Murmuration

Nature at its most magical moments. Planet Earth is such an incredible place to call home.

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

Seaweed Man

I am so excited to share this. I came upon this website, and immediately become enthralled and thrilled to see the work these two people are doing. An accumulation of farm dinners, education, awareness of farmers and their passions, philosophy on living, working, growing and eating, all beautifully caught on video to tell the stories. 

Here is just one story:


The Perennial Plate Episode 76: Seaweed Man from Daniel Klein on Vimeo.

A leap of faith, a stumble, or something like that. Humans do crazy beautiful things.
Experience Zero Gravity from Betty Wants In on Vimeo.

Underwater Love

 There is something about being in water that soothes our bodies and expands our imagination. Free from gravity yet deeply conscious of our breathing patterns, all the while in tune to how our limbs and muscles propel ourselves forward in relation to the resistance of water around us, it is easy to feel limitless. If you relax, being in water can open the gates to a blissful escape into something similar to meditation. And when art is able to capture glimpses of those feelings, its magical. Underwater photographs sometimes allude to the mystical place of being engulfed by water, but when combined with images of love, it adds a level of romance no words can describe. 

These photos remind me of all the beauty and butterflies of being in love. When caught in the wave of falling in love, a kiss can be a powerful thing. Many have describe this heightened experience of being totally captivated with a lover, as a feeling where nothing else in the world matters, and time just seems to stop. And so is the case when you are deep in water, where almost everything is silent except your own heartbeat, its seems as though the world outside doesn't exist.  Here, these images capture very well that brief moment of a kiss and embrace, as these two elements of life, water and love, become that much more spectacular.

"Longing To Belong" - Eddie Vedder from Dave Homcy on Vimeo.

 

The River of Gender

The listless beauty of the hour
When snow fell on the apple trees
And the wood-ash gathered in the fire
And we faced our first miseries.

Then the sweeping sunshine of noon
When the mountains like chariot cars
Were ranked to the blue battle --- and you and I
Counted our scars.

And then in a strange, grey hour
We lay mouth to mouth, with your face
Under mine like a star on the lake
And I covered the earth, and all space.

The silent, drifting hours
Of morn after morn
And night drifting up to the night
Yet no pathway worn.

Your life, and mine, my love
Passing on and on, the hate
Fusing closer and closer with love
Until at length they mate.

-D.H. Lawrence, "History"

Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex

What lays ahead in the following month is literally a dream come true. At the start of the first week of August, my younger brother, Benton, and myself with four other friends will be setting out into the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex for a 10 day horse and mule pack trip. Benton, with our friend Otis, and I have driven from Santa Barbara with four mules to Pray, Montana where we are staying at our friends ranch before we pack up and start the ride. The others are still on their way to the ranch, so I’ve had some time to kill and settle in. Our goal is to cover 100 miles of trail, (in a system that has over 1,000 miles of trail) but because some days will just be day hikes or day rides, we will most likely walk more.

I have back packed California and South and Central America, and have rode my fair share of horses and mules from growing up on a ranch in Big Sur, but since I was little I have always wanted to do a LONG distance horse pack trip in pristine wilderness. And now its happening! We will be mostly west of the Continental Divide, traveling deep into the Montana wilderness, a country so vast and wide and said to be ideal horse country.

The Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex is the last habitat in the lower forty-eight states for the grizzly bear and provides crucial habitat to the endangered gray wolves as well. Hopefully we wont have any grizzly “problems” or dangerous encounters. Our groups knowledge and experience combined gives me faith that we are going in well prepared and will be safe. As a biology nerd and avid naturalist I am ecstatic at the chance of getting too see a whole array of wildlife and biodiversity in one of the best months to visit.

Rocky Mountain summer weather never fails to be constantly changing between rain storms, hail  or hot and dry temps. We are expecting to cross high passes that will still have at least 5 feet of snow and may possibly have to re-figure our path if some rivers are too high to pass. As the result of late snow melt, we are figuring that we need to pack in extra horse feed, so that will limit the number of ride-able mules for the first few days. As a result, Benton and I (as the youngest in the group) will get the pleasure of hiking a considerable amount of miles on foot. If being in such a beautiful place isn’t enough to give me a new perspective on life, I’m sure that walking behind a farting mule for 50 miles will clear my head!

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Follow the link on more information about the B.M. Wilderness Complex if your curious:
http://visitmt.com/categories/moreinfo.asp?IDRRecordID=730&siteid=1



"There is just one hope of repulsing the tyrannical ambition of civilization to conquer every niche on the whole earth. That hope is the organization of spirited people who will fight for the freedom of the wilderness. In a civilization which requires most lives to be passed amid inordinate dissonance, pressure and intrusion, the chance of retiring now and then to the quietude and privacy of sylvan haunts becomes for some people a pyschic neccesity. The preservation of a few samples of undeveloped territory is one of the most clamant issues before us today. Just a few more years of hesitation and the only trace of that wilderness which has exerted such a fundamental influence in molding American character will lie in the musty pages of pioneer books...To avoid this catastrophe demands immediate action."
— Robert Marshall, co-founder, The Wilderness Society

Letters to My Dog

Bosco,

Avid trail runner in the winter and wanna-a-be river otter in the summer, your 6 years of Queensland Heeler insights and adventurous spirit would be totally at home here in the big open wild. All the climbing, rivers and wildlife is wonderful; you would go nuts running around the mountains and hills with me and Benton. Next trip to Montana, you are coming along.

The air might be one of the best things about this place.  The sweet smell of earth takes over and everything seems to be thawing from the winter; so happy to be blooming with each day of spring. The spring weather cycles from rain to sun to wind. A couple days ago I spent the night at the Dabney's ranch in Paradise Valley. We went out to dinner and listened to a group of talented local folk musicians, and watched while other diners got up and danced by the fireplace. Later that night, I walked across the orchard and soaked in the redwood hot tub by candlelight. Surrounded by a cold storm passing through, I sunk into the hot water until it was up to my chin. I was swept up by the mist, rain and wind around me and completely lost track of time. It was one of those nights only a place as beautiful and wild as here that could make that moment so mystical.


Since you can't receive text messages or emails, you may not know who much I miss you. All the fun I've had here in MT just makes me wish you were right by my side. You have been instrumental in supporting my lust for spontaneous road trips, sleeping under the stars, skinny-dipping, and spending days together outdoors doing nothing and everything. You are always my partner in crime for whatever crazy idea I have planned. You have hiked and run miles with me, patiently hung out around climbing crags, willingly put up with my friends, kissed me every time I got done surfing, happy to curl up next to me every night and always proved to have more enthusiasm and skill in the outdoors than anyone else I know.

You are always adept to picking up stray sticks and making sure all the squirrels you meet get plenty of exercise. You manage to always find a willing participant for a good ball throwing or belly rub. You charm your way into everyone's heart and have the strength to bring down even the strongest man to the ground.

And though you have no formal schooling, you have always proved to be wise beyond your years. I can't wait to see you and share more adventures together.



All my love,
Your Mama

ps. Here is a picture of Benton getting strong.