I’m well overdue for a real post, I know. Yet I’ve been busy. And I also have been uninspired to write anything of depth. Various ideas go fleeting across my brainscape, but lead to nothing. I’ve been gardening, digging in the dirt, loving it. But I can only write that post so many times and I don’t yet have a new angle. Today I planted carrots and beets and lettuce. Yesterday I up-potted tomatoes and seeded a tray of various brassicas, as well as chard and basil. Last night I placed two seed orders. Have mercy. Seeds are a dangerous and glorious thing, these tiny vessels of life.
I’ve had two days off, the weather’s been nice, life has been mostly fine. A few bigger things hover in the background, uncertain potentialities. They’ll just have to stay there for now.
I hoped to write something of substance tonight, but I think I just need to shut the brain off instead. Reading, or maybe watching a show. That’s all I’m good for at the moment.
So I give you the promised second set of photos of the Utah landscape. Forgive my quiet but restless brain, my lack of complex thought relevant to this blog. Give me a few more days. I’ll come up with something. Enjoy these pictures and then get outside and play in the dirt, commune with the birds, watch carefully the clouds in the sky to see what they do, where they go, what they tell you. Put your ear to the ground and listen to the grass grow. Place your toes in the water, any water, ever so gently, and ask them the temperature, don’t doubt their answer. They’re always being honest, even if they change their mind moment to moment. Find a tree. Say hello. Ask the nearest mountain what it’s seen of late, because it’s seen quite a lot. Listen attentively.
Don’t miss a word.
I think I mentioned already that I have a thing for trees against the sky. This one spoke to me, whispered its secrets. Sadly, I’ve forgotten them all. But they were momentous.
These hoodoos, peeking out from behind the trees, lording it over you. It’s just erosion, at the end of the day. They’re not so special. We’ll all erode in time.
Craggy and broken, unnamed. I can’t remember the name of this arch. It said nothing, but still it impresses.
If you were a nearby bird, would you spend all day zipping through these arches? The sky resides there, content to be holed.
Dr. Seuss or phallus? What does it say that those are the two options that come to mind? And does it say it about me or about Theodore Geisel?
So stark a cliff, in such relief, white and light. This is how the sun will bleach your bones, with barely an evocative warning.
Of The Hands 
If you feel obligated to write, you cannot write the truth. Let the mind rest. Great pictures.
Thanks, Dane! A little mind rest seems to be what I need.
For the past several days, whenever I’ve tried to let my mind speak, it just starts to shriek in panic. About everything.
There’s a time and place for letting other things take precedent. I’d give good money (and time) for dirt of my own to dig in at the moment. Be grateful for the quiet times. đŸ˜‰
Heh. My mind’s not quite so panicked, but it does have a few concerns and misgivings.
Indeed I am grateful for the quiet times, and the dirt to dig in. It provides some serious renewal.
Know that feeling of writers block. I’ve solved it by being paranoid and writing 3 weeks ahead, still feel like I’m running out of ideas.
The pictures tell a good story.
There was a time, Leo, that I thought I might write ahead a bit, bank some posts, and queue them up so as to give myself breathing room. But that never happened. I’m a sucker for waiting until the deadline. Doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon—I guess it’s just not how I operate.
Glad you enjoyed the pictures.
Hi Joel. Great photos and an inspiring location. It looks dry and hot during summer. What season of the year were the photos taken?
I received an inch of rain overnight and the water tanks are starting to fill up again. The place is also looking greener.
Happy gardening. Chris
Hi Chris,
It really is beautiful down in southern Utah. Quite an amazing landscape. Dry too, yes. I was down there in the summer, though I can’t remember exactly when. I think it was June, so a bit earlier, before it really gets hot. But I do remember quite a bit of heat and dryness.
Excellent to hear that the rain is still coming and the water tanks are filling! A bit of greening is surely a welcome sight, as well.
I received your package in the mail a few days back. Thank you! I haven’t watched the show yet, but will. And I’ll get off a response hopefully soon to you by email. Although the next couple days are looking mighty busy, so if it doesn’t happen tonight, it might be a few more days.
Oh, and no knives, promise. Your points were good and appreciated.
Take care. Hope it keeps raining and greening!
Hi Joel. Err, thanks and I look forward to your email. As time goes on, I’m really reluctant to give advice to anyone, so I appreciate you saying that about the knives! hehe! The postal service is amazingly efficient…
It is true what you are saying about June not being the hottest month. I get a bit of delay here in the seasons so that February (your August) is the hottest month and August (your February) is the coldest month. I’ve never quite understood this because you’d think that it should be around the winter and summer solstice? There are a lot of parallels between the climate in the US and Australia.
Hope you enjoy the videos too as the guy is amazing in how he uses the resources available to him and techniques that go back milennia. Inspiring stuff.
PS: I can tell the US economy is not healthy because Bruce Springsteen is playing tonight just on the other side of the mountain range at Hanging Rock. A helicopter flew over the forest here earlier this evening in that direction too – I can’t imagine who else would be bothered doing that? There was even a traffic jam here today which was a really freaky and unusual event… I can even just hear faintly the doof, doof as I’m sitting out in the orchard with the chooks as dusk is settling in.
Cheers. Chris
Read Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey. He was park ranger in Arches way back before you were born. It may get the juices flowing
Scrap Wood