Tai Chi in the Moonshadows.
Silver landscapes at midnight.
Ah, yes, the mountain poets would have smiled.
.
-Zenwind.
.
16 September 2016
Sleeping Out in Open Air
.
Tai Chi in the Moonshadows.
Silver landscapes at midnight.
Ah, yes, the mountain poets would have smiled.
.
-Zenwind.
.
Tai Chi in the Moonshadows.
Silver landscapes at midnight.
Ah, yes, the mountain poets would have smiled.
.
-Zenwind.
.
31 August 2016
Bivouac at Pine Tree Point
.
I like it here, nestled in an isolated little ravine with reliable water and the fire-circle I built over a decade ago. Peaceful and quiet.
This is one of the last times I will wear my old hiking boots in the hills. They are comfortable favorites – best damn hikers I ever owned, comfortable right out of the box – but they are over 20 years old and the inside stitching is coming undone, so I want to retire them to trusty work-boot status. I just received a new pair of the identical model from L.L. Bean, and they fantastic. These will take on the ruff duty from now on.
I brought portable music on this bivy. Is this odd to bring such technology along when sojourning in a cool, quiet spot of natural paradise in the forest? Maybe. But when I played the Chinese “12 Girls Band”, their traditional Chinese instruments added additional Ch’an/Zen flavor to my bivy site.
At dark I heard a strange cry from the trail not far above. Eerie. It was a coyote, and another one further up the hill answered, as did another one further off. The near one must have heard my music or seen my lighter, and the word went out to the others that there was a stranger in the ravine.
In the several bivouacs I’ve done here at Pine Tree Point this year, I’ve never yet built a fire in the fire circle. Instead, I’ve brought along a candle lantern, and I haven’t done any cooking.
Soon, I’m hoping to do a long backpack and multi-day bivy out in the Allegheny National Forest (ANF) at my more remote site I call Dharma Point – if and when I can find someone to drive me out there and drop me off, and later have someone pick me up a few days later. I will need to plan a more serious menu with cooking gear. I’ll need to do some shakedown bivies locally with the gear to test the systems. It’s been a long time.
Got to get out to the back and beyond.
-Zenwind.
.
I like it here, nestled in an isolated little ravine with reliable water and the fire-circle I built over a decade ago. Peaceful and quiet.
This is one of the last times I will wear my old hiking boots in the hills. They are comfortable favorites – best damn hikers I ever owned, comfortable right out of the box – but they are over 20 years old and the inside stitching is coming undone, so I want to retire them to trusty work-boot status. I just received a new pair of the identical model from L.L. Bean, and they fantastic. These will take on the ruff duty from now on.
I brought portable music on this bivy. Is this odd to bring such technology along when sojourning in a cool, quiet spot of natural paradise in the forest? Maybe. But when I played the Chinese “12 Girls Band”, their traditional Chinese instruments added additional Ch’an/Zen flavor to my bivy site.
At dark I heard a strange cry from the trail not far above. Eerie. It was a coyote, and another one further up the hill answered, as did another one further off. The near one must have heard my music or seen my lighter, and the word went out to the others that there was a stranger in the ravine.
In the several bivouacs I’ve done here at Pine Tree Point this year, I’ve never yet built a fire in the fire circle. Instead, I’ve brought along a candle lantern, and I haven’t done any cooking.
Soon, I’m hoping to do a long backpack and multi-day bivy out in the Allegheny National Forest (ANF) at my more remote site I call Dharma Point – if and when I can find someone to drive me out there and drop me off, and later have someone pick me up a few days later. I will need to plan a more serious menu with cooking gear. I’ll need to do some shakedown bivies locally with the gear to test the systems. It’s been a long time.
Got to get out to the back and beyond.
-Zenwind.
.
24 August 2016
Moondance
.
00:00 hours.
Midnight bivy in the west orchard.
Doing Tai Chi in the moonbeams
and amidst hidden moon shadows.
I loosen up, flow, dance.
Alternately I shake out one foot
then the other, and
my movements start to quicken.
Deer, who had been resting in the
nearby thicket shadows which
border the orchard, take flight.
Who is this stranger in their midst?
Looking up, I see Lyra, the lyre.
Now, after over 40 years of mystery,
I finally see it and
know why it is so named.
Vega is both the brightest star
in tiny Lyra
and also one point of the larger
Summer Triangle.
I only now see the lyre as Vega passes
westward over the zenith,
leading the Triangle with it.
In this new, high westerly, orientation
the little stringed lyre is obvious.
Perseus is rising high in the NE.
01:00 hours.
Capella is moving up
in the NNE.
There is a lone star low in the south.
In Virgo?
02:00 hours.
I ramble through dewy grass
in the orchards and groves,
peeking up at patches of open sky.
Due east I see the Pleiades rising
with Taurus right behind.
02:30 hours. Time to bivy.
I lie down in warm comfort,
but hear stomping of hooves
from the other side of the thicket.
A deer snorts strongly at my
mysterious presence.
I snap my fingers, not too loudly,
twice, and then there is silence.
05:30 hours.
Waking just before dawn
I see Orion and Sirius
in the SE.
Harbingers of new seasons.
-Zenwind.
.
00:00 hours.
Midnight bivy in the west orchard.
Doing Tai Chi in the moonbeams
and amidst hidden moon shadows.
I loosen up, flow, dance.
Alternately I shake out one foot
then the other, and
my movements start to quicken.
Deer, who had been resting in the
nearby thicket shadows which
border the orchard, take flight.
Who is this stranger in their midst?
Looking up, I see Lyra, the lyre.
Now, after over 40 years of mystery,
I finally see it and
know why it is so named.
Vega is both the brightest star
in tiny Lyra
and also one point of the larger
Summer Triangle.
I only now see the lyre as Vega passes
westward over the zenith,
leading the Triangle with it.
In this new, high westerly, orientation
the little stringed lyre is obvious.
Perseus is rising high in the NE.
01:00 hours.
Capella is moving up
in the NNE.
There is a lone star low in the south.
In Virgo?
02:00 hours.
I ramble through dewy grass
in the orchards and groves,
peeking up at patches of open sky.
Due east I see the Pleiades rising
with Taurus right behind.
02:30 hours. Time to bivy.
I lie down in warm comfort,
but hear stomping of hooves
from the other side of the thicket.
A deer snorts strongly at my
mysterious presence.
I snap my fingers, not too loudly,
twice, and then there is silence.
05:30 hours.
Waking just before dawn
I see Orion and Sirius
in the SE.
Harbingers of new seasons.
-Zenwind.
.
20 August 2016
August Full Moon
.
Still damp after rains.
Fog starts near streams
and moves up through
moonlit fields.
.
The Moon chases Altair
as Vega leads
the Summer Triangle west.
.
Classical Guitar Alive on
radio fills the still night.
Warm bivouac gear
and a lawn chair
warm my heart.
.
Watching the Full Moon.
How many times
have I seen it?
How many more?
I will resolve
(second step of Path)
to seize more opportunities.
.
-Zenwind.
Still damp after rains.
Fog starts near streams
and moves up through
moonlit fields.
.
The Moon chases Altair
as Vega leads
the Summer Triangle west.
.
Classical Guitar Alive on
radio fills the still night.
Warm bivouac gear
and a lawn chair
warm my heart.
.
Watching the Full Moon.
How many times
have I seen it?
How many more?
I will resolve
(second step of Path)
to seize more opportunities.
.
-Zenwind.
.
27 July 2016
Cousins Arriving
.
Our cousins have been arriving in the lead-up to our family reunion of first cousins this weekend. It is wonderful to see them.
.
-Zenwind.
.
Our cousins have been arriving in the lead-up to our family reunion of first cousins this weekend. It is wonderful to see them.
.
-Zenwind.
.
22 July 2016
July Evening
.
Dragonfly evening.
Rock n Roll plays at dusk.
Fireflies everywhere.
I look up,
and I see Mars bright in Scorpius.
.
-Zenwind.
.
Dragonfly evening.
Rock n Roll plays at dusk.
Fireflies everywhere.
I look up,
and I see Mars bright in Scorpius.
.
-Zenwind.
.
16 July 2016
St. Swithun’s Day 2016
.
St. Swithun’s Day marks the midpoint of summer – “summer” as defined by meteorologists (and not astronomers), being from 1 June to 31 August. The Ides of July.
I am Stateside and enjoying my stay with my family here. My cousin Danny just arrived ahead of our cousins’ reunion here in two weeks. He was a brother to me growing up, and it is great to see him again. We have so far discussed music, our youth, Vietnam, women, and lots and lots of other topics – with great enthusiasm.
On St. Swithun’s Day, I have traditionally listed the books and movies I have read or seen in the half year since New Years Day. But I did not get the list together yet and hope to post it one day. This visit has been a whirlwind, and I have not given much time to my writing.
The Moon is a gibbous waxing one, heading toward the Full Moon on Monday which is the Buddhist holiday of Vesak, celebrating both the birthday and later the Enlightenment (at age 35) of Gautama Buddha. In Thailand it will be a major five-day holiday. It will probably rain on Monday, but I’m hoping for a clearing sky by dark.
Blessed coolness. Zen delight.
-Zenwind.
.
St. Swithun’s Day marks the midpoint of summer – “summer” as defined by meteorologists (and not astronomers), being from 1 June to 31 August. The Ides of July.
I am Stateside and enjoying my stay with my family here. My cousin Danny just arrived ahead of our cousins’ reunion here in two weeks. He was a brother to me growing up, and it is great to see him again. We have so far discussed music, our youth, Vietnam, women, and lots and lots of other topics – with great enthusiasm.
On St. Swithun’s Day, I have traditionally listed the books and movies I have read or seen in the half year since New Years Day. But I did not get the list together yet and hope to post it one day. This visit has been a whirlwind, and I have not given much time to my writing.
The Moon is a gibbous waxing one, heading toward the Full Moon on Monday which is the Buddhist holiday of Vesak, celebrating both the birthday and later the Enlightenment (at age 35) of Gautama Buddha. In Thailand it will be a major five-day holiday. It will probably rain on Monday, but I’m hoping for a clearing sky by dark.
Blessed coolness. Zen delight.
-Zenwind.
.
28 June 2016
Bivouac in the Woods
.
Pine Tree Bend – Midsummer week
I carried a “lazy man’s bivouac” up to Pine Tree Bend the other day, returning the next afternoon. It was a refreshing experience to be alone out in the woods overnight. So rejuvenating.
By “lazy man’s bivouac” I mean hauling only the extremely lightweight bare essentials: sleeping bag, mat, water filter, etc. No tent, cooker, etc. (Ok, I admit it, my sleeping mat is one that converts into a lounge chair at ground level, a Therma-Rest “Therma-Lounger”, a decadent luxury at only one pound of extra weight in the pack. I will not apologize.)
I was entertained by chipmunk Olympics in the afternoon as four or five of the little critters chased each other and tumbled together. Then birdsong at dusk, the song of the Thrush (Wood Thrush?). After complete darkness the fireflies provided an astonishing display.
I was in ecstasy as I simply sat in the woods, watching and listening.
Blessed coolness. Zen delight.
-Zenwind.
.
Pine Tree Bend – Midsummer week
I carried a “lazy man’s bivouac” up to Pine Tree Bend the other day, returning the next afternoon. It was a refreshing experience to be alone out in the woods overnight. So rejuvenating.
By “lazy man’s bivouac” I mean hauling only the extremely lightweight bare essentials: sleeping bag, mat, water filter, etc. No tent, cooker, etc. (Ok, I admit it, my sleeping mat is one that converts into a lounge chair at ground level, a Therma-Rest “Therma-Lounger”, a decadent luxury at only one pound of extra weight in the pack. I will not apologize.)
I was entertained by chipmunk Olympics in the afternoon as four or five of the little critters chased each other and tumbled together. Then birdsong at dusk, the song of the Thrush (Wood Thrush?). After complete darkness the fireflies provided an astonishing display.
I was in ecstasy as I simply sat in the woods, watching and listening.
Blessed coolness. Zen delight.
-Zenwind.
.
Moonlight Return on Back Roads
.
The Moon was a waxing gibbous one, rising in the late afternoon well before dark in the southeast. I was visiting one of my dearest friends from my youth, and they provided me with precious conversation and companionship all afternoon and evening, also cooking me a fantastic pot roast. It was an incredibly high time of friendship and direct communication, a priceless memory that tapped into old memories.
I had planned on walking, on back roads, the three miles or so back to my SG lodgings and had hoped to be under way while the Moon was still high and bright. At about 01:30 hours I noticed that the Moon had peaked and was descending low into the southwest, so I headed out (“to the territory ahead”, as Huck Finn put it). It was a very fine walk in the moonlight.
It took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to cover the ground. By the time I reached the farm – at 03:00 hours – Mars was sinking out of sight in the southwest and the Moon was following. What amazed me was that not one dog barked as I walked by numerous farms on the back roads. (And not one car went by – on a Friday night!)
The day with my dear friend and the moonlight walk home is a high point of my sojourn in the USA.
-Zenwind.
The Moon was a waxing gibbous one, rising in the late afternoon well before dark in the southeast. I was visiting one of my dearest friends from my youth, and they provided me with precious conversation and companionship all afternoon and evening, also cooking me a fantastic pot roast. It was an incredibly high time of friendship and direct communication, a priceless memory that tapped into old memories.
I had planned on walking, on back roads, the three miles or so back to my SG lodgings and had hoped to be under way while the Moon was still high and bright. At about 01:30 hours I noticed that the Moon had peaked and was descending low into the southwest, so I headed out (“to the territory ahead”, as Huck Finn put it). It was a very fine walk in the moonlight.
It took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to cover the ground. By the time I reached the farm – at 03:00 hours – Mars was sinking out of sight in the southwest and the Moon was following. What amazed me was that not one dog barked as I walked by numerous farms on the back roads. (And not one car went by – on a Friday night!)
The day with my dear friend and the moonlight walk home is a high point of my sojourn in the USA.
-Zenwind.
.
06 June 2016
Pine Tree Bend: re-discovered
.
Pine Tree Bend is an old secret bivouac site of mine close to home on the hill above the S.G. gravel pit, and this entire area was my old stomping grounds from the 1960s on through the decades following (on motorcycle, horse, and mostly on foot). Today I found the site again after so many years in exile.
This little bitty site is off the trails and in a very small obscure streambed’s gorge. The stream bends around the bank on which the big old pine tree stands. The little ledge near the tree is big enough for a tent or two, and the stone fire-circle that I built long ago is still there. It is a hermit site, dear to this hermit.
The entire site is long-neglected and littered with leaves and branches, and it will take some cleaning up. The old pine tree is still alive, but its dead branches now go up higher than ever toward the fewer live ones at the very top. I think that one will still be able to hear the wind through the pine when the wind is wild enough, but the pine tree probably has only a decade or two left before it dies out.
Finding the spot was an exercise in lone wandering, to ramble from one possible path to another. It is great joy to encounter old trails, some abandoned, some still used but with both old and new variations. I have always thought that Exploration is the very Soul of Man. I love such rambling – pure hobo joy!
-Zenwind.
.
Pine Tree Bend is an old secret bivouac site of mine close to home on the hill above the S.G. gravel pit, and this entire area was my old stomping grounds from the 1960s on through the decades following (on motorcycle, horse, and mostly on foot). Today I found the site again after so many years in exile.
This little bitty site is off the trails and in a very small obscure streambed’s gorge. The stream bends around the bank on which the big old pine tree stands. The little ledge near the tree is big enough for a tent or two, and the stone fire-circle that I built long ago is still there. It is a hermit site, dear to this hermit.
The entire site is long-neglected and littered with leaves and branches, and it will take some cleaning up. The old pine tree is still alive, but its dead branches now go up higher than ever toward the fewer live ones at the very top. I think that one will still be able to hear the wind through the pine when the wind is wild enough, but the pine tree probably has only a decade or two left before it dies out.
Finding the spot was an exercise in lone wandering, to ramble from one possible path to another. It is great joy to encounter old trails, some abandoned, some still used but with both old and new variations. I have always thought that Exploration is the very Soul of Man. I love such rambling – pure hobo joy!
-Zenwind.
.
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