YAY MICHIGAN!

 Babs found this one:

 

I am going home for a wedding and a visit and I can’t wait.

Zapp and Roger=talk box genius.

Ok. I have no idea how I’ve missed this up until NOW.

I just can’t stop the groove.

Listen to the magic here:

The talkbox kicks ass.

I want one.

Stevie Wonder on the talkbox…..

On driving and The Roman Empire.

Yesterday, I wanted to go somewhere.

I hit a few buttons on my machine, got some direction and jumped in the car. 

I love maps. I love travel. I love to navigate.

Simple enough right?

Anytime, any place- let’s plan it, let’s go.

I’ve been around: Planes, trains, hoofin’ it too, boats, ferries, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Czech Republic, The Netherlands, England, Greece, Jamaica, Costa Rrrrrrrica, All over the U.S. 

I love it.

Well, 

oddly enough- one mode of getting from here to there had me troubled for some time.

You see,

In the not so distant past it seems that I had developed a fear of highway driving…..driving in big cities, long distances, etc. 

From 17 on I had a car and I would get around but really it was my best gal Courtney (*this lady is wild…i’ll tell ya bout it someday*) who was our driver.

Always.

concerts,

road trips,

those drives along East Bay Boulevard. 

When Courtney split for the east or wherever she was headed boyfriends took the wheel.

I wasn’t particularly afraid of dying or anything like that- I just didn’t drive.

The couple times it came up (some trip to Grand Rapids or somethin’)- I would go through with it- hands clenching the steering wheel- death grip- rrrrrrreally hatin’ life.

Long (14 years) story short- Since I left the womb of Traverse City I have had to drive……long distances, in a city- up mountains- alllllll over the highway-

and

After a few runs, I have realized the joy of mastering your own immediate driving destiny.

I love it. 

I am not skeerd anymore!

This is justification enough for my move out west. 

All of this driving stuff came to a head yesterday when I hit a few buttons on my machine, got direction, and got the hell outa PDX.

Ewan and I hiked a waterfall, stood on the edge of a cliff and were home in time for dinner.

Amazing. 

*I know all of the evils of driving peeps-  emissions n’ fuel costs n’ how the industry’s existence alone has deterred the full onslaught of mass transit planning which in turn has wasted precious time and resources which in turn has lead a country into self serving war- self serving drilling practices……meanwhile fuel costs spike (because they can) which causes the people stressssss because it is 50 bucks to fill up the tank- (I don’t think people would mind paying 50 bucks if they had 50 bucks), all of this begets a dissatisfed populous as the unfair distribution of funds becomes more and more apparent and the short-sightedness of government begins to effect the electorate in ways they can understand………. 

Part of the Roman Empire’s success was in keeping their people fed and entertained (bread and circus). This model has been employed over and over again by the ruling classes- especially here in the good ol’ USA.

Revolutions happen when people know what is being done to them- when people start dying – or cannot eat- or lose their homes and their jobs and cannot get adequate health care……

I know that the parallels drawn between The Roman Empire and the U.S. are kind of tired- but kind of true. 

Don’t get me wrong. The bread and circuses are still firmly in place here at home (BUY, BUY, BUY!!!!) but what happens when these strategies fail to keep people distracted (staving off rrrrrevolution)?

and they are.

Starting to fail.

AW

SHIT.

What does all this mean for my new found love of hittin’ the road?

well.

It sucks.

I like to drive. 

Damn.

(I am really not complaining- and will gladly pay for fuel in my lil’ excursions. I don’t have to drive- those folks that commute or transport to make a living- that is what truly sucks- I just feel kind-o guilty).

today……8:30…….pm

Word:

verdant \VUR-dnt\, adjective:
1. Covered with growing plants or grass; green with vegetation.
2. Green.
3. Unripe in knowledge, judgment, or experience; unsophisticated; green.

Book:

Song:

Thinkin’ bout Sloth.

The natural beauty in these parts continues to amaze me. It is gettin’ down right ridiculous. 

Adventure #432 was a success. 

Dougan Falls  were incredible. 

Low water levels allowed for the mellow flow and exposed riverbed- lots of little pools to swim in. 

This next pic was taken from the top of a cliff. With the 8 year old in tow I didn’t make the jump like i wanted to.

Damn.

Next Time.

I dunno about you but this scene makes me think of One Eyed Willie and (*my favorite Goonies character of all time*) Sloth.

awwwwwwwwwwwwww Sloth.

me n’ ed.

Truly a great show.

Very intimate, pushed my table right up front……….such lovely music************

Ed LIVE.

Ed Harcourt

I am going to see Ed Harcourt tonight!!!!!!

I haven’t been too terribly excited about the music rollin’ into PDX- until NOW!

Bear Country.

Ewan and I went to the coast again. Further south to Tillamook and the surrounding area. 

Ummmmm- really a jaw dropper….an awe inspirer…..

We decided to hit up Cape Lookout only to find BIG yellow signs warning us that we were in bear country. A little nervous from the sign- Ewan and I decided we were probably ok considering the parking lot was pretty populated. 

So, almost from the get-go we were busy trying not to freak out. As this path wound around the edge of a cliff we were surrounded by sloping, forested hills on one side and incredible “eh, so there’s a bear charging- I can’t take my eyes of it” coast.

I tried to keep my cool as we walked further along the cape- until about a half mile in I realized we had another 2 miles to go- we were surrounded by raspberries- and though I know Oregon is wild n’ all- I had not seen such a BIG YELLOW bear sign yet- and considering the cape we were hiking was really, really small- I understood there was a deep possibility that we might see a bear. My momma sense said “Lady, turn around….”

I was not prepared for an encounter.

 

I mean really we probably woulda been fine. 

shrug.

Other cool stuff:

xo.

The Birds.

 

So-

I was checking the headlines and noticed a blurb about Starlings (the bird). I thought instantly of my relationship with these little creatures. You see, at that hotel bar I used to work at- way up- 10 stories high, we would watch the Starlings at sunset. HUGE flocks of starlings would swoop and sweep in really tight, really amazing formation.

Many things in that bar became predicable (after so many years)- But the starlings, no matter how many times we’d all seen them were ALWAYS new, always beautiful, always mysterious……..

What were they doing? Eating, communicating, keeping safe (safety in numbers)? 

Someone always had a theory, a bit of bird info or fact- 

I, of course, made my own investigation-

Get this:

 

• Both males and females can mimic human speech. (Some people keep starlings as pets). Starlings can also imitate the song of many other birds like the Eastern Wood-Pewee, Meadowlark, Northern Bobwhite. Vocalizations inside the nestbox during nest building can be lengthy and quite varied.
• An estimated 1/3 to 1/2 of returning females nest in the same box or area in consecutive years. That is why it’s even more important not to let them nest in the first place.
• A starling couple can build a nest in 1-3 days. 
• A migrating flock can number 100,000 birds. They roost communally in flocks that may contain as many as a million birds.
•  After a number of misguided attempts to introduce starlings to North America, perhaps 60-100 starlings were released into Central Park, in New York City, in 1890 and 1891, by an acclimatization society headed by Eugene Schieffelin. Their goal was to introduce all birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s works. The entire North American population, now numbering more than 200,000,000, descended from these birds.

Found this totally unrelated site in my browsing: The Siren Archive

Ummm- huh.

wow.