goodbye, goodbye california : what i'm going to miss {part one}

the movers came and went this morning...
a miracle that they can pack up so much stuff
and load it on to a truck in a matter of hours...
this could have taken me weeks if left to my own moving skills.

i think we're mostly excited for this move,
but it's funny how when i find myself sitting
in an empty apartment on the floor (of which i
will definitely not miss the carpet)
that my mind wanders to all of the adventures
that ceej and i have had in this western state.

i will miss going to the sea
where we would sit for hours reading,
drawing, or snapping photos in a rain fury.

i will miss walking slowly through old-growth
forests with trees ancient and terrible.

i will miss farmers markets year-round.
i'm quite dreading a grocery store. blah.

and i will miss our drives across the nevada desert...
people used to feel sorry for our journey
this way, but they don't know the wonderful
breath of air it was for me to be in the desert
with wide open skies and mountains bare.

we're happy for what is ahead of us...
and quite pleased with all that we discovered here
over the past two and a half years.

project film : my heart's in the highlands, my heart is not here

my heart seems to be elsewhere this morning...
i love mornings like this
when my soul realizes the simple complexities of life.

i began my morning with sun salutations to arvo part's
music coupled with robert burns' poem...
you must hear it, click here,
i listened to arvo part all morning
until i just ended with 12 cellos playing
this song...i never tire of it.



i love mornings when i see.

project film : slide film & poetry of the earth

Smile O voluptuous coolbreathed earth!
Earth of the slumbering and liquid trees!
Earth of departed sunset! Earth of the mountains misty-topt!
Earth of the vitreous pour of the full moon just tinged
with blue!
Earth of shine and dark-mottling the tide of the river!
Earth of the limpid gray of clouds brighter and clearer
for my sake!
Far-swooping elbowed earth! Rich appled-blossomed earth!
Smile, for your lover comes!
-walt whitman

have a lovely, earthy wednesday...we are having an autumnal equinox party tonight to welcome in the first day of fall tomorrow (just ceej and i...but it should be fantastic!). i can hardly wait for summer to end (though we have 95 degrees in our forecast...ugh), and for the weather to cool down for my mittens and scarves. can hardly wait for the harvesting of apples, pumpkins, and everything else delicious. how are you celebrating autumn?

{and happy birthday wishes to frodo & bilbo of the shire!}

project film : slide film, the pros and cons

i love slide film. a lot.
it's so brilliant and crisp...
however,
it seems you have to be a photoshop guru
to restore the brilliance of the slides
once you scan them into your computer.
ugh.
sometimes i wonder if i've created more work for myself...
i thought i'd be slowing down, things getting more simple.
sigh.
well, these slides are certainly slowing me down.

and i love them.

if you want to see the real color
you'll have to either come on over to my place
for a killer slide show
or
you can wait patiently as i master photoshop...
there will definitely be some before & after shots
in this series.

{or perhaps i'll give up the slide film and work with all the other options i still have...we'll see}

"trees go wandering forth in all directions with every wind"

{digital photos by cj}

i absolutely adored this camping trip, though it started off a little rough. both "plan a" and "plan b" camping sites were full upon our 10:30pm arrival thursday night...there's nothing worse in my mind than arriving to a destination after a long drive, late at night, with nowhere to sleep. luckily, we stumbled upon a pretty sweet RV campground just ten minutes outside the park.

these photos are from day 1 of our trip. we immediately went on a hike that would take us through an incredible old-growth forest. i was not prepared for how majestic and awe-some these old sages would be. i was not prepared for how still and quiet this forest would be. i was not prepared for how alive this forest would be. i could feel every tree move and breath inside me. it's just impossible to explain. this park now tops my list...in the top three of my favorite national parks. it will change you.

we hiked all day long...taking photos at every turn...making for a longer hike than anticipated, but oh so worth it {i certainly hope a handful of my film photos turn out}. we were back at our campsite at sunset, where we found a huge heard of elk grazing at the site. we watched them for quite a while before getting back to our tent to cook up some delicious dinner. every night we played speed scrabble under the light of our little lantern {we are not game people--scrabble is the only game we own, and we only play it when we're camping--that's just the way we are}.

this trip truly was amazing. i'm hoping we will make it back there a few more times in this lifetime.

"groves of redwoods and beeches are often compared to the naves of great cathedrals: the silence; the green, filtered, numinous light. A single banyan, each with its multitude of trunks, is like a temple or a mosque--a living colonnade. but the metaphor should be the other way around. the cathedrals and mosques emulate the trees. the trees are innately holy."
-colin tudge, the tree, page xvii

{the title quote is john muir}