I was going to post something with more substance but today has not been that great and I’ve lost my motivation. Instead, here is a photo I took exactly one year ago today. It is a bracelet I made.
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I can’t recall having ever gotten truly lost, where I couldn’t at least intuit my way out of the situation. I know that there were times when I was a toddler and I would wander away from my mom at the grocery store. I still can hear my mom crying out my name in a frantic attempt to locate me. I don’t remember being lost though. I remember my mom’s fear.
I can easily conjure up the feeling one gets when they are lost. It is a hopeless panic. It is the feeling I have when I am experiencing depression. Perhaps the last time I was depressed was the last time I got really lost. It has been awhile, thank goodness. When I get this way I am able to, somehow, find my way out of that dark forest. It can be difficult to hear that still voice deep down underneath the terrible voice of self-loathing that is pervasive during these episodes. But I am so grateful for it. It always leads me to peace, if I am willing to listen and follow it.
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Father’s Day is Sunday. So here is a photo of my dad and me, along with my Stepmom. This was taken, I believe, in 1995. I was 26.
The next time I am tempted to get my hair cut short please remind me to look at this photo (not a good look for me AT ALL).
I really, really admire my dad. This might sound cliche, but he really is one of my heroes. He has always been very inspiring to me in the area of health and fitness. All of my life he has been very active and it has inspired me to be the same way. I wish I had half the determination he has. I mean, he just turned 70 and he is training for a triathlon. How cool is that?
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“Do you want to go find this geocache with me? It’s only a block away. C’mon, it’ll just be a few minutes.”
I regret saying those words.Let me back up a bit. On Saturday there was a group teaching geocaching in our library’s meeting room. The person teaching the class chatted with me about it and, because of his enthusiasm, I thought it sounded really fun.
So I downloaded the “lite” version of the Geocaching application since it promised to guide me on my first quest. I chose a cache called Annabellesmonkey!, which appeared to be very close to my house. Off we went! We wandered to the spot (crossing a very busy highway) where I thought it might be. No luck at all. But according to the GPS we were practically standing right on it! Or at least very close. We looked up. Aha! It must be at the top of the very steep bluff we were standing next to.
So we wandered back down the busy highway (this is when I started to feel a little bit like a jackass) and found a trail that would lead us up the bluff. We got to the top, but not before I slipped and fell on the slippery mud, muddying up my jeans and bruising (kinda badly) both of my knees (and feeling even more like a jackass). We finally made it to the spot where the cache was supposed to be but graffitied on the spot were the words, “Game Over. Go Home!” Then an elderly man pulled up in his pickup and told us that the “game piece was not there.”
I was SO disappointed. Especially since I’d injured myself to get to it!
However, we were determined. We tried another one near where we already were. It was located in the middle of the busy highway and a busy street, in a grassy/shrubby area. We hunted around for awhile, avoiding the hypodermic needles.
Which, seriously? Made me feel sad. Never found that one either.We pushed on to Meinig Park but, again, no luck. It should have been quite obvious. I’m pretty sure it disappeared too (this is termed, “muggled” by the geocaching community).
We finally found one though! In front of Sandy City Hall. So all was not lost. On our way back home we thought we would try looking for the Meinig Park one again (since we knew what we were looking for). Again, no luck.
We rested for a bit in the picnic area.
Right after I snapped that picture a baby squirrel started to crawl up my leg. I am not fucking kidding. I felt little legs crawling on me so I kicked my leg and a squirrel flew through the air. It scurried away so no harm done. Kind of freaked me out though.
After that we decided to do something that didn’t involve nature quite as directly. So we went for a drive on the Gorge and enjoyed a few viewpoints.
This is from Crown Point:
And this, like the photo from yesterday, is the view of Mt. Hood from the top of Larch Mountain:
A few words about the view from Larch Mountain: HOLY CRAP. How have I never been here before?!? This should have been the first place I visited when I moved here! The view is absolutely stunning!! You can see 5 mountain peaks (more, of you count the smaller mountains in the area). You can even see Rainier! It was such a clear, beautiful day, too. It was a fantastic way to end an, otherwise, frustrating day. (I will go back soon with my Yashica).
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Tomorrow I will tell you all about my interesting day. In the meantime, here is a photo I took at Larch Mountain. You can see St. Helens, Rainier, & Adams in this photo.
