“As I began to love myself I freed myself of anything that is no good for my health: food, people, things, situations, and everything that drew me down and away from myself. At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism. Today I know it is love of oneself.”
-Charlie Chaplain
Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away to the next room.
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
That, we still are.
Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word
that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect.
Without the trace of a shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolute unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you.
For an interval.
Somewhere. Very near.
Just around the corner.
All is well.
Love you always and forever Dad.
Not to be confused with the granite monolith in Yosemite sharing the same name. These chronicle the first half of a trip to El Capitan, the 9,983 ft mountain in the Bitterroots south of Missoula, at the border of Montana and Idaho.
I got my butt kicked. We left the car at 8am and got back around 11pm. Lots of bushwacking, some wrong turns, and a few 5th class moves. Bagged it.
There are several Pyramid Peaks in Montana. We spent two nights up by the one in the Swan Range. Thanks to Kate for picking out the route.
I drove from Denver to Missoula and stopped just south of Jackson to break it up into two days.
Yesterday. This is a popular hike, but we managed to avoid mucho HB’s by going late in the day. The weather cooperated and it turned out to be an excellent evening. I decided to bring my camera. Thanks to Juddson for the company and the motivation.
Decided to head up a hill through the woods and ended up on top of Otter Mountain, 12766 ft. No captions here, just pictures of yesterday taken with the dying camera on my iphone. Number of HB’s viewed = 0. Muy bueno.
These pictures cover the second half of the trip. Two more gorgeous days of biking. Jeff has a blog of this you can check out here: https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1mr&doc_id=22976&v=38
In a time where the official policy of the State of Colorado is to remain within 10 miles of your home, Jeff and I rode our bikes about 250 miles over 4 days in the western part of the state.
Because we were two white guys no one shot us or anything. (edit….this was a reference to Ahmed Arbury, who was murdered while he was jogging. Since I wrote this George Floyd was murdered and the world has reacted in a substantial way) Local police and Sheriffs did not care. The multitude of other recreaters (which apparently is not a word, but should be) from in and out of state certainly did not care.
Much scenery was seen and many snacks were eaten. Thanks to Jeff for the plan. These pictures are from the first two days.
God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.
Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.
Give me your hand.
-Rainer Maria Rilke
Book of Hours, I 59
A week spent exploring the eclectic world of my friend Valerie. From the beaches of Malibu, to east LA suburbia, to desert weirdness in Joshua Tree, this trip was the last time things felt normal. I came home and for my 40th birthday present the world transformed into a mass of uncertainty and isolation.
