experiencing nature

I spent this last weekend backpacking in Santa Cruz. This meant carrying everything on my back and hiking to a campsite about 4 miles away. Doesn't sound like much but it was the hardest hike I have ever done. Just a few minutes into this hike I realized I had packed too much, my pack was SO heavy. I also realized we should have left earlier for the hike since it would take us longer with the heavy packs on our back. But of course it was too late to have those thoughts so I tried to focus on the hill before me. I was definitely out of my comfort zone at that point, and testing my limits physically and mentally. Then to top it off, I fell. Great, now I had a twisted ankle and a skinned knee...lots of pain.

I was so happy to finally see the sign leading to our campsite! We set up camp in this really cool clearing surrounded by tall redwood trees. At night we battled a couple of hungry racoons for out food. We lost most of it though, and were hungry and tired the later next day for the last part of the hike back. It was still very beautiful, despite all the challenges, it was great to be surrounded by trees and silence. In these kinds of situations I think you realize whats important in life: food and shelter!!! And what's not : negative thoughts, and extra baggage!
It was a great experience but next time gotta be more prepared for the hike as well as the wild life:)

Birds...

On my way to work today I saw a long line of birds sitting on a power lineright above a really busy expressway. It made me smile to see them just sitting there, one right next to the other, all looking down. I wondered what they thought of us humans sitting in our little cages rushing about out little lives. Whether they were saying to each other " why are they in such a rush? ", "someone must have found alot of food somewhere!"

We share the same surroundings with them, we are "smarter" than them, yet we are the ones rushing to find meaning and satisfaction in things that are furthest from our basic needs. We develop a complicated means of trade, build an intricate economy, basically create our own little eco-system. But we fail to pay attention to the one that is already created for us.

Could we be happy living like the birds? ya, I mean we are smarter, we could figure out a way to have everyones needs met without competition and overconsumption. But that would mean we have to work together, share, and not have hierarchies. Well hmm thats starting to sound like a certain book I have read, I better stop now before I get myself in trouble:)

my flowers...

good news of the day-the plant in my cube is flowering ! Well one of them is anyway, its called Kalanchoe. This is great since it is the first poor plant that has flowered under my care:) It's an easy plant to take care of, looks sort of like a cactus, doesn't need much water, and seems to like the florescent light. I have another pot with a Gardenia planted in it, once the original flowers fell off, there have been no new ones. I don' t think it likes it here very much, some of the leaves are turning brown, but it still shiny so there might be hope.
In the mean time I will just enjoy the little white, happy flowers that are blossoming right now:)
Speaking of flowers, here are some cool quotes I found:

The artist is the confidant of nature, flowers carry on dialogues with him through the graceful bending of their stems and the harmoniously tinted nuances of their blossoms, Every flower has a cordial word which nature directs towards him.

Auguste Rodin

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but, scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.

Joseph Addison (1672 - 1719)

The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.
-Shakespeare

a Picture at work...

at work on the 3rd floor there is a picture I love looking at. Its a picture of three boats lazily sitting at the dock, by the light reflecting off the boats it seems the sun is just going down. I love the shapes of the red and green boats and how they cause soft ripples in the water. The sun hits them at just the right angle, making it seem like it has been an active day for them, but now they just get to sit there on the water enjoying the sunset.

I am not sure what attracts me so much to this picture...infact what attracts me to any picture or painting ? Do I like it because I imagine myself sitting at the dock in the picture, or do I feel like an observer enjoying this scene from afar ?

I feel like since there are no people in the picture, I do imagine being there (I AM at work at the time I look at it:) , but I think if there was a person in the picture that might make me just an observer looking into someone elses day. Interesting how that changes things, does it say something about our need to have something to ourselves? Whatever it is I guess art can be so many things: an escape, an expression, creativity, a feeling .... I guess its up to the creator of the piece to make us either feel a definite reaction, or to leave it open ended where we can be free to interpret it through out own experience and memories.

"To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event. " Henri Cartier-Bresson

hello..

Hello blog world, this is my first post. No great thoughts just yet, going to look around and get settled in my new blogspot.