Thursday, July 29, 2010

i live....

Bison sprinkles and cloud shadows.
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Inverted spiral jetty?
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Alright. Get ready to be robbed of inhalations...........
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I think I've probably mentioned something similar to this. But I don't remember. So I'm going to do it again. Everytime I go out I keep getting reminded of this idea. I look at the mountains around me and what surrounds ME. and I think about how I'm exploring these different areas and crevasses that dont seem to exist to me until I'm there. I think of it in a zoomed out vision as myself as a tiny dot amongst this huge landscape. But then I look at things smaller than me...like the tree bark or the small fallen rocks or a random small stream or puddle and I wonder what it'd be like to be paperclip size and wandering around, in, and between those things.
And also just at how similar the very HUGE textures are compared to the smaller ones. Like this canyon's walls and dried tree sap......... fractals? anyone.

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Tree maps. I was wondering. What if someone traced this guys map and placed it over a map of the area. Would it lead anywhere?

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widdle baby

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Wednesday, July 7, 2010

really sick, but really worth it

GRANITE CANYON

The BEST hike of the summer thus far.
bbbbesssstttttttttt hike.
so good.
so so good.

Let us embark on this journey together. mmmm :)
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I'd like to start zoomed in. yum. And it smeeelllllsss SO great. Doesn't taste too great though.

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web crust.
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This guy is awesome. I've never seen condensation on fungi. It makes me happy. So I realized today while I was working in the gift shop that I call everything a he. "would you like him in a bag?" hmmmmmmmm
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..................:O oooooooooooooooooh yaaaay!!!! Beautiful beautiful beautiful! It reminds me of crusty elbow skin. mm i love it!
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I feel like there's a lot of stuff I want to say about these next pictures.... But it's so much that I don't know how to let it out. I'd rather let them just speak for themselves. Life here is overwhelming. Being so immersed in all of this made me want to really thank someone. It really gets me thinking. I'm always struck with that realization feeling. That feeling when I know that I'm all here and it's all here. Unfortunately though that feeling is both a blessing and a curse. When I realize it, that moment usually sticks in my memory, but as I'm realizing it, I also realize that time is going by and going away. That the "here and now reality" is forever fading.

Remember how I mentioned that Annie Dillard likes to have me relate to her. Well I just remembered something I read today.

"The terms are clear: if you want to live, you have to die; you cannot have mountains and creeks without space, and space is a beauty married to a blind man. The blind man is Freedom, or Time, and he does not go anywhere without his great dog Death."

So I guess that these particular moments are over. But I can always go back, and experience them anew. :) Thank you life...or should I say death.

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So after this 16 mile hike, we stumbled deliriously into Pizza Hut, which magically appeared to Heather almost only because she wanted it so badly. We giggled delusionally and agreed that we had all bonded by this trek into the canyon. ate pizza. mountain ddddddddddew. then went to Shadow Mountain where we celebrated the 4th with the rest of Dornan's civilization. I woke up to this view from my tent door on the 5th:

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Thank you.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Neil Young. Old man.

I guess "i before e except after c" doesn't work with Neil. He says "pshhhhhhhhhhh" on that crap. This song has been stuck in my head all day. OLD MAN TAKE A LOOK AT MY LIFE, I'm a lot like youuuu were.

So I like when I can relate happenings in my life to Annie Dillard. I guess I end up contemplating what she tells me and then connections form, but I like to think that it's all just a great coincidence that I get these thoughts.. and remember that Annie just thought it too. (in her book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek)

So I'm about to post pictures from the day of the 2 great events. One of which has to do with bald eagles. Actually it's possible that BOTH events have to do with bald eagles because I picked up some unidentified feathers that may very well be eagle feathers. Probably not. But I can pretend.

ANY way. I was thinking about these guys. Observe.

okay before you observe. I have a good point to make. Our guide on the 2nd great event, the float trip down the Snake river, explained to us that the reason the eagles didn't fly away, and the reason that most animals spotted on the trip do not run away, is because these animals do not recognize us as humans because they cannot see our legs. So instead of humans in a boat, they'd just see us as this large thing covered in orange dots (life jackets) floating down the river. HOW INTERESTING IS THAT! So on a side note, I'm wondering if a person dresses up as a caterpillar and squirms through the woods, would the animals run away? I'm also wondering, if a person dresses up in a suit that has 5 legs and walks through the woods, would the animals run away? I'm also wondering, if this is right at all. (I'm going to believe it's right...)BUT I noticed something. Observe.

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These guys face the boat the entire time! So I feel like they know something is different about this log floating down the river. They are watching...because they have something to protect. Which then brings me to Annie Dillard.:

"Consider the ordinary barnacle, the rock barnacle. Inside every one of those millions of hard white cones on the rocks--the kind that bruises your heel as you bruise its head--is of course a creature as alive as you or I."

as alive as you or I. Suuuureeeee we are creatures of reason. Suuuuureee we are more "developed." Suuuuuureee natural selection. But they are as alive as you or I. and I think that they value their lives too. They don't want to die either. Eat or be eaten.

Dillard goes on to talk about insects that eat their young to stay alive. She brings all of this up to make a point about humans being moral creatures and comments that there are other mammals just so. ((insects are relentless)). She makes a good point "What creator would be so cruel, not to kill otters, but to let them care? It would seem that emotions are the curse, not death..."
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh so interestinggggggggggggg.

Amy and I were talking about the language of bikes today. Bike-talk. We were being silly but that whole concept of communication among things other than humans is really fascinating. Those birds have their own language. I wonder what they're talking about. right now.

anywho.
Here's another guy.

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Great event 1. LOOK AT THOSE SUBMERGED TREES. ahh so clear. so beautiful.
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