CANYONLANDS

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SKY SEEKING

CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK

. April 18 2018 .

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“It is possible from here to gaze down at the backs of soaring birds…”

~ Edward Abbey

Wrapped in blankets, coats, and shrouded against the wind, the dawn peering above the blue horizon, stars still twinkling in the west, we made our way to the arch.

A huddle of photographers were already there, and I scrambled around the rocks, seeking out a view of the sky.

Dawn came, rays over distant mountains, through a haze of windswept dust.

The desert has been breathing deeply, these past few days.

And after a few photos, I set aside my camera and watched the land emerge in pink and purple hues, letting the wind envelope me.

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SMALL WONDERS OF THE CANYONS

scrambling up and over huge humps of rock, arriving breathless to look upon the landscape stretching out as far as the eye can see.

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tiny patches of scarlet Indian Paintbrush flowers, caught in cracks, shivering in the breeze.

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feeling submerged, surrounded by the wild.

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the lonely call of the wind.

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stories of rangers and cowboys told in old yellow photographs.

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the changing colours of the rocks and sky:
pink and red - yellow and blue - orange and gold.

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midday siesta; stretching like lizards, soaking up the warmth of the orange rocks.

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sun sparkles seen through a straw hat.

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a hidden cave, tucked into the cliffs, holding an ancient secret…

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and a moment of free and wild abandon, toes stamping, dust stirring, dancing in that cave…

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ARCHES

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THE BEGINNINGS OF
AN ADVENTURE

Arches National Park

. April 17 2018 .

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My hair is still tangled from the harsh, salt-wash winds of this desert. My cheeks are stained red, the tops of my toes sun-kissed. I dreamt of these first few days for months - when we would take off, leaving everything behind to start anew. I pictured it while I worked in the small seamstress workshop in Colorado. But the reality was so very different… so much more.

:☆:

Flurries and storms in the night, desert dawns and waiting to watch the stars fill a new-moon sky. Rekindled partnership with my love, whom I had not spent so much time with since who knows when! Laughter (so much of it) and silliness ensued! Dancing, and movie quotes, and jokes and his crazy penchant for chips. I never thought I would spend that first afternoon on the road sleeping - tucked away in our van, under a towering wave of sandstone, not caring, nor worried, just letting myself be moved by my own body’s rhythms; I feel I am slowly dipping my feet into this wide world again!

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sandy toes and stolen kisses
our slightly messy nest
of a bed
and so many peanut butter sandwiches
. . . we don’t have much

but you tell me not to worry
reminding me we have the road, the stars
and each other

let this be our little forever.

☆

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EXCERPTS FROM MY DIARY:

Yesterday we left our old life behind. I have learned so much in the past year of being stationary, and I will be forever grateful for that time. But the winds began to blow strongly, and spring was in the air, and my heart belongs to other places. So we left, with only $2000 in our pockets.

The wind followed us, haunting, creaking, shaking our little yellow van. As I write this, tiny granules of sand scatter across the pages. The sun is setting and we are huddled together, soaking in the last of the day’s warmth, waiting for the stars.

We ate oatmeal in the carpark, and shared cups of chai tea in our little enamel animal-print mugs. Shivering in the wind chill, and basking in sunlit moments between rushing clouds.

Sleepy nesting moments, dozing in the van above the covers. Stolen kisses. Total freedom.

🌵🌵🌵

NATURE NOTES:

Only 15 percent of the surface here is bare rock
- life blooms in abundance on every surface!

Rocks become almost fluid,
on a wider time scale!

These deserts are formed from the deposits of ancient seas.

Thus, this area is full of paradoxes!…
lonely expanses teeming with life,
liquid stones,
and
ocean deserts.

The arches are alive… they sing in the wind.

Spotted: early orange Globe Mallow flowers.

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LET IT GO

“Occasionally, in times of worry, I’ve longed to be stylish, but on second thought I say no - just let me be myself - and express rough, yet true things with rough workmanship.”

— VINCENT VAN GOGH - to Theo Van Gogh, Dec 23 1881

That quote, above, moves me. It speaks to me in a way that touches upon my own tender experiences. In my own artistic processes, (for, writing and taking pictures is my art,) I sometimes wonder if I need to be something else, or do something more.

Fortunately, over the years I have resisted the urge to wonder what others think, and have instead followed my own random processes, my own paths of bliss. It makes me blissful, to take photos the way I do, using the camera as a lens unto this magical world that I see before me. It makes me blissful to research each of my stories to the umpteenth degree, scouring books and articles and odd backwater writings about ethnography and ecology... only to pick a few sweet words and run with them, down here, to the white paper where I then write out my own thoughts and musings and poems. It makes me blissful to present them in this way: artfully, restrained, mysterious-like and yet revealing too. To the reader, my writings may seem a little out of place in a world of hard hitting headlines, and punctual lists, and punchy points. I never go about it in a straight-forward fashion, instead I like to contemplate the meaning of each word and sentence, and consider what it is I am really conveying. I do not offer travel advice, or even conventional wisdom. I only offer my own tiny truths, as I know them.

And this is the way I like it.

I imagine that, perhaps, the reader is taken on a journey into their own mind - as they are able to interpret my words any which way, they will apply their own experience to the matter, and thus, their inner world is revealed to them.

Instead of leaving the reader with practical tips and a tinge of FOMO over the beautiful places they have yet to visit, I hope to leave them wistful, thoughtful, understanding that the place they are at is also just as beautiful, if only they can see it. I hope my words can be like a pointing hand, a finger to the moon. I do not wish them to see me, I wish them to look further and see the moon.

But most importantly, and above all else, I wish to satisfy my own mind, which yearns to create, to explore, to learn, to see, and to love that which I look upon - I love this world by capturing it, then letting it go.