You can not stay on the summit forever;
You have to come down again.
So why bother in the first place?
Just this:
What is above knows what is below,
But what is below does not know what is above.
One climbs, one sees.
One descends, one no longer sees, but one has seen.
There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up.
When one can no longer see, one can still know. -Rene Daumal

Parliament Hill, Ottawa, ON

This poem was on one of my favorite facebook pages, Biodesign Out For a Walk, and boy, did it hit home. I have been feeling this distance from the mountain tops, the climbs of the early part of my trip. This week was spent mostly in large cities in Canada, walking my feet off in rising temperatures, with my jaw dropping at the sight of 14th and 15th century architecture rather than million year old mountainsides. Don’t get me wrong, it has been phenomenal, but this poem speaks where my heart could only wonder. As I have descended into busy populated zones I am recalling more of the memory of what I have seen. Continue reading →

Sue’s lovely yard

I can tell by my photos, or lack of them, that I am weary. It must be time to refuel. I had two quick visits with friends in Massachusetts and I could feel the weight of the heat and humidity pulling me down. I spent a night in Feeding Hills (great name) with a friend that was my upstairs neighbor 30 years ago. We have kept in contact all these years even after she moved to the opposite coast. It was a lovely visit to her rural farm, an oasis for catching up, but one night was not nearly long enough. Continue reading →

“I dwell in Possibility
A fairer House than Prose
More numerous of Windows
Superior for Doors” – Emily Dickinson

I started this trip rather clueless, not sure what I was looking for or why but knowing it was time for leaping. The first “section” of the journey seemed to be about returning to nature and rediscovering my absolute need and desire for connecting to the mountains, canyons, deserts, rocks, trees, wildlife, you name it, I was hungry for nature. Hiking brought me closer to my soul and more in touch with myself and I discovered once again that this body, this being, is just great the way I am, for who I am, without the trappings of what I do or who I’m related to. Continue reading →

Shem Creek, SC

I slept late the next morning enjoying the quiet of waking up in a neighborhood rather than a hotel. DeAnne has a screened-in back porch area with rocking chairs and a cute black cat named, Lily. Both were adored. My ankle was giving me more pain so I was ready to take it slower, and DeAnne had the day off and was happy to show me her neighborhood highlights. We went to Shem Creek for lunch and sat on a deck overlooking a heavily trafficked boating canal. Continue reading →

Sunset from Pitt Street Bridge

I sit here rather dumbfounded and stunned. Once again my pathway has opened up into a beautiful sunlit sea, one filled with laughing gulls, blue crabs, dolphins, bridges, pelicans, tiny fiddler crabs that scuttle and hide every time I tried to take their photo, soft sandy beaches and shrimp boats. Continue reading →