Full Moon Flight

This morning, the first day of my vacation, started early.  I had the luxury of a personal escort on the light rail trip to the airport which was very nice.  I've used light rail before but having an experienced companion made the trip anxiety free.  My flight took off in the dark.  As we flew over the Mall of America I looked down and could see through the skylights.  I saw the tables and trees inside the mall.  The clear sky and the full moon made it easy to see bodies of water.  The moon shone on the water and reflected back to me.  On the lakes the moon illuminated the thin rim of ice on the lake edges and corners as well as the open water in the middle.  Rivers were visible in curved arches where the moon shone over the river bank and through the trees and reflected back to me up in the air.  I tried to follow the rivers and predict which way they curved when the reflection was temporarily blocked.  I really like having a window seat although I gotta say, the left side of my neck is a little tight from looking out the window for so long..

Creatures of the Kingdom

I was on my way to the gym and looking for a book to read when I saw this one on the bottom of a stack in the kitchen. I grabbed it not knowing how long it had been there.  Here was a treasure just waiting for me.  James Michener wrote Creatures of the Kingdom.  Usually Michener writes very long and well researched books that are so thick you wouldn't want to carry them to the gym.  This collection of short stories was easier to carry and perfect for distracting me from my exercise.  Sixteen short stories were delightful and educational.  His love of nature is contagious and I now have a new fondness for armadillos and mammoths.  The final chapter, "Genghis Khan and the Colonel" is about a squirrel/bird feeder dispute and is very entertaining.  

 

Favorite Day Of The Year

What a week it has been.  Seems like every minute was filled with responsibility; every task completed with the next step forming in my head.  I had a regular whirlwind of a week culminating in my favorite work day of the year - the annual years of service ceremony.  The ceremony went off without a hitch.  Every moment was fun.  Months of planning and preparation have paid off.  I am so lucky to have a job that I enjoy this much.

What's In Store For Me In The Direction I Don't Take?

“What's in store for me in the direction I don't take?”    - Jack Kerouac

Yesterday I went for a short motorcycle ride.  Because it was a nice day and I had tons of things to do I thought it would be a good day to fill up the gas tank with gas and add a fuel stabilizer.  So I put on my gear and headed to the gas station.  No one said I had to go to the nearest gas station so I headed north and west through Nowthen and Elk River.  All the yards except on the golf courses looked brown and dry.  Many of the potato fields were bare soil but some had a green cover crop growing.  The green color of the cover crop looked irregular as if it shouldn't be there and won't last very long.  I took the river road and before I knew it I was in Big Lake.  I crossed the Mississippi.  As long as I was there I stopped in the city park of Monticello.  I parked under some maples still fully loaded with yellow leaves.  I walked down to the water edge to feel the temperature of the river.  The water was very low so I had to cross some boulders and a good ten feet of river bottom mud before I got to the water.  The water was clear and I could see algae growing on branches under the water.  Jesus bugs scuttered around and the water felt surprisingly warm.  Three groups of people fished from shore and another group fished from a boat.  Kids played with sticks on the rocks.  A man and a woman holding hands strode by walking downstream in the dried mud.  I headed toward home and the gas station.  Logically I could have taken the shortest way home.  But on Indian summer days like this, the pull of the open road is too strong.  I took the other side of the river back home.  In Dayton I saw the Crow River flowing into the Mississippi.  I wanted to follow the Crow for a while and that took me into Rogers.  From there I took the familiar Diamond Lake Road back into Champlin.  Still unable to take the logical way home, I stopped by Point Park in Anoka to see the state champion ash tree standing guard.  And then I got gas and went home.  It's strange how when I drive the motorcycle sometimes I loose control of the vehicle.  The road pulls me like a magnet pulls a piece of metal.  I end up places I didn't plan on going.  Like hypnotism, you have to be open to the road tugging at you.  If you choose to let the road decide where to go, you open yourself up to exploratory state of mind, senses on alert, destination unknown.

War!

I've been hunting the thorn this weekend. I have come out of the battle somewhat victorious although bloodied, scratched and injured.  Armed with a loppers, pruning saw, bow saw and a squirt bottle of "Brush B Gone" I advance on the enemy.  I snip and spray while saying aloud, "Suck It!"  The buck thorn is drawing it's fluids back into the roots in the fall so the nasty plant draws the poison right into the heart of the root.  But the buck thorn is a tricky plant who plans to survive my attack.  The sneaky thorns grows amid the poison ivy, creating it's own poisonous moat.  The nasty buck thorn will hide it's cut stem under the leaves so I can't see it to administer the poison.  When I cut a 12 foot tall tree, it nearly always falls on my head.  Statistically, not that many trees should be falling on my head when there are 360 degrees of possibility.  In this war, me against the thorn, who will come out on top?  I see an army of thorn in the woods around me and it's scary.  Those dark green leaves of the enemy remain unmolested on neighboring property.  This is war!

Art!

 Last night at my Master Naturalist class we had a nature drawing class.  One of our members is an artist.  She gave us all paper, pens, pencils, charcoal, erasers and smudgers to use.  She showed us how to draw a daffodil starting with six circles around a center circle.  My daffodil turned out to be the best daffodil I have ever drawn.  Also on that page is supposed to be a stalk of wheat, a turtle, an oak leaf, a snowflake and a robin.  The upper drawing is supposed to be a squirrel holding an acorn while standing on a branch.  She spoke about the left brain (the artist) and the right brain (the scientist).  Sometimes the right brain can impede the artistic process by trying to insert facts and science into the picture.  That is why she recommends that if you listen to music while drawing, make sure it's instrumental music without words.  According to her, listening to lyrics will not help your drawing.  She is a good artist and she does nice work.  We had fun trying to draw, trying to focus on the shapes of things and keeping the right side of our brain subdued for once. 

Far From The Madding Crowd

Thomas Hardy wrote Far From the Madding Crowd.  I had heard of this book before and I thought it was far from the maddening crowd which turns out to be pretty much the same definition.  I loved every minute of this book.  And I loved the names the author gave to the characters.  Gabriel Oak (manly angel and a sturdy tree) is one of the main characters.  He's a hardworking shepherd who is as dependable as the day is long.  Bathsheba Everdene is the independent young woman who seems to drive all the men around her to madness.  Bathsheba - what a name.  Can you just picture a baby named Bathsheba?  I can't. I also can't imagine Bathsheba passing my personal naming test - how it would sound when you opened the door and yelled for her to come in from outside.  "Bathsheba! Come home!"  No, it just doesn't work.  Farmer Boldwood is a neighboring farmer who falls for Bathsheba.  Boldwood is a mentally unbalanced, moody fella who insists that Bathsheba agree to marry him even when he knows she doesn't like him.  Sargent Troy is the two timing, duplicitous villain of the story.  And Fanny Robin (thank you my dear parents for not naming me Fanny) is the long suffering victim of the tale.  This is a great classic story.  I already put the BBC version of the movie on my netflix queue.