Friday reading

Boring legal link.

Dandelion Break

So, my neighbors probably hate me, or at least hate my lawn care. The dandelions remind of Bloom County. It's too bad they are despised as a weed because they really are nice. And they love the wind like I do. My copy of Bloom County Babylon is falling apart, though I realized today that it's 20 years old. Yikes. The world is in need of a "mass dandelion break".

No horse, no bike, just shoes

I decided to go outside this weekend. Friday was around 80 degrees with clear blue sunshine. I even took a break at work so that I could go on a walk. I began scheming about finding a place to go hiking on Saturday and I ended up at Scott Park (weather forecasts weren't good and it's easy to get here and get home). The one in the upper left hand corner is me. Only I didn't have a stick and I wore shoes. There were no horseback riders and bicyclers on the trail. There weren't any renegade motor bikers either. In fact, I did not encounter a single soul on this trail, remnants of souls perhaps, but no human beings. The nice thing about not seeing anyone on the trails is that you can let yourself run wildly down the hills without fear of running into anyone or looking foolish should you fall (I didn't fall down, but I wouldn't have run at all had I thought someone might have seen if I did).

The wind came with me. As you know, it's one of my favorite companions, but the sunshine was missing and it certainly wasn't 80 degrees. The clouds were churning making me think I was foolish for hiking with the chance of thunderstorm so high. I think the wind gust may have been around 50 mph, but it's at a lake so there was none of that sand-stinging-your-skin pain. Planning Saturday based on Friday is no good, but Saturday should always be about feeling the wind in your face, hot or cold.

There were interesting sites. I love the way ants carry away yucky things. Taking a walk or a hike reminds you to look at things like this. Maybe you wouldn't enjoy looking at this, but there are other things to stop and look at, whether for admiration or for wonder. As Ralph Waldo Emerson observed, "there is no object so foul that intense light will not make beautiful". You should stop on hikes to look at things because being here is the point. There were lovelier things on the trail, but a hollowed carcass of a centipede (or whatever was its species) with ants crawling all over it is pretty fun.
My sock did not survive the hike. I didn't get a blister from this even though I felt the hole pretty early on in the going. I wore socks that were more appropriate for a walk in lycra pants. I'm fairly certain I bought these socks to wear with my lycra pants (actually lycra capris). There will always be things in your life that make you want to stop or that keep you from starting. Your socks or your messy house may try to keep you from going outside or even try to shorten your time spent hiking, but ignore them. Ignore everything that prevents you from taking a moment to climb to the top and look around. I even accept that I shouldn't consider whether or not there are others present when I make my decision to throw out my arms and run wildly down the decline.

I knew blue sky, and you clouds, are no blue sky

"We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough" Emerson (it should be the Haskell County motto). The lake is formed from a manmade dam. Nature can't always escape man, but the bluffs seemed to be doing their best. Next time I hike this place though I might bring along a trash bag to pick up the random cans of Keystone Light and Coors.


The rushing water coming out of a pipe into a creek on private property was a happy opportunity to touch the water, something I can never resist. This water is not snow melt, so I didn't even have to play a game to see how long I could keep my feet submerged. (this photo is also for Shauna, who lived with my foot photos for a time).

Little details

I don't know to whom the nest belonged, but most of the outcroppings have these little eroded nooks for use by whomever thinks he is capable of living in them. I couldn't find myself a nook that would suit my needs, that's why I came home.


I call this one "Half-self portrait". You could also call it "A Dream of silence". I like the way my arms are reflected in the sunglasses.

Pueblo ReRuins

I was a little disappointed to read that the Pueblo ruins were a reconstruction. I thought about how a time machine could have fixed everything, but then I decided that the State Historical Society was a time machine.

The Steele homestead (or not)*

I started here. (Not my day, but my trek to see the old homestead). Homesteaders were pretty amazing people. I would add a little fearless because all that I can think of seeing this at the top of a hill is : tornado fodder. There aren't stairs most of the way up.

I arrived here with a note to myself to take better care of my body, and a reminder not to grab yuccas when your feet start to slip.


The inside was lined with benches. I don't think that the Steele's lived with them in their house, but I didn't have a tour guide so I can't be certain.

* I don't really think that this is a homestead, but maybe something built more recently for visitors. It did seem really odd, but after reading the site about the park I think this isn't really anything historic, which makes the Steeles seem like much more sensible people. They did a nice job making it feel rustic. It is one of my failings to just explain things in my mind and accept those explanations as truth. I suppose you should be warned about me.

"Be kind to her in your cave"

My mythology knowledge is pretty soft. Any thoughts on what "Athinian cave" is located in a wooded area (seems tranquil) and inside is a monster/horror of some type, tongueless? This line may or may not have some significance: "Little snake, little snake, what a pretty pair/ We make". I was reading a Kenneth Patchen poem and it refers to this cave throughout. Anyway there are bad, bad things in the cave, but I feel like I'm just guessing about which cave it is.

Lilacs out of the dead land

Morning...

Noon...

Evening.

I'm awake and I'm writing

It's wet outside with a light dusting of snow. I suppose I'll have to get used to the idea if the forecasters know anything about the rest of the day. I had another accident at work this week. I'm not trying to hurt myself I'm just clumsy, especially when I have the large travel mug filled with hot coffee and I take off the safety lid so that it will cool off a little bit faster. Fortunately I had cleaned off my desk last week and so the only thing that got ruined was a business card which I only use to give out the fax number at the office. A statute book is also permanently stained. When I fell down the stairs at work I was going to refill an empty coffee mug, so I guess the conclusion is that coffee drinking can be dangerous. I learned during that fall that emptiness is not always what it seems in that I still spilled coffee on the wall even though the mug was "empty". I learned this time that the safety lid is there for my protection and I shouldn't blithely throw off those things which are designed for my benefit.

Easter was a sleepy day. I went to church at 7:45, ate breakfast at my parents' house and napped under an electric blanket. I was awakened by a niece who wanted to give me an old driver's licence which expired in 2000 (I was wearing my dad's flannel shirt and my earrings didn't match in the picture). I read a book called "The World's Great Letters". It was published in 1940 and was a book my mom had given to me a long time ago which I had left behind without having really read much of it. Now that I've read a lot of the book, it has come home with me. The book contained letters from Edgar Allen Poe about his drinking, a letter from Lenin regarding Stalin's leadership abilities and a letter from Thomas Mann about being stripped of his academic credentials from the University of Bonn during the Nazi rise to power. Slightly anti-social of me to spend so much of the day reading, but it felt like a real day off because of it. I did go out and roast marshmallows at one point, but the wind was bitter.

The desert I made was a success in spite of my attmepts to sabatoge it during its creation (I spilled half of the crust on the floor, and went ahead and made "Awesome Easter Desert" with a spotty crust). The day I shopped for ingredients I bought vitamin E tablets to sqeeze onto the dry patch on my face. I realized after applying it a couple of times that the awful smell was unusual and that it came from the fish oil that was added to these tablets. I guess I didn't read the bottle very well in the store.

That's all, I think I have time to do some reading before I have to go to work and do the things that I do.

Little Gidding

My mother wanted me to find her this poem so that she could read the whole thing. A portion of it was used in a forward to a book that she is reading.

hard freeze in april

Little tulips I know how you feel.

Good Friday

As usual I am working today. Here are some links to read today.
And a song since we've been talking about Johnny.
Any other suggestions for reading today?

repeating sugar and tangerines

The server is down at the office. One of the things that is working on my computer is the disc player, which I favor over my unreliable little portable thing (sometimes when I hit play it says NO DISC... there is a disc to play, I think maybe it doesn't really like music). Today I put in The Wallflowers Bringing Down the Horse. I love that cd, but I got stuck on "Josephine". I probably listened to it 20 times today. It seems a peculiar thing that sometimes I get stuck just wanting to listen to one song, but I suppose that's how #1's and Your Hit Parade works. So I was pondering my other repeat songs. It happens a lot to me because you can just hit repeat with cds. (I probably need to upgrade to an MP3 player, but I am technologically inept and have reached the stage in my adulthood where nothing makes sense that's new... a little early maybe?). Anyway, for my enjoyment I made a list. I know that I'm missing a bunch, but sometimes a list can be too long and I think I could spend a long time on this one.

1. "Three Ways" The Wallflowers (simple, true)
2. "Bad" U2 (lyrics that spin your head a little, but comfort)
3. "Fake Plastic Trees" Radiohead (happily, it doesn't fit right now, but there were times when it was perfect)
4. "When the Man Comes Around" Johnny Cash (literal interpretation of Revelation... it's just cool)
5. "Back of Your Hand" Dwight Yoakam (Sad, just stinking sad)
6. "Hard to Get" Rich Mullins (Every song on the Jesus Record has been on repeat at least once, the demo tracks of course)
7. "Reflecting Light" Sam Phillips ("the moon's never seen me before")
8. "Relapse" Adam Again (Spooky sad. )
9. "Gun" Uncle Tupelo ("my heart it was a gun, but it's unloaded now")
10. "Stone" Adam Again (sad... didn't realize they'd get two. I didn't even mention "Worldwide" or "River on Fire")
11. "Here You Come Again" Dolly Parton (Hee hee hee, but it's true)
12. "Moonshadow" Cat Stevens ("did it take long to find me?")
13. "Road to Ensenada" Lyle Lovett (I can hardly listen to the rest of the cd because I always want to hear that one, and it's a great cd).
14. "How Good it can Get" The Wallflowers (i've spent so much time wondering how good it can get)

I just reread it and it's an odd little list. Obviously my repeats can be a bit influenced by melancholy.