"I dream of a hard and brutal mysticism in which the naked self merges with the nonhuman world and somehow survives...Paradox and bedrock."-Edward Abbey

07 October 2014

Mid-Autumn


Looking down the river from my sitting rock across the street from the house...

As I finished up with my obligations Saturday, noting it was havemanyintoxicants-thirty, all I could think was thank the gods and bodhisattvas the calendar had turned October. The weekend before, that last weekend in September, saw my love-with malicious intent-of crowds in its full flower. One of my volunteers even noticed. I told her come January, I'd be begging for such crazy, crowded days. January is when it is dark and quiet and cold and liner time stops working.

It is not January or even close...

The leaf-peepers are not as legion as they had been in the waning weeks of September. Some struggle to understand how our leaves could be past peak here, or how the winds could be as audacious as to strip many from the trees. There's still some color, lower and on south faces, but that, which draws the lookie-loos like locusts to crops, has faded. Now comes the time we catch our breath and get ready for winter.

Cornices begin to form on the stark and sheer tundra ridges. It was a warm day without wind, which is a rarity so high up. Even and especially this time of year. I relished the quiet and mild as I watched a group of three marmots sun themselves on a rock just below my vantage point. Sniffing the air, I wondered how many more times I'd be out here before the snow and avalanche danger barred my way for the next several months. I don't have an answer, so I cherish the time I've got.

It's not like there'll be nothing to do once the snow starts flying. Just the other day, Sabina and I came across several new-to-us ruins along some obscured side trails of the 730. This, of course, is just another facet of the magic of this place; wander the same roads for years, and make a different turn and there's something else to discover. Were I a romantic, I'd say it's like falling in love all over again. I don't have a romantic bone in my body, but it certainly reminds me that this is the place I need to be.    

6 comments:

  1. Nice to be in that place, only gotten there occasionally myself. Today might be the last of the weirdly warm days, it neared 70 today, no breeze. The leaves of the next door place continue their assault on my sidewalk and lawn, an inch or so a day.
    It's coming, yes, but this evening I've got my front door open letting the breeze in, yes snow is forecast in the next 5 days, but I'm ignoring it for now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I recorded seventy-two for the high. Even wandered around in sandals for a bit. We are perhaps going to be getting snow by Sunday, but here and now, I have an open door as well.

      Delete
  2. "...I'd say it's like falling in love all over again. I don't have a romantic bone in my body, but it certainly reminds me that this is the place I need to be."

    Please. Enough already. Just cop to it and move on. You live in a land of stunning romance and that shines through every part of your life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You don't have to ask my permission. I am somehow unsurprised that you'd key onto that. Stunning beauty, danger, and adventure, yes. Romance is a mental state. Besides, do I look like someone who'd wear pink by choice?

      Choose your words carefully...;p

      Delete
  3. I am echoing Terlee's comment LOL. Dude, you're a romantic at heart and you need not deny it :) it's sprinkled throughout every word that you write in every post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are soooooooooooooooo not helping, y'know.

      Delete