Adventure!

It's amazing the things you can do while the sun's still shining. Isn't it strange how days always seem to slowly drift by but how time still passes so quickly? The days are stacking up like granite slabs to build the next wonder of the world.

I love how everything you see always seems more beautiful. Every moment just zen. The blades of the grass, the way the sun catches the waves rolling into shore with their long hellos and slow goodbyes, the dance of glowing emberss on the wind like little stars travelling just about your head little constellations trying to guide you home.

Yesterday was nothing short of amazing. Somedays you just live the dream. Paddle. Hike. Climb. Good company. Great Views. What more could you want?

More later.
Xo.

The sun is always rising. Last night I was greated like an old friend by someone who, really, should have been a stranger. An aquaintance. Things are different when you only know so many people. Things are different when you've shared a tent. Who knew four woven walls could change so much.

It's strange how one person can change a group so much or so little. The arrival of new faces always sends me soaring. The return of old faces is always oh so centering. It's strange to think that after the weekend we're heading towards winter again. The ball has only just started rolling.

Last night Walker and I cooked asparagus, mashed potatoes, vegetable stirfry, salad, and steak. You think living in a tent would present a lot of challenges, but strangely it's freeing. It comes down to you and the essentials.

I finally got a library card yesterday. $20. And I rented two books. The one book I just started is sickly disturbing memoir about an obsessive father. Check it out: House Rules by Rachel Sontag.

Yesterday I walked through a forest that has been talking to itself for longer than I or more parents or my grandparents have been alive. Roots run like secrets across the floor stretching out to say "hello, I'm here, I miss you." Phone conversations to the other side of the forest are wired in easily. It's never been as easy to send a fax from here to there. Your arms are all branches and you've never looked so green.

Out here, the burning embers of a fire are the only television you'll ever need. The lack of electricity is dazzling. Do you remember when every falling star was an omen? Now we can't even see the sky. The sun burns slowly illumanating every corner of night. In the city, the sun sets and gives birth to the artificial glow of streetlights and headlights and --- the whole world is drowning out the stars.

I'm alive and well. The glow of faces by the fire never made me feel so warm.

At night, cruise ships light up like fireflies spreading love across the ocean. But did you know they're tearing the lover they call out to open? 6 inches per gallon. Can you fathom that? You don't have to be deep minded to realize that's shallow progress.

We may have big pockets but the earth is on a limited budget and she's running out of cash. Soon, we're giong to have to hitch hike our way out of this place.

Hope your towel is handy.

The way the sun shines out onto forever creating a golden ocean could make you cry. In the right light, it almost looks like a serving platter. Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and find an enormous feast spread out over the ocean. Eat up.

The mountains look like giant lizards that long ago found themselves in a warm sunny spot and decided to lie down and ended up being absorbed by the ground. Trees slowly weaving their way in and amongst their scales, until one day you couldn't even see their faces.

Do you know what a thousand years of snow looks like? The bluest ice you've ever seen. The way those swedish eyes will stun you, so will the cold snow that carved them.

From where I'm standing I can see a hundred years of history. Below my feet is a foundation put up in 1902. Everything decomposes into something else. Sometimes you see the world just as it is. Mostly my mind reads in metaphor. Today the sky is sleeping on the rocks letting the gentle till of the ocean wash her back. She's singing "the field's are burning, the fire's warm, come on mama, take me home."

Somedays you get so out of touch with a conversation you just sit there and mock it in your head. God or no God, live laugh love and celebrate life. Simple pleasures always taste better when your smiling and surrounded by the people you love. Last night at the campfire everyone started takling about religion but I couldn't be moved to say a thing. In the end, the things we know about are enough. In the end, the mystery is what you need. In the end, quiet faith keeps it real.

No matter how far we've come, it says a lot to say that by a campfire near the ocean settled down between some trees is still the only place I'd like to be. We dream big and live big, but in the end all it takes is a couple of happy souls and some warm embers to catch your heart on fire.

Love this life. Dig the simplicity. Breathe deep. Sometimes the only way to fly is off the deep end. Sometimes the only place to breathe is underwater. Catch a wave and choke on it. The suck in that sweet oxygen after you break the surface. From the bottom of the pool the sun always looks a million times more inviting. The light at the end of the tunnel. That next place.

Keep swimming kid. Jaws is in the water, but who gives a damn.
Living never felt this good.

More later.

Sometimes you find yourself in the unexpected doing unexpected things. Crave the moment and don't let it slip away. Forest Gump said life is like a box of chocolates but I think he got it all wrong. It's more like a popsicle. You either enjoy it or it melts away in front of you. Get messy.

There's something familiar in the mountains and not living with a solid roof over your head. 24 days in the mountains and 3 more months in a tent. that 24 day was something else. You get to this place where everything comes together so that whether things work out ordoesn't matter because there you are. In it. Living it. One deep breath at a time. Simplicity at its finest.

Alaska living is refreshing. It always rains and shines and gets too hot and too cold all in the same day. There's something grounding about the weather's daily unpredictability. Sunny to rain to cloudy to hot to throw on your mittens cold to rain to sun to sun to sun to rain. Magical.

At work. On my feet. I'm not sure what tonight is bringing but Ian (a boy at the campground who's taken a vow of silence) wanted to have a pasta party. I'm down.

Sorry. I missed the blog too.
XO
-Red hoodie out.