I find real reality incredibly satisfying (I mean, not the screens, the here and now, the pulse of what is alive and warm and connected and feeling). A cup of oolong tea brewed on my truck tailgate in a cold morning breeze. Eyes stinging and a throat tinged with soreness as a smoked-out sky bears down on the landscape. Tater Tot on a beautiful point in sagebrush along a transitioning string of timber. A blue grouse flushing and banking hard away from the eager muzzle of my shotgun. Reading a book by headlamp in the bed of my truck — fictional futuristic totalitarianism — which feels far away from the stars and the night sounds that drift up out of the panorama I am camped in…but maybe it’s right outside, floating around like a bad idea on a smoke-stained breeze. Tater hanging his head over my shoulder as we drive a little deeper in. Waking up to a bluebird sky, the smoke blown off in the night, the look of the lake in the sunshine, white capped and lovely and clean. The aspen! Two legs to walk with. Two eyes to see with. Two ears to hear with. Hands sliding over Douglas fir branches, smooth and soft. The scent of the lodgepoles. The clump of lupins, raggedy and sunburnt and late blooming, the last of the season. A cup of hot tomato soup I made in my kitchen last fall and froze to save for days like these when the evenings are cool — salty crackers crushed up on top, growing floppy in the steaming liquid. A sense of being brave hearted, strong minded, grounded and sure of hand.
I was here. It was real.
Sounds sublime. Glad to hear you’re taking a break! I’ve got a letter and a novel to mail to you sitting on my desk- I’ll get them out tomorrow. Love to you my friend!
PS- what’s the futuristic totalitarian book?could it be The Moon is a Harsh Mistress? Have you read that one? I’ll add it in with the other if you haven’t. ❤️
Hello my Beth!
Well, I went camping…but I shot the cashmere catalogue for Skida while I was out there. HA HA HA! Everyone should know by now that I don’t really take breaks. I was reading “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley. I’ll send you my copy. I have not read “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”! Send it my way!
Can’t wait for your letter.
XX
“Two eyes to see with.” Yes, a wonder, isn’t it? I’m grateful for this and for your eloquent words.
This would resonate especially with you, Luba, as you adjust to life with your new eyes!!!
And a thought…perhaps we really have more than two eyes to see with…the eyes in our faces and the eyes of the heart.
XX
I found myself saying “yes!…yes!…YES!!”
Hey Sweet Kali! I hope you had a wonderful summer over to the East of me. XX
You poet, you. This is beautifully worded, and I hope it was vitalizing for you in its realness. Thank you, once again, for sharing such thought provoking words and beautiful photos! I love your gun dog’s name, by the way. My cousin had a very special dog by the same name, way back…
Thank you for being here, Lis. I wish I could have stayed away longer but Robbie had to head back to work and I had to return to the farm — we have many baby animals right now and it’s better for someone to always be here to be here to keep an eye on things.
I was thankful for the time I had!