Travel encountersWalking holidaysContinuing our series about memorable encounters, we hear the story of the fire watchman of Desolation Peak in Washington State A few years ago, I travelled to the Cascade mountains of Washington state to research fire lookouts – crow’s nests for smoke spotters to raise the alarm in case of forest fires. My goal was Desolation Peak, the cabin where rookie vedette Jack Kerouac spent 63 eventful days in the summer of 1956.

Aaron Rodgers This article is more than 1 month oldAaron Rodgers will return in 2024 with New York Jets out of playoff huntThis article is more than 1 month oldJets quarterback tore his Achilles in week oneThe 40-year-old says he wants to play for two more yearsAaron Rodgers’ quest to make an improbable return this season for the New York Jets appears over. The 40-year-old quarterback said during his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday he’s not yet 100% healthy in his recovery from a torn left Achilles tendon and is still a few weeks away.

Women This article is more than 4 years oldAnd the least feminist nation in the world is... Denmark?This article is more than 4 years oldA poll of more than 25,000 people in 23 major countries found that just one in six Danes consider themselves a feminist It is one of the best places in the world to be a woman, with a narrow gender pay gap, equal employment rights, universal nursery care, and some of the happiest female retirees on the planet.

JazzObituaryJake Hanna obituaryJazz drummer with a zest for performanceNot many jazz drummers are able to perform equally well in big bands, small groups and with vocalists. Jake Hanna, who has died aged 78, could do all these things, whether working with Woody Herman's powerful orchestra or providing lift and swing for piano trios led by Marian McPartland and Toshiko Akiyoshi or backing singers including Rosemary Clooney and Bing Crosby. Hanna zigzagged between orchestral and television jobs, taking in a rich variety of recording and combo work along the way.

Book clubJo NesbøThe third novel in Jo Nesbø's Harry Hole series finds the detective playing catchup with the readerOnce upon a time, you could rely on a fictional detective to return the world to intelligibility. He or she explained everything in the book that had perplexed the reader. Detective fiction presented us with unconnected events and gave us someone who could turn them into a coherent narrative. Many writers within the genre have wanted to undermine this reassurance without abandoning the closure that has always been part of the contract with the reader.