a trip to the center of the americas

does not feel real now.

the penetrating gaze of a squid at 15 meters is hard to believe real when i'm barricaded in by snow and wearing 4 layers.

saltlake-sunvalley-portland-rockaway-hoquiam-seattle-boise-saltlake

the pacific northwest is easy to love.

birds identified on this trip:

red-breasted merganser (first time!)
hooded merganser
barrow's goldeneye (first time!)
bufflehead
mallard
american wigeon
great blue heron
bald eagle
swainson's hawk
red-tailed hawk
northern harrier
american kestrel
raven
eared grebe
fulmar or petrel? (ah, seabirds i don't know! it had a sad petrel eye, and was floating alone)
black-billed magpie
rough-legged hawk
flocks of finches and starlings

also saw a chaos coyote in sun valley on a misty river morning.

i don't think i would have been able to identify half of these animals if it weren't for holiday binoculars from my boy and my copy of sibley's from my parents.

gusts of birds.

farmington bay, december 3, 2011

American Kestrel
Pie-billed Grebe
White-faced Ibis
Golden Eagle
Northern Pintail
Northern Harrier
Marsh Wren
California Gull
Canvasback
American Coot
American White Pelican
Willet
Northern Shoveler
Lesser Yellowlegs
American Wigeon

a beautiful day with a dear friend.

sloping.

i downhill skied for the first time today. i fell, i cried, i swore. i had a patient teacher. it was fun and i can't wait to do it again.

to love the west

i've created another internet diversion!

this time, it highlights things to be loved about the west, especially my home state, utah.

here it is:

heartwest

most beautiful weekend, for all reasons.

western meadowlark
mallard
common raven
red-tailed hawk
american kestrel
european starling
horned lark
turkey vulture
mountain bluebird
spotted towhee
barn swallow
brown-headed cowbird
red-winged blackbird
norther harrier
norther flicker
american robin
mourning dove

all of which i am very excited about! but my mind was blown by:

white-faced ibis (large shiny flock in a farmer's field)
osprey (carrying a large fish)
burrowing owls (!!!) (my first sighting!)
sage grouse (lek with around 100 males doing their mating display. the sound echoed over the clearing, and we watched just as the sun rose. such a beautiful moment!)

among other things.

amy is always right. always.

instructions:

watch this,
the mountain

but mute it and listen to this:
like spinning plates

dedicated to pm, who reminds me regularly that i am stardust.

my!

beautiful (mostly bird) fotos from around the state of utah.

featherful

white pelican
red-winged blackbird
yellow-headed blackbird
western meadowlark
mallard
canvasback
northern shoveler
american coot
great blue heron (with babies!)
pied-billed grebe
canada goose
nothern harrier
american avocet
black-necked stilt
bufflehead
killdeer
cinnamon teal
california gull
american robin
american kestrel

a hairy woodpecker and a turkey vulture at the garden,

and a mourning dove sits outside my window cooing.

such a great morning with the birds.

in the great salt lake.

Plunging confidently into the midst of the grand uproar you are hugged and welcomed, and swim without effort, rocking and heaving up and down, in delightful rhythm, while the winds sing in chorus and the cool, fragrant brine searches every fiber of your body.

John Muir

tell your feelings.

we are in the last few days to submit comments regarding the bridge plan for utah lake.

let them hear you, asap.

click here to submit comments

for the love of our lungs.

please consider riding the bus, carpooling, riding your bike, you know, whatever.

http://airnow.gov/

consume this!

the best things about going to costco were:

1. being with my mom
2. seeing timp's white glory in the alpenglow.

in the fake plastic earth

chris jordan's artwork

worthy 18 minutes

Jared Diamond on why societies collapse | Video on TED.com

every full day.

the last week or so has been full of people who remind me to live every day at top enthusiasm.

effervescence.
joie de vivre.
vitality.
passion.
raison d'être.
vibrancy.
zeal.

poetry slam with Michael Dimitri and the other poets (why AREN'T we here?)
Terry Tempest Williams (her article on the BP spill)
Katie Lee (91-year-old sticks it to the man)
Sufjan Stevens (sincerity, and a song i am loving)
Subhankar Banerjee (exuberance)
Alexandra Fuller (you never know who you're waking up)

returning to high

i dreamt about notch peak last night, walking through the bristlecones, looking straight ahead at the cliff face, nearly falling over the edge.

success?

The plain fact is that the planet does not need more "successful" people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every shape and form. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane.

David Orr, What is Education For?, 1991

angle of repose

genevieve, a geomorphologist, explained to me last march that the angle of repose is the degree at which rocks and debris rest after mass fail, or erosion.

this weekend, i was down on the staircase, looking at the rocks, comme d'habitude. they are beautiful because they have fallen. they're at rest, but they'll fall again. and something new will be beautiful.

was the quiet i always felt in you really repose? i wish i thought so.
wallace stegner, AofR, 12.

this one i remember.

saturday night, sleeping on a slab of slickrock hanging over fish creek, i dreamt i was sleeping under a blanket made of tufted evening primrose. beth says i startled her when i thought it was floating away.