it occured to me too late that i could have taken the train to Detroit Lakes, MN and ridden my bike from there to Ely (200 miles) to the canoe trip. On the other hand i want to possibly backpack in the Windriver Range of Wyoming on the way back, and ain't no train goes anywhere near. And like i said, the driving is no worse than flying when it comes to expense or fuel efficiency.
I went downtown this morning to get a couple of maps at REI and it was an amazing and wonderful sight to see thousands of bicylists riding over various bridges, especially the Fremont. I stopped awhile on the way back just to watch people streaming past by the hundreds. It really seemed like the whole city was bicycling. It brought tears to my eyes.
Another Farewell: Elizathbeth Marshall is heading off to Berkeley to study Unitarian Theology. Liz, we'll miss you and your wonderful energy.
PIPN was last night, it went well overall. Every act was strong, and Andy Kim from Vashon Island is a genius. he's the guy who invited bruce to the Country Fair, and last night he did a piece based on the Biblical tale of Lot and his wife and their daughters and the angels who came to stay with them and the ensuing destruction. The "puppets" were variously, a teapot, teacup, a bunch of forks, lollipops, two pieces of cake, and the brilliant expressiveness of Andrew.
Extremo the Clown also performed, he claimed for the first time on an actual stage since 1992 at the Satyricon.
Oh, so many choices of things to do. I'm not going out tonight. I'm tired of going out.
I have a secret second blog. Can you find it?
Monday morning i am heading to Minnesota. I will probably not post anything much for several weeks.
I need a kick in the pants. That's what i feel like after a couple days of sitting around just reading and eating Whoppers. I am the laziest man alive. Furthermore it gives me too much time to swim around in my head, spinning fantasies both good and bad. I need to keep moving. But i need to be forced to do it sometimes. The inertia of so-called ease.
But what's so wrong with reading? I happened upon a garage sale Saturday with a bunch of really good books for 50 cents each. I'm now in the midst of Milan Kundera's "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting" and an overview of dreaming called "Our Dreaming Mind." I dream a lot. I dream so much that in my memories of things I sometimes cannot tell if I am remembering something from a dream or from waking life. And since our lives are nothing but the present moment and our memories, it is as if my life has taken place just as much in dreams as in waking. It is to laugh, but hopefully not to forget.
I keep intending to do a dream-journal, and in fact have one but rarely write in it because when I wake up I am almost overwhelmed by how much I have just dreamed, like it would literally take me hours to methodically record it all. There is too much detail, too many turns of events. It would be a useful record though, particularly for registering what turn out to be pre-cognitive dreams, of which I have quite a few.
Bruce and I are rehearsing for PIPN. His piece is called "The Ride of Your Life" and I will start it off with a sort of song, then provide carnival-organ accompaniment.
I'm soon to head off to Minnesota for a 10 day canoe trip and also visiting relatives (my Mom's sister and brother, Lisa Locken and Bob Duckstad.) I'm debating whether to drive the Justy or fly and rent a car for the post-canoe visiting. My analysis of expense and overall fuel-efficiency seems to show that driving would be about 100 dollars less expensive (even at current gas prices) and almost as fuel efficient (with a car that gets 40 mpg on highway.) SO, since I have the time I will probably drive. It may seem to be at odds with my bikey ideals, but the train is WAY too expensive this time of year (almost $600 roundtrip), Greyhound doesn't go anywhere I need to get to and flying, well, even the most virtuous bikers are kneeling before the fossil-god when they fly.
By the way: entering a comment now requires registration, I apologize for this but I get literally dozens of Spam comments a day right now. Hopefully this will cut them down. Registration is quick and makes you even more special than you already are.
I spent the hottest couple days last week high above the baking lowlands, scrambling around the high ridges and moraines of the Mount Adams Wilderness. I took the Stagman Ridge trail to the Round the Mountain Trail (which doesn't really go all the way around the mountain) then went off-trail from near Madcat Meadow up into the treeless alpine vastnesses. Spent the night on a flat spot recently vacated by mountain goats, traversed the next day westward along slopes and boulder fields and up to a high point of about 8,000 feet at the edge of Pinnacle Glacier. Thence down along open moraine ridges and snowfields, through rock-gardens of Dwarf Lupine and Penstemmon, Krummholz of Whitebark Pine and Mountain Hemlock, back into the trees, and intersected the trail again some several miles clockwise along from where i left it.
Next day back in the now-cooler city, I missed the Tour de Fat but saw some really super-neato bike powered carnival rides from San Francisco's Cyclocide at Acme.
Speaking of Acme (1305 SE 8th)
Don't miss the second Portland Independent Puppet Night, this Thursday 8/11 at 8:00 PM
I will be providing musical interludes as well as accompaniment to Bruce Orr's (Mudeye Puppets) new work-in-progress about the carnival-wheel of fate.
There are several other acts including Extremo the Clown and 2 awesome puppet companies from the Seattle area.
I got back from Eugene Sat evening, that night went to a "Superhero" party where thanks to some last-minute accessorizing help from Carye Bye I was able to be "Super Sparkle" or "Disco Ball." The party turned out to be pretty crazy fun, among other things we had a movable Ska dance-party that took to Vancouver Avenue and opened the heart of the heretofore conniving "Super Capitalist" guy. Thru the power of music a soul was turned. By the end of it I was almost falling-over tired. You gotta keep drinking (water) when you dance that much.
On Thursday Aug 11 at 8PM at Acme on SE 8th is the second Portland Independent Puppet Night. I will be providing between-act music. I've written a new song ("Red Bird") and will also be playing keyboard/organ for Bruce's new piece. But between now and then I have nothing particular on my agenda and am debating between 3 things: staying in town (doing various in-town things like Timo's birthday bike ride this Thursday); heading up to the North Cascades for a 4 or 5 day backpack; or taking the bus to San Francisco for a visit. The latter of which I could also do in September. The hiking too for that matter, though at a certain point I will be more regularly employed again and goodbye lazy days of nothing to do. In mid-August I am heading to Minnesota and going on a 10 day wilderness canoe trip with several Portland folks. I've wanted to go on such a trip for many years and the perfect opportunity arose and I am happily compelled to avail myself of it.
Meanwhile I still havn't figured out what I'm gonna do when I grow up. Maybe I should see a fortune teller. Wait... I AM a fortune teller.