2013

Living - and already savoring - the Adventures across the backroads of western Idaho and eastern Oregon!

30 August 2012

From Shadows to Frivolity to some kind of Light

Now where is this blog going?  Mars, the home of my people who live in their own freak shadows? 
No, I’d saved this post title for future use and it now strikes me as spot-on for our move out west.  Or is it “out West,” given the imposing contiguous expanses of prairie grass and high desert coniferous forest?  It involves all my energies, senses and wheelbarrows of thought to comprehend what I’ve gotten us into.
God has a plan.  I’ve always believed that, and am reminded constantly of it as we swim in our life lanes, effect change (chaos in my case), and exercise the free will given us.  I leave it to my friend KJ and other philosophers to work out the twists of predetermination theory, and I just roll with the ebbs and tides of my life.
Recently, a weird habit again surfaced:  cloud watching.  I discovered many years ago that the wind talks -- if you’re willing to take the time to listen.  The clouds become a compelling overlay onto the day’s story, one I intensely take to heart, so I cannot wait to resume that relationship.  It’s on the wind’s terms, though:  once my younger son was wind gust-knocked over, flat on his back(!), along an open ridge in the northern Rockies.  After the shock wore off, we laughed our butts off as we hurried back to the Suburban, clearly getting the message to vamoose!
To my  memories of  southern Maryland, the Eastern Shore, Lyman’s Run SP in PA, Moomaw Lake VA, Cass Scenic Railroad WV, and most poignantly Green Ridge SF/C&O Canal Trail, I bid ye “Adieu!”  Bye bye love – but your trails and songs stay in my heart.
(Hey -- stay tuned for a recap of tales from the Interstate trails, and life-to-be in Boise)

17 August 2012

Too much Chorus – I need more Cowbell!

Ever try to write something and the music in your head won’t stop?  My problem this morning must be like those folks who can’t sleep because their brains are moving a mile a minute and won’t shut down.  I don't have the sleeping problem -- I don’t give myself that much credit for smarts, being just a struggling troubadour of words in the blogosphere. 
Today music-that-won't-stop is Buffalo Springfield, circa 1967.  They sang of women and questions.  Funny how the same topics resonate in guys’ heads century after century.  Must be because they’re both unsolvable mysteries...  How uplifting to hear the fellas of B. Springfield talk about freedom, of both the mind and the emotions swirling within.  Picturing them in an old studio crunching through songs and demo tapes reminds me of how Mrs. TMM and I have been planning our move; we huddle round the plans and dreams, then just pull something together and say it’s gonna work, no problem!
Analogies run rampant this morning.  Seeing the power lines is analogous to the clutter of my DC life, noise and distractions that I hope get buried underground next month.  Sure, there will be different problems and things to gripe about, but maybe that’s the ebb-and-flow of it all, what keeps us in the game.  Bang the bell and give me something new to get energized about!
Just saw a small sailboat calmly tacking upstream along the Potomac river, near Reagan National Airport.  A pretty sight and a fitting exclamation point to this post…

07 August 2012

Take me away, take me farther (a poem)

To tear down the pieces, blast the halo
Taken away and taken farther,
                into an uncertain void
                before the harsh crowd
                toward a prayerful precipice.
Is  there light in his eyes, fireflies of wonder?
Taken away and taken farther,
                about a vengeful swirl
                like holy water
                toward an uncertain absolution.
Wondrous primal instinct, emotions just under skin
Taken away and taken farther,
                into kaleidoscopic Video-8
                about his Spider-vision
   toward his answerless appeals.
Time to buy the ticket.