Blatherskite

Foolish gibberish

about

I am a Children’s Librarian living in the Portland, Oregon area. When I am not Children’s Librianing I like to play with cameras and film. I also like playing the ukulele, knitting, sketching, and hiking.

The Ghost of the Yaquina Bay Light – Oregon Coast

October 28, 2015
Today’s blog post is a lazy one – here is a spooky post I wrote yesterday for Pinhole Obscura. 🙂

Pinhole Obscura

Last Summer when I was in Newport, OR I visited the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse. It’s a beautiful old house. As I wandered through with my pinhole camera I happened to hear the story of the ghost of the lighthouse.

The story went something like this:

The house had been abandoned for many years and became a place where teenagers would party on the weekends. Which is exactly what happened on a Friday Night in the early 70s. They were on the top floor of the house when they found a porthole, which they took and that led out to the beach (this is where I had a hard time with the guy’s story). When they reached the beach, one of the girls in the party realized she’d forgotten something in the house. So she went back to retrieve it. Then came shrieks from the house! The kids ran up to…

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Serendipity in Silverton

October 27, 2015
Yesterday morning, my husband suggested that we go on an adventure. We decided to take the back-roads to Silverton, have lunch there, and then hike at Silver Falls State Park. We haven’t ventured that way in the six years we’ve lived here. We like to listen to podcasts on long drives and this time we chose Radiolab. Imagine our surprise when we learned the second story in the episode was about Silverton, OR. Of all the stories about all of the small towns in the world the podcast was telling a story about the very town we were driving to. There was a simultaneous “WHAT THE FUCK.” Out of both of our mouths.

Above is the theater, owned by the person the story was about, Stu Rasmussen,the first transgender mayor in the United States. It’s a really great story, and if you care to listen you can do so here.

But wow. What a weird, random, coincidence. I love it when stuff like that happens!

The coincidence boded well for us as we had a fantastic day in Silverton and hiking the Trail of Ten Falls in Silver Falls State Park. Here are some iPhone snaps from the day. I brought my pinhole camera and shot the entire roll, which I will be sharing at a later date on Pinhole Obscura.

Palace Theater

Old church

Behind South Falls

Lower South Falls

behind Lower South Falls

Lower North Falls

sunset
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Though the hut is small, it includes the entire world.

October 26, 2015
Song Of The Grass Roof Hermitage

I’ve built a grass hut where there’s nothing of value.
After eating, I relax and enjoy a nap.
When it was completed, fresh weeds appeared.
Now it’s been lived in – covered by weeds.
The person in the hut lives here calmly,
Not stuck to inside, outside, or in between.
Places worldly people live, he doesn’t live.
Realms worldly people love, he doesn’t love.
Though the hut is small, it includes the entire world.
In ten square feet, an old man illumines forms and their nature.
A Great Vehicle bodhisattva trusts without doubt.
The middling or lowly can’t help wondering;
Will this hut perish or not?
Perishable or not, the original master is present,
not dwelling south or north, east or west.
Firmly based on steadiness, it can’t be surpassed.
A shining window below the green pines —
Jade palaces or vermilion towers can’t compare with it.
Just sitting with head covered, all things are at rest.
Thus, this mountain monk doesn’t understand at all.
Living here he no longer works to get free.
Who would proudly arrange seats, trying to entice guests?z
Turn around the light to shine within, then just return.
The vast inconceivable source can’t be faced or turned away from.
Meet the ancestral teachers, be familiar with their instruction,
Bind grasses to build a hut, and don’t give up.
Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely.
Open your hands and walk, innocent.
Thousands of words, myriad interpretations,
Are only to free you from obstructions.
If you want to know the undying person in the hut,
Don’t separate from this skin bag here and now.
–By Shitou Xiqian

(more…)
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Sunday Run Day

October 25, 2015
Sundays are for running, and blogging about running. Fortunately for me, unfortunately for my blog, I didn’t run into much excitement this week – no mountain lion sightings to be had. Which is totally fine by me. But it I don’t have a lot to talk about.

I thought that this would be a good time, then, to talk about some of the things I am finding helpful at the moment.
1. Runkeeper. I have a love/hate relationship with this app. I have used it off and on for years. I am currently in a “love” state with it, but that could change at any given moment. They keep updating it and adding really cool new features. The last update came with a feature that shows you how fast your mile was during particular songs in your playlist. So you can see what song made you run the fastest. The big reason why I love it right now, though, is that I can create my own workouts with intervals. I am currently into the Galloway method (more on that in a moment) and so I can create an interval that repeats where I run 4 minutes/walk 45 seconds.
2. The Galloway Method. This is a method where you run and walk at varying intervals. The walking interval is very short, like only a few seconds. The idea is that you recover in those seconds for the next interval so you can stay strong for the duration of the run and prevent injury later. I am loving it. I have been running longer distances and feeling great, not super tired afterwards.
3. Handheld water bottle. I have this one and it is awesome. Seriously. for years I just carried around a regular water bottle on my longer runs but I got one of these and, wow. I love it. Your hand wraps around it naturally and it feels lightweight and natural. Not like there is a giant water bottle grasped in your hand.
4. Running Light. I have an Amphipod Vizlet Flashing light. And no more excuses for not running in the early morning, predawn, hours.
So there you go. Just a few things that I have found helpful. I’m always finding new things so I might post more on this as I run across other things that work well for me.
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the line

October 24, 2015
“The truth of the line overwhelms all other considerations.”
-Leonard Cohen, The Book Of Longing.

I have been reading The Book Of Longing and have been very inspired by it. I really want to learn more about Cohen. He wrote some of it while staying at Mt Baldy Zen Center as a Buddhist Monk in seclusion. There is something about that fact that makes the poetry more touching to me, partly because I am also Buddhist but also because the poetry really displays his human side, even as he was seeking spirituality.

This particular quote caught my attention because it was hand written alongside a self portrait he drew in ink. I am interested in this idea of the line being truth, as in when you draw something, the line that is laid down with your hands is pure truth. If that makes sense.
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