Guerilia nature in the city

 Walking through town, I started to notice how a small birch was pushing its way through the concrete... and kept growing. And soon enough there were cellars with an abundant life under their steel grid. Soon enough there were ferns where I saw no soil.

All kinds of small flowers and even very briefly a small white mushroom, all blackened to dust in a few days and then others springing up. Yes, it is autumn, yet this will to live, to survive in the urban landscape fascinated me.

These improbable compositions lend a special touch of beauty to the streets I walk. They draw my attention to the abstraction of lines, to the simpleness of color and the futility of pulling out the new tender buttons. They have decided to try and get through autumn unscathed or to return when pulled out or cut off. I prefer these streets where life imposes itself, the barren, clean lifelessness is to me uninteresting. Best are the dark alleys. Where nobody bothers the plants, where impermanence just lasts this bit longer.

Time for the Colorado river

No power
packing water coffee bait
long drive
Pierce Ferry roiling rapids
no camping no fishing
no parking no fires
no rangers
sleeping without a moon
under the stars
in sandstorm wind











It's all about leaving
running out of time
not knowing
was it dream time or
think time yet
fear of frailty
longing for water
and
the fluidity of joy
the adventure
the call of the
wild one
the one I was
I am

Mojave dessert

 










Sunday morning breakfast

window rattling wind

clang banging doors

clattering tin roof in rain

sand-drifting crevasses

all dust my home

desert lilies’ white stain

a jittery fix for cows and deer

as for folks meth & beer

war stories on Sunday mornings

of fallen heroes

at the VFW breakfast boasting

of classified unmarked secret

warfare & all alive to tell it

to the stranger that I am

and in this desert storm

I hear the sand grain wail

Yellow snow on the San Francisco Peaks

The Snow Bowl Ski Resort on the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona didn’t have enough snow a few winters in a row. They decided, and it was approved by the municipal council, to turn the sewage effluent into snow. They sell 1,5 million  gallons of waste water per day. The environmental impact assessment pointed out several problems: scaring of the landscape, noise from the snow making machine, the changes in the soils’ chemistry and thus the destruction of wildlife habitat. The area concerned is one where herbalists, Native American healers from several nations as far away as the Zuni from New Mexico. The area is used for finding medicinal herbs, is part of a pilgrimage and is the home of the Hopi Katsinam. Sacred land should not be soiled, defiled. Declarations by elders and healers in court and massive protest by environmentalist and Sierra Club hasn’t helped. Gathering herbs is sacred,it is also a service to the members of one’s community. Sadly all bad things came to pass and the snow made from the waste water to their 'astonishment' turned yellow. Virginia Tech indicated that the snow from the sewage could be a breading ground for antibiotic-resistant genes. So what ever you do, don’t get into making a snowman or a snow angel in the wider area around the ski resort...

Breathless in Antwerp

City life can be really dusty. Especially fine dust is a real killer. In many European countries the freeway is still cutting cities in half, causing noise pollution and also a lot of fine dust being spread through the cities, causing lung problems. There are communal elections coming up. The aim of today's gathering was to raise awareness and to ask people to vote for one of the four parties - ranging from a pro industry party - called 'liberals' but not in the American understanding of the word - to the greens and a left wing party involved in health service 'medicine for the people'. In Antwerp there are two contenders to become Mayor, yet none of them were present, nor seem they to be interested it what is a very important issue. Covering the ring, making a tunnel, for the 300.000 cars a day which impact over 300.000 inhabitants would provide cleaner air. The citizens would breathe better and be healthier. The city expects 100.000 new inhabitants: schools, kindergartens, social housing all has to be build. In covering the ring, a green lung for the city would be created and new space where the urgently needed provisions could arise. The through traffic would be lead around the city in what is called the Meccano plan. To show support for the plan four poets read, among whom the former City Poet Laureate, speeches were delivered by Ademloos founder Wim van Hees and Manu Claeys from StRaten generaal. People were invited to bring a pick nick, and while I blog tango is being danced on top of the Craeybecks-tunnel  where the whole action is held in pleasant green surroundings.

Route 66- continued

The route is all about the road, the place longed for, dreamed of, imagined in one's soul. The state of the road doesn't matter.
Neither does the means of transportation. being on the move, desire, solitude and beauty are the guiding lights.  

Restaurants I didn't stop at. And forlorn places where time was framed in old signs: Roadrunner Restaurant.
One  almost hears the jazz of those days in the purring motor.


Waterside property advertised in the enormous and beautiful Mojave Desert... No, no, not a sedentary life, near a moist air river.



It is all about the road, the encounters, the sharing of long vistas which heal your eyes. There is a road to where you're going.
May traveling the Route 66 help each of us find our road, straight or winding, up and down with left curves and straight ahead: a metaphor for life, a road with many futures.

 

April snow

The winter had been rather dry, so nobody complained when a pouring rain came down after the Friday evening local fish fry.  The rain danced and played on the tin roof in gentle and hard rhythms.

 Usually spring is nice and friendly. I have picnicked at Lake Mead at Christmas day and at the top of Hualapai mountain the next, with just a shirt and a sweater. Now I try to stop the wind from entering by putting pillows in front of the door
and the words a carpet of snow have become rather literal. Yard art is enhanced by nature. Here a sculpting by Bob Stördahl, putting old rust from the mines to good use.

A date on a sunny day

It was a nice bright day notwithstanding the threatening cloud over town, coming straight from the direction of the nuclear plant which most people here in the country think should be closed.I decided to take a walk and went to a small park I had often passed in the car, but never had walked it. It was lovely, with an adventure playground for children, an experience garden where without having to stoop one can feel and smell the kitchen and healing herbs. There is even a start of a wood-wall where all kind of critters can survive the winter. A little note explains, asking not to carry of the old wood. Once done, it will be a nice feature.

The big tree here is totally entwined in ivy. This is a parasitic relationship which can  kill the big tree, It looks lovely however, yet I'll remind not to be clinging towards other people.

The tree stump covered in fungus and mushrooms. It made me realize the beauty of decay.

So my expedition was fruitful, I took the time to be and see, to notice, to enjoy. So, go out, enjoy the glorious light and listen to the birds.

Fog over the Golden Gate

 

Fog on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is an almost daily occurrence. Yet it doesn't deter the tourists, although some are a  bit disappointed when the picture of the full elegance of the mythical bridge can't be taken. The fog however lends mystery, and since above there is nothing to see the exploration yields a view of the construction and its beauty. Friends have taken the time to share parts of the city they love. For Ana this includes this Holocaust Memorial. And yes remembrance is the beginning of redemption...

The quiet beauty of the Golden Gate Park with ponds and lakes a botanical garden, museums is a pleasure to the eyes.

San Francisco, the city, the bay, the café...

People make a city, from union activist to musicians playing on an array of discarded bins and pots and pans, from editors to singer/songwriters to poets. And then there is the Bay, the bridges, the hustle downtown, the tourists, the stylish locals.

And the Bay Aria with the Golden Gate Bridge (the color is actually international orange), the Secret Beach and the China Beach. near Land's End.

A bit of nature soothes the heart, calms the mind from an overactive city, which seems big yet where circles pulse, growing and shrinking, a heart beat for friends and like minded people. Accidental meetings, meetings which change or strengthens one's path. 

More Grand Canyon

Take your time give it to the Grand Canyon, avoid the over populated places. The first time I visited the canyon I went to the visitors center, saw the movie, read the warning signs and was totally bewildered at what it meant: take two gallons of water per person , wear sturdy shoes - while I saw people on flip-flops without water venturing down the trail. Understanding the desert so many years later, I get what the dangers of the canyon are. Extreme temperatures, high winds, steep ravines, slippery paths. Yet the beauty of survival and death, weathered trees is breathtaking.

Who or what is responsible for all this: Father Time, Sister River, Rains and droughts and winds, frost and snow, heat and dust... and the pitter patter of feet en hoofs and pats, the elk, mountain lions and chipmunk all contribute to the slow splendorous decay of a high plateau which used to be an ocean.

Desert View: Watchtower at the Grand Canyon

 Ann Coulter not only was responsible for the Museum of Northern Arizona, but also for la Possada in Winslow and the Watchtower at Desert View, on the desert View drive, either from Flagstaff or the visitor center in the Grand Canyon. Her buildings harbor you, make you feel good. Her sense of place and material is wonderful.

 

In the watchtower, and in the other buildings I have seen, she uses strong local materials incorporating all the variations she can find: slate, pebbles, rocks.

Elements of surprise are petroglyphs, natural statues, wood, whatever would give the building  beauty and substance. 

I should have called this post Room with a View. She chooses cut outs, interesting perspectives and even adapts the shape of the windows to the landscape. That is respect for the spirits of the place. Her windows draw you out and immerse  you in the grand beauty of nature.