We explored a new forest. The scent of giant old redwoods and douglas firs filled my tree-hugger-heart with bliss. Waterfalls and jurassic ferns in every direction! So many rare species of fungi! I felt like Jack Skellington in Christmas Town. "What's this!? What's this?!"
Nature's beauty was so distracting that we underestimated the trail length and had to navigate the second half in pitch darkness, on a freezing moonless night, at an anxious pace through unfamiliar disorienting serpentine trails that were flooded with mud. I worried about nocturnal predators, and feared being stranded overnight.
And there was no more thermos soup left.
Adrenaline pumped my leg muscles into high gear. After an hour or so of panicked hyper-focused speed-walking in the dark, out of breath and sore as fuck, the destination was eventually reached. I was never so relieved to collapse into a cushioned car and be reunited with a lunchbox of mandarins and water.
On the way out I saw a proud buck with impressive antlers waiting to cross the road.
The next day we discovered a new beach, and a cool quirky house with a deck lined with a colorful collection of buoys. Some guy was playing guitar and lots of people were surfing.
I've been doing field recordings of creeks and nature sounds, hoping to weave it into some whimsical ambient music later.
Now I'm back in the atrociously noisy city, warm in bed, in my softest piratey pants, blue hair (and a few silvers) loosely braided, typing with green glitter fingernails, about to reach for my mug of hot golden milk with vanilla syrup and marshmallows, and quietly lurk neighboring diaries before bed... :)
friday - 2024-01-12