My friends, Kay & Stephen, at whose home I rolf when I am here in Tulsa, have been hiking in the mountains of Colorado for the past couple of weeks. Stephen has been posting videos of their adventure from time to time and I have enjoyed seeing them, especially the one from yesterday.

Stephen and Kay have what you might call different styles of hiking. Stephen is the Master of the Saunter and he stops to photograph, or, just admire, the scenery surrounding them. For Kay, hiking is more like a Marine Corps forced march and she blasts forward, charging full-out up that trail, like she’s delivering a satchel for the Pony Express, or she’s got a pocketful of plutonium she’s got to unload before it burns her leg off. From the video Stephen posted yesterday, what we see is the back side of Kay 50 yards ahead and we hear him muttering about the beauty of the mountains and the spectacular view of the canyon below. Occasionally, Kay looks back over her shoulder to make sure Stephen is still there, that he hasn’t been clawed and chewed up by a bear, nor has he slipped off into the canyon and river below. Whenever she looks back to check on him, we hear Stephen, in that wonderful British accent of his, shout out, “CARRY ON, McDUFF!” It is comforting to me in an odd way. I am not entirely positive of just what that means, but I assume it’s from a movie or book I’ve not seen or read. Still, I understand it and it makes me smile.