A PERSON!

I stopped to admire the rock and marvel at nature's audacity.

I could hear them but not see them. Then, in reviewing the video, I realized where they were!

The sequence....

Summiting

UTAH - Four Videos

 Each has a slightly diff focus.

The Overview - I moved a bit fast so it's fuzzy

The Gorge

The Pinnacles

The Textures

For those who prefer stills or lack bandwidth

Along the San Rafael

 

Dawn's earliest light.

With Her iPhone

Our last evening.

San Rafael River Gooseneck

My Little Sony (camera) didn't survive being dropped. I'm using my Panasonic HC-V160 HD video camera. Fortunately, it also takes stills.

At the end of a nondescript turnoff

Leave Taking

 Only one chair.

The Wedge Overlook

They make a big deal of camping only in designated spots. Unlike most places, they're all fairly distant from each other; we chose #8, on the edge of a side canyon that leads down to The River.

As it turns out, enforcement, as with grazing practices, is nil. There're myriad campspots along the rim.

Though the vehicles couldn't be seen from the main road, the flags could.

We practiced our smugittude (#8 is the best!) -- in case anyone was bold enough to stop and ask how we liked it...or when we were leaving.

Slot Canyon

She'd read of an easy-hike slot canyon in Capitol Reef. The light was perfect. The cottonwoods shimmered. She inspired the sun to envy.

Torrey Gallery Cat

 The quaint exterior belies what lies within: a fine collection of contemporary works...including a CAT!

Solstice Wheel

Somewhere near Notom Rd, Kristen remembers. It beckoned from atop a nearby butte; a feeling stronger than just "Let's go climb." We went.

In The Center

For Scale

North End of Capitol Reef

We found the northernmost turnoff to BLM land before entering Capitol Reef in which you MUST camp in the campgrounds which are booked 6 months in advance.

The pictures tell it all.

IZ Time to Dance! YAH!!

Creative attire!

Flu-Flu

The big city provides skilled people who can do things I can't; they can repair my chair seat, fletch arrows in the flu-flu style, add a zipper to my sleeping bag liner and monogram my nightcaps.

My right shoulder was injured in a childhood accident. So when I took up archery a few years ago I got a Samick recurve with the lightest pull: 25 pounds.  

Arrow technology includes consideration of the bending an arrow goes through while progressing from the bowstring to the target. It's induced when the bowstring (suddenly) overcomes the inertia of the arrow as it "reclines" on the rest. Other factors are the weight of the tip and the fletching, as the the feathers at the back end are known. I tried numerous arrows before settling on these cedar-shaft jobbies. 

My new flu-flus, fly straight and true. And with that fletching (3 inch & 4 inch....for comparison), they won't get as easily lost. 

One-inch Grouping! HAH!

This bevy languishes on the far side of Long Canyon near Jacobs Chair, Utah.

You can see them in the center of this image. That's Phoebe parked next to the road.

Louder Than Most Cattle Guards

 On highway 95; it crosses the Colorado River. (link shows location on Google Maps)

North Side

Other Side

Sentiment, Frugality & Penny-Wise...

 POUND FOOLISH!!!

I bought the chair a couple of years ago for $40.00. Back in 2010 we recovered the chairs my Mom saved when Holiday Inn threw them out back in '74 . You can see one in this post. The tiger-print fabric still looks like new.

The seat was giving out and Zannie, the woman who does the gussets in my pant-legs and did Pheobe's interior, made it like new. I'm not sure what she charged; it was part of a package deal. 

I found the table back in 2010 soon after I took to the road. It's held martinis, many a fine stout (beer), morning coffee, served as dining table for myself and the occasional guest, is where I place soap und razor when shaving, feets when resting. It's been welded several times. Each time has cost between $5.00 & $15.00. One man told me it wasn't worth three dollars. I have yet to see another like it.

Nearby was this....

 

It contains bone fragments; doesn't have the pointy ends of coyote or the "segmentations" of cat.

Robert Motherwell - Process

Ah, polyamory. Departing Albuquerque to meet with She of the Capri all the while continuing intimate conversations with the one in Nevada. Michelle reminds me it's a new phase.

I had a strong commitment to disembarking -- I was sure I'd reached the "last stop." As strange as the changes feel, my cat-like curiosity won't let me "quit." 

From The Collected Writings of Robert Motherwell edited by Stephanie Terenzio:

"I begin a painting with a series of mistakes (psychic automatism, artful doodles).  The painting comes out of the correction of mistakes by feeling…ultimate unifications come about thru modulation of the surfaces by innumerable trials and errors…in a state of quickened subjectivity.”

“The artist is constantly … relating and rupturing relationships.  His task is to find a complex of qualities whose feeling is just right — veering towered the unknown and chaos, yet ordered and related in order to be apprehended.”

Leaving ABQ

 Northbound for Utah to me with She of the Capri. 

We made some progress on the Sound Healing front. I'm now Andy's Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). 

I willed Phoebe to someone who'll make use of her.

Ms. Cook and I had some quality time together.

New Sheers & Drapes

I had a meeting with Dr. Vanessa Cole Marin, cardiologist.

Edgar suggested Fu Fang Dan Shen Pian which potentiated the prescribed meds such that I was able to cut my intake by almost half. When Ta Lin Market failed to come through in time (and I gave them money TOO!), he was able to get me a healthy supply from Dr. Zhau in Santa Fe. 

The plan is to explore The Swell.

              F U R T H E R!!!

 

Processing Grief & Loss With Plant Medicines

Decriminalize Nature Arizona (Link is to Facebook) 

presents this webinar...

https://www.crowdcast.io/e/dnaz-october-2020/1

Decriminalize Nature (website)

No Bull Sheet - A Blog

A member of WWP explains it and there's a graphic at the top for those who don't like to read....though it is accompanied by  some text.

https://nobullsheet.net/2020/05/31/the-impacts-of-livestock-grazing-on-biological-soil-crusts-and-climate-change/#more-450

Will I Hear Your Voice Today?

 

I was reading How We Die by Nuland. 

Near the back he talks about the progression from the family doctor to the specialist. The main difference, he says, is how specialists have dissociated from their patients. He describes what he calls The Riddle, the patient's illness and how solving it has become the focus. The patient is just a "thing" in need of fixing, and she, the specialist, has the tools. 

Close by he gives a several-pages-long description of what a well-lived life might look like, citing Maurice Herzog and his ascent of Annapurna as an example. 

Among the team was a film-maker, Marcel Ichac. This 15-minute segment on Youtube is Part 1, in French without subtitles.

I think it was also in How We Die that I saw mention of The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen. 

Matthiessen had recently lost his wife to breast cancer and when he left to go climbing, he told his 12-year-old son he'd be home for Thanksgiving. I'm not sure, but I seem to recall he didn't make it.

 In all three books each author acknowledges that NOTHING but the relationships matter....except, of course, the landscapes, the birds, flowers, animals (maybe not ticks).

Will I hear your voice today?

ADDENDUM: 13.Dec.2022

In March of 2020, seven months before I wrote this post, I had a severe heart attack. A transradial catheterization disclosed my three main arteries were blocked and could not be stented. I was advised to undergo bypass surgery at my earliest convenience. 

After deciding NOT to have surgery, I began preparing to die. How We Die, along with many other books, were part of my preparations. Microdoses of LSD, so far about every three to four months, have been an ongoing element.

I can't say I'm any more ready to die, but I now see that mountain-climbing is not necessary to a fulfilled life...in case you were wondering.

Should you have questions, my email address is at the bottom of my profile.

Carole Murphy - Solstice Gifting Idea

I can't recall when or where I discovered Carole Murphy's work; it's been a while. 

As far as I know she has no awareness of me. I'm providing the link to her mixed-media gallery because I love her work and think you might too; and that "gifting" time is, again, just around the corner. Regardless of your buying proclivities, I hope you enjoy.

https://carolemurphy.com/category/galleries/mixedmedia/

A few examples...

She's in Milwaukie, Oregon, just south of Portland, and offers, or did before Covid, classes.

https://carolemurphy.com/classes/

When You're in Paris (France, not Texas)

 

https://www.atelier-lumieres.com/fr

Going Political

I purposely avoid politics, but was recently sent the video of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asserting herself as her parents' child. It moved me to contribute to Democracy Now and I hope by posting it it will inspire you to do the same.

After watching Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, I noticed the video of Edward Snowden. I'd not heard of his book and had to nod with satisfaction at how it achieved recognition....via the Attorney General's attempt to ban it.

Anyway, I thought these two people show the meaning -- regardless of our/your political stance -- of courage. 

Summer's Last Rose

Many of Michelle's clients have domiciles in the Largehomes Ghettos at the base of the Sandia Mountains. One couple who summer in Vancouver, B.C. and take their cats with them hired her to come to their house to harvest the tomatoes and chili peppers, water the plants and start the two expensive cars that sit in the garage; one's battery went dead anyway.

Their back yard is hardly bigger than ours and lacks our two large cottonwoods and elm. They'd not asked Michelle to deadhead the rose, and when she called me to come look, it appeared to have long since played itself out. But it had within it one last HURRAH. And, as you can see, it is a beauty.

Pt Reyes National Seashore

I KNOW none of you eat butter; it's bad for the circulatory system. But the National Park Service is allowing Tule elk, an indigenous species that is near extinction, to die of thirst, a horrible way to die, in deference to local ranchers whose dairy farms abut the park and whose cows graze within the park's boundaries. (254 elk died of thirst during the 2012-2015 drought.)

Here's a video from Sept 27th about the issue. 

Pt. Reyes NATIONAL Seashore isn't just for a few ranchers, it's for everyone....the world over. Please contact your representatives and encourage them to help the National Park Service protect our public lands.

Charming House - Pueblo

 Listed on AirBnb as a "Charming House," it was indeed. One of a few remaining in the olde neighborhood of Aberdeen, its gracious lillypond was dry. But we enjoyed it still.

Though we only had use of the ground floor, the grounds were expansive and included a large spruce that was a layover for migrating turkey vultures.

The door at right opened into the piano room. At the far end is the breakfast nook.

Comfortable enough for two.

with thirteen panes along the top.

Shamrock Brewing Co.

We arrived at the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center too late, but when we asked for a suggestion for dinner she told of The Shamrock. Their Crusted Salmon was the finest fish since Tognazzinis' in Morro Bay.

Both Trinidad and Pueblo have a lot of brick. The Shamrock, in Pueblo, also has a patterned-tin ceiling.