Memorial Day 2013

Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.

Shovel them under and let me work—

                                          I am the grass; I cover all.

And pile them high at Gettysburg

And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.

Shovel them under and let me work.

Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:

                                          What place is this?

                                          Where are we now?

                                          I am the grass.

                                          Let me work.

 

     --Carl Sandburg

Grave Lines

Fellow Veteran For Peace and friend Larry Kershner has published a collection of poety, Grave Lines.  Larry's poems explore his Vietnam combat experience and the understanding that experience has contributed to his awareness of the world and its people in the many years since Vietnam.  Larry describes his work as "in your face" and it is, often uncomfortably so.  The discomfort is testament to the truth in Larry's work. 

A sample:

When happiness is a warm gun on the silk road to canto

1.      .    When Richard Nixon announced
   he couldn’t stand pat
   we hoped that he meant
   his wife
   but we knew that the meant the war
   then shapeshifting he came on the tv and
   confirmed that he had lied to us all
   there was no secret plan for peace
   only burglars in the Watergate
   dreaming fascist dreams.
   
   
   2.     When the Buddha stood
   in the tall grass before me
   with his rifle on full automatic
   his bullets missed me
   as mine were nothing to him.
   
   
    3.     When the international community called for
   a forty-eight hour suspension of bombing
   while the thirty-two children of Qana are
   raised form the dead in he town where once
   Jesus turned water into wine.
   
   

Copies are $10, available directly from Larry.  Email him at Larry@peacepoet.me.

A May Hike

May 20, 1989.  Grand Canyon, Arizona.  It's morning on Horseshoe Mesa.  A leisurely one at that.  Sun came up about a half hour ago--at quarter to six-- and I am just getting breakfast going.  For once on a Canyon trip I don't have to blast off first thing in the morning. It's great just sitting here looking east toward Desert View and Hance Canyon.  Maggie and I hiked in yesterday, covering the 3 mile trail in about 3.5 hours.  Found a nice campsite with a bit of shade and promptly zonked out.  We really needed the break after getting up at 3 am to drive up on Friday.  The mesa afforded us a grand sunset:  long, slow, and intense with Mercury and Jupiter suspended just above the rim before slowly setting.   Later the full moon rose dramatically over the rim, preceded by an intense glow.  The silvery disc appeared as a bright sliver on the rim and quickly grew as it emerged.  Within minutes it was fully above the rim bathing the Canyon in a bright light.  Canyon walls stood out in a dark relief under the strong moonlight. 

Now it's Saturday afternoon after a delightful four hours hanging out at Page Spring sitting in the shade, sleeping, washing up and drinking water.  The spring is a large pool in a shaded grotto with leafy green vegetation hanging from its ceiling.  Water drips steadily from the ceiling, creating a most soothing effect.  The trail down is steep and rocky in places but easy to follow.  It passes a deep mineshaft which still has rails in place on the floor and a pipe of some sort along the ceiling.  A piece of machinery--looks like a pump--sits on the ground adjacent to the shaft.  A rusted wheelbarrow sits on the side of the trail just above the spring.  Lots of small animals, especially lizards and hummingbirds, were evident around the spring.  A couple ravens cruised by as well.  The walk back to camp with 12 quarts of water wasn't bad--we made it up in 45 minutes--15 less than the trip down.  Once back in camp we explored the Cave of the Domes on the west side of the mesa.  We walked in about 100 feet--it's large, multi-chambered, cool and dusty with lots of stalactites and stalagmites.

Slugs and Worms

That's the headline I would have used a few weeks ago to describe my local velo experience after several days of heavy rain.  I never got around to making that post.  Now that the weather is very nice, the headline no longer applies but I like it enough to use it anyway.

Yesterday slugs and worms were not in evidence.  We had bright sunlight and warm temperatures after several days of increasingly sunny, dry weather.  Truly the early days of summer here in Olympia.  The trees are filling in with green.  Flowers in bloom everywhere.  People out and about in shorts in t-shirts.  I rode in a t-shirt for the first time this year yesterday. 

Last week was cool and overcast.  I managed to ride early, hoping to dodge predicted mid-day showers.  A nice enough ride but nothing like yesterday.  When the sun comes out here this place sparkles.

A few weeks ago--the week of slugs and worms--was much cooler and darker, pretty much what I expect in early spring here.  The slugs were pretty easy to spot with their eyes periscoped up; they looked intent on getting somewhere.  The worms were less easy to see.  As a rule, I keep a sharp look out a (a lesson deeply imbedded in my brain from booby trap training in the Army) and so I didn't run over anything.

Yesterday's fauna amounted to a wooly caterpillar and a small garter snake, both easily spotted in the bright sunlight.

Procession 2013

Yesterday in Olympia. Procession of the Species.

Dancers

Artesian Rumble Arkestra

Mongoose and cobra

Whale and jellyfish

Geoduck

Giraffe

Earlier in the day we attended the Power Tool Drag Races.

A Current Outing

Yesterday a friend and I hiked the Lena Lake trail on the Olympic Peninsula.  The trailhead is about an hour and a half from Olympia with easy access over paved road.  My hiking partner and I attempted this hike in late December but found the forest road impassible due to snow and a low clearance vehicle.  Yesterday we encountered no such obstacles.  Driving Route 101 on the way to the trailhead, we had spectacular views of snow-capped Olympic ridges as the morning clouds lifted and the sun broke through.

According to the Olympic Peninsula day hiking guide, Lena Lake is an "extremely popular back country lake surrounded by ancient timber" and generally overused.  No doubt that comes from the easy road access and the short (3.2 mile) distance to the lake on well-maintained trail.  Pretty much anyone capable of basic mobility can get there. 

That's not to say the hike requires no effort.  The trail climbs 1,300 feet total, maybe half of that in the first mile.  The long switchbacks lessen the grade but it's still a climb.  Along the way, we passed through boulder fields surrounded by dense forest, skirted under a rock overhang and found water streaming in many places.  At 3 miles we found a nice spot where the trail first encounters the Lena Lake, on a bluff well above the water with a view of the lower end of the lake.  Farther along are designated campsites and a very impressive composting privy (closed for the maintenance).  A few campsites were occupied but we saw only, tents, tarps and hanging food bags.  No people.  We crossed the bridge over Lena Creek and found a lunch spot nearby.

For people, we encountered a fairly large troop of Boy Scouts (at least 20 plus adults) who camped on the other side of the lake, and day hikers.  Not counting the scouts, we saw most of the people as we walked out.  The day was mostly cloudy, sometimes sunny.  It clearly favored the 70 percent chance of no showers implied by the predicted 30 percent chance of showers forecast for the day.  I expected at least some damp and drizzle.  Its absence made for a leisurely, pleasant walk.  Starting out I wore a rain jacket over a polypro long-sleeve turtleneck hiking shirt but removed the jacket soon enough.  The shirt was plenty comfortable as long as I was moving.

Actual hiking time was about four and half hours, including lunch at Lena Lake, dawdling at the 3 mile viewpoint and taking photos.  We made it to the 3 mile point in about an hour and a half, which includes Scott returning to the car shortly after we started walking to make sure the headlights were off (they were).   My arthritis did not give me any problems walking; it was most noticeable when I had to scramble around the few obstacles in trail.

The trip ended at the Fish Tale Brew Pub in Olympia.  In all, a very nice day.

Here are a few images.

Boulder Field

Overhang

 

 Waterfall

Another Waterfall

Lena Lake

An April Hike

18 Apr 1992.  Bill Williams Wilderness, Arizona.  I'm sitting in the shade of a rock wall beside the Bill Williams River.  The day is hot but the shade is cool and a nice breeze is blowing.  We walked in about two miles.  It was pretty easy but did require a lot of in-and-out-of-water, bushwacking and scrambling in places.  The high point was seeing a family of bald eagles--two adults and two fledglings--nesting on a cliff above the river.  Two eaglewatch volunteers let us look through their spotting scope for a great view of the family.  We could see one of the fledglings perched on the edge of the nest trying out its wings.  An adult was eating a fish while the other circled overhead.  We also got good views of the nest as we walked downriver until rounding a bend.

Now we are camped on a sandy bench above the river.  The plan was to base camp and explore downriver.  The reality has been lying about, swimming and fishing.  I did wander up a side canyon looking for photos but have otherwise been pretty inactive.  I watched about 10 buzzards circling above the canyon.  We passed a dead javelina upstream so they may be attracted by that.  The buzzards are impressive birds--cruising almost effortlessly, wings folded back as they dive, wings extended as they cruise.  We also saw a large swarm of swallows, darting around a ledge over the water.  In all, a nice day.  The canyon is not as sheer as I expected.  Except for a few narrows it's pretty open.  Even the narrows are not that closed in.  The riverbed is loose rock with a sandy bottom.