"The immediate future of our race, the writer thinks, is indescribably hopeful. There are at the present moment impending over us three revolutions, the least of which would dwarf the ordinary historic upheaval called by that name into absolute insignificance. They are: (1) The material, economic, and social revolution which will depend upon and result from the establishment of aerial navigation. (2) The economic and social revolution which will abolish individual ownership and rid the earth at once of two immense evils - riches and poverty. And (3) The psychical revolution of which there is here question..."
"Cosmic Consciousness"
c. 1901
Richard Maurice Bucke, M.D.
The book was recommended to me by a friend for its philosophical/metaphysical content, but I must admit getting stopped on page (okay, page four actually) by that little nugget of wisdom.
It's an interesting aspect of spiritual experience that seems to birth such a perspective - certainly the first Christians after the Resurrection founded their community with similar expectations, so it's hardly a new phenomenon. (Nonetheless, as one pastor noted, remember a few chapters later Paul is trying to enlist money to keep the Jerusalem church afloat).
I know the impulse - in fact I daresay it's hard not to "come down the mountain" all flush with feelings of the Union of all Things and think similar thoughts... which doesn't mean it's ever translated well to the physical realm. Call it the eternal conflict of uplifted spirit and animal nature, call it original sin, I don't know. But it sure does make for interesting exisitence.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Looking at you, looking at me. Pt I
We continue the "my summer vacation" spiel with some reflections I didn't have time to get down to words then. Namely, the matter of subcultures. Yes, this is what I promised last week.
Now, I found that visit brought me into a crash course in modern lesbian culture while staying with friends. I've spent most of my life in circles of varying degrees of cultural traditionalism, but almost universally of the "oh, a couple folks in the group/family/whatever prefer to water on their own side of the pasture, no big deal" worldview. Inclusive and loving, but generally not celebratory.
This was the first time though I've found myself immersed in very self-identified lesbian culture though... even the old "Suffragette Hall" of college days had boys over. Here though - the music was sapphic, the art was sapphic, fathers and sons and brothers are loved, but as my friend's sweetie said (paraphrased) "I can't recall the last time I heard someone say gosh he's handsome.."
Now sure, the line just enough love to cover my own... lept immediately to mind in conversation (mild family friendly warning on that link,btw) - but mostly it was just new - and a fascinating study of talking past each other.
Let me give a couple examples to make the point - Melissa Etheridge's song "Tuesday Morning" my friend played one day, and the movie about Margarethe Cammermeyer we put on that night. In both cases I found high respect for the principals involved - Mr. Bingam and Col. Cammermeyer respectively - and yet can't help but feel a little (or very) off-put at the artworks based on them - the former particularly.
Let me explain.
First - argument from the experience of growing up in the Volunteer State, and years spent around many military men (and a few military women). With not a single exception I can think of, all when it came to their service had one ethos held above all - mission first. What's fair to the soldier, what's right to the soldier, whether there's decent food and enough naptime - all those took a distant second place to the mission at hand. Self-sacrifice wasn't a desired outcome - none of them aspired to martyrdom.. but they were to a person willing to do it, if that was the price.
Secondly, the nature of military service is by definition using the threat of KILLING PEOPLE to achieve a desired outcome. A desired outcome such as not having Hawaii overrun by the Japanese, or more US cities attacked and civilians murdered by Jihadis. That's not something that comes from speaking nice, that comes from finding people that are trying to harm one's countrymen and proceeding to kill them.
That is a responsibility our culture traditionally takes very seriously, and with good reason -there are no higher stakes in mortal life. And because those stakes are so high, the services have every right - indeed, the responsibility - to be as particular as they believe they need to be in order to effectively carry out that mission with a minimum of trouble and risk to their own personnel.
And yet... not only were those arguments not answered in any of the material presented, they weren't even addressed. No, it was entirely "this is what's fair."
But the question was not about fair. It was never about fair.
But trying to explain that I might as well have been speaking Greek. "The argument you want to make," I say, "is 'this policy costs mission effectiveness more from lost expertise than it gains in morale and discipline concerns.' Not 'this is what's fair.'"
"Yes" they nod...."silly military.." assuming I mean "this is what the policy should be" not "this is what your argument needs to be." And I give up. No sense fighting friends in their own home*.
But as with any real conversation at cross purposes, the funhouse mirror eventually reflects both ways.
And that my dears, is for Part II.
------------------------------
* Since I've been chastised on more than one occasion for being too coy about my own beliefs, here they are - I prefer the military base its hiring practices on whatever they believe best advances the mission assigned to them. They don't tell me how to do my job, I won't presume to know how to run an army.
That said, as our culture has shifted over last couple generations, I expect the time will come in the near future (if it has not already) where the aforementioned cons of the present policy will outweigh the pros - if only because human capital becomes more important with ever-increasing technical specialization, and the servicemen of 2020 are coming from a decidedly different culture from those of 1940. If and when that line has been crossed though should be a question for the people who have to actually pay the bill if the wrong call is made - not what plays well on a Lifetime movie or White House press conference.
See? Public commitment. :)
Now, I found that visit brought me into a crash course in modern lesbian culture while staying with friends. I've spent most of my life in circles of varying degrees of cultural traditionalism, but almost universally of the "oh, a couple folks in the group/family/whatever prefer to water on their own side of the pasture, no big deal" worldview. Inclusive and loving, but generally not celebratory.
This was the first time though I've found myself immersed in very self-identified lesbian culture though... even the old "Suffragette Hall" of college days had boys over. Here though - the music was sapphic, the art was sapphic, fathers and sons and brothers are loved, but as my friend's sweetie said (paraphrased) "I can't recall the last time I heard someone say gosh he's handsome.."
Now sure, the line just enough love to cover my own... lept immediately to mind in conversation (mild family friendly warning on that link,btw) - but mostly it was just new - and a fascinating study of talking past each other.
Let me give a couple examples to make the point - Melissa Etheridge's song "Tuesday Morning" my friend played one day, and the movie about Margarethe Cammermeyer we put on that night. In both cases I found high respect for the principals involved - Mr. Bingam and Col. Cammermeyer respectively - and yet can't help but feel a little (or very) off-put at the artworks based on them - the former particularly.
Let me explain.
First - argument from the experience of growing up in the Volunteer State, and years spent around many military men (and a few military women). With not a single exception I can think of, all when it came to their service had one ethos held above all - mission first. What's fair to the soldier, what's right to the soldier, whether there's decent food and enough naptime - all those took a distant second place to the mission at hand. Self-sacrifice wasn't a desired outcome - none of them aspired to martyrdom.. but they were to a person willing to do it, if that was the price.
Secondly, the nature of military service is by definition using the threat of KILLING PEOPLE to achieve a desired outcome. A desired outcome such as not having Hawaii overrun by the Japanese, or more US cities attacked and civilians murdered by Jihadis. That's not something that comes from speaking nice, that comes from finding people that are trying to harm one's countrymen and proceeding to kill them.
That is a responsibility our culture traditionally takes very seriously, and with good reason -there are no higher stakes in mortal life. And because those stakes are so high, the services have every right - indeed, the responsibility - to be as particular as they believe they need to be in order to effectively carry out that mission with a minimum of trouble and risk to their own personnel.
And yet... not only were those arguments not answered in any of the material presented, they weren't even addressed. No, it was entirely "this is what's fair."
But the question was not about fair. It was never about fair.
But trying to explain that I might as well have been speaking Greek. "The argument you want to make," I say, "is 'this policy costs mission effectiveness more from lost expertise than it gains in morale and discipline concerns.' Not 'this is what's fair.'"
"Yes" they nod...."silly military.." assuming I mean "this is what the policy should be" not "this is what your argument needs to be." And I give up. No sense fighting friends in their own home*.
But as with any real conversation at cross purposes, the funhouse mirror eventually reflects both ways.
And that my dears, is for Part II.
------------------------------
* Since I've been chastised on more than one occasion for being too coy about my own beliefs, here they are - I prefer the military base its hiring practices on whatever they believe best advances the mission assigned to them. They don't tell me how to do my job, I won't presume to know how to run an army.
That said, as our culture has shifted over last couple generations, I expect the time will come in the near future (if it has not already) where the aforementioned cons of the present policy will outweigh the pros - if only because human capital becomes more important with ever-increasing technical specialization, and the servicemen of 2020 are coming from a decidedly different culture from those of 1940. If and when that line has been crossed though should be a question for the people who have to actually pay the bill if the wrong call is made - not what plays well on a Lifetime movie or White House press conference.
See? Public commitment. :)
The finest light cavalry...
So in between more ongoing projects than I can count* I've been picking at the horse archer cultures. The bug got started reading Herodutus' accounts of the Scythians**, and since then I've been supplementing it with some online reading and the occasional podcast.
Which has me wondering about the Jared Diamond thing again. Some of the things I heard described as things the steppe archers did was exactly like stories I heard living out west about the plains Indians - this technique with the bow, that riding exercise.... Surely there were differences, but the commonalities were fairly striking.
It makes me wonder.. how much of that culture is unique and self-perpetuating - and how much really is as Dimond would say, a product of their physical environment? I suppose it's the same nature vs nurture argument on a larger scale.
wuh. Enough philosophizing. Time to go make people happy. :)
*I swear, I get to stay in one night this week.. it's all good stuff, but tiring!
** Say what you will about the more medieval strains of Islam now, it's telling that it actually improved things there from the sound of it. I mean... skull drinking cups and human leather napkins? Gah! Like a whole freaking country of Manson followers. *shudder*
Which has me wondering about the Jared Diamond thing again. Some of the things I heard described as things the steppe archers did was exactly like stories I heard living out west about the plains Indians - this technique with the bow, that riding exercise.... Surely there were differences, but the commonalities were fairly striking.
It makes me wonder.. how much of that culture is unique and self-perpetuating - and how much really is as Dimond would say, a product of their physical environment? I suppose it's the same nature vs nurture argument on a larger scale.
wuh. Enough philosophizing. Time to go make people happy. :)
*I swear, I get to stay in one night this week.. it's all good stuff, but tiring!
** Say what you will about the more medieval strains of Islam now, it's telling that it actually improved things there from the sound of it. I mean... skull drinking cups and human leather napkins? Gah! Like a whole freaking country of Manson followers. *shudder*
Monday, July 27, 2009
There do I see the tales of my ancestors..
Got to play pretend trucker last Saturday last weekend. First time *ever* dragging a big ol' trailer along the road, getting Miss D's spars up to the sparmaker. Again. It was scary at first, but by the time we got her spars home and the trailer dropped back off, at least I can say I didn't hit anything. Well, except for that fencepost with the wheelwell....
The sparmaker himself was a hoot! While her spars were drying we got shown around an old Wien Air gull-wing Stinson, and treated to all kinds of 40's-50's Alaska stories. It really brought to mind how "small town" frontier areas must have been back in the day. "Oh yeah, Mudhole Smith, well he was...."
Kind of makes me wonder what the kids in the 20's could have gotten treated to in the way of "Old West" stories from them that knew the "big names" as everyday neighbors. What a world it must have been. "Girl, let me tell you something about Wyatt Earp..."
The sparmaker himself was a hoot! While her spars were drying we got shown around an old Wien Air gull-wing Stinson, and treated to all kinds of 40's-50's Alaska stories. It really brought to mind how "small town" frontier areas must have been back in the day. "Oh yeah, Mudhole Smith, well he was...."
Kind of makes me wonder what the kids in the 20's could have gotten treated to in the way of "Old West" stories from them that knew the "big names" as everyday neighbors. What a world it must have been. "Girl, let me tell you something about Wyatt Earp..."
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Horsehair to catgut
"Finest man to ever put horsehair to catgut." I once read in one of my fiddle history books, I think of Niel Gow, famous Scots fiddler of the late 18th c. It always did strike me as a fun turn of phrase.
Now anyhow, I'm nowhere NEAR that league of course, but I thought I'd try gut string... partially out of sheer historical curiosity for what fiddling was like back in the day, partly one last effort to find a setup my dear old student fiddle would like.
First.. gut strings. Really interesting. They do take a while to settle in, and are obnoxious for the first day or three, slipping out of tune every time you look at 'em it feels like. They're also a little slick under the bow at first - I'm finding I need more rosin to not go all slippy-slide on them. The neat thing though is- no need for fine tuners at all. The pegs work *great* with gut all by themselves. You'd almost think they were made for the stuff. ;)
And yet... interesting as this is, it's not enough.
See, I'm finally hitting a wall with this old fiddle - not the Tennessee one*- but rather my "good" violin, a student strad copy from the 1920's or so. It's beautiful, but...I've tried all manner of things from pestering my teacher on technique to different strings to having my luthier friend tap the soundpeg around - and none of it is helping.. I just keep hitting that point of saying "I know I can sound better than this - I do sound better than this on other violins." It's the first time I've really outgrown an instrument (kid stuff aside) and it's an interesting experience.
It's not like say a rifle, where there's this definable metric of "how close together are the holes?" Rather there's this vague uncomfortableness at this tone and that scratchiness, and never quite being able to get the sound you want... but there's that same growing sense of "I'm tired of not being able to tell what the limiting factor is - me or the tool.. and I think it's the tool." Worse, I find it actually harder to practice now, because I get frustrated easier.
So... I'll be doing the "sell and reallocate" dance again in life soon. Probably selling my nylon-strung folk harp and the strad copy to afford a really *nice* violin I can really keep growing in to. Luthier friend has some ideas there - great to have someone around you can really trust to help point you in the right direction.
In the mean time, it's fun to play with the gut, and wonder about times way back when. Sure it's not an Edinburgh sheep (or cat?) stretched over that bridge, but there is something homey about it nonetheless. And it really does help the smoothness some. Neat experience.
In other music news, the guitar is coming along okay - folk harp technique translates fairly well to finger picking I'm finding, but it looks like I'm just going to have to buckle down and learn some chord positions by rote, at least to start. It's like multiplication tables all over again! Yes Cap'n Tightpants, We work before we play. Still, I keep finding myself amazed at just how versatile the guitar is. It feels like having a whole piano on a board right there at your fingertips! No wonder it's so popular.
So yeah, stay tuned. Next week I'll be amazed at how much faster you can get places with one of those newfangled horseless carriages. Early adopter, that's me. :)
* which finally gave up the ghost- the soft spots in the upper bouts gave way and the neck collapsed. :( Sure sounded nice while it was together though. Luthier friend says it would be more work to rebuild it than even to make a new one. bother.
Now anyhow, I'm nowhere NEAR that league of course, but I thought I'd try gut string... partially out of sheer historical curiosity for what fiddling was like back in the day, partly one last effort to find a setup my dear old student fiddle would like.
First.. gut strings. Really interesting. They do take a while to settle in, and are obnoxious for the first day or three, slipping out of tune every time you look at 'em it feels like. They're also a little slick under the bow at first - I'm finding I need more rosin to not go all slippy-slide on them. The neat thing though is- no need for fine tuners at all. The pegs work *great* with gut all by themselves. You'd almost think they were made for the stuff. ;)
And yet... interesting as this is, it's not enough.
See, I'm finally hitting a wall with this old fiddle - not the Tennessee one*- but rather my "good" violin, a student strad copy from the 1920's or so. It's beautiful, but...I've tried all manner of things from pestering my teacher on technique to different strings to having my luthier friend tap the soundpeg around - and none of it is helping.. I just keep hitting that point of saying "I know I can sound better than this - I do sound better than this on other violins." It's the first time I've really outgrown an instrument (kid stuff aside) and it's an interesting experience.
It's not like say a rifle, where there's this definable metric of "how close together are the holes?" Rather there's this vague uncomfortableness at this tone and that scratchiness, and never quite being able to get the sound you want... but there's that same growing sense of "I'm tired of not being able to tell what the limiting factor is - me or the tool.. and I think it's the tool." Worse, I find it actually harder to practice now, because I get frustrated easier.
So... I'll be doing the "sell and reallocate" dance again in life soon. Probably selling my nylon-strung folk harp and the strad copy to afford a really *nice* violin I can really keep growing in to. Luthier friend has some ideas there - great to have someone around you can really trust to help point you in the right direction.
In the mean time, it's fun to play with the gut, and wonder about times way back when. Sure it's not an Edinburgh sheep (or cat?) stretched over that bridge, but there is something homey about it nonetheless. And it really does help the smoothness some. Neat experience.
In other music news, the guitar is coming along okay - folk harp technique translates fairly well to finger picking I'm finding, but it looks like I'm just going to have to buckle down and learn some chord positions by rote, at least to start. It's like multiplication tables all over again! Yes Cap'n Tightpants, We work before we play. Still, I keep finding myself amazed at just how versatile the guitar is. It feels like having a whole piano on a board right there at your fingertips! No wonder it's so popular.
So yeah, stay tuned. Next week I'll be amazed at how much faster you can get places with one of those newfangled horseless carriages. Early adopter, that's me. :)
* which finally gave up the ghost- the soft spots in the upper bouts gave way and the neck collapsed. :( Sure sounded nice while it was together though. Luthier friend says it would be more work to rebuild it than even to make a new one. bother.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
please wait...
Have another serious "culture" essay in the hopper, but it's just not coming out right yet. Maybe another half week or so.
So in the meantime.. more just plain fun. I don't have a picture of a bunny with a pancake on its head, but I DO have another picture of an Alaskan airplane waiting to come get taken out to play.
Visiting the Past - Camlann Village
Okay, so updates. Last night was a wonderful dinner with friends from the local history group, full of all manner of wonderful "once upon a time" stories... mostly daily life of the 14th c. this time around. I left with a pile of book recommendations- what a frightful yet fascinating time! With that in mind, here's some pictures from Camlann Village - a wonderful little spot some ways outside of Seattle I got to visit a couple weeks back with a friend.
The whole affair is a living history museum. Now once upon a time I worked briefly at an 18th c. living history place, but this is a whole other level of cool - a growing village of late 14th c. southwest England. You come in through the village gate to be greeted by a friendly gentleman who gives you the background. After that it's a looping walk through something out of a storybook.
I'll start with the one anachronism and get it out of the way - the inn/tavern (while VERY nicely done) is subtly different - it looks to be plaster, not wattle and daub.. perhaps the wood is stained modern lumber instead of real shaped post and beam, the candelabras hanging overhead look electric. I assume all of that's because it was the first attraction up - though it could have easily been for code, being a place where they're actually serving food to the public. In truth, the discrepancies are only apparent I think because the rest of the place is SO incredibly well done! Post and beam, fresh wattle and daub.. amazing. This isn't Ren Faire "medieval-ish" decor and such... for the most of Camlann, you could *be* in the fourteenth century from the looks of things! The interpreters are also very familiar with their period, and able to answer all manner of fairly technical questions about life once upon a time.
Speaking of the tavern/inn - the food by the way is *excellent* - we just split a lunch platter to see what it was like. It was a vegetable pottage (with a bit of salt pork) served on a bread trencher, with bits of cheese and fruit. Very tasty, even to a modern palate. The gentleman I came in with ordered ale*, I had cider. Both tasted very good, but.. ugh. The cider seemed to want to skip the warm happy part and go straight to the headache part. Don't think I'd fare too well adapting to that back in the day. Next time... the spiced white grape juice for me. :)
So, with lunch down, time for a walk. The village is laid out in a loop.
You pass a few market stalls, performance areas, and what will be game booths for the summer fair (SO wanted to make that, but I think it's going on now if you're in their neck of the woods). Also a little potter's shack, a blacksmith shop, a bowyer's workshop... ladies doing wool dying (and sheep tending!)... what looks like a small barn or workshed. Lots of fun places to poke around and explore. Also, a tourney field for the gentlemen to bash each other on, and archery butts.
Archery is apparently a big deal there. Who would have thought?:)
All in all - wonderful place! If you live or visit nearby, I can't recommend going enough!
Oh.. one thing I would like to see is a little more goodies in the gift shop. No need to fill is with the standard tourist dreck of Tshirts and the like of course (seems it would spoil the mood, so perfect is the authenticity everywhere else) - but some contemporary looking toys for kids (say a wooden toy sword and poppets and suchlike) along with maybe some "pilgrim medals" for grownups to buy as a memento would have been nice to see. Then again, maybe they do that during the Summer Faire and I just missed it.... this trip. :)
Fun fun fun.
* It's a rule. You're sitting in a medieval tavern, you have to ask the maid for ale. And yes, it *does* feel like you were just dropped headfirst into a dungeons and dragons game. I so want a birthday party at this place someday! All it needs are some kids playing hobbit and a darkly handsome man with a busted sword kicked back in the corner.
The whole affair is a living history museum. Now once upon a time I worked briefly at an 18th c. living history place, but this is a whole other level of cool - a growing village of late 14th c. southwest England. You come in through the village gate to be greeted by a friendly gentleman who gives you the background. After that it's a looping walk through something out of a storybook.
I'll start with the one anachronism and get it out of the way - the inn/tavern (while VERY nicely done) is subtly different - it looks to be plaster, not wattle and daub.. perhaps the wood is stained modern lumber instead of real shaped post and beam, the candelabras hanging overhead look electric. I assume all of that's because it was the first attraction up - though it could have easily been for code, being a place where they're actually serving food to the public. In truth, the discrepancies are only apparent I think because the rest of the place is SO incredibly well done! Post and beam, fresh wattle and daub.. amazing. This isn't Ren Faire "medieval-ish" decor and such... for the most of Camlann, you could *be* in the fourteenth century from the looks of things! The interpreters are also very familiar with their period, and able to answer all manner of fairly technical questions about life once upon a time.
Speaking of the tavern/inn - the food by the way is *excellent* - we just split a lunch platter to see what it was like. It was a vegetable pottage (with a bit of salt pork) served on a bread trencher, with bits of cheese and fruit. Very tasty, even to a modern palate. The gentleman I came in with ordered ale*, I had cider. Both tasted very good, but.. ugh. The cider seemed to want to skip the warm happy part and go straight to the headache part. Don't think I'd fare too well adapting to that back in the day. Next time... the spiced white grape juice for me. :)
So, with lunch down, time for a walk. The village is laid out in a loop.
You pass a few market stalls, performance areas, and what will be game booths for the summer fair (SO wanted to make that, but I think it's going on now if you're in their neck of the woods). Also a little potter's shack, a blacksmith shop, a bowyer's workshop... ladies doing wool dying (and sheep tending!)... what looks like a small barn or workshed. Lots of fun places to poke around and explore. Also, a tourney field for the gentlemen to bash each other on, and archery butts.
Archery is apparently a big deal there. Who would have thought?:)
All in all - wonderful place! If you live or visit nearby, I can't recommend going enough!
Oh.. one thing I would like to see is a little more goodies in the gift shop. No need to fill is with the standard tourist dreck of Tshirts and the like of course (seems it would spoil the mood, so perfect is the authenticity everywhere else) - but some contemporary looking toys for kids (say a wooden toy sword and poppets and suchlike) along with maybe some "pilgrim medals" for grownups to buy as a memento would have been nice to see. Then again, maybe they do that during the Summer Faire and I just missed it.... this trip. :)
Fun fun fun.
* It's a rule. You're sitting in a medieval tavern, you have to ask the maid for ale. And yes, it *does* feel like you were just dropped headfirst into a dungeons and dragons game. I so want a birthday party at this place someday! All it needs are some kids playing hobbit and a darkly handsome man with a busted sword kicked back in the corner.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
New Addition to the Family.
After some letdowns at home, a little shake-me-up was in order. I finally decided it was time to try my hand at guitar. I'd briefly experimented with one a couple years ago, but gave it up for a lost cause. "More than a lifetime's worth of work with fiddle and harp" I thought at the time. But sometimes, you just have to stretch your self imposed limitations a bit.
So I got myself a student level acoustic. Nothing fancy, though I freely admit the knotwork art and moonphase fingerboard really appealed to the pagan chick in me. I confess I'm no great judge of instruments in general or guitars in particular, but I could tell it was one I'd keep reaching for off the wall just 'cause it looked *fun*. Every little bit helps. :)
Astonishingly, this time around it's coming along much easier - I think all those hours of just idling with a fiddle "mandolin style" have paid some dividends. The strings being separated by fourths instead of fifths is a little disorienting, but the adjustment isn't hard - especially once I puzzled out what the marks on the fingerboard meant. :)
Mostly I'm just picking out the occasional melody and rhythm right now, letting my ears and fingers get acquainted. But already I can see why it's so popular! Loads more versatile than a harp, despite the tradeoff. I think I'm gonna like this thing...
edit from the next morning.... ouch. That growing callouses thing ain't fun.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Only in Alaska...
Some things are just... unique in this town.
Say you're driving along one of the busier streets in the largest city in the state. And you happen to see a guy just off the sidewalk holding back a dog yapping its sweet head off an something out of view.
First thought is "oh joy, dogs having a disagreement." Second thought was "oh crap, maybe it's a bear or something, I should see if this feller needs help."
Good thing I slowed to see, 'cause right as I come up on the scene, HUGE momma moose and her two babies (each of which are easily the size of a TN whitetail) come tearing across the road right in front of the jeep. A touch faster and I'd have been picking moosebaby our of the front grill.. to say nothing of the car behind.
That'll start your day off with a bit of excitement.
Say you're driving along one of the busier streets in the largest city in the state. And you happen to see a guy just off the sidewalk holding back a dog yapping its sweet head off an something out of view.
First thought is "oh joy, dogs having a disagreement." Second thought was "oh crap, maybe it's a bear or something, I should see if this feller needs help."
Good thing I slowed to see, 'cause right as I come up on the scene, HUGE momma moose and her two babies (each of which are easily the size of a TN whitetail) come tearing across the road right in front of the jeep. A touch faster and I'd have been picking moosebaby our of the front grill.. to say nothing of the car behind.
That'll start your day off with a bit of excitement.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Outside
It's been an.... interesting week or so Outside.
A few stored reminiscences may appear here over the next week or so as I unpack. The preview...
1. Washington State is everything Alaska would be, if it were warm enough to grow all kinds of lush woods, beautiful farmland, and overcrowded cities and suburbs. The mountains are nice though, and you occasionally see a Cessna dragging floats through the sky, so it's hard to get *too* homesick. Hot though.
2. Got a first-(okay, second)-hand look at modern lesbian culture visiting friends. Interesting "see the world from a different set of eyes" experience.
3. The advantage of packed cities - AWESOMELY fun attractions to visit here and there. And darn it, it's fun to play Alaskan Tourist down in America.
bedtime.
A few stored reminiscences may appear here over the next week or so as I unpack. The preview...
1. Washington State is everything Alaska would be, if it were warm enough to grow all kinds of lush woods, beautiful farmland, and overcrowded cities and suburbs. The mountains are nice though, and you occasionally see a Cessna dragging floats through the sky, so it's hard to get *too* homesick. Hot though.
2. Got a first-(okay, second)-hand look at modern lesbian culture visiting friends. Interesting "see the world from a different set of eyes" experience.
3. The advantage of packed cities - AWESOMELY fun attractions to visit here and there. And darn it, it's fun to play Alaskan Tourist down in America.
bedtime.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
