Thursday February 16th ~ 2012

The GOP's War On Woman Rights ..

Highlights from today & yesterday:

Today:
The GOP House Oversight and Government Reform Comity, held hearings today on Woman's Contraception and was headed and it's participants were gathered by it's Chairman, Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) There was a panel assembled to discuss and answer questions concerning these women's issues.
Now let's take a look at the panel.
Do you see the same problem with this as I do?
I am asking one simple question..
Where are the women!

Read the entire story here:
House Democrats Walk Out Of One-Sided Hearing On Contraception, Calling It An 'Autocratic Regime'

Today:
On The Andrea Mitchell Reports news show:
Mitchell interviewed Rick Santorum's sugar daddy, Foster Friess. This was his response to the question of his candidates opposition to contraception "Back in my days, they [woman] used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives... "In my day, the gals put it between their knees and it wasn't that costly."

Watch in disbelief:


Yesterday:
Rick Santorum was campaigning in Idaho:
In Boise, Idaho, on Tuesday, Santorum compared contraception to deodorant and soap when making a point about why he believes birth control should not be covered by health insurers.

"Let's mandate that every insurance policy covers toothpaste. Deodorant. That might be a good idea, right? Have everyone cover deodorant, right? Soap. I mean, where do you stop?"


Yesterday:
Virginia Legislation Issue #1:
Virginia lawmakers took a step toward outlawing abortion on Tuesday by approving "personhood" legislation that grants individual rights to an embryo from the moment of conception.

The Republican-controlled House of Delegates voted 66-32 in favor of defining the word person under state law to include unborn children "from the moment of conception until birth at every stage of biological development."

Virginia Legislation Issue #2:
The second measure passed in Virginia requires that women seeking an abortion be forced to undergo an ultrasound, which would mean a more physically invasive transvaginal ultrasound in the cases of early pregnancy. The Virginia Senate passed an ultrasound bill earlier this month, as Reuters noted. Gov. Bob McDonnell has indicated his support for the law, and is expected to sign it.

Virginia's Republican governor Bob McDonnell

Can you say LARGE GOVERNMENT
invasion of privacy?








I find it amazing that there has been absolutely NO discussion and NO problems with the Insurance Companies covering Viagra or Vasectomies. Don't You?

Wednesday February 15th ~ 2012

"Danger! Danger! Will Robinson. Danger! Danger!

Can someone please explain to me how and why the GOP is moving to so far to the right? Can they not see that the "base" that they are reaching out to is in no way the majority? Can they not see that there is no way that they will win a national election and that their new "hero" only desires to take away many of the freedoms that have been apart of our democracy for over a generation?

Mr. Santorum is probably one of the most dangerous candidates that I have ever seen. In this nations last Presidential election cycle, I thought that Palin was a dangerous idiot, and she is. And I totally blame John McCain for this country having to endure her vitriolic rhetoric. Then in this election cycle, when she announced her candidacy, I thought that Bachman was someone that just desired the limelight and was an egomaniac and I was right about that too. To this day she still says that "SHE. was the perfect candidate."

Well, now in the last few weeks, riding some of the weirdest Primary Elections I have ever seen, Mr. Santorum is sending his message further and further to the right to garner the support of the religious extremists and fundamentalists that see the future of our nation as "Their Way of the Highway." His stump speeches in Iowa had none of this current rantings on the elimination of our social freedoms.

I cannot abide any candidate that has the unmitigated gaul to tell me how to have sexual relations. You have to see this video in order to believe it. He touts a smaller government yet his ideology dictates the implementation of the "Big Brother" that he says he despises.

Watch in horror what could become the GOP candidate for President of the United States of America. I thought that the last election was imperative to win but now I am even more afraid of what would happen to our freedoms and our individual rights. 


I realize that this interview is over 44 minutes long and a great deal of it is rambling but here is the dialog that wants to make me scream.

Rick Santorum:
"One of the things I will talk about that no president has talked about before is I think the dangers of contraception in this country, the whole sexual libertine idea... It's not okay because it's a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be. They're supposed to be within marriage, for purposes that are, yes, conjugal... but also procreative.

That's the perfect way that a sexual union should happen. We take any part of that out, we diminish the act. And if you can take one part out that's not for purposes of procreation, that's not one of the reasons, then you diminish this very special bond between men and women, so why can't you take other parts of that out? And all of a sudden, it becomes deconstructed to the point where it's simply pleasure. And that's certainly a part of it--and it's an important part of it, don't get me wrong--but there's a lot of things we do for pleasure, and this is special, and it needs to be seen as special. Again, I know most presidents don't talk about those things, and maybe people don't want us to talk about those things, but I think it's important that you are who you are. I'm not running for preacher.

I'm not running for pastor, but these are important public policy issues."

Read the Editorial in The Atlantic by Conor Friedersdorf

Tuesday February 14th ~ 2012

Happy St. Valentines day to all. May this day bring friends and family together to reaffirm those bonds and may lovers remember to open their hearts to those that they adore. I am blessed with both in my life and on this day and every day I hope that I have done my due diligence with expressing these feelings.

Just some interesting history:
Wikipedia: Saint Valentine's Day, often simply Valentine's Day, is a holiday observed on February 14 honoring one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentinus. It was first established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD, and was later deleted from the General Roman Calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI. It is celebrated in countries around the world, mostly in the West, although it remains a working day in all of them.

The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. By the 15th century, it had evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines") 

 

One of my favorite poems that I wanted to share.

 

I carry your heart with me

 














E.E. Cummings
 

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)

i am never without it

(anywhere i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

                                                      i fear

no fate (for you are my fate,my sweet)

                                                      i want

no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

 

 

Monday February 13th ~ 2012

Today was a huge day for Lesbian and Gay rights. On this day, in Olympia Washington, Gov. Chris Gregoire handed gay rights advocates a major victory by signing into law a measure that legalizes same-sex marriage in Washington state, making it the seventh state our the nation to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed.

Gregoire signed the bill surrounded by gay rights supporters. "I'm proud our same-sex couples will no longer be treated as separate but equal," she said.

Maureen Walsh a Republican made an amazing speech on February 8th that came close to making me cry.



I am 48 years old and life for gays in this country was so different when I was growing up. I grew up in the Ohio mid-west and a large portion of my youth was spent hiding who I was from the world. But I had an outlet that gave me support and security that so many in this country have not been lucky enough to experience.

When I was 16, I discovered the Dayton Playhouse, a community theatre group in downtown Dayton and in that group of amazing and wonderful people I was surrounded by a circle of acceptance. In that world I found the ability to experience and express my own personal growth in safety. These people and this place gave me something that I wish every youth in this country and in this world could have.

My time in this place imbued in me with a foundation of self-assurance, self-reliance and inner-strength that no bullying could harm my soul and no hatred could take root in my heart. This acceptance of me let me understand that acceptance of difference was a foundation for inner peace. My time with these people and in that theatre instilled in me a compassion for humanity that has stayed with me to this day and it taught me to truly love who I was ~ inside and out.

So, when I saw this video and I read about the courage of the Governor Gregoire to confront her own personal issues and embrace this movement it gave me hope.

And there is nothing in this would that is more encouraging than hope.

“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.” ~ John Lennon ~

Sunday February 12th ~ 2012

Just a few observations on the turn of the public dialog over the last week.

I am dumbfounded that here in the 21st century we, the public, are entertaining a dialog over contraception and making it available for everyone at low cost or free. This should be a total "NO BRAINER" for the conservative right.

• ~ Hey GOP, you want fewer abortions? ~ Then let's not create more unwanted babies! This should be the biggest reason for the use of contraception in this nation where 1 out of every 4 children has an issue with hunger and borders on the brink or is on poverty.

• ~ Hey GOP, you want to get people off of welfare? - Then let's not force woman to have more babies that will actually trap these welfare recipients into the welfare system causal loop with no way out. Planned Parenthood's name is well stated here. Let's PLAN our pregnancies and not have people trapped with children that they have no way of supporting or truly caring for.

• ~ Hey GOP, you claim to desire smaller government! ~ Then get the hell out of my womb and my bedroom. This question was answered in 1965 with the supreme court decision of Griswold v. Connecticut in which the use of contraception was established as a "right to privacy" guaranteed in the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th & 14th Amendments. John Boehner can drop his feigned indignation, stop bashing the President and actually try to do his job for once.

• ~ Hey GOP, you claim that this is an attack on religious freedom! Then, I am sorry, the Catholic Church uses the pulpit to incite uninformed outrage. With the church using the pulpit in that manner the church relinquishes their tax free status granted to them by our government to guarantee its freedom. I have a news flash for all of you… If I am reading the outline properly, the only institutions that were to be required to provide contraception were the ones that were receiving public funds. At that point they relinquish their ability to refuse to follow the mandated laws of our nation.

• ~ Hey Catholic Church, you claim that this infringes on your doctrine. ~ I am not religious but I am spiritual in the deepest sense. The Catholic Church could not be more out of touch with its flock on this one. 98% of women in the Catholic Church use contraception to control when they start or add to their family. The notion that a bunch of celibate men have the right to say how their parishioners manage there families just boggles my mind.
    I do not see the Catholic Church pouring millions of dollars into the poverty stricken nation of Jamaica after the Pope went there 1993 and told them to stop using the governments assistance with low cost contraception. The ensuing surge in babies went through the roof and has caused tremendous issues with more severe poverty and illness.

 • ~ Hey GOP Candidates, each of you has expressed your desire to lessen the role of government in our daily lives. YET, so much of what you have been touting only allows the government to control us even further.  i.e. Drug testing for those who receive government funds, even if they are not suspected of drug use. That is an invasion of privacy and wastes millions if not billions of tax payer dollars. How about we test all of Congress, they receive federal funds in the way of a paycheck and health insurance.

I just have one final thought especially for Newt and for Rick. I truly hope that you are never engaging in sexual intercourse in any way other than to procreate. Procreation is only reason for sexual relations in the true doctrine of your Catholic Faith. If you are sexually active and not trying for children and you are NOT using contraception, are you timing your interpersonal relations with your wives biological clock? If that is the case, then you are in direct conflict with your faiths religious doctrine. Better cut that out boys.

These politicians claim to love this country, yet they hate those who do not share the same ideals. This was a nation founded on the basis of these differences and they they would be our strength and we would engage on a common discourse to allowed for a coming together for a stronger Union.

I wish I could find the reset button.

Saturday February 11th ~ 2012

The hurts just keep coming. There are just some things that should not be changed.

When I moved to NYC in 1986 to go to NYU for graduate school I knew that there was one place that I had to see. One of my first destinations upon arriving in the Big Apple was going to be The Algonquin Hotel on 44th St between 5th and 6th Ave. I had to go there to see The Algonquin Round Table of Dorothy Parker fame. How could you not? It held a fascination for me that, to this day, still has a hold on me.

 The Original Members of "The Vicious Circle" - all part of my theatre past.

    Franklin Pierce Adams, columnist,
    Robert Benchley, humorist and actor,
    Heywood Broun, columnist and sportswriter (married to Ruth Hale)
    Marc Connelly, playwright
    Ruth Hale, freelance writer who worked for women's rights
    George S. Kaufman, playwright and director
    Dorothy Parker, critic, poet, short-story writer, and screenwriter
    Harold Ross, The New Yorker editor
    Robert E. Sherwood, author and playwright
    John Peter Toohey, publicist
    Alexander Woollcott, critic and journalist[4]

What I discovered at The Algonquin was music. I discovered its treasure, The Oak Room. What I fell in love with was Jazz and Cabaret. I would spend many afternoons, studying in the front lounge, drinking coffee and laughing that a cat always had the run of the hotel. The Algonquin has had a stray cat as a mascot since the 30's I think. The males are always named Hamlet and the females are always named Matilda.

As often as I could afford, on a graduate students expense account, I would go listen to music on the weekends. No matter who was playing, I was never disappointed by my experiences and I felt a deep connection to the room, it's mood and it's ambiance held my in it's spell.

Well, I moved to San Francisco in '91 and I was desperate to find a replacement for my beloved Oak Room. And what did I find? One evening, after searching the Pink Section of the Chronicle for music, I came across "The Clift Hotel" and The Redwood Room. It was a smokey, wonderful Art Deco bar whose walls were covered in the veneer of a single Redwood tree.

Not much had changed in the Redwood Room from this view in the 60's

 I would love to listen to the piano music of Richard Scales or who ever was playing. I spent may wonderful evenings there drinking, smoking and laughing with co-workers, friends or dates. (P.S. I gave up smoking over 10 years ago!)

Then to my horror in 2000 Ian Schrager of Studio 54 fame and Phillipe Starck bought and decided to "redecorate" the Redwood Room. Gone was the music, gone was the quiet, gone was the intimate nature of a landmark. It was replaced by a large, noisy and trendy nightspot that played loud mixed taped music and catered to the young affluent Dot-Com crowd.

I was heartbroken but I still had my Algonquin. I would go back to NYC whenever my work would take me there of I would take a vacation to NYC for the museums and no matter what I would make time to go listen to music at the Oak Room

Then one amazing evening I discovered the voice and talent of Andrea Marcovicci. That evening was almost 15 years ago. I listened to her sing for the first time and I was actually smitten. I have to admit that even to this day I have a HUGE crush on her. I enjoyed her music so much so that I would make sure that I would go and see her perform in San Francisco whenever she came to town.

Andrea Marcovicci at the Oak Room

Well, I moved away from SF almost 7 ago and I have not had the chance to see Andrea singing since that time. I always looked for her concert dates and it just never worked out for me. But I always knew that she had a month long stand over the holidays at the Oak Room. Her yearly engagement there lasted 25 years, so I knew that I would get to hear her live again in my beloved Oak Room.

Then to my dismay, it has recently been  announced that The Oak Room was to be closed and renovated into part of the hotels "Blue Bar."

There are just some things that should not change and The Redwood Room and The Oak Room were two of those iconic places that are dwindling away to never be apart of our culture again. Sometimes, change is not such a good thing!

Friday Feburary 10th ~ 2012

So let's get caught up shall we? I wish you the following…..

October 10th - Happy Columbus Day
October 30th - Happy Halloween

November 11th - Happy Veterans Day
November 24th - Happy Thanksgiving

December 22nd - Happy Winter Solstice
December 25th - Happy Christmas  
(I just thought that sould stick with the English style to stay with the "Happy" thing I got going on here)
December 31st - Happy New Years Eve

January 1st - Happy New Year
January 16th - Happy Martin Luther King Day

February 2nd - Happy Groundhog Day

Well, that covers the major holidays and social happenings since October 2011. I have been very well and as usual I have been traveling way to much and which means that I have been working hard to try to stay out of trouble. (Never and easy task for me.)

The last days of December and all the cold days of January were spent in my studio getting ready for the Tucson Gem Show that took place for me this year at a new venue. This year I decided to move over to the To Bead True Blue Show at the Double Tree Hotel. It was like moving up to the grown-ups table at the holidays. The venue was wonderful, the organization was professional and courteous, the layout was easy to follow and the entire experience was great.

I got to share an island with Gail Crosman Moore, Eleanore Macnish, Paula Best and Terri Caspary-Schmidt. All I can say is that there is never a dull moment with Ellie's laugh close at hand. There is not much in this world that beats an entire week of great friends, good food and endless laughter.

I am getting to know these promoters of the To Bead True Blue Show and get my show schedule more entangled with them. So much so, I have added a last minute show in Concord, CA the beginning of March. It is going to be weird going back to a town that I lived in so long ago to teach and to exhibit my work.

When I lived in Concord I was a lighting designer that worked for the Diablo Light Opera Co, Center Repertory Theatre and Contra Cost Musical Theatre. That was a time in my life that I have some amazing and fond memories. The people I knew that worked at the Lesher Center for the Arts and for the other production companies were a great group of people that I called friends for a number of years. The passage of time is an amazing thing, NO?

Well, enough reminiscing of decades past.

If any of you are in the Concord, CA area March 2nd - 4th please come over to the Concord Hilton and stop by to say hello and check out some of my new work. I am also teaching 2 evening fusing classes that also promise to be a great deal of fun. Check them out as well and pass on the word.

Hilton Concord, 1970 Diamond Blvd, Concord, CA 94520

Heart Fusion Class - March 2nd.

Loop-n-Ball Tab Bracelet March 3rd.

Thursday Oct. 6th ~ 2011

I was driving south towards Miami Florida last week, dusk was approaching as I drove south and in front of me was the this huge cloud. It looked like that massive cloud from the movie Independence Day when the alien space craft was entering the atmosphere. There was lighting all over those clouds, just like in the movie and as I drove south I got to drive through it and at one point the light show was all around me. It was amazing. At one point there was horizontal lighting that went across the entire sky light a wave. I have never seen or experienced anything like it.

During the weekend of the show, I got to spend time with great friends and that made the long journey totally worthwhile. There is not much that can make things better then just relaxing with your friends.

I was driving north in the dark of the early morning after my few days in Miami I watched as the sky lightened and the day dawned. There is not much that can compare to a this kind of sunrise. It is just different; I love the mountain sunrise with its majesty and the desert sunrise with it's subtle changes as the sun comes up over the horizon. But here in Florida I love the way the mist gathers in the low places and rises to meet the sun.

The completion of this amazing morning was to watch an American Bald Eagle fly about 50 feet in front of and above my car. It just took my breath away.

It really is the simple things that make me happiest.  

"If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change." ~ Buddah

Wednesday Sept 21st. ~ 2011 ~

I got back from the fall Tucson Gem Show a few days ago where I was exhibiting at the Whole Bead Show. As I drove through Hatch on my way to I-10 west towards Tucson, I was totally shocked to see an amazing 5 megawatt CPV project.

The last time I drove on that stretch of road from Hatch to Demming in February there was no hint that this was to be built. I had a bit of a sense of how big each of these panels was. It seemed that each panel was about the size of a small house and there seemed to be close to a hundred of them.

Here in the Southwest these types of installations just seem to make so much sense and are so efficient. A megawatt is one million watts… that is a lot of power and here is how to put it into perspective

A typical house has a 200 amp main,
That breaks down to 10-20 amp circuits
A 20 amp circuit is equal to 2400 watts.
This installation can power 25,000 homes with ease.

This is totally cool!  Biggest CPV Project in US Up and Running in NM

Elizabeth Warren spoke these words and it is the clearest summation of what I have been trying to find words for. It is clear, concise and comes directly to the point. I thank you Elizabeth and I wish you great success in your Massachusetts Senate 2012 Campaign. I hope that your ideals catch on and I wish that I could vote for you!

"There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody! You built a factory out there - good for you.
But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory….
Now look. You built a factory and turned into something terrific or a great idea - God Bless! Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along."

Sunday September 18th ~ 2011

One week ago this nation held vigil for those lost on Sept. 11th 2001. As I looked through the posts on my Face Book feed there was the same question asked over and over again; "Do you remember where you were when you heard the news?" Well, I do remember, vividly, yet to me, that is not the question I desire an answer to. The question that I keep asking is: "Do you know where our country has gone?"

I am dismayed at the fundamental shift that this nation has taken in this last decade and it saddens me to my core. For the briefest of moments, right after this tragedy, this nation actually cared for its citizens. We were kind to one another, courteous, aware of the people around us and took the time to see if any one needed a hand or a shoulder and I was proud to be a citizen of this Nation.

Over this last decade we have allowed a small group of people with very boisterous voices full of hate, fear mongering and bigotry to become our loudest voice, all with the banner of a God or Jesus Christ behind it to give it credence. Last week in the GOP debates, the crowd cheered as Texas Gov. Perry (with his God Driven Campaign) lauded his states execution accomplishments and a member of the audience yelled "YES" when asked if a man in a coma with no health insurance should be left to die.

Osama Bib Laden is accomplishing his stated goal. He sought to destroy our Nation from within and he may be succeeding. He has driven a wedge through the core belief in what this land of opportunity was founded on. We came together as a melting pot and this mix of people, cultures and faiths was and is our greatest strength. Our base ideal; that all are equal under the law, are all able to thrive and grow, that we do unto others as we would have others do unto us, is what has driven this nation for well over 200 years.

Yet now, I see all of that slipping away from our grasp. I see greed, fear, hate and a distain for difference eroding the moral foundations that so many generations of this nation have died fighting for. And for what? What are they gaining with all of this hatred?

To my unbelieving eyes, see a portion of our Nation that despises our President because of the color of his skin. And what blows me away is that most of these are people that claim to be faithful and God-fearing people that put God and Country first. Do they even know where this country came from? Do they not realize that their families were also once immigrants that came to these shores from another country seeking freedom and a chance to thrive? They claim to love America yet hate Americans and what this Country stands for.

Do so few see that there is no other place in the world that you can arrive, join in and become a core member of that society. One cannot move to China and become Chinese, one cannot move to France and become French or move to Germany and become German but you sure as hell can move to the United States of America and become an American. Do you not see that is what has made us great?

I despise this class warfare that is being perpetrated by the GOP. It is actually a war they may be winning. The desired goal is to destroy the middle class, by removing it's voice in our Government and to enslave the lower class of citizens to where they have no way out of their lot in life. All of this is being made possible with their hate speech and them telling you who you need to be afraid of and whom you need to hate. They are accomplishing this with vitriolic speech and the false pretense that what made this nation great is what is destroying it.

I do not know how to make it stop, then I find a quote like this: 

"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people." ~ John F. Kennedy ~

Monday August 22nd ~ 2011

I have been traveling a bit and working on new work while getting submission in for next years tour of shows. Images of new work to soon follow...
Most importantly, I have been reading poetry again. This poet has caught my imagination....

As One Listens To The Rain

Listen to me as one listens to the rain,
not attentive, not distracted,
light footsteps, thin drizzle,
water that is air, air that is time,
the day is still leaving,
the night has yet to arrive,
figurations of mist
at the turn of the corner,
figurations of time
at the bend in this pause,
listen to me as one listens to the rain,
without listening, hear what I say
with eyes open inward, asleep
with all five senses awake,
it’s raining, light footsteps, a murmur of syllables,
air and water, words with no weight:
what we are and are,
the days and years, this moment,
weightless time and heavy sorrow,
listen to me as one listens to the rain,
wet asphalt is shining,
steam rises and walks away,
night unfolds and looks at me,
you are you and your body of steam,
you and your face of night,
you and your hair, unhurried lightning,
you cross the street and enter my forehead,
footsteps of water across my eyes,
listen to me as one listens to the rain,
the asphalt’s shining, you cross the street,
it is the mist, wandering in the night,
it is the night, asleep in your bed,
it is the surge of waves in your breath,
your fingers of water dampen my forehead,
your fingers of flame burn my eyes,
your fingers of air open eyelids of time,
a spring of visions and resurrections,
listen to me as one listens to the rain,
the years go by, the moments return,
do you hear the footsteps in the next room?
not here, not there: you hear them
in another time that is now,
listen to the footsteps of time,
inventor of places with no weight, nowhere,
listen to the rain running over the terrace,
the night is now more night in the grove,
lightning has nestled among the leaves,
a restless garden adrift-go in,
your shadow covers this page.
~ Octavio Paz

Friday July 22nd ~ 2011

To say that I had a last fantastic day of hiking in Glacier and then 3 even better days of teaching at the Powder Horn Trading Co may be one biggest understatements I have made in the last decade.

McDonald Creek- LoL

The park on Thursday was so beautiful. The weather was cold and over cast and the trails had the most unusual quite calm quite to them. It was almost unnerving at times. But I hiked a good portion of the McDonald's Falls Trail along McDonald Creek. (The word creek seems a bit understated at this time of year. The creek are more like raging  rapids.)

After the Falls I picked a trail that is not on the major lists of trails to hike. I hiked along the South Boarder Trail up to the cut off for Loneman Mountain Lookout Tower. I had to turn back at Harrison Creek due to the lack of other hikers. I did promise my GF that I would not get attacked while I was partaking of nature. This trail follows the Flathead River ultimately cuts back along the Coal Creek up to Buffalo Woman Lake. After being the total geek that I know I am and scouring the topographical map of the park that I bought this is a hike that I need to take the next time I am back in Glacier.

Benton Bridge & Flathead River

 Classes were a blast and each and every student was a total joy to get to know. I am excited about the possibility of coming back next year for another round of classes and I know for sure that Terri & I are coming to Glacier next summer for some serious fun.

Not only were my hosts Cindy & Bud, the owners of Powder Horn Trading Co, totally generous by opening up their home to me, they also fed me almost to bursting. As Cindy said she did not want me to go back and say that I was not fed well. My second to last morning the 3 of us went on an early morning horse back ride for over 3 hours that went up to what Cindy called the nose bleed section of the hills where they live. The views back towards the Mountains was spectacular.



*** I will see if I can get my hands on some pictures of the 2 horses I rode, Nada & Pepe as well as Bud and Cindy's most excellent dog Hank. ***

My drive back to New Mexico was uneventful and as the miles passed the unfolding scenery was absolutely breathtaking. Had I really paid attention to my return route I may have decided to take a few days and do some hiking in Yellowstone National Park. I had no idea that I would be driving right by the eastern side of the park. Well, maybe next time I am out that way I will figure out a way to add that into the itinerary.

It is good to be home and I enjoyed taking Thursday off to rest and gather together the memories of my past 2 weeks away from my wonderful life here. It was an action packed 2 weeks and I have to get right back at it ASAP.

Wednesday July 13th ~ 2011

Day 2 in Glacier National Park did not disappoint.

The decision to hike the 7 mile Haystack Butte trail at Logan Pass was the choice for this days adventure. The departure time from the hotel was 9am on the dot and looking forward to a most excellent day.

Today, the Logan Pass was opened and it was the latest date for the pass opening in the parks 101 year history. This road is called the Road to the Sun and it is a breathtaking 50 mile drive that takes you up to the high point of Logan Pass. The elevation of the pass is 6646 feet and upon our arrival we were greeted with a great deal of snow. Logan Pass is actually on the Continental Divide which is cool.

The snow a Logan Pass

The Park Ranger told me that the Haystack Butte Trail was totally socked in with snow and was "totally scary" so the grand plan of hiking a high elevation trail was a big fat NO. So… back in the car, over the pass and off to St Mary's Falls and Virginia Falls for a 5.5 mile hike that was no less amazing.

St Mary's Falls

Virginia Falls

Even though the traveling in the car today was close to 200 miles there were amazing sites to be seen. At the end of the day there was the surprise of a heard of goats bounding down the side of a mountain. I have not laughed that hard at something that cute for a very very long time.

Really Cute Goats

The most disappointing aspect so far is that the hotel does not have the Verses Channel so I am actually missing the Tour De France. UGH, and tomorrow is the first mountain stage. I need my tour.. I am going through withdraw.

Tuesday July 12 ~ 2011

After working like a crazy person for these last months I am getting 3 days of hiking in Glacier National Park before I start teaching at the Powder Horn Trading Co. in Kalispell Montana. Today was day #1 of the adventure.

"Be still like a mountain and flow like a great river." ~ Lao Tzu ~

Trail of the Cedars trail head

The hike along The Avalanche Lake Trail is a total of 6 miles. The entire trail runs parallel to the Avalanche Creek. Now, understand that the word "creek" is a total understatement. It is really the Avalanche Gorge and is an extremely fast running heavy duty stream that is fed from the lake and the lake is is fed from the glacier melt.

As you hike along the path, it is the sound that surrounds you and is the most amazing. During the entire 4 plus hours of the hike the presence of the rushing water is always there, is every present, always moving letting you know that you are getting closer to your goal. It is so powerful and so awe inspiring to be a part of it for just those few hours. 

The hike to Avalanche Lake

My last National Park experience was Yellowstone with my parents when I was in my mid to late 30's. (i know… I know…) This was a very different experience. Where Yellowstone is all about the effects of thermal features on the surrounding landscape, Glacier is all about mountains, melting snow packs & the rushing waters from the many glaciers of the area.

The view end of the trail

This is a much needed respite and rejuvenation of my soul. My camera is clicking and my creative spirit is starting to glow again.