More water...

"Til taught by pain, men really know not what good water is worth."

~ From "Don Juan" by Byron

I had such a good time last weekend hiking up that creekbed, shooting the flowing water as it cascades over the rocks, under the rocks and around the rocks, rocks covered in brilliant green moss, autumn leaves scattered around and that sound... that sound of water splashing, gurgling among the stones... under that massive canopy of old maple and fir, hemlock and cedar... that I had to go back. This time I timed it. 45 minutes from house to the turnout along Hwy 58 (just past MP 28). And on another no-rain day!

You'll notice also that there are images here obviously not from that hike. On Saturday I went over to Golden Garden Park early in the morning, right at sunrise. Great flocks of geese flying overhead, silhouetting against the just-past full moon still in the sky, low in the west. I ran into Dave and his dog. Dave is 68, just moved to Eugene from Costa Rica and California. Loves the serenity of "the Pits" in the morning... me too Dave.

The geese pic is from Saturday as well. What they call cacklers (Peterson's Guide calls them "cackling Canada" geese), these guys are voracious vegetarians and the Willamette Valley grass farms are like huge salad plates to them, and they can land in huge flocks comprised of hundreds of birds. This flock was one of those, probably close to 300 birds and just across the field from the house... its a rush to walk up to them and hear the noise they make when they all launch into flight.

And of course the full moon, great mover of waters large and small... I shot that pic Thursday night.

Not much to say today again, I'm feeling more political and when I get off on my political rants I move away from those truths that have grounded me all these years... the truths of land and water, sky and tree and the critters who have no politics, who have no say in affairs that affect them, often directly, often detrimentally. Yeah, I've felt the sting of that "eco-freak" label, folks urging me to freeze in the dark because I didn't support their nuclear power plants. Being called a whacko by folks who think that toxic chemical waste sites with no liners in the holding ponds are ok, even though in my opposition I stood in support of mothers and pediatricians telling anyone who would listen that our community's children were far sicker than they statistically should be... relative to pollutants emanating fom those toxic ponds.

I mean I know truth is relative. So is humor. And war... but the earth? It is always here. The water flowing down these mountains ends up in the sea and rises to the sky only to fall again... and flow seaward again. Like the trees growing skyward eventually fall and turn to soil, their nutrients feeding other trees... nature is transmutable, changing but never changed. I mean there is nothing we have that does not come from nature. No matter how high-tech the gadget, how advanced the technology... it all comes from the earth.