Diversity

The fog settled over the land and muted the sun until it resembling the moon at its current stage of fullness. Four turkeys ran to the feeder and then to another location. (Whatever gets into their small brains is a mystery.) The temperature hovered in the upper thirties. In a matter of a few days I left the beauty of this land, hiked in the snow of the Three Sisters Wilderness, mountain biked in the high desert of Central Oregon, and walked in the temperate rainforest along the McKenzie River. Truly a wonderful state. One hundred and twenty miles to Sisters in Central Oregon, 108 miles to the mountain trailhead... and I would have headed west I could be on the coast in a little over an hour.
It is good to be home and settle into this place.

Japanese Maple on a Foggy Morning

North and Middle Sisters on the Obsidian Trail, Three Sisters Wilderness

North Sister, Collier Cone and Obsidian Creek

Riding the trails at Maston (22 miles of trails!)

Deschutes River through Wildcat Canyon, Maston Trail Use Area

Along the McKenzie River Trail

Bubble Line at Koosah Falls

Reflection at Sahale Falls on the McKenzie River

Rainbow at Sahale Falls

Finding solace

"The earth has music for those who listen." George Santayana

Sometimes there seems to be little that will satisfy my soul. A busy work life filled with people's voices and electronic communications takes me from the feel of the breeze and rain on my face. The energy of the earth becomes blocked through insulated shoes and concrete.  Then on some weekends my energy is such that I retreat inward and want to shut out the world. One thing that always frees me from the confines of the cacophonous thoughts  is the sound of birds. Their call pull me from this shell of a body and bring my attention into the moment, however momentary. In the middle of the night I can hear a Great Horned Owl or Screech Owl and it soothes my energy. Today, it was the chickadees and finches. Sitting in the dirt, surrounded by the remnants of squash vines and fallen sunflowers, I watched the individual chickadees come to the sunflower and take one seed then fly away. Then the gregarious finches gather as a flock on the ground and sunflower heads.

It is a Sunday night and sometimes there is this dread of going to work and severing this connection I have with the land. When I'm settled and at rest in this place I am filled with the pleasant flow of dopamine. My work elicits adrenalin. I've spent almost 30 years doing my work in all its varieties and it seems like it is finally coming together . At the same time it feels like it is winding down. Maybe it is like athletes who decide to leave at the top of their game.

I long for weeks and months of staying put and watching the ants consume the cantaloupe or to spend a morning watching the birds. The patterns and colors in all it's subtleties amaze me- like the small bracket fungus and all it's many hues.



Breathe in and breathe out- one step at a time.