PODCAST

High Country Commentary

Narrated by Kara Lea Kennedy

Articles, essays, reviews, and views from the High Country. timberlineletter.substack.com

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4:15

Concealed

High Country Commentary ·

2025/11/20

By the time the revelers picked themselves up from the sidewalk, we had already taken inventory. The bar at the end of our tiny dead-end street had scored again. Each Saturday night, its patrons made it just far enough to collapse in front of our house—a weekend ritual we came to expect.By Sunday morning, the evidence of revelry was gone. In its place, a different crowd flowed onto the sidewalk—a procession of Spazierengehen—families strolling along the Rhine River embankment while barges churned

3:43

Wisdom From Above

High Country Commentary ·

2025/10/30

A friend of mine swears he once got so lost on back roads that his GPS announced, “You have arrived at a point beyond all knowledge.”I often think of that line when I consider the eruption of disasters around the world. I sometimes wonder if we’re losing the ability to solve, navigate, or even understand crises. Have we arrived at that place beyond knowledge? Is that why anger and warfare seem to just hang in the air like smoke in a saloon?Maybe we need to pause, take a deep breath, and rethink the

5:08

Fitting In

High Country Commentary ·

2025/10/23

I am not like my mother—she prayed for everything. She prayed for friends, for waiters, and for the food they brought us. For refrigerators. For roadkill.She even prayed for parking places. When a car finally budged from its space as we circled like vultures seeking carrion, she would beam, “See? He cares!”My prayers are more modest. I might seek divine intervention for a missing sock, a cell phone, or a shopping list gone astray in the grocery store. When I was young, I prayed for my pets—right up

5:09

Home Makers

High Country Commentary ·

2025/10/16

My husband, David, and I had just finished dinner when he mentioned he was driving to the train station in Hachinohe that night, a one-hour trip from our base in Misawa, Japan. He was the sponsor of a new family.The color drained from my face.As a sponsor, it was our responsibility to make sure incoming families had their immediate needs taken care of as they faced the fog of jetlag. Throwing this on me within hours of their arrival was impossible—the commissary was closed. I frantically packed a

5:47

Things That Hide in Plain Sight

High Country Commentary ·

2025/10/09

In June 1944, US Navy pilot Dale Dieterich flew his Grumman Hellcat F6F fighter over plowed fields in France. As he headed back to his aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean, those fields whispered to his own Kansas farm roots.Scanning one field, he “noticed there were trees planted in the center of it. His Kansas background told him there was something wrong with the picture because the plow lines went right through the trees and not, as in Kansas, around them. When he dipped down and gave the trees

6:01

Curtain Call

High Country Commentary ·

2025/10/02

In sleep, Dad might wander a path, inhaling the fragrance of pine trees, or he might revisit familiar, cozy places he held dear. But now he was aging, and naps brought confusion instead of release. His body faltered, and he grew irritable. A uniformed nurse at the assisted-living facility stepped in to give him medication, easing his agitation. As his mind relaxed, so did his muscles. Soon, his lungs would forget to expand; finally, his heart would forget to beat.We were still on our way to see him

3:09

Ascend

High Country Commentary ·

2025/09/18

Written By: John SommersNarrated By: Kara Lea KennedySeveral years ago, while working in Dallas, I had to fly down to Austin to meet with a customer. Since Southwest Airlines had a BOGO (buying one ticket would get a companion flight for free), I decided to take Jared, my five-year-old son.We drove to DFW airport under a nasty, rainy, and very dark sky. Traffic was backed up, and all drivers seemed to be hunched over their steering wheel, muttering and snarling at the surrounding drivers. We

5:01

Eyes of the Heart

High Country Commentary ·

2025/09/11

In Eyes of the Heart, a book about “contemplative photography,” author Christine Paintner calls readers to take the time to really see their world. As she writes, “I take my camera out into the world, and it invites me to slow down and linger over these moments of beauty. It opens me to wonder and delight.“Slow down enough to see what is around you, notice the details of things—the many shades of flowers, the texture of tree bark, architectural details on houses, and even the patterns on manhole

4:23

Things Change

High Country Commentary ·

2025/08/28

Several years ago, while attending flight school in the Air Force, my husband, David, was taught to “deal with the big rocks first.” If it’s big, close, and urgent, it needs to be addressed before considering the pebbles on the beach. This makes sense when you’re traveling at Mach speeds, but living an everyday life that way induces whack-a-mole anxiety. A solid vision and coherent plans sustain us in the ever-changing landscape of life. We can set our sights on something permanent—a faraway

4:23

Things Change

High Country Commentary ·

2025/08/28

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4:41

Letting Tiger Go

High Country Commentary ·

2025/08/21

Our white cat, Tiger, came to us in 2006 when his previous owner dropped him at our house. Joanne and I instantly saw that the man was abusive. When he opened the cage, Tiger ran fast and far. We later found him crouched and trembling behind the dryer.It took a long time to win his heart; he was so fearful. But over time, he gradually warmed to us. I think he finally realized we would not injure him. In time, he became more vocal, and his personality opened like a flower. He learned to express his

6:40

A Voice in the Night

High Country Commentary ·

2025/07/17

Written By: Craig DahlbergNarrated By: Kara Lea KennedyI stood before a small door, hinged within a massive one—both built from gnarled timber. For centuries, the large door had opened to horse-drawn wagons, heavy with farm tools, fresh vegetables, and weary laborers.The smaller door groaned as I leaned into it, inching it open.Inside the cavernous, windowless entry to the farmhouse, I blinked against the darkness. A single, bare bulb hung overhead, its dim light barely breaking the gloom.I’d spent

5:07

Boundaries

High Country Commentary ·

2025/07/10

After firing too many personal questions at me, the hospital’s admitting rep asked, “Do you have an Advanced Medical Directive?” When I nodded my affirmation, she barked, “We’re gonna need that.”I love medical science and personnel. But throughout the medical processes of that day, I felt like I was in an auto body shop; people who did not know or care about me banged, slammed, jerked, and hammered my heart into compliance with their needs and preferences.Since that day, I’ve watched our cultural

4:20

Words of Life

High Country Commentary ·

2025/06/26

Our one-week trip was coming to an end. We had spent four magical days in a Bulgarian orphanage, loving and playing with the child we would one day call our son. As our week ended, a pit in my stomach and lump in my throat would not go away.The adoption process requires the parents to come for a week, meet their child and sign papers stating their desire to adopt this child. You return home and wait for the results of a process you cannot control. The wait time can vary, but three months—a full

4:43

Is the Universe a Friendly Place?

High Country Commentary ·

2025/06/12

Written By: Ed ChinnNarrated By: Kara Lea KennedyIn August 1996, 10-year-old Taylor Touchstone went swimming with his family in a creek in the Florida panhandle. Minutes later, the moderately autistic boy, known for having no sense of fear, vanished. His family members reacted immediately; they knew the creek emptied into a vast and dangerous swamp.A massive search quickly formed. Boats and helicopters with high-tech tracking systems, and more than 200 volunteers, covered the area. Everyone felt

4:21

Precious Years

High Country Commentary ·

2025/06/05

A brother and sister, our children’s playmates, were a matched set—like miniature chess pieces—completely out of scale with other children their age. They were aging at a furious pace.Their paper-thin skin stretched over their fragile frames. Tripping over a garden hose could be dangerous. A misdirected softball might shatter their brittle bones.They both suffered from progeria, a rare genetic disorder that occurs in just one out of every four million births. Progeria brings stunted growth, abnormal

5:27

Fail. Fail Big.

High Country Commentary ·

2025/05/22

Written and Narrated By: Kara Lea KennedyI blinked at those instructions on the paper, now trembling in my hands. I thought this new improv class had begun in my favor when the director passed around a worksheet. Yes, step-by-step instructions, I can do. Written words? Fantastic. The smell of paper, I think, quickens my pulse and releases my endorphins. But when my rule-following, people-pleasing-self saw those words, FAIL. FAIL BIG, boldly printed in all caps, my confidence crumbled.The “Safety

5:28

Offramps

High Country Commentary ·

2025/05/15

Both sides had presented compelling arguments. Then, we were bussed to the accident site to examine the gasoline tanker truck’s black tire marks — long, abstract streaks of rubber distorted across the concrete, and a chaotic map of the truck’s doomed path. The twisted metal had shrieked against the concrete guardrail, and the explosion that followed had incinerated the truck.The judge had commissioned the jury to untangle another mess: what caused the horrific accident, and who was at fault? The

4:38

A Separate Country

High Country Commentary ·

2025/05/08

Written by: Ed ChinnNarrated by: Kara Lea KennedyWashington, DC, summer of 1994. From the muggy blanket of city heat, sounds, and odors, I stepped into a new and magical cocoon of coffee aroma, cool air, muted greens and charcoals, and Sinatra crooning “In the Wee Small Hours.”They called the place “Starbucks.”It was more than a coffee shop. I had surely slipped through a hidden door in the cosmos, passing from mess and madness into peace and protection.One day, I noticed the 23rd Psalm reads like

3:59

The Holy Moment of Release

High Country Commentary ·

2025/05/01

I was sitting in a session of occupational therapy, watching the therapist patiently yet persistently coach my son, Caleb.“Release.”The room was small. The air was thick. I was intent, watching Caleb’s face. He was even more focused. He stared at the toy car he had grasped moments before, willing his fingers to open and release the object. Naturally, Caleb wanted the easy way out. He wanted to use his right hand to pry it from his left hand. It was a painstaking moment.The therapist’s calm voice

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High Country Commentary

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