Into the Wild

"Nature is not a place to visit, it is home . . . "

-Gary Snyder

so calling an overnight hike into the woods of PA a "jaunt into the wild" may not be entirely accurate. however, when the moonless sky becomes black as black and you can't hear anything but your own breathing, and your only source of heat is your own body on a cold night in November (below freezing) - it begins to feel like the wild. this is what happens when you plan a backpacking trip for a group of friends and you decide reluctantly to cancel the trip at the last minute because of bad weather - but you also can't stand the idea of staying at home when just minutes before you were anticipating stomping around in the woods, making a fire and seeking a bit of solitude.

I've only been out in the woods for a solo overnight adventure once before - and that was under entirely different circumstances probably 16 years ago. I never really thought much about wanting to try something of this nature alone - but the opportunity arose like a Walleye jumping out of the water and I grabbed it.

I barely made it to a campsite with water before dark, and hastily set up my tent before deciding to first cook my soup on a gas stove before searching for fuel for the fire. I only spilled my soup once time, which forced me to pump more water and start the boiling process all over again so it was very cold and dark before I got around to the fire part of the evening. I learned that it takes alot longer to set up camp when by oneself. there is no division of labor. also, it is a little more scary when you lose the trail and imagine yourself wandering around lost by yourself. but I encountered nothing that a little persistence and a compass couldn't handle.

Such a journey in solitude resembles a search for the self, an emptying and filling of conscious desire, awareness and the flickering embers of aliveness that heats your bones at night. it requires a certain familiarity with aloneness, it demands that we make a sort of peace with ourselves, it clarifies our actions and our movement. Sometimes, it is good for man to be alone.

For Those

interested in pictures of us
at various times

waiting for the bus at home

Killbuck Marsh (otherwise known as "the swamps down in Shreve")

home again

Favorite Portraits of the Day

for more portraits and other pictures, visit my photography website: www.lyricinblue.com

The Dad Project: Day 1

These pictures originate organically from a "day at home with the kids" and due to the difficulties provided by blogspot, do not flow in chronological sequence.

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The Daddy Experiment

9-27-10

Today I begin the real test of my stay-at-home-ability. O is off to work and I am in charge of the house, 3 kids, 4 cats and 1 dog. This isn't a task for the amateur parent - I'll have to make use of all the skills I've developed over the last 6 years, combine them into a superhero caped father figure and fly around the house, swooping in and around the kids.

Things start out well. N (5 months) sleeps in, after waking me up only twice in the predawn hours, allowing me to concentrate on only 2 kids on the first morning of this next full-time aprent stage. L (7) woke up at 6:30 with a bad dream but I still had time to set out bowls and spoons, hair combing equipment, cleaned eyeglasses and a packed lunch for Lyric before needing to wake up the girls.

L is already awake and complains that M (2) hasn't allowed her to go back to sleep after her dream. M, poised half off her bed, asks, "get up?" I say, "Yes, time to get up!" and she jumps off the bed and scrambles onto my lap.

Cereal and hair-combing go smoothly - I can even grab a second helping of Rice Krispies for M in between L's braids. It is raining this morning so we gear up with rainboots, hoods and umbrellas. M cries because she want's L's Tinkerbell umbrella and can't understand why she can't have it. I tell her she can share with me but she is dejected and sullen as we walk out the door. The girls are intrigued by the wet, misty morning and are quiet as we walk out to the end of the drive. M's curls pop out from under her hooded sweater. N bobs and chews on his carrier, close to my chest.