In awe of the textures of New Years Day in the forest

simply random snapshots of New Years Day in the woods of Lincoln Park…
tree-communing-NewYearsDay2013communing with trees

stairs-to-newyears

composting autumn on the 138th step

stairs-closeup

in-awe-of-algae-texturesawed by so many layers of life in these woods

awesome-olympicsa posterized view over Puget Sound

Building a Sand Snowman in West Seattle

mittens-sandman-posterizedIf it doesn’t snow at the beach, can you still meet a snowman?

building-a-sandmanIf you find the right ingredients, like low tide, a crab leg for a nose,
seaweed hair, driftwood and sea-grass arm,s and pebble eyes…

mittens-posterizedAnd magic mittens that make sand into snow, sort of…

mittens-sea-posterized

And the final magic?
Sunday sunshine .

She shares with seashells by the seashore

Sharing with seashells by the seashore
She saw this seashell by the seashore on a Saturday at 7 a.m.,
well, maybe a bit later than seven.
She and the shell shared stories and some songs, soaking in sunshine.

It seemed to say it was a seashell-moth

As she spoke softly to the shell, it seemed to say it was a shell-moth
sitting among the seaweed til Puget Sound swept it into the sea again.

Catch a wave

Surely, she said, the sea will sweep you up soon.
She stood and stepped over stones to the shore,
where she tried to catch a wave for the shell-moth.

Summoning the surf

She stood still, sang a strong song, and summoned the surf.

So long, seashell…

Sayonara, it said.

Slippery Driftwood: a cautionary tale told by an Emotikin

Fallen

Just before she fell, she remembered seeing her feet…

and the salty moss…

and hearing the crunch of the tiny barnacles…

and the waves lapping below paused a second longer than they should have…

and the sun glinted, changing angles just so…

and she thought she heard the ferry horn rumble…

she looked up

the sun in her eyes

and she

sneezed

and she

fell.

so

much

for

balance…

 

Spring Break

Today was the day I thought was the equinox, where at 10am Mtn time, Spring would begin with a day equally balanced. I celebrated with Terry over our first lunchtime picnic of the year, 65 degrees of sun warming bare feet, shoes kicked off, laying back on the Mexican blankets (damp from melted weekend snow). We ate peanut butter & honey on thick white bread from Heidi’s Deli—drenched so it felt like eating honeycomb—and then PB&strawberryJam. It was the 2nd year we’ve been lunching in the old Louisville cemetary, surrounded by ghosts of couples from the 1800’s who danced, lived, ate and died together. Welcome to spring!

No emotikins were present, unfortunately. But if they were, you would have seen a bright sunny day, brown grass trying to be green, blue sky knowing it is turquoise, and a Red Delicious looking better than it tastes. (I think I will start a “Photos Not Taken” page with only word-pictures instead.)

Three years ago, I celebrated spring break with a sister’s vacation—a week in South Beach with Jenéne, a week before I knew I was going to get a new job at Sounds True.  Here’s to Not Knowing, to wondering what was next, where I’d choose to be, and trusting that the Universe knew and I didn’t have to…yet.  Here’s to the balance of days, light & dark, longer days on the way. (Tonight, Jenéne reminded me that the Spring Equinox was actually Saturday.)

The Life Guard

South Beach, swimsuit optional