Existential Angst...

Shuttering off the edge of light reflected...

Existential meanderings...

Just finished watching a film with the divine missy M and took the dogs out for their final spin around the winter pond...

There must be a storm coming in because you could see the moon highlight the bands and swirls moving past...open sky...gauzing the moon not quite full...

There is an unusually bright light filling the space of a doorway...so bright the doorway looked as if it were floating on top of the pasture beyond the fence that separates the lawn from meadow...no rain yet, slight mist to the breath...fall has descended lightly this year...and a car along the street moves in front of the doorway denting light...

Each time I watch a film now...my attention is drawn to the lighting, how the shot is framed, how the sound plays off the cuts and actors moving on the z axis toward the negative space of shadow...

This is starting to move to real life...there is more attention to the focus questioning who or what is watching....am I turning this way or is the world on a tilt up...

Meanderings on dewy grass with jumbo jets reverberating off the bottoms of clouds... stepping in moon shadow...

MediaWorks week 2

The tail end of week 2 is putting together my director's portfolio, which includes an essay about my experience. I think I need more coffee before I start down the essay road...maybe I'll just sketch out some ideas...then include my sketch out as well...

Just like last year the first few weeks of meeting new people, gestating new ideas and terminology, as well as figuring out which room this period's class is in...so taking ti one day at a time...and trying to not do everything film in my head and get outside...

Some of my favorite conversation....
"do you have the handout, were we supposed to download it, I can't find it on moodle, can I borrow yours?..." seems to be the collective whisperings during the last practicum meeting on Thursdays...

We've already shot one 'long take' on a Rebel T1 in video mode with manual settings.  I realized after viewing the other groups that although MH's and our piece didn't suck...it was a bit conservative...but then again simplicity can be a beautiful thing...our groups ability to critique in a non threatening way is extremely helpful...thanks everyone! So a big thanks goes out to MH!!!! woot woman you rock, Thanks so much I had a blast making the film with you!!!!  Now I need to let loose a bit more...seriously lol...

So this weekend I have the Bolex 16mm proficiency to read, umpteenjillion pages in the Filmmaker's Handbook, 3 articles, watch at least one movie in the genre we are reading about, finish my director's portfolio (essay), read chapter 3 of the Film Experience on Mise-en-scene, and if I have time finish reading vol 1 of Sergei Eisenstein's essays...oh yeah while all that is happening jot down notes on the main characters of early Film...

oh yes, today is work, tomorrow clients and Sunday it will be raining so it's PERFECT for reading!

Ok campers, gotta go! In the meantime, keep your moving image device OUT OF THE RAIN and watch that tracking on the z axis...it can be tricky!

Peace out,

Fall 2011 still a sophomore ...Winter 2012 a junior...maybe...

Topping last year's program will be downright impossible...perfect subject, awesome faculty for all 3 qtrs, each quarter built upon the previous, and I accomplished 6 major goals including making a film.

This Fall I am enrolled in MediaWorks...not an easy program to get into vs. other programs you can just sign up for...Media Works required a faculty letter of recommendation and an application that looked like a request for 6 critically written essays on film, what is your artistic background to date, "tell us what film inspired you to take this course", etc...not exactly what I thought I was going to be taking...but I was accepted in the second round draft and it will enhance what I started last Spring. This Fall I have no expectations and will be heading out into the world of film/documentaries. According to the syllabus we will learn lighting, sound and sound editing, critical film review, alternative film techniques, work solo and in groups on small projects, write critical reviews and essays, and stretch our brains. I'm taking this program to round out filming skills. I want to include documentary film as a recording of environmental issues. This is a 2 quarter dance. In the Spring there are several environmental programs which will continue to enhance my efforts. Next year (2012-2013) (did I say that?) Intro to Natural Science will have faculty that have backgrounds in areas of interest.

This school year will be different and challenging in more ways than one. In advance of all her heroic efforts in support of my going back to school, a big uber thank you goes out to Marianne. Additional big thank you to my boss and my family....

If you live in the PNW and have not yet gone to the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, do it now before it starts to rain.  As you walk along the gravel path to the boardwalk look to your right at the snags. You just might catch a glimpse of the resident Kestrel.

School starts Monday September 26th...little over 2 weeks....yikes...!!!

Until then campers keep the sunscreen handy... it is not raining yet!

Preparations

It seems as if life is a series of preparations. Going towards something, or letting go of something, or of nothing that is still something. Today the sun is hiding, I look at the waiting list for the class I think I want to take and ponder the class that I am registered in..."let the universe decide" was the advice...advice I give all the time...so I am sitting looking at our misty day...thanking the maker I was able to get an acupuncture appointment earlier for my allergies...on the way home saw a Barred Owl flying down the road...thinking of school...already missing former classmates...and finally relaxing about which class is what and why and am getting ready to go where I have not gone before...lol...adventure is a marvelous activity...think I'll head to campus tomorrow and pick up that library book on the Mountaineers...

Peace out campers...

In the meantime take a walk after dinner and look around...you might see something new...

When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. John Muir (1838 - 1914)

Well my favorite quote, very zen very present, very much what I need to look at when pondering the folly of mankind...

This is a shot I took last fall on the trail below Myrtle Falls, Paradise, MORA... what you can't see in this one infinitesimal shot are the different botanical zones that meet in the area. Glacial water, volcanic rocks, flora and fauna that have evolved for eons, sub-alpine meeting alpine, clumps of trees that hunker together to provide shelter for small plants and protection from the intense winters, huckleberries the first people would come to harvest, corn lilies, hemlock, fir, marmots, pica, jays all covering one of Washingtons newest geothermal vulcan exhibits.

This image is on my desktop to remind me to look outside wherever I am and ponder how everything is connected...and I mean everything...do not exclude human kind or your neighbor or the dog or the red shafted flicker outside your window, nor the Barred Owl that hoots in the forest even during the day... go outside and sit and look at what is there within the few feet that is around you, really look...

ok campers enough wax rhapsodic, time to check the tomatoes and the kale...in the meantime, take a magnifying glass or binoculars and see a little bit closer to your world.

Peace out,

Summer interim ...

well campers it's not due to lack of time per se... more like gelling and vibing the sun to come out and play...that and a sinus infection lasting way too long...

August is upon us and I am one of the fortunate ones not to have school start till the end of September. Currently I am working with former faculty doing research and documentation (not as boring as it sounds) for his writing project. (I am not at liberty to say just yet, he is in process) Needless to say I am looking forward to getting back up to the Mountain with M even if it's just for a day...prolly after Labor Day...less crowded...maybe even camping...that would be way cool...

I am visualizing some drawing...I've even charged up the camcorder...need to get the spring film up on line....work in the vegetable garden which has thankfully produced wonderful items of delight...and the most important...practice the art of doing nothing...very zen...

Till next time, keep your bbq charcoal dry and weed something this weekend~

Peace Out...

Spring quarter slowly winding down...

After learning Final Cut Pro 7 for film editing and creating an 18 minute film for the Nisqually River Education Project... and a lesson plan for the elementary teachers...I am now on a learning curve with YouTube to upload a gazillion gig file in segments...the film was/is a success...I got full credit, even thought the TESC website has yet to record my first year transcripts...

I will post more when I get the film up and get permission to share the lesson plan with my friends who are elementary school teachers outside of the Nisqually watershed.

Love you all, still transitioning to summer, working on an internship (more details to follow), loving life, my love Marianne, my family, my friends and TESC!

Rock on campers it's Summer get out and hike!

Cheers

Spring Quarter pre-begining....

Ok campers, this week starts with Spring quarter for our program officially beginning on March 31/April 1. My team meets with our primary faculty on Friday BUT.... we meet with our project customer Sheila W. from the Nisqually River Education Project on Thursday around 1pm...both of my teammates are enjoying a well deserved break and I am hopeful that we can connect before this meeting. ;-)

I will post more about the details after both meetings.

To date I have the brainstorming drafts done, purchased my own camcorder (because I want to be able to film other projects), sent out emails to my team on meeting updates and updated my Americorps timesheet for the month.

oh yes... my grant proposal for re-imbursement funding was mostly approved...lol I was granted about 90% of my request...not bad...this will cover mileage, any overnight stays on the mountain, and materials to produce the film on DVD.

Needless to say I am very excited!

Until then DO NOT put away your rain gear or your snowshoes...it may be Spring...but it is the Northwest!

Toward the end of another quarter...

Ok, enough of really bad jokes and onto the report of the field trip to Pack Forest and snowshoeing on the trails of Mt. Rainier National Park. Let me just get off my chest that the "old wives tale" about staying out in the cold will give you one.... http://coldflu.about.com/od/cold/f/coldandweather.htm  

So the flu/cold I erupted with after snowshoeing was from my classmates, who didn't have any more choice on this than I, and not from being outside. ok...I'm done with that one...and I am getting better...

The trip was work and fun...we were able to help the Ohop Valley Project with their riparian area restoration by putting "sleaves" on newly planted vegetation, pulling scotch-broom out with giant metal pullers, and replanting sweet little noble fir trees. My winter coat still has a bit of dried mud on it...and yes it snowed on us while we were working, and freezing rain, and it was cooollllddddd......the cold/flu has subsided a bit and now I have a  sinus infection...never dull here....

At Pack Forest we had guest lecturers Tuesday evening - Mt. Rainier's Outreach Planner, Bryan Bowden and Nick Bond, Planner from Eatonville. Both work with the Nisqually River Council.  Bryan was most generous and loaned me the Carbon River Corridor Charette that his group put together as a tool to know the Carbon River Water shed better. 

They can use this data to better plan for contingencies and future restoration for the area. (I need to return it to him next week!)

On Thursday we listened to Mt. Rainier Natioanl Park Education Dept.'s Fawn Bauer, and Greenhouse Supervisor Greg Berchard (hope I spelled that right Greg). Tacoma Power (that would be a whole other blog-or a documetary) PR song and dance guy Randy Stern were earlier in the am. 

Ok to the cool stuff: 

Wednesday SNOWSHOEING! My first time and I chose the trail my instructor Lucia Harrison was leading because 1) I'm older and slower and 2) I've never snowshoed before. I used to ski when I was younger but then buggered up my knees in TaeKwonDo...another story.

We did the Cougar Rock Campground trail out of Longmire just about 4 miles round trip...I had a blast...could not keep up with the 20' somethings but I kept a steady pace, saw a golden mountain ground squirrel, multiple mini waterfalls coming out from under snow covered ravines, the Nisqually banked by wonderful scenery of snow-covered trees, fallen tree obstacles that you either went under/around/over, snow falling, sun streaming through the forest, and such quiet (the road to Paradise was closed so no car traffic!).

We ate lunch here and headed back to Longmire....

golden mountain ground squirrel track....

After I got back to Longmire I headed over to the Trail of Shaddows... I did that one in the fall and wanted to see what it looked like in the winter.

Then there were snowball fights

Friday... WOOT!!! Paradise is open...cool...actually sunny then snowy then cloudy....

Along the way we had to stop 3 times to adjust our chains on the van...the third time, I did not assist and went back to Jeff's car (he was sweeping-a hiking term) and asked if he had any history to share about this part of the mountain... we were almost to Longmire and about 150 feet back behind the speed signs on the north side of the road...Jeff told a story about Hudson.  See above.  That hoop marks the spot that Hudson is burried. Back before Mt. Rainier was a NP, the Longmires were the experts so to speak of the area. One night Hudson was tending his campfire (in the fall or winter months, ok maybe spring-snow lasts along time up here) his derringer fell out of his pocket and either landed on the ground or in the fire and went off, shooting him in a bad way, like bleeding out kinda bad way... by the time someone got to the Mrs. Longmire and they made their way back, Hudson was gone. I'm thinking it had to be winter time or Hudson had no kin,  after storing him in the shed (because it was way colder outside than in) they buried him along the road back a bit. After ward the Veterans Assoc. established the hoop as a marker. Now you may say why a marker? Well if it snows on average of 10 to 20 feet a year...it would be nice to see the marker from time to time eh?  That day there was 13 feet of recent snow....Paradise had a total of 40' as of that day...prolly more by now....Here's to you Hudson!

Back on the road to Paradise....

Well MORA had her skirt down.... this is the bottom of the Nisqually Galcier....

The trip was maybe 2 miles round trip...not bad you say until you realize its kinda vertical and making trail through 2 feet of fresh powder with short legs is not wat I called leisurely... lol

It was invigorating and I would have taken more pictures, but I had enough to do hanging onto my poles and picking my self up after sinking into the powder up to my hips and twice falling on branches or tops of trees...Yes you may say TOPS of trees we were walking on top of and besides the tops of young Mountain Hemlock, Doug. Fir and Alpine Fir....

We left between 3 and 4 not sure when, very tired...still had the drive back to campus then drive back home, dropping Chris off in Tacoma...got home at 8 pm... 

That brings us to the top of todays blog campers!  

Ok remember to check your straps on your snowshoes! And when using a water bladder in your back pack keep the hoses inside a zipped pocket...otherwize up on the glacier your tubes will freeze and you will get dehydrated...

Peace out...more to tell stay tuned...

Professional and Technical writing...

Ok campers here's where collegiate meets reality...if only blogging would qualify for peer reviewed writing...I love the 3...'s instead of commas and semicolons...or thought spaces....et al...

Met with my faculty on Wednesday afternoon, conferenced about writing skills and techniques. Wrote 6 revisions of my Spring Activity Grant, had my boss do final edit and submitted with 1 hour to spare. Holy moly batpeople....received a confirmation email of receipt...slept like a baby...thank the maker...

Today REI...yahoo...new rain pants that actually zip fully up the sides so I can get them over my boots in the field, new rain light weight rain jacket that won't fall apart after 3 uses, polartec under layer bottoms, gators, lightweight snow gloves and snow baskets for my trek poles...saweet....

Tuesday we leave for Pack Forest...on the way we go to some kind of wetlands/swamp and tramp in the mud, later pull out some scotch broom ( oh la) and then to dinner and a lecture..

Wednesday...snowshoeing....snow cave building....field journals...tracking...etc....

Thursday...reverse Wendesday....

Friday...role playing ....oh goody...processing the trip...then homeward bound.

The really cool thing is I get to scope out one of the sites I will use for my Spring Project...ha ha ha....not letting that out of the bag just yet...

So campers...cold tonight up in the PNW...maybe some snow on Monday...oh that's tomorrow....ha...and we will be watching the avalanche reports closely...don't worry any danger...no snowshoeing  (booo!)

Till then...grind the coffee tonight in case of power outage and pack for all contingencies...I think I need a sherpa...

Peace out.

Here and there and back again...

Hobbits abound!

Since JBLM or jablam as some know it...we had a field trip to Wilcox farms...the most up to date modern, salmon safe 25% free range chicken ranch in the area...I may submit this one field trip entry separately but after I graduate...

We have been introduced to water testing! Not for pools and community drinking water, but river water which may be your drinking water (aren't you glad I now know how to do this?)... pH, nitrates, turbidity (cloudiness) and disolved oxygen (if the oxygen is not disolved in the water things can't live, like salmon, frogs, and the like)... then we practiced water testing riverside on Medicine Creek...then we facilitated the testing yesterday with 105 gradeschoolers at Sequalitchew Creek...the kids were/are amazing...so bright, energetic and like sponges...we shared the techniques of water testing, shared our passion for nature studies and laughed...

I've also been rewriting a grant proposal for over a week, finalized it today thanks to my instructor, dare I say my hard work and my sister's eagle eye for punctuation and editing....off it went and lo and behold a response of acceptance of my application and thesis with budget...I can now rest knowing I'm only partially behind with my schoolwork and hope to catch up this weekend!

Brevity is the bane of time or the lack of...

Ok campers we are off again to the Mountain next week...snowshoeing (baring avalanche warnings), service learning, lectures and s'a mores!

Peace out....

JBLM...Nisqually meets the Army meets the environment...

So yesterday's field trip to Joint Base Lewis McCord was hosted by a slew of Evergreen Alumni...if ever I doubted my education at TESC would not produce work (like I thought that) here is proof positive that a bunch of so called hippies could work professionally and productively with the Feds, specifically the military feds...well there you are...

Great group of people dedicated to their work...most of them at their positions over 10 years each, one with a doctorate in biology. 

We saw the Earthworks recycling station that is built on a land fill and actually helps monitor the gasses coming out of what is left of the space created in the 70s. They recycle just about everything from the JBLM base including: asphalt, cement, buildings, materials from revamped buildings, food waste that is compost-able, building waste, machines, timber and either reuse or recycle it back to the base or sell it for $$$ for schools. They are ISO 14001 silver working on gold and some platinum EPA standards.

An amazing meeting/lecture from one of Nisqually Tribes' best advocate Joe Kalama. He filled in some of the connection to place that words on paper cannot. According to Joe Kalama JBLM is one of the best relationships in the region to help protect Nisqually land and good stewards to boot.

We saw Muck Creek, King Cemetery where Joe performed an ancestor ceremony letting them know we were here with respect. I have to tell you that I picked up on their energy before we got there and my walk through with instructions from Joe was intense. Joe is an amazing person, someone who I would like to listen to more.  I will say that the area was bordered by Oregon white oak and on a knoll right next to the "impact" area of JBLM. We learned that the Checkerspot Butterfly and the Oregon Spotted Frog and the Western Grey Squirrel are being re-introduced to the area. While back a the creek we were able to draw and reflect on the day.

We also learned earlier about the re-veg program utilizing 8 species of rare plants to reveg the impact zone and provide restoration on base all the while in other areas the military are training.

Here is to all who participate in the solution, no matter where you stand or how open your heart is...woot, hoorah, rock on...

Remember Campers the goundhog does not come out for a few more days, hold onto your socks, we may have an early spring!

Cheers and peace out!

Welcoming the Salmon Festival...

5 am...the alarm goes off...find my clothes...stumble to the bathroom, but on my socks from yesterday and my sweats...get the dogs, take them out for a spin...come in after 3 round around the all too full winter pond...feed the dogs and the cats...start the tub...make the coffee...turn off the tub....make breakfast to go...bath...dress really warm...pour coffee into thermos... pack the car...drive to ferry...ferry late...need to get to Olympia by 7:15...tappp tappp...ferry late....ferry comes....ferry drops me off...drive behind a school bus and two cars that think 30 miles per hour means 25....they are in both lanes...can't pass...people waiting for me to pick them up....finally make hwy 16.... its 6:45 now...I need 45 mins to get to school...and have 30....so I move over to get to the I5 south ramp...who is out at this time of the morning on a Saturday but me... apparently everyone....tapp tapp tappp.....resigned I look for my fellow student's phone number in the recently called...I erased it...sigh... state troopers are everywhere...apparently they know the entire world is out at this time on a Saturday morning...7:00...not even close... going to be late...finally get to exit 104....both lanes have cars going below the speed limit...maybe only teachers and grand parents are out this early...tapp tappp tapp....I breath...everything is as it should be...breath....vib the J man to call me...7:15...I'm on 101 headed for the school offramp...cool no one ahead of me untill we get tot he campus line and everyone is going 35...like they should...who are all this people out this early?...don't they know I need to pick up my peeps for the Salmon welcoming? 7:20 J man calls me...I'm relieved...reasuring I will be right there I'm at the round about... we meet...the J man is my shotgun he reads the directions like he's been to Roy 50 million times we get there 5 mins early and are the only ones in the parking lot...are we in the right place...I call my instructor...we are...cool...we help set up the double wide canopy...team work..quick...done...go to bridge over Muck Creek with my peeps we see birds.. get the binoculars and the field guide...3 western scrub jays, 1 red wing black bird, song sparrows...later as we get ready for the blessing a Bald Eagle does a fly by...sweet....

people show up...Nisqually Tribe members, JBLM (Joint Base Luis McCord)(military guys in uniform- they are cool they partner to protect the watershed!! Rock on boyz n girls)...City mayors, Nisqually River Counsel, Nisqually Land Trust...tons more...more of my peeps from TESC show up including our instructors...great displays... we all make a key chain out of colored beads (each bead represents the life of a salmon and what it means to the watershed)...a lot of very nice people...Bob of the Nisqually tribe, a very connected Medicine personage blessed the waters, the salmon, us the land the beasts and the space...welcoming back the salmon which is of the place and as everything is sacred.

The Nisqually Watershed is THE most restored and protected watershed in the Country..oh wait the WORLD...its because all the cities, towns, counties, state peeps, FED peeps, locals like you and me pitch in and assure the the connection of the Glacier to the Sound is solid for the salmon and all the species and flora and fauna there meet n greet. THE WORLD... it is a model for all watersheds and communities to get and understand and put to good use.....There are many watersheds in our region and they could use a hand to get closer to the Nisqually ideal...the next big step is the Sound...then the Ocean...we need to pay attention to how we are connected to the place where we live...everyday and in all things...As a great zen master said...the divine is not in us, we are in the divine...so lets take care of our world like we are that space and time and matter...

Peace out campers...remember the winter is not over yet...keep the coffee hot and the gloves handy!

Carbon River Watershed...

Of course I was/am excited about researching the Carbon River because its so been in the news about flooding and the NPS at Rainier or Tahoma/Ta-coh-bet to the rest of us....and there is info out there about the flooding and the history of logging and coal mines....but it is not a major watershed, not like the Nisqually or White River or the Puyallup...its nested in the Northern Puyallup watershed and trying to get separate data for the Carbon River area is piece meal at best and etherial at its apex....

Looking at the small ponds joining to make a swamp in my front yard (2 acres)...I can see why water flooding and disturbances are an issue...so piecing in Pierce County I go...one bit here one bit there and walla (not as is walla walla) you have a larger bit of data to work with. And in the Spirit of Evergreen...here is the opportunity to bond body/mind/soul to your project...

Don't forget to get in your birdie drawings, your reading, your species reports and meetings and prepare for more data to be infused so that just when you think you cannot put one more iota of info in...it starts to make sense and you get it...clever these instructors they are, very clever....

so campers as you wade through your lawn and garden, look down and the ground and notice the tips of bulbs coming out of the ground...soon there will be flowers and sunshine!

Place names....

Before this project of creating a place name(s) map of a watershed I would be casually interested in the history of a place or spot on a map. Now I wish there was more out in the world of the internet that spoke about locals and not just one person's oral history of the area, but also from the perspective of others who may have lived there... It is one thing to read an academic text of data and historical singular dates that lacks a sense of where this place is who may have lived there...but what did those others from our past do in a day, throughout the seasons...data is bland and has no color, even if it has plates and photos...to have a sense of what went on you need first person accounts and descriptive other words to use to paint the picture in your heart.

I am very grateful to be in this program, that it gets me out of my singular thinking and lets me explore with my heart!

Ok campers it will prolly snow sometime over the next few days/weeks....keep extra warm clothes in your car if you go outside of your town...water, food, blankies and something to start a fire....10 essentials people....

Week 1, Winter Quarter...

Well lets just say week one of the winter quarter picked up where the last week of the fall quarter left off... most of us from the fall quarter are already putting in extra time and I am not sure the new participants really know what they are in for....

This program is so dynamic and exciting, if you are not willing to be soooo present and plan in advance for what is due you may just be spinning in circles...we learned, at least I hope most of us learned that Evergreen is not a cake walk by any means and if, just if you are present enough when you are in lecture or field service learning or processing the scientific aspects of record keeping you may get that all these parts which seem to make you crazy do indeed have meaning and focus and a trail to follow to your next step...

boy that was a long sentence...meaningful but long....

Here, this moment, this iota of existence is your opportunity to get it...are you ready?

Really?

Then step back from your day and observe....who or what is moving in your life...
What complete essence is in everything you see, taste feel....

Go outside of your comfort zone and be....

Twas the night before the Winter Quarter...

And all through the house
could be heard washers and dryers and the click of the mouse...
The winter moodle is growing and expanding by the hour...
The assignments for week one are filling with the power
of rivers and mountains and birds flying so high
we will need wellies and ladders to reach that sky..
That is reflected in puddles and ponds of the Sound.
Nisqually watershed will be mapped and all around
we write in the notebookes that withstand the rain
and help our neighbors look what we gain...

So off the next morning to explore all we might
To Evergreen we go and to all a good night...

Well campers it's been a while since I've written a poem,,,
So thanks for listening and remember get up 10 mins early and defrost your car!