The Safe Side of the Fence. Part 3. June 27. Day 6.

Continued from The Safe Side of the Fence.  Part 2. 


The Safe Side of the Fence.  Part 3. Tuesday, June 27. Day 6. 


When I had hiked down the mountain I experienced my first real walk along 101 (my previous walks were short and in towns so low traffic speed.) This time cars flashed by at 60-70mph, and I had to cross the highway several times as the shoulder on my side narrowed. Luckily there was some shoulder - at least a foot or so outside the white line - on at least one side all the way. I quickly relinquished my preference for walking into traffic (so I would see them and could dodge if necessary) for walking on whichever side had a bit of shoulder. Where there was no shoulder there tended to be no flat walkable ground. And people think wilderness is scary - I'll take a bear or a rattlesnake any day over a ton of metal rushing toward me at 60-70 mph. Here's a photo (14) of the highway - my eyes glued to that shoulder to see if I'm going to need to cross again. 


 


Yesterday I received an email from Judy, the camper from Portland I met in Cannon Beach. She had sent photos of the beautiful creatures she discovered in the tidepools around Haystack Rock. Photo 15 is a collage of these strange and wonderful sea slugs, aka nudibranches. They are: the sea clown nudibranch (left), the white and orange-tipped nudibranch that Judy so aptly compared to the Fourth of July (lower right) and the opalescent nudibranch (upper right). The sea is full of secret beauty. 


 


Even the dry land is full of beauty that mostly goes unnoticed in my life. As I lay in inverted pose this morning, I found myself looking up at the high green canopy of the trees through the underside of Salal leaves. The light shone through and illuminated the intricate design of the veins. I could have gazed at/through then for a very long while (and not been bored). 


 


As I lay there my grateful brain thanked me for the wonderful bloodbath. I told her she was welcome, but that the phrase "bloodbath" had slightly negative connotations for me. "You humans are so warped " she replied. "All of your thinking, feeling, sensing and movement is made possible by the warm flow of your blood. Yet you associate blood with death and injury. Blood is the sea in you. "


Writing that reminds me of when I walked my last two miles today after coming down the mountain and road-walking on 101. My feet wanted me to take off my shoes and plunge them into the ocean. I was reluctant having just read how my dear friend Cathy developed planar fasciitis from walking on the beach barefoot without supportive shoes. Her feet are her feet and she needs to listen to them, they told me. And you need to listen to us. So I took my shoes off and I have to tell you as I felt the chill and the thrill of that cold ocean water immerse my feet, the glory of being alive surged up my feet and through my whole body. My exhaustion didn't so much go away as coexist with all that glory. 


And speaking of exhaustion, it's time for me to call it a day. Thank you for walking with me. Sweet dreams - and see you on the beach. 

Comments

  1. Cynthia Anne Hale, PhDJune 28, 2017 at 11:29 AM

    LOVE "the glory of being alive" surging up through your feet and body, dear River. ~Cynthia

    ReplyDelete

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