwatch gps with UTM readings.

  12. All of these issues are so familiar to me.

    I think of compounding the compass errors as being similar to a golf hole that has a dogleg.

    On one trip, all we had was birch trees to sight one and every time I looked down I was unsure if I was using the correct birch tree when I looked up. Finally I had my hiking partner go out as far he could and still easily talk to each other. I would have him move left or right til he was on the bearing we were trying to hold. Then I moved forward to him. That way both of us you could move without worrying about keeping the bearing.

    The A-Z trail is very easy to cross without realizing it; so it wan’t a very reliable backstop. I would have been worried about ending up in the drainage west of Mt Tom. In a real emergency, the best way out of there might be to follow the drainage south down to Ethan Pond Trail and the North Folk. Can’t cross either of those without realizing it.

    Had you started to consider that you might camp and continue in the morning? did it get to that point?

    Not unknowing exactly where I am is always disconcerting to me. Exciting and scary all at once.

    • The A-Z trail was a little hard to spot once we were standing on it. I think I noticed it first – it was dark of course and snow covered. I had started thinking about camping, but figured we could still try to find or way our for a few more hours. My biggest worry was my wife actually, and what she’d be thinking. Luckily I called her when we got to the Highland center just as she was calling Fish and Game. Nice to know that my emergency contact knows what to do, at least.

  13. I like the hiking pole idea. Once, my brother and I were hiking in the Bob Marshal Wilderness in Montana and decided on a sixteen mile round trip day hike to the Chinese Wall from our campsite, which was already a two day walk from the nearest trail head. We knew we’d get back well after dark and we were camped in the woods a couple hundred feet off trail. We arranged several sets of sticks in the trail as arrows pointing off to our campsite so that we could find it after dark. Of course, heavy snow hit that day and the arrows were under about a foot of white stuff. Fortunately, we’d also hung an LED light in a tree and that glow let us know where camp was.

    • Ive lost my tent in the dark – leaving a light on inside is one way to find it again – but I also like to use reflective guy-lines for this very reason. They really show up when you shine a head torch on them.

  14. When Orientating my map to a known or identified spot on the map I then pay a lot of attention to where the Sun is in relation to my compass heading..For instance, if I am headed North west I know the Sun will be working its way from my right shoulder across my back to my left shoulder.

    On a bearing of 345 deg’s I also note the Sun is at my right at 120 deg’s and so therefore it must move in relation to it’s orbit by slowing rotating to about 270 deg’s at the end of the day..So therefore I make note of where it is on my back..This helps me maintain my heading when going around thick stands of Prickers or dense brush.

    Also in some area’s of Up State New York, the amount of Iron contained in the rocks can throw a compass off a bit. So if the Compass does not look right..I walk about another 100 yards or so and check again and sometimes that makes all difference..I also carry two Compasses..My Dad’s brass pin on Marbles he bought back in the 40’s and my SIVA and occasionally my Boy Scout from the 60’s.

    I make it a general rule not to follow animal trails nor other peoples footprints. If I’m disorientated I sit down and make a cup of my favorite tea and chew on a Biscuit or some Beef Jerky until my mind clears..Never leave a known site for an unknown site…So on occasion I have backtracked to a known…

    Hope that helps you…

    • I’ve heard about bringing two compasses and will start to do that. Does the liquid in them every freeze?We have the same iron issues up here in the Whites, that’s in part because we were willing to believe our compasses were being affected.

  15. Both my Old Boy Scout and my Dad’s old Marbles Compass which pins on your shirt or where ever you want to pin it, are “Free Floating” meaning no liquid! SO freezing is not an issue…

    I just checked the web and you can “Still” buy the same all brass Compass as my Dads after all these years though the “Dial” is more modern than my Dad’s old German Cross type. $16.25..

    And my Old Boy Scout you can find on Ebay every now and then for about $80.00 the last time I saw bid on..Actually I think it is cheaper for the Companys to use a liquid float type verus a true magnetic type and from what I see all the Silvas are water encased….

    I’m not sure if there is any accruacy difference between the two other than that..But Marbles has been making them for a long time…It would be interesting to check that out on my next trip for I have Siva as well..I just have to find a local Mountain with a big iron ore deposit..Mmmm the Red Georgia Clay is loaded with iron…lol’s

    Another method some people have used is keeping track of the wind to a location on their face but the wind is variable in the Mountains, it might work on the Plains and in some Desert areas but not in the forest or Mountains..

  16. I just checked ebay and they have a number of the old red Compasses up for bids right now for less than $25.00..I’d grab one..

  17. Two tips:
    (1) carry a GPS, not to navigate, keep it in your pack and use it just to log your track. I found it VERY instructive and helpful to compare, once back home, where I was with where I thought I was. It also gives you a bailout option if you really end up in the deep you-know-what.
    (2) backtrack your own bushwhack. I’m surprised that you didn’t recognize your own footprints and gait right away. Grampa, who taught me the map & compass bit back home in Switzerland, made sure to chase me back on my own track often enough until I had internalized all my habits and moves, and until I paid attention to the terrain. Thanks to him, I can now follow my own bushwhack trail back without compass and map, in almost any weather and terrain.

  18. I also think it helps to look behind you on a consistent basis.

    This summer I was on southern section on the Shoal Pond trail and had to bactrack cause I could find the trail ahead of me.

    Took me a while to be sure I had found the trail BEHIND me but having a few visusal reference in my head was a big help.

  19. Two person bushwhacking technique:
    One person holds the compass and is stationary, second person advances in the general directions of the desired bearing. Compass person guides the walker by shouting till the latter is on the bearing. That person stops, waits for the compass bearer and then they do the again and again… GPS is my preferred method nowadays, but have used m+ cup for many years in SAR.

    • I’m getting the hang now of something similar – site a point on the bearing in the distance and walk to it. It also helps to ameliorate the effect of micro-detours.

  20. Yeah, I’ve gotten turned around once or twice as well. Usually when I wasn’t paying close attention at the beginning of a long bushwack and hadn’t set up a backstop ahead of time.

    My favorite way to deal with bushwacking is to pay a lot of attention to the rivers and topo before leaving a known point. That way if everything goes south I have a decent idea of where following the drainage will get me. Unfortunately if you need to go up river in an area without defined landmarks it’s just hard.

    If you want to be really paranoid I’ve been able to get within about 2 degrees of accuracy over just under a mile with the following technic. Have one person go out as far as you can see and tell them to move until their headlight is on the correct bearing. Then have them site back to your headlight to confirm. Then you can walk up past them and do the same thing again, but with you being further forward. You can even count your paces if you want an approximate distance. As an trick blinking headlights are easier to see than solid on ones, even in the day time.

    It’s a slow way to travel, and I haven’t used it on a pleasure hike ever, but it works if you want to be really paranoid. (And as I’m reading it it’s pretty similar to what Amir is is saying)

    Mostly I’m a bad person and bushwack in areas I don’t have a map for though, which is a totally different ballgame. Good luck on your next hike.

    • Oh, also being able to find North from the sun and stars can be handy. I was actually on a trip where the compas was reverse magnetized and it was helpful to be able to verify it with something other than intuition. ‘Course that requires good weather ‘specially at night.

    • I like that headlamp trick – good for bushwhacking after dark.

  21. Thanks for this posting. Have been working on the NE HH for a short time and though there are many herd paths out there due to the popularity of “the list,” I am taking nothing for granted in my prep. I can see myself making all these mistakes, but then again, I am a pre-initiate!

    Winter landscape is disorienting, footprints or no, it has been quite easy for me to get off an established trail. Am saving my trailless challenges for long days, warmer weather, bringing both GPS and compass- knowledge of both, and my well established respect for the elements and terrain.

  22. Enjoyed your post. It’s not difficult to lose track of your bearings when you get involved in your surroundings. Another technique you may want to add to the mix is to consciously alternate which direction you go around obstacles in your path. Go left around, then right around the rocks or what-ever is impassable. This tends to keep you a little better on course. When you get stuck on one direction, you can gather a lot of distance off bearing.

  23. I just remembered something else I do when starting a hike that I just do out of habit I guess and need to sit down and actually think out what I do besides orientating the map and the compass and noticing where the Sun is. I also note the general wind direction in the area by studying the Trees branches and towards where they point. In some places the wind is so strong the entire tree points in that direction.. Granted if your traveling large distances the pattern or direction will change and it is up to you to notice the change. So as with the Map and Compass and identifying a prominent land features on a verified compass heading, noticing where the Sun is and then the general wind direction should one get turned around or disorientated one can use all of the above to re-orienatate themselves.

    I was always jealous of now deceased hiking and camping companion of mine “long leg” Paul Taylor who was a graduate of the U.S.Naval Academy who had to learn the Stars and Constellations and how to use an Astrolobe as well as a Map and Compass to locate his latitude and longititude with nothing but the materials at hand. It was great fun to sit beside a hatful of fire on the side of a tall mountain sipping on some JD while snugged down in our goose down bags and bivy sacks as he detailed out to me the contents of the Night sky…He was a great Teacher and thinker and helped develop the Programs for the current Aegis System on Navy ships..Brilliant man…

    Currently eHow has a litte lesson on how to find your Latitude and Longitude using some sticks that I am going to have to study….

  24. me bad, not an Astrolob but a Sextant…sorry

  25. I’ve only really done three backpacking trips in my life. My first, the AT in ’08. My second, the JMT in ’10. My third, a three day, the Eagle Creek Tanner Butte Loop off the Columbia Gorge in Oregon. I learned to use a map and compass decades ago in the service, a half day in class and a half day in the field, but have never touched it since. That said, even on the JMT I had two instances where I ended up hiking the wrong way for some miles and was totally shocked when I finally figured it out, and that was while ON a trail! After reading this article and all the posts (and given my experiences on the JMT), I realize that I truly NEED to make a serious study of orienteering. It is obviously a very critical skill to have and continue to develop, and will add to my safety, enjoyment and success of spending time in the wilds. Thanks to all who shared their stories and tips.

  26. On a trail like the AT with so much of it in the woods, one can be fooled by compass readings which is why the maps are key. While hiking north towards Maine, the trail in many spots actually swings south in very subtle slow turns barely noticeable as one hikes along.

    Bushwacking on a straight line with a compass becomes difficult when fallen trees or thick undergrowth make walking in the know straight line impossible. Trying to count steps one has to take laterally becomes problematical, too, as the terrain might make full strides impossible. For example, how many strides are use if one has to scramble over a fallen tree? This is when a GPS waypoint setting on your destination can really help to get you back on track and also from hiking past your target.

    Do you know how to tell which direction a stream or river is flowing by reading contour lines?
    Just as a contour line crosses the water it will swing up-hill. When does the contour line go straight across the stream? At a water fall where the water falls straight down.

    These details show up well in the 1: 24,000 scale maps.

  27. Around Mt. Washington in NH I would highly recommend Brad Washburn’s map 1: 20,000

  28. Completed a lot of solo bushwhacking. “Confused” a few times. I carry several compasses, you never know when one may actually break, but if two of them are saying the same thing, then quit questioning the gear. I carry bio-degradable tape for backtrack marking, but make sure you can see it looking back. Good outline on your process.

    • I’ve been thinking about how to stay on bearing when walking around small ponds or streams, when you need to cross off bearing for safety reasons. That bio-gradable tape sounds like just the right thing. Where do you get it?

  29. In some area’s, Forests, State Parks, Wildnerness area’s it is illegal to use this tape, so make sure you check with the Authorities before using….In one National Forest I visit between the Hunters, Hikers and Forest Surveyors some area’s look like a Christmas tree with all the tape tied to bushs,trees and even fluttering from Rock out Crops…Same with the “Hunter Tack” which is a thumb tack with a a highly visilble reflective material painted on the top of the Tack…

  30. Two things I do that may help when bushwhacking; I always shoot a bearing of the road my car is on. Say the road travels E-W. Then when/if you get lost you know to just head S(or north depending which way you went.) Just a nice backup plan I like to do. The other thing I was taught in SAR was to periodically look backward when you’re hiking. What this does is give you a mental picture for the return trip so you can recognize features from the other side. The “I’m lost” feeling is no fun. Glad you made it back okay.

  31. One of the things I started doing was wearing a thumb compass while bushwhacking. Always glancing at it to see how well I am holding course. Compensating after I am forced off course. The most important thing I have learned over the years in navigation is to trust my calculations, nav plan and most of all, my compass, never trust my confused instincts. They suck. LOL

  32. Hi, after reading this remarkable piece of writing i am too
    happy to share my know-how here with friends.

  33. Ralph 'Andy' Drollinger

    How did I get on this site?
    Way back when I was in ‘Mountain Rescue’ we made distinctive cuts in the soles of our boots so we knew the searchers from those searching..

    • Cool! I am a much better bushwhacker now – having that experience really upped my whole navigation game. Winter is almost here and I plan to do a lot of bushwhacking!

  34. Footprints can be useful. Just check the patterns.

  35. It happened yesterday! Came upon 4 young men in their late teens and early 20’s who were totally disorientated as to their whereabouts on the Pinhoti Trail. I know this because I heard them arguing about which way to go at 300 yards minimum as I came cross country towards them. I was able to settle them down to listen and brought out my topo map and Compass and asked them a few basic questions as in; Where was the Sun when you parked your car? How long did you hike before making camp? Did you pass a Shelter? How about Water sources? As we calmly talked our way through these questions I showed them spots on the Topographic Map where they had likely been or passed..They had a working GPS unit but the batteries died due to someone forgetting to replace them after the last trip. I asked them if they just kept heading in the same direction and if they did, why not just turn around and go back the way they came..Well, they took a couple of “short cuts” that appeared on the map of the GPS unit and then they “Stealth Camped” and when the unit died, the got turned around…So with the use of map and Compass I got them headed the right way back which just happened to be the same spot where I parked my truck earlier that morning…….Yeah I led them on a bit, but I bet the next time they carry a backup Map and compass…

  36. I didn’t ask them that question, I just assumed they did since nobody asked me what that thing in my hand was as I orientated the map to the North…Old Compass too,.It was my Boy Scout Compass I bought in 1961 and it still is very accurate. I still have most of my Boy Scout gear from the 60’s, the world famous Hatchet, 3 knives, Match Safe, Sharpening Stone, Compass, Pack, Mess Kit, Flint&Steel set, Firebow,Tent, Whistle and Pin On Compass.

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Sunday, June 16, 2013

Microsoft Fix it to Disable Java in Internet Explorer

Java, how we love to hate you!  Many people have uninstalled Java and do not miss it.  That is most likely because they do not have desktop applications that require Java. Unfortunately, that is not the situation for those people who use Java-dependent software programs.

Until recently, Internet Explorer was the only major browser that did not provide a way to disable Java.  The only way to completely disable Java in IE was to disable Java through the Java Control Panel, which meant re-enabling Java when using Java-dependent programs.  That is no longer true!

Microsoft released a Microsoft Fix it solution designed to block all Java web-attack vectors through Internet Explorer.  As explained by Cristian Craioveanu in the below-linked Security Research & Defense Blog article, the Fix it solution is made up of two parts.
  1. The Fix It uses the Windows Application Compatibility Toolkit to change the behavior of Internet Explorer at runtime to prevent Oracle’s Java Web plugins from loading.  As a result, the Java ActiveX dlls are not loaded.
  2. The second part of the Fix it clears the access control list (ACL) in the registry for the Java Network Loading Protocol (JNLP) handler which prevents Internet Explorer from automatically opening  files.

Before installing the Fix it solution, please follow the following suggestions:

1.  Create a restore point

2.  Back up the Registry
3.  Apply the Fix it

Disable the Java web-plugin

Apply Fix it
Restore the Java web-plugin
Uninstall Fix it

4.  Restart Internet Explorer
For the changes to take effect, restart IE.

To undo the changes, run Microsoft Fix it 50995 and restart IE.

The Fix it solution has been tested by Microsoft and will work for all versions of Java from versions 5 and above.  It also works on all supported versions of Internet Explorer, whether 32- or 64-bit.

Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...

1 comment:

Al Imoney said...

Doesntr work at all on 6.15!!

warcinfo:
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2017-17
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for April 2017
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf


text:
Monday, February 06, 2006

A week of fun facts about Jane

b* is doing a "100 facts in 100 days" about herself series. There are not 100 interesting or fun facts about me (and even if there were, they would surely give my real identity away), but I'm intrigued enough by the idea to offer a shorter version here: 7 Fun Facts about Jane in 7 Days. Besides, it's a busy week and my brain is already mush, so at least I'll have something to blog about.

Fun fact #1: I don't know if this is an annoying habit or an endearing habit, but I pick up words and phrases and inflections from other people completely unconsciously, and just as unconsciously they work their way into my everyday speech. So, for instance, I'll start hanging out with someone, and let's say they have a stock phrase or a way of inflecting their words. Within 10-15 minutes, I will find myself--without even trying--speaking with the same inflections and using the same phrase. It's kind of freaky. And sometimes I wonder if people think I am making fun of them, because I can be so dead on.

BrightStar said...

oh! That's a cool fact!

I bet you do totally have 100 interesting things to share... and it's not like mine are so interesting!

ScienceWoman said...

Ooh me too. I pick up phrases in a jiffy. But I can't do an accent to save my life. Can't wait to see what the other six facts are.

Zuska said...

Yo, Jane! I was tickled pink to read this post. I have the same oddity. Mr. Zuska says he knows when I am on the phone with my Iranian friend because my English takes on her accent and grammar.

On the positive side: this is how the English language grows and expands, people picking up usages and new phrases here and there and making them their own, passing them on to others.

I don't know what the accent mimicry does for us, though...maybe it's just a sign we are very attuned to others. I like to think so!

Jane said...

Zuska, maybe this means we are twins separated at birth! :)

b*, I've really been enjoying your 100 facts--they are very interesting!

Anonymous said...

I do this too, I can even mimic laughs which is kinda scary for me :)


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Shearer Step Six - Cable Cable Cable

Three weeks in. (Two weeks actual knitting time) and the back's worked as far as the bottom of the collar and the front to the midst of decreases for the sleeves. A bit behind where I wanted to be by now but nothing I can't make up.
6.0mm needle used on left portion - 5.5 used on right.
I moved to a 6mm from 5.5mm for this front panel to yield a slightly more ample midriff section. I prefer the more closely knitted back but its nonetheless the right thing to do for fit across the front.

The thoughtful bits are now close on the horizon

  • saddle shoulders with short row shaping
  • sorting out collar details
  • knitting and reworking the sleeve charts for a top down approach.

I'd like to try installing the collar before the sleeves (a la Asplund). As My Beloved's suitcase will barely have time to air out between long trips this month I'd prefer to have everything around the collar and shoulders nailed during his next brief "visit" home and then only have to work the sleeves while he's gone.
So I just need to keep on cabling! Every spare moment I have plus a bit later each evening than I'd like and an hour earlier each morning - easier now after the time change!
This yarn is truly glorious and oh so "creamy" (as EZ would say)

I mentioned this project to a non-knitter the other day and within moments I think she was hallucinating with boredom so its really gratifying you've taken the time to drop by! How fun it is to imagine people are following along with me on this.

Number One Son's coming home tonight after submitting a big paper today and no doubt having pulled a couple of recent all nighters. I'm bracing my self to see a gaunt, pale creature and cooking up both a hearty dinner and things for him to take back to school to consume in coming days. Its going to eat into my knitting time tonight but I have to admit I'm looking forward to feeding him!

Happy Knitting everyone!

Acorn to Oak said...

It's gotten tricky to comment on your blog. There was nowhere to click "comment' on the post. I discovered that i needed to close the post and re-open it from the main part of the blog. Then, there was a comment section. I've just clicked "like" recently because it's all I could figure out. :-) I'm interested to see what this looks like when it's all done. It looks like a lot of knitting so I'm thinking it must be a coat or long sweater. That's a lot of intricate cabling. Incredible! Enjoy! :-)

Sandra said...

Lovely stuff! Nothing like cream coloured cables. And I have the same problem with commenting - I can never be the first commenter! I always have to wait for someone else to jump in, then it opens to me...


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Selecta serves the North American market with excellent genetics of vegetative propagated bedding plants and Poinsettias. Selecta distributes rooted cuttings through Root & Sell companies in the United States and Canada. Unrooted cuttings are available exclusively through Ball Seed. We focus on outstanding customer service with a commitment to bringing the highest quality plant material to the commercial grower.

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Selectmqt Website and Webhosting Information

We found that the organization hosting is Linode in Newark, New Jersey, United States.

A more detailed IP address report for is below. At the time you pulled this report, the IP of is and is located in the time zone of America/New_York. The context of is "Selectmqt" and could reflect the theme of the content available on the resource. More IP details of are shown below along with a map location.

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Five Exercises in Five Minutes

Here's a video of a workout you can do at home in less than 5 minutes. These 5 exercises will include:
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(turn your speakers on)

Loading the player ...
Click Here to Get Moving With Mike

You can write down this list of exercises if you want to refer to them in the future:

  • Arms Diagonal Swing - 10 each arm. Warms up the shoulders.
  • Hula Hoops - 10 each way. Warms up the hips and lower back.
  • Diagonal Hip Extension - 10 each leg. Strengthens the glutes and hamstrings.
  • Bent Row - 10 each arm. Strengthens the biceps and upper back muscles.  (One handweight is optional but recommended)
  • Diagonal Lunge and Reach - 10-20 total. Coordination.

Moving With Mike
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Septimus Heap Wiki

Zelda Zenuba Heap

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Zelda Zenuba Heap, also known as Aunt Zelda, is Silas's aunt and great-aunt to all her children. Formerly the keeper of the Dragon Boat, she passes her responsibility down to Marwick (Wolf Boy). She died in the company of her brothers, Benjamin Heap the tree and Theo Heap, the Storm Petrel. [1]

Zelda is of medium build, wears a tent-like patchwork dress, has a shock of flyaway grey hair, a wrinkled smiling face, and the bright blue eyes of a White Witch.

Other Features

It is widely believed that Aunt Zelda has absolutely no sense of taste and cooks dishes mainly consisting of cabbages and eel. The only person (besides Zelda) who can appreciate her cooking is Septimus, who loves her cabbage sandwiches. She has a pet cat called Bert who was turned into a duck so she could enjoy the Marram Marshes. Zelda is often very helpful and does many things for the Heaps. Her house is connected with the palace through the Unstable Potions and Partikular Potions Cupboard that is in both the Queen's Room and Keeper's Cottage. That cupboard also holds the trapdoor that led to the Dragon Boat until the Great Flood, after which it led to the cabbage patch. She's very humble and is an animal lover. The Boggart is a dear friend of hers.

  1. Fyre

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Welcome and thank-you for stopping by my blog. I appreciate you spending your time visiting and would love to hear your comments. I can also stop by and say hi to you.

Vicki xx

Friday, June 3, 2011

Alpaca heaven. Berrima.
We're just visiting but would love to live here.
Leaf  blowers in Canberra, a regular morning sight.
Kristian waiting for the horse.
With mum and Dad, big two.
The Blessing of the Fleet parade
20 cents for a slice of watermelon
Alex, Chantal and I have not long returned from a little tour of the Southern Highlands via a visit to Ulladulla to see daughter and sister Stephanie and grandson and nephew Kristian. It was so good to take leave, no more books and study for the girls, no more routine for me, just free days with no agenda. Delightful.

Like mother, like son.

The days were deliciously crisp, the leaves crunched under foot, the wind rustled in the trees,  the pine cones fell, the wool shops beckoned, the cafes sent out their aromas to lead us in, people smiled, talked, told me their stories, in one shop whilst looking for a toy owl for Kristian the lady owner told of her struggle in life with her son, her father asked her back home to live, on a big property, for over 4 years she struggled to regain all that she'd lost, she learnt to cook, to garden, to care for her son, to rest, now she has bought a shop and is working towards building some cottages for guests where she will cook organically from her garden. She smiled a lot. Another, a waitress, told of selling her restaurant and packing as she and her husband are moving to japan. She is excited to live in an embassy and to ski in Japan. A dream that has come true.
Alpaca warm.

I'm drawn to the cold climates, when the air is fresh and the cheeks are cold, it's there that I can think and process all my thoughts, not when the air is heavy with moisture and hot and the limbs drag. I love to start the day with porridge, to walk in mist and see the moss growing on stones, the houses that are a part of a town through always being there, tumble down walls, sometimes as in Tasmania the old milestones on the side of the road still in roman numerals. I need to feel part of what's gone before me.

Thanks for visiting,
have a lovely day,

Suze said...

I love the photo of Kristian waiting for the horse.

Susan said...

Beautiful to read. You describe everything with such enthusiasm and enjoyment of each moment.
A lovely, relaxing trip by the sound of things :D)

Diana said...

Vickixx, thanks for stopping by and giving me an opportunity to visit and enjoy this journey.

Cooler temps in the Pacific northwest is what I most enjoy... folks can keep the heat and humidity for I always long for a cool breeze and the shade. Have a wonderful weekend.

Mariette said...

Dearest Vicki,

Thanks for your visit and comment. As promised above my comment place; I follow you now.
You are looking forward to cooler days. Our Goddaughter just got back from Queensland, she was on vacation and for the wedding of her best friend. So she lost a friend from The Netherlands to an Australian husband... Quite a distance to go see each other! Our Goddaughter's wedding is early September so we too have to visit another continent... That's life!

Lots of love,

deux chiens et un garcon said...

Dear Vicki

Your notes evoke such warmth and love in your family.

Interesting how you perfer the cold. There is something so comforting about warm cosy houses, intersting clothing that can be worn, people indoors realting to each other.

It is so chilly here today 13 degrees. It was acutally too cold for us to be outside.

christinelaennec said...

What a lovely post. You seem to get the most out of everything you experience - a great talent! I'm with you and Diane on preferring a cooler climate. I'm glad you had such a relaxing time all together.

Karena said...

Vicki such wonderful images and poignant words! Love your site!

Be sure to come & enter my awesome $250 Giveaway from Tracy Porter!!

Art by Karena

Gigi said...

Hi, Karena,

What a wonderful post! I love the stories about the women whose lives are undergoing big changes for the better. And I love your words about cold climates. Here where I live in the Northeastern U.S., it is cold for much of the year, and while winter does tend to hold on for too long, I adore the fall months above all others. I know what you mean about being able to think in such a climate. Now that we're heading into summer here, I know we're in for some hot stretches, and I do rather dread them!

Thanks for sharing your trip! xoxo Gigi

Linda said...

Your description makes me nostalgic for my own country, even tho I'm living here!
What a lovely surprise to see the photo of the pipe band, against that wonderful sky of billowy clouds.

Vicki said...

Hi Suze,
Kristian hung onto that fence for such a long time and the horse slowly meandered over, a nibble of grass every 10 seconds, but the darling didn't give up the wait.

Hi Susan,
I so love being at Steph's place, such a lovely family at the start of their journey, it takes me back.

Hi Diana,
Thank-you. Your garden is divine!

Hi Mariette,
I hope your god daughter enjoyed her visit to Oz. I still can't get over your rose curtins!

Hi Jill,
Your house would be warm whatever the temperature, even if you lived in an igloo!

Hi Christine,
All us cold loving people have to stick together! Here on the gold coast I'm definitely in the minority. When we lived in Noosa it was nothing unusual to see women shopping in bikinis! Noosa is hot!

Thank you Karena, I will!

Hi Gigi,
LOVE your blog, I always leave it feeling refreshed. I have more 'sisters' who like the cold than I had imagined.

Hi Linda,
There were 5 pipe bands! Only posted one photo but they were all so wonderful to listen to and watch. The girls used to belong to one which also taught Highland dancing when we lived in Canberra, they were just going to learn the pipes when we moved...


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Friday, September 4, 2009

"Super-duper secret"

According to the Detroit Free Press, Coach Jim Schwartz will be keeping the identity of the Lions' starting QB for the season opener to himself.

And Larry Lage of the Associated Press has posted an article about the Lions' hope to be ready to win with Matthew at QB. The article includes some interesting quotes from Matthew's family. Check it out. It's a good read.

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Wednesday, 3 July 2013

Bits and peices and new ribbons

I have a lot of loose ends to tie this week.
Clearing out the older stock making way for the new stock is one of them so im having a Summer Sale soon :) keep your eyes peeled for that!

Adding the new patterned buttons and 6mm grosgrain to the shop

Dotting the 'I's and crossing the 'T's for my accountant

Re-taking photos for the website and slowly.......slowly getting them changed and added into there new easier to find category's

Ive added to the Printed/Patterned ribbons section these wider ribbons

You know im a bit bonkers about Owls, how could i resit these!!!! I love them :)

7/8" Give a hoot grosgrain ribbon

1" Spring Flower grosgrain

 1" Lollipop grosgrain

Pink Owls grosgrain

Beautiful new additions to the shop i think...

New 3/8" Chevron ribbon in 6 colours

5/8" Star Grosgrain ribbon

The new ribbons are on there way, cant wait to get the new pink chevron! and having a lack of boy themed ribbons in the shop i think the new ones are perfect.

♥ Thank you for visiting us today at Sew Sweet ♥

1 comment:

Alie de Vrij-Venema said...

Love the owl ribbons!!! :)


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Sunday, May 15, 2011

Opps, I forgot

I am sorry.

I am afraid that I am not a very good blogger. I forget to take pictures of things to post. I also have a hard time trying to decide what people would like to read. I do not want to clutter up my blog with poststhat people find boring.

Anyhow, what I forgot to take pictures of was my costume that I wore yesterday. I attended a costume party with my family and I wore my "Georgian" costume. It is not really historically accurate at all and any historical costuming buff can look at it and tell what is missing and what does not fit right. However, most people think that it is amazing.

However, it is just a costume and  I suppose does not need to be perfect. The biggest accomplishment is the fact that I made the whole outfit for less then $50. That includes my cheater corset, all of the petticoats, the dress, and the hat. So for that price I am not complaining.

But, as I said, I forget to take pictures. I had spent all day doing my hair. I curled and poofed it and added an extension. I did my makeup and then struggled into my dress.

But I forgot to take a single picture. I should have taken my camera along and taken pictures of everyone else in costume also.

I am sorry.

I shall have to have a Georgian picnic later this summer and will have a photo shoot with it. But you have to promise not to be upset with the fact that it is entirely historically inaccurate. One of these days I shall make a historically accurate gown and want to do it with the Watteau back. Sigh... one day.

Anyhow, back to the costume party. It was enjoyable. There was quite a lot of time periods represented. Anywhere from the 12th century to modern science fiction. I won in the homemade category and also took peoples choice. Overall I enjoyed the evening.

Next week I am off to Florida for several weeks. I have a whole bunch of posts prepared that I shall hopefully be finishing and posting while I am there.

I have yet to share my adventures into hat reshaping and pictures from Seussical.

That is a few of the things you have to look forwards to.

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text:
Friday, December 27, 2013

Happy Holidays!!

I got three more stockings done before the big night. I made a total of six this Christmas and I feel pretty good about that. I didn't finish stockings for Jim and I but there is always next year.
These three are for (from left to right) Karl (Buckeye fan), Camilla and Aelyn. I went into my stash to create the ones for the girls. This is a great lesson in hording fabric. I bought these with no project in mind and the girls ended up loving them for stockings. The purple one is an older Heather Ross for Kokka. The funny thing is the princesses are actually upside down. No one, even April noticed my boo boo. The last one is Suzy Ultman fabric. I pieced it to get the most out of it. Aelyn wanted to feature the worm house.

I hope you all had a Merry, Merry Christmas and The Best of the New Year to you. I have a couple big projects lined up for the new year. One is a queen size quilt for our bed and the other is new laptop bags for Jim and I. What are you planning to sew in 2014?

Much love and happy sewing,

Susan Jeffries said...

Those are adorable! I am hoping to perfect my skirt making in 2014 and make a few types of bags. I hope to take the stackable basket class at your shop too!! Susan

Zachary Rizzuto said...

These blogs are valuable because these are providing such informative information for all the people.

Susan Hirst said...

What adorable stockings. With Christmas coming up, I wanted to make some new stockings for my family this year. We recently moved to a new city, so I'm not familiar with any fabric shops in the area. I'm hoping to find one soon.

Susan Hirst |

Amber Johnson said...

These are such adorable stocking for Christmas! I think that I big part of creating cute crafts is having the right materials. When I am sewing, having the perfect fabric makes all the difference! Thanks for sharing your creativity and ideas!

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shakespeareances.comCaricature of Shakespeare

Doctor Faustus

Teaching an Old Marlowe with New Tricks

By Christopher Marlowe
American Shakespeare Center, Blackfriars Playhouse, Staunton, Va.
Saturday, September 6, 2014, C–4&5 (front middle stalls)
Directed by Jim Warren

Mephistopheles with her check pressed against Faustus's temple, her right hand hugging his head, he's sitting at a desk with a book open, a candle, a skull on stacked books, an apple on another stack of books, and vials between the stacks
Andrew Goldwasser as Faustus and Stephanie Holladay Earl as Mephistopheles in Doctor Faustus. Photo by Michael Bailey, American Shakespeare Center.

Talk about a Houdini act. Heck, this show even uses David Copperfield and Doug Henning as its muses—and Lady Gaga, too. The result is that the American Shakespeare Company's Method in Madness Tour troupe not only escapes the chains of Christopher Marlowe's pedantic storytelling, it performs Doctor Faustus with such show-stopping panache and wicked magic tricks that some favor this production over the company's two finely acted Shakespeare titles.

I admit I'm not a big fan of Marlowe. I recognize his invaluable role in the evolution of theater, his pioneering blank verse as a script format, and his influence on William Shakespeare. In fact, you will hear Shakespearian echoes in some of the verses of Doctor Faustus. For example, when Faustus is granted his wish to spend a loving moment with Helen of Troy, after a kiss he says, "Give me my soul again" and kisses her a second time—a line Romeo perhaps recalled when he and Juliet pass his sins back and forth through their first kiss.

Still, with Doctor Faustus, Marlowe is more about showing off his university wit and academic props than he is about constructing engaging plots, creating emotional drama, and presenting multidimensional characters. The title character of Doctor Faustus, gamely played by Andrew Goldwasser, is a profoundly two-dimensional character: he is either driven by his pride to make his deal with the devil to be the greatest scholar and sorcerer on earth, or he is driven by his guilty conscience to fear eternal damnation. He jumps from one dimension to the other, the battle within his soul being carried out like cannon fire over entrenched armies on a stalemated war front. In fact, the play features as characters the Good Angel (Susie Parr) and the Evil Angel (Josh Innerst) who occasionally come on stage to lobby Faustus one way and the other and then exit whereupon Faustus's light bulb of pride goes on in Goldwasser's expression, lighting his way onward to damnation.

The play opens with a long expository soliloquy in which Doctor Faustus tells us why he chooses to follow necromancy over other academic disciplines. This lecture finally yields to the professor negotiating with Mephistopheles and, ultimately, Lucifer over the big deal: Faustus gets 24 years of ultimate power on earth; Lucifer gets Faustus's soul. And what does he do with all this power? He plays stupid practical jokes on people. Really? And what do politicians seek from his powers? They ask him to bring forth ancient heroes like Alexander the Great and Helen in dumb shows. That's it? Too soon his 24 years are up, Faustus faces his final fate, and the moral of the story is played out in graphic detail (Faustus literally descends into hell).

What the play itself lacks in dimension, the actors and the sure-handed direction of ASC Co-founder and Artistic Director Jim Warren make up for in talent and stagecraft. This company, even in its home base of the Blackfriars Playhouse, aims to replicate the staging conditions of Shakespeare's own company. That means no electronics or computers for its special effects. The troupe itself creates creepy sound effects with cellos, percussion, vocals, and other noisemaking devices backstage. Demons are played by members of the troupe (we can't see their faces) covered in tight-fitting, maroon, moth-eaten sheets given form by gesticulation.

When Faustus cuts his arm for the blood that he needs to write out his contract with the devil, people in the audience squirm. When that blood in the bowl erupts in flames, jaws gape. When the tattoo appears on Faustus's arm—and, I swear, that tattoo was not there minutes earlier—I went "whoa!" When Mephistopheles turns herself into Helen of Troy, Stephanie Holladay Earl—in glittery red minidress and black knee-high boots—does a striptease right before our eyes: First she pulls off her long, black, hooded leather cloak, then she unzips her miniskirt to reveal, huh? a floor-length, white Grecian gown. And the manner in which Faustus descends into hell is so magically effective it requires a spoiler alert (for that version of this review, click here).

The acting, though, is no illusion. This is, pound-for-pound, one of the strongest ASC touring troupe companies in years. Goldwasser does most of the heavy lifting in this play, but this is no Volkswagen Beetle he's hoisting: this is a bus carrying a full NFL team with all its equipment, including the weight room. Oh, and it's a marathon of a role, and Goldwasser makes it to the finish line with his character fully intact. Holladay Earl takes a seductive approach to her role as Mephistopheles. OK, her outfit could get many men to trade in a soul for some of that power play action, but she wraps Faustus around her little finger through her slyly doting expressions and gliding moves.

You want scary, look no farther than Lucifer. Patrick Earl exudes confident danger in his glitzy pimp of a Satan. When Faustus, as his eternal damnation is approaching, speaks another long soliloquy regretting his choice to trade in his soul for mastering necromancy, Earl's Lucifer sits on the table behind Goldwasser, watching. The fiery focus of his eyes, his confident expression, his relaxed posture, his very silence make Earl's Lucifer, in turn, so riveting. On this tour, Earl is exemplary in the title role of Hamlet and as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, but acting the hell out of merely sitting there is the height of his craft. I would encourage anybody attending this production to keep an eye on Earl with the caveat that you'll have nightmares after.

Registering many noteworthy performances is Patrick Poole, playing all manner of old men, illusions, and passersby, and his turn as Robin the Clown turns what could be little more than archaic badabooms into truly comic moments shared with Dick (Tim Sailer). The clown scenes have no connection to the Faustus plot; rather, they serve as a thematic counterpoint to the Faustus story. While the academician most desires universal knowledge (Faustus spends a lot of time asking Mephistopheles to describe various realms, knowledge he can't read in books—really?), Robin and Dick use their rudimentary skills with magic to get drunk and seduce women (hello!).

Five demons in their tight sheets bend in various configurations on the wood paneled stage
The demons rehearse for the American Shakespeare Center's touring production of Doctor Faustus. Photo by Jay McClure, American Shakespeare Center.

However, Poole attains the play's highest point on the laugh meter as Gluttony during the presentation of the Seven Deadly Sins to Faustus. The meter's needle quivers in the red zone throughout this scene as, one by one, these characters emerge, each a hilarious hoot in the way they show off their particular characteristics: Sailer as Pride, Ben Gorman as Covetousness, Stephen Brunson as Wrath, Alexandra Leigh as Envy, Josh Innerst as Sloth, and Susie Parr as Lechery. Poole's Gluttony masticates on words as ravenously as he does on the food in his hand: a Twinkie.

Sarah Strange deserves special props in this scene as the production's costume designer, dressing each specter according to his or her specific sin. Except for the visions (historical or supernatural) and the modern clothes of Mephistopheles and Lucifer, Strange dresses the play in late 19th century fashions, with work-a-day clothes for the servants, frock coats and vests for the academics, and military uniforms for the rulers. She is also responsible for two of the show's most effective illusions: Mephistopheles undressing into the fully dressed Helen, and Faustus's descending into hell.

This troupe is not only rich in thespian talent and illusionist skills, it is a dynamite musical act. For all three of the company's plays on this tour, make sure you get in a half-hour before showtime, when the preshow concert starts, and stick around through the intermission. These guys do Shakespeare right, and make Marlowe good, too; yet I have no qualms saying that their musical performances rival the theatrical performances, even in the Shakespeare plays. For Doctor Faustus, they rock out (all acoustic, but still rocking) with AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" and prompt a sing-along with Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky." And if not for Gluttony's gluttony, the evening's highlight would be the all-male, a-cappella version of Lady Gaga's "The Edge of Glory." Now that is magic.

Eric Minton
September 18, 2014

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Saturday, 15 September 2012

A great way to spend a sunny autumn day is by running with more than a hundred others in the woods, wouldn't you agree? Not that I got to see much of my surroundings while I tried to avoid breaking my leg on the uneven, stone-littered terrain between Skellefteå and Skelleftehamn.

Kraftjoggen is a 20 km race that was organised for the first time this year. The idea is that, together with its sister races Krafttrampen (mountain bike) and Kraftloppet (Nordic skiing), it will give people the opportunity of doing a ”classic” (similar to Svensk Klassiker, for which you have to complete 4 races in 4 different sports within a year to qualify). It was a well-organised event that I'm sure I'll participate in again.

Around 150 runners gathered behind the starting line. Fifty meters later we encountered the first and worst hill of the whole race. Those who had warmed up before the race had nothing to worry about. Despite my vigorous 1 minute warm-up, I still managed to get some lactic acid dangerously close to my thigh muscles. Thankfully it was all downhill from there. Or at least flat. With some very gentle slopes to break the monotony. An easy course.

Or so I thought, until we hit the first real terrain bit. Upwards the single track went, and my steps got shorter, as my eyes worked overtime to spot all stones that threatened to cause me to twist my ankle and my brain tried to figure out the route promising the least risk for injury. I've said it before: VFF are not ideal for terrain. My KSO are not good on slippery surfaces. But I wouldn't change them for the world.

An old photo, because I didn't take any during the race, but very similar surroundings

I took a short walking break after 10 km, not because my knee complained but because I thought it to be the wise thing to do. It disrupted my flow, but luckily it coincided with the beginning of an easy part of the race on tarmac, so I was able to pick up some speed again soon and even run past some of the others. To think that I was worried before the race that I'd end up being last; that my knee wouldn't hold, or that my strength would betray me. Coming back from an injury that caused me to take it easy for 6 months meant that the only thing I had dared hope for was to complete the race, but here I was, running strong.

People had come out to see us run, and they were enthusiastic in their support, lifting our spirits. Before I knew it, there were only a couple of kilometres left, and my fear that I would run out of steam never came true. Instead I increased my speed a little more and passed a couple of runners. I felt great. I was running fast, by my standards, but it never felt so hard that I couldn't keep it up. I was in control. As I ran past the finish line, I raised my hands to thank the volunteers that cheered me on.

Do I dare say it? Do I dare say that I'm finally back and running longer distances?

  1. Bra ide med en motsvarighet till Klassikern.. Det är ju så sjukt populärt nu! Ska du köra?

    Helt fantastiskt att du är uppe i långdistans på riktigt igen, för det tycker jag verkligen att du kan kosta på dig att våga säga!:)

  2. Lisa: nej, jag tror inte det. Jag är ingen skidåkare, har bara åkt ett par gånger i mitt liv. Men jag kanske hinner lära mig? Vi får se hur motiverad jag är i vinter :)
    Tack tjejer! Långdistans lockar mer än nånsin just nu...


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2016 dramedy

Rating: 13/20

Plot: A glimpse at the lives of four owners of the titular wiener-dog.

I generally have mixed feelings about Todd Solondz, and he's as divisive as any filmmaker working today. His ability to show the plastic underbelly of society feels a little tired, but I think this anthology of shorts tied together by this wiener-dog works just fine. There are moments that are funny enough although I'm not sure any of it resonates emotionally. At first, it just didn't feel cohesive enough with its themes or the narrative, but it does sort of take you through the four seasons of a life with youth, young adulthood, middle age, and old age. It all almost works, but like all of Solondz's other work, there's just something distasteful about the whole thing. And not distasteful in a good way.

Welcome to the Dollhouse fans should be aware that Dawn is one of the characters in this.

The dog was really good, by the way. Much better than Keaton Nigel Cooke, the young fellow who plays the kid in the first chapters of this.

No comments:


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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Don't bother watching Obama's Speech

Watch Benjamin Netanyahu’s epic speech before Congress again.

Highlights from Business Insider let you avoid the applause.

1 comment:

  1. Mr. Netanyahu’s speech was right on. It is really sad someone has to travel as far as he did to give Obama a lesson in history and logistics.


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Monday, June 2, 2014

Seventh Generation

Hooray for clean clothes and clean dishes without toxic chemicals. Thanks Smiley360 for my free samples of laundry and dish detergent. We loved the Seventh Generation products and will be making the switch!

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My car needed a scent overhaul after carting boys from here to there. Thankfully, Smiley360 sent me free samples of PERK Ventwrap Air Fresheners. It was easy peasey to just open the package and stick it right on my vent. It was convenient and not even noticeable. My car smelled much better and I could drive regular, non-smelly boys in my car without worries. Haha! Go try yours!

PERK® Vent Wrap Auto Air Fresheners

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

OxiClean(TM) 2in1 Stain Fighter Liquid

I received a free OxiClean 2in1 Stainfighter. We use it in every load! Go get yours! Thanks Smiley360!

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Sunday, May 26, 2013

Children's Mucinex® Multi-Symptom Cold Friends' Mission

Children's Mucinex® Multi-Symptom Cold Friends' Mission: Enter 4 a chance to win a $200 gift card from Smiley360 by taking a short survey *Thanks for the  free sample courtesy of Smiley360.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Children's Mucinex® Multi-Symptom Cold

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Saturday, September 15, 2012

Woolite® COMPLETE Friends Mission

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Saturday, August 25, 2012

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Monday, July 23, 2012

ARM & HAMMER Sensitive Toothpaste Friends Mission

ARM & HAMMER Sensitive Toothpaste Friends Mission: Take this short survey from Smiley360 and enter for a chance 2 win a $200 gift card! Take the survey at *Please remember the FTC requires you to mention that you received a free sample courtesy of Smiley360 when sharing.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The Beach

So every year for vacation we go to an Amusement Park, usually Holiday World. We LOVE it there. This year, Sam said he wanted to do something different. Really he wanted to go see the Rockies, but $ and time don't let that happen. :( So I did a little searching, but decided we would just do Holiday World. We all like that, it is cheap and close, and the kids would be fine with that.

Then one day, Avery mentioned the beach. I hate the beach. LOL. I hate all the sand, I hate the salt water, I hate sharks, jellyfish, and things I can't see in the water. Yeah, I really don't like it. In fact after we got married, we went to the Bahamas with crystal clear, beautiful water. I didn't like it. We went to Florida next to Destin, a vacation hot spot. I didn't like it. In fact, I spent all of my time in the pool, looking at the ocean, rather than IN the ocean. I don't like it. Oddly enough, I looked into it anyway. Turns out we actually have a beach less than 10 hours away, 7 hours in fact! Then I started looking at hotels. Then I realized we have dogs now, and what in the world would I do with them for several days??!! Zia would die if I left her, I'm positive. :) So then I started looking at houses. Houses on the beach. Houses on the beach that were pet-friendly. Then I looked at prices, and really it wasn't that much more than a normal hotel at Holiday World, we could bring the dogs, the beach is free, etc. So I found the perfect house. It was right on the bay, it had a screened in porch for the dogs for when we had to go somewhere, it was so pretty, and the price wasn't bad. Then I looked at the availability. No go. So I looked at several more houses. Then more. Then more. I probably looked at over 100 houses. Very few had available dates. AJ had only told me 3 weeks before that he could take off a certain week. So then I went ahead and I emailed all of those houses, even though they all said booked. What do ya know?! The house I really wanted emailed me back and said it was available, but that she usually only rents by the week, and we only wanted 4 days. :( She said if she hadn't rented it out by the next week, then we could have it. Well, you know me, I am a planner, and that didn't work for me. So I kindly asked her if she would please reconsider. She called me and said we sound like her kind of people, and rented it to us anyway. WOOHOO! So then I got excited, even though it was a vacation to the dreaded beach. Maybe my tastes had changed since the last time I was at the beach. Ha! Yeah, right! My tastes NEVER change, as known by my pickiness about food. :)

Anyway, the kids COULD NOT WAIT. They talked about it every single day. I was worried about it. Remember, I hate all things beach related. Then I accidentally read about Rip Tides, then I hated it even more. Then I worried about some tropical storm coming while we were there. Then I worried more about sharks. Then I worried about Avery. He can swim, but good enough for the ocean? Ugh, I don't like oceans. Then I worried about the dogs. What if they threw up on the long car ride, or pooped in the car, or peed in the house, or chewed up something while we were gone? Ugh. I wanted to change my mind. Thankfully, I couldn't. The kids would have killed me!

Finally, it was time to go. We piled in the car and took our first long trip. The most we've ever traveled was 4 hours with kids. This would be double that with kids and dogs. I had plenty of things to do for them. They didn't use any of it. The dogs stayed on my lap the ENTIRE ride. Getting off for maybe 2 minutes every once in a while. Awww, my doggies love me. They did excellent. They went to the bathroom when we stopped. They didn't get sick. They just slept on me. The kids did well too. :)

We finally got to Gulf Shores. We kept expecting to see the ocean, but nope, just lots of businesses. Then we started seeing palm trees, still no ocean. Where was the darn ocean? We finally got to the road our house was on. We were driving out onto a peninsula called Fort Morgan. Finally, to the left, the GPS told us there was ocean. We still couldn't see. There were soooo many trees! Alabama is so green! Then suddenly, the GPS said there was ocean to the left too. Still too many trees. Finally Sam saw a flash of blue. Then Avery. Then finally, we could see it. We were surrounded on both sides. Yea! We found the drive to our house. It was like driving down a long, winding, tree-lined driveway to an old southern mansion.
It was really getting exciting now! Then we saw the house with the screened in porch. Then we saw the front yard. The front yard that just happened to be the ocean!
Imagine the kids' excitement then!

We loved the house. It was just like described. It was perfect for us. Yippee! We brought everything in and then went exploring. By this time it was almost dark. We drove a little down the road and then found public beach access. We parked and got everyone out. Some people were walking towards us and said to watch out for alligators. I thought they were kidding. They weren't! There was a marshy area before you got to the actual beach. The walk-way was actually through the marsh. We could see a couple alligator heads sticking up out of the water! Ahhhh! We kept the dogs far away from those tall grasses. Although we did watch a dumb family give their kid a flashlight and let him run ahead, THROUGH the tall grass, all the way to the water where the alligators were. Are you kidding me?! We went on by that really quickly and got to the water. Zia LOVED it. She was running and exploring. It was cute. Apollo was ok, but more subdued. The kids loved it as well. Finally, it got just about all the way dark, and I wanted to hurry back through that marsh before we couldn't see a thing. We left there and found another beach on the other side. No swampy marsh here. AJ pulled into a little turn off so we could watch the waves in teh dark. As he was pulling in, I thought about saying that driving into the sand was a bad idea, but I didn't. He knew what he was doing, right? Then he started to turn to go back out. Again, I thought about saying to be careful so we don't get stuck. I didn't. We got stuck. He tried to get us out, only making it worse! We were REALLY stuck! The front wheels were completely buried! Grreeeaaattt. He had no idea you couldn't drive in sand! What! I knew something he didn't and it was actually common sense to me?! I never have common sense like that! LOL. Thankfully, several people came over to help. They got us out with the help of a tow cable and a big truck. LOL. AJ makes fun of me for A LOT of things, but it's finally MY turn! Hehehe!

We went back to the house, relaxed and were ready for the next day. I expected the kids to get up really early. They didn't! I was the first one up! That also never happens! LOL. They didn't get up until after 10:00! We finally got to the beach. It takes a super long time to get all set up! We had a little "kiddie" ocean right next to our set up, so the dogs could run, play, and cool off when they needed to. Zia loved it. Apollo, not so much. He mostly laid on the blanket watching everything. Zia was up, running, jumping, and playing. She was soooo dirty and gross! :) I went in the water for a minute. Nope, still don't like the ocean. Thankfully, I do like the sun and I do like to read. I NEVER get to read any more, so that was a nice treat. I just chose not to really watch the kids because it freaked me out. I prefer to be oblivious to them being eaten by sharks or pulled out into a rip tide. :) The beach was perfect though. There was hardly anyone there, it was really quiet, and pretty of course. We stayed most of the day. We also used 3 cans of sunscreen!

The next 2 days were more of the same. We got up, went to the beach, stayed until dinner time, then went home. We didn't do anything else! It was nice though. relaxing. The kids had fun. Apollo hated it. Every day, when we were getting ready to go, he looked so sad. He wouldn't come. We had to pick him up and carry him to the car. LOL. Poor, traumatized doggy.

Let's talk about a traumatized doggy! AS I said, our house was right on the bay. There was a dock. Avery was DYING to go fishing. He had caught his first fish the week before at Cub Scout Camp. So AJ finally took them out there on our 2nd night. I stayed on the porch taking beautiful pictures of the sunset. I don't want to hurt poor defenseless animals, even fish. Again, I wanted to be oblivious. :) Sam came back to the house to get his glasses. He found them and went running back to the dock because Avery had just caught a fish. Well, Zia got excited with all the yelling and Sam running. So she went chasing him. Then decided to take a short cut. The short cut, just happened to be THROUGH the ocean!!!! She jumped right off into the big, deep, scary ocean! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I was yelling because I didn't know if AJ saw her and I was far away. I couldn't see what was happening with her. I was running, Sam turned around and was running, then Avery and AJ were running. I was freaking out. She's my baby and I couldn't see her! Sam got to the edge of the dock and jumped right in after her!!! Then I was scared for Sam too! Well, he didn't go under! I finally got to the edge, and there was Zia swimming like a champ. Soaking wet and looking scared to death. Sam said, I think I just hurt my legs. I then realized that it wasn't deep at all. AJ was yelling because Sam had just jumped into water where he couldn't see the bottom. I was trying to figure out what in the world was going on. Apparently, the neighbor had a sectioned off piece of ocean that had crabs and lobsters in it, and that just happened to be what Zia had jumped into. It was only like 2 feet deep. So Sam had just jumped off a really tall dock into 2 feet of crab infested water! He was hurt, but he managed to get Zia. She climber right up his back and sat on his shoulder. Poor doggy. He managed to get over to a little ladder and got out. We all know Sam's propensity for breaking bones, so I was sure he had probably just broken at least one bone, BUT he had just SAVED our poor, little doggy! Without even thinking about it! He just jumped right in to the unknown to rescue his dog. I was so proud of him, even though it wasn't the smartest thing he could have done. He really is my hero. He managed to walk with me back to the house. He ALWAYS can walk on his broken bones though and adrenaline was definitely coursing through his body, so I was still worried. We got back and he sat on the couch and started crying! He thought he was so dumb for doing that, plus AJ was yelling at him for doing that because he was scared, etc. I told him he was not dumb. He saved his dog and most people wouldn't have even considered jumping in to save a dog. I asked if he would do it again, and he said yes. Definitely a hero. He's 11 and did something so scary to help someone he loved. I am still so proud of him. Thankfully, a lot of things went right. The water was super calm (which is why Zia jumped in, you could barely see a ripple, she just thought it was land)not crashing into the rocks, he jumped into shallow water so at least he could get out, the crabs and lobsters didn't pinch either of them, Zia was ok, and so was Sam. It was definitely a scary thing though. So many things could have gone wrong, but he did the right thing, and everyone was protected. Craziness!

Whew! That was traumatic for all of us. We still can't believe it happened.

We left just in time. Tropical Storm Debby was moving in on our last night. When I got up to take the dogs out the next morning, I couldn't believe the change. The wind was insane. The water was SOOO choppy and was so high. I checked the beach weather and they advised staying off the beaches. The waves were 7 feet high and their was a high probability for life-threatening rip tides, etc. We packed up the car and left for our long drive back home. The dogs sat on me the whole way back as well. The kids still did good, and we all made it back in one piece without any broken bones. Now THAT is a miracle! LOL.

Wow, what a long blog. I am sure I forgot things, but I wanted to get most of it written down because this is how I keep our family journal. So if you read this much, good for you!

I did manage to take some family pictures at the beach. They didn't turn out as well as I would have liked, but man, is it hard to take your own family pictures, by yourself. LOL> You should have seen me. I would get the camera all set up, turn on the timer, and then RUN to get in the picture. I would get there just in time to smile, then I would RUN back and see if I got it, etc. Avery couldn't stand taking pictures. Everyone was hot, and it was not fun. SO I was trying so hard to hurry, so yeah, not so great, but good enough. :) We haven't had family pictures since 2008 so it was time for some new ones. I guess it was worth all that hard, hot work. It ruined my hair though. :)

I will post a few pictures here, but they are all on Facebook if you want to look.

These next few are the sunset pictures I took before the Zia fiasco. I wasn't running all over the place for these, so they are actually good. :)

Here are some family pics.

And here are some funny ones where we tried to get the dogs in. Now imagine me setting up the camera, pushing click, running to get in place, picking up a dog, sitting down, just in time for the click. Now that was funny.

Now finally, some beach pictures.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Children's Advil Friends Mission

Children's Advil Friends Mission: Take this short survey from Smiley360 and enter 4 a chance 2 win a $200 gift card! Take the survey at *Please remember the FTC requires you to mention that you received a free sample courtesy of Smiley360 when sharing.