In as much as I
am aware, there is not a "no man's land" between Colorado and Utah but, if
there were, it probably would look something like this: A narrow, winding
pathway between sheer cliffs just high enough to prevent escape. I would not be
surprised if Native Americans used this place to trap animals in the distant
past or if some fools decided to set up their camp in it and perished in a
flash flood. Oh, well, it was interesting and fun to take a stroll through this cut through the rocks and to
speculate about those who have been there in yesteryear. What is the past if
not something to think about and to learn from and to play with, as in speculate? Unfortunately,
there are many who try to rewrite history -- to change the past -- to turn things long ago said and done into their own conception of how those things ought to
have been ....
Saturday, July 20, 2019
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Nice night to count stars
I am not at all certain how many nights I have spent sleeping
under the stars and would not even hazard a guess, but it has been
many/many/many. Try putting a number on that.
Zigging and zagging between the Utah and Colorado border presented an ideal opportunity to attempt a count of the stars. Estimates for just the Milky Way alone are between 100 and 400 billion, and that is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg in context to the amount in the universe, whose numbers of galaxies escalate into the trillions with each containing billions of stars .... sort of an overwhelming / frightening / humbling thought, is it not? Whenever you feel a smidgeon of arrogance creeping into your life, spending a night under the open skies counting stars is a good way to return to reality.
I ordinarily do not unholster a pistol in unfamiliar
territory because the sound of gunfire often draws attention .... sometimes
unwanted attention. But, opportunities for "trigger time" are something less
than abundant for me these days .... so, guess what?
David Bowie is a favorite of mine. I saw his Glass
Spider Tour a number of years ago right here in Saint Paul. During that concert
Bowie and the cast performed, "Modern Love," as the finale. It is here today for those who never
saw the Spider. The other piece, "Heard It in a Love Song," by the Marshall
Tucker Band is here because it sort of is a cowboy song and suits me, and because
it is a "purrtee little love song."
Wednesday, July 10, 2019
"You must be a prisoner in disguise"
The path less
traveled / no traffic jams on this road / the trail that never ends .... an
individual could make a case for all three statements about the locale in this photograph
and, perhaps, no one would argue the point. Where is this place? Since I do not
utilize GPS, I really am not sure, but money has it the location is somewhere
in either Colorado or Utah. No matter .... even though a bit desolate and lonely,
it is a nice place, a serene place, a fine place for going on a hike ....
Thursday, July 4, 2019
1776 .... I remember it well
I suppose it is a
rather implausible statement for anyone today to say they remember 1776
well. While it is not uncommon for
individuals to reach triple figures when counting the years of their lives and
literal interpreters of the Bible will point to Methuselah who it was claimed
lived to be 969 years old, a life span of 243 years is well beyond the realm of
realistic possibilities.
This is true, but
a matter of two centuries is but a hop, a skip and a jump in time for a student
of history and it is very possible to exist in 1776 or anywhere in the mind.
There have been many occasions, for instance, when I have been somewhere and seen
nothing but clouds the sky and unblemished woodlands or seemingly endless water
around me and thought if I did not know the date and the time, I could be
living in any moment in the past. A dash of
imagination mixed with a measure of knowledge poured into the right conditions
can create a most magical potion.
To cut to the
chase, parades and picnics with potato salad topped off by fireworks are well
and good for the Fourth of July -- Independence Day -- but it would be more than appropriate to pause
for a while today and remember that 1776 was among the most momentous years in
the history of the United States ....
And, to
acknowledge the sacrifices of generations past to create the freedoms which
exist for those alive today ....
And, to pledge
renewed energy and effort to ensure the continued existence of those freedoms
....
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