Captain Long Tail Bitch Whiskers

Here is a funny pic of my cat becuase

thinking about sad stuff all the time is BAD and

thinking about fun stuff sometimes is GOOD and

since I have braced up
and done things

I no longer feel like

Bitchy Bitchmost,
Boss of all Bitch Whiskers --

in spite of the CRAP TON
of sad things
that continue to haunt.

Unfinished

Birds make great sky circles
of their freedom.

How do they learn it?

They fall

and, in falling,

are given wings.

~ Rumi ~

What The End Of January Brought

I went on a massively adventurous 2 day teaching interview.
I GOT THE JOB!
I swear. I am not making this up.

January 16, 2014

Head Teacher-Person

Cute Little Mountain Waldorf School

Little Cute Mountain Town, USA

Dear Ms. Teacher-Person:

I am responding to your advertisement for a first grade teacher.

I left Waldorf teaching three years ago and would like to return and take a class through eighth grade. Both my children will be in college next September, so I am now able to consider relocating. I would like to teach at a small school with a warm, supportive atmosphere.

Not only am I am drawn to Cute Little Mountain Waldorf School because it is a smaller school, but also because I am a four-season hiker and camper. I have spent many weekends exploring the Cute Little Mountains and the idea of living and working there is thrilling to me.

I look forward to learning more about Cute Little Mountain Waldorf School and discussing the possibility of teaching there.

Respectfully,

ME!!!

Big Gray Coat Therapy

See? I didn't even care about my hair.
I lived in the big gray coat
 and stumped around
trying to accept suffering and death,
forced to confront my delusions, fears, and mistakes,
which were stalking me, in the store and out.

And The Blur Of Holidays

The Spawn's Response:
(1) Performance art.
 

(2) Christmas Man 

But nothing helped. There was too much sadness.
I was relieved when the holidays were over.
No more Holiday-jolly customers asking me how I was doing.
Out loud reply: "Just fine, thanks!"
Inner reply: "Leave me the fuck alone, asshole."

Then there was Halloween

And as October bled out, sad things began to happen.

Autumn Rememberies: First snow

Finally,

the last weekend in October,

snow and ice at the higher elevations.

Eagle Pass was pure awesomeness so it gets 2 pics.

And beyond the pass: W I N T E R!

Up in the menacing fog, above that frozen lake,

hides the peak I was after.

It was one more mile and 1K more elevation.
Forget THAT. No peak bagged on this day.

I headed back down.

It didn't feel like a good day to die.

Autumn Rememberies: The last bit of summer

The third weekend in October.
Summer's surprise goodbye party.
More peak bagging.
This was Webster and Jackson.

Mmmmm. Sunshine.

But watch out, gray jay on the peak. Winter really is coming.

Autumn Rememberies: October hail

WOOT!

Autumn Rememberies: October camping with the spawn

Of course September ended
but October was no less grand.
The Columbus Day (mid-October) camp out rolled around.

There were only 3 boys.

Thank gods.

Well, actually, you can see that they think they ARE the gods.

Not that the girl isn't a force to contend with as well.

She rocks.

 The Dawn Treader lives and is well.

They are deceptively adorable when they are laughing.

 Big Bertha gave her life in service to Lake George camp outs.

Autumn Rememberies: Hot dustiness, warming up to the Whites

 Back to the Whites!
It was the end of September.

The little cricket was singing:

summer's over winter's coming soon it will be cold.

Duly noted, but not on THIS day.

Hot dustiness: sensual and scrumptious.

It was magnificent.

I will go back there.
Too bad September can't last forever.

Autumn Rememberies: To the 'Daks!

 September. It is easy to be happy in September.
If you happen to be coming from Burlington, Vermont (which I was),

you can ride a ferry across Lake Champlain

from Charlotte (shar - LOT) to Essex, New York,

then drive about 2 hours to the high peaks in the 'Daks

(which I did.)

It was twilight

and the water was rough

and it was windy.

I stood at the bow close to the chain

and felt the spray as the bow crashed into the waves.

It was exhilarating.

Then I camped at the side of a remote road.

It rained all night.

The next day I climbed a favorite peak.
The trail was littered with the Signs Of Golden Happiness.

Clouds were rolling in and out.

It would get so foggy we had to grope our way
from cairn to cairn.

I camped out a second night.
The clouds blew off and the stars came out.

I shared a campfire.
We watched stars and told stories.
It was fun.
Yay 'Daks!

The End.

Summer Rememberies: Moriah and a geography lesson

In the eastern U.S. and Canada
the mountains are all worn down and puny

'cause they are O L D.

Relatively speaking of course.

The Appalachian Range runs from Alabama, way down south,

all the way up to Newfoundland in Canada.

It includes many places I hike regularly,

like the Green Mountains in Vermont,

and the White Mountains in New Hampshire,

but NOT the Adirondacks in New York.

The Adirondacks

(which might be my soul's true home, if you recall)

are part of a range running north into Quebec, Canada.

They were formed at a different geological time
in a different geological way.

See google for details.

So what does all that mean to you and me?

Nuthin' really.
I was just digressing.
I am good at that.
Which is sorta sad becuase it makes me boring.
 Self-eval: Kind-hearted, but lacks focus.
I mean, maybe not kind-hearted ACTUALLY,
but the wish to be kind-hearted is in me.
And I practice kind-heartedness,
to try to get it right
and make it a habit,
so someday, someone might describe me as:
"kind-hearted, but lacks focus."

Anyway...

I was saying...

Becuase they are old and puny,
a mountain over 4,000 feet in the east

is worthy of questing after.

So we climb the 46 over 4,000 feet in the 'Daks,

and the 5 in the Greens,

and the 48 in the Whites,
and let ourselves feel all special about it.

I have 9 left in the 'Daks. Long-ass snotty hikes.

And it's a long-ass snotty drive,

so I decided to start questing in the Whites,

which are much closer to me.

The Whites and the 'Daks are the same, but different.

The hikes in the Whites are shorter,

but steeper and more dangerous.

The 'Daks are more wilderness-like,

with longer approach hikes to the high peaks.

All this to say that I hiked my second 4K peak in the Whites,

called Moriah,

on a nondescript summer day,

with a nondescript group of people,

and it was a ho hum sorta hike.

Ten miles. Lots of elevation.

But it wasn't the 'Daks, if ya know what I mean.

Summer Rememberies: Airing The Teens

The Supreme Queen

Of All That Is Good And Necessary

For The Continued Happiness

Of Teenagers

rested comfortably while remaining alert to the antics of her charges.

They made this awesome bowl and spoon.

They caught this snake twice. Poor stupid snake.











Oops. I dozed off, and look what they did. Sigh.

Summer Rememberies: Discovering The Ultimate Retirement Home

You can stay in this place anytime you want. For free. I swear. I am not making this up. You just have to hike to it. It has a wood stove so you can stay during the winter. Which I did. Am doing. Will do.

(Rememberies have complex grammatical tense requirements --

 about which I know nothing.)

The approach.

The view from the front porch.

The front porch.

The loft.

World class porch sitting.

Da ta! (OSM: I don't remember my nose looking so big.)

Ooooo! I am cute!

I am SO cute that I need TWO pics of me.