Desolation Sound, BC, Canada

So I've just returned from a 6 night Kayak trip in Desolation Sound.

It was wonderful and fantastic and I now present you with a photo montage of my week:

Lund, BC. Launching two double kayaks and all our stuff for a week

Camp, Night one. Copeland Islands, BC

4 nmi from Lund

 View from Base Camp (nights 3-5) on the Curme Islands, BC

11 nmi from Copelands

That's Otter Island across the fetch, and the Desolation Range beyond

and it was warm enough to swim and go cliff jumping everyday,

after we returned from our daytrips

Just over my head is Mt. Spooner, I kid thee not. 

also got stung by a jellyfish here.

Camp, Night 6, the Copeland Islands

The Last Sunset of our trip

Conclusion it was wonderful, fun, exciting, and relaxing. Would I do it again, maybe. There really wasn't enough to fill the day with paddling, but it was still fun. And we met loads of interesting - though American- people. For being in Canada, the majority of the people we ran into were Statesiders. Which was kind of disappointing, because I happen to like Canada. 

SerpentStorm

Thunderstorm is outside
my window
knocking to be let in and bring the dance hall
of strobe and bass into my door.
Rain adds its own muted cacophony to the mix
like drum brushes in a jazzy electric number.

or is it giants playing field games in
lands we cannot see?
Their friday-night-lights filtering into our lands?

This concert hall of mountains reflecting light
and sound
back and back and back again
building
crescendoing
deceasing
and doubling around for more

The backdraft wind chasing the tail of the
flashy
noisy monster
over the pass in the mountains
to the flatlanders that live beyond.

Sparta

It's time to move back to Bellingham.

North Bend is a war-zone for me. Its heavily conservative Christian, with spots of fundamentalism. Everyone in the valley goes to one of three brainwash centers churches. Fighting my own ground is suicide amongst TEA party dogs. Liberalism, democracy, fair-trade, tolerance and acceptance do not exist here.  Little Appalachia holds its ground. For my part, I do try not to fall victim to thinly-veiled comments to ensnare a free thinker, a different sort of soul.

I'm holding my flag, and so be it.

But I miss the more-mystical-by-the-minute Bellingham. I need my tree-hugging folk. I need my full-to-bursting farmer's markets, and haphazardly piled bikes outside breakfast joints. I miss my musically-gifted friends who make dinner and jam until midnight or later. I miss the happy, easy-going people in the street. I miss talking to the people at the Co-op and running into ski coaches who moonlight as peddlers of health bars made in the foodshed of Mt. Baker and the Nooksack/Skagit.

Soon.

Home

I've been home about a week and some change now.

Dad and I built and fenced and new garden, in which Mom and I then planted scarlet runners, shallots, tomatoes, basil, sweet cecily, salad burnett, radishes, carrots, beets, lettuce, peas, bell peppers, zukes, three different cukes, butternut squash, yard-long beans, and rhubarb. The ground has been frozen until recently, and then we got a ton of rain, so planting had to be put off a bit. My sister only helped when hollered at.

But I am looking forward to harvesting all the lovely veggies. and then pickling the cukes and the beans.
That's kind of my thing. Mom makes jam and cans other fruits, and I'm in charge of pickling things. Last summer we made three different kinds of pickles; dill, bread and butter, and wild child (really spicy! and tasty).

My sister is fourteen, and has a serious attitude, which clashes pretty heavily with me. She's convinced that I'm out to ruin her social life. But we had a nice chat the other day, so we'll see how things go from here.

And I started work at our local pool again. I'm upper-level staff, and until I went back, I hadn't realized how much I missed the people who work there. There is a certain level of camaraderie and repartee that is present here which is definitely lacking at the pool in Bellingham. They are good kids too, for the most part, and I've made a few very lovely friends, but I'll always love this little historical pool that I grew up in, swam on the team for, and and have worked at for the last 5 years. Sure, sometimes the staff irritates me. But it's worth it. And I have the best boss in the entire world here.

Calluses

So my hands are finally started to callus and I'm super excited about it. I know, that's a weird thing to get excited about. But callused hands are hands that do work. They get all soft in the winter and it makes me sad. and in the summer, they get callused again from hard work and kayaking and biking everywhere. So in the spring, when they start peeling off old skin and new, tougher skin comes in, I get excited.
Powerful hands.

 Also, I added another brother to the adopted family. This makes me very very happy.
Its a large family, and I love every single one of them.

Doesn't Get Much Better

That, my dear friends, is how you spend an evening.

You start at 5:30 at dinner with your best friend, make friends with dudes who pawned a free meal, and then get hit on by one of them who is at least a decade your senior.

Then you have a drink (or two) with your best friend after ditching the creepy old dude.

When 8:00 rolls around, you wander down to Boulevard Park and meet friends, walk the park at sunset, make loud inappropriate jokes, and walk home around 11 discussing the hipster-like qualities of a certain 80's-paint themed roadbike.

It was a lovely evening to spend outside with friends, though tomorrow begins the Era of Epic Studying before Finals.

thoughts before bed in a techni-colored overshirt.

augh. 
so much on the mind. back to the old bulleted-list standard....

• I have a lab final due very soon, and there's still quite a bit to be done on that. 

• I have chemistry that needs to be done asap. 

• I need to get a math project done, which I haven't started, and which by the sounds of it, will be very difficult. 

• One of my new guy-friends introduced me to his girlfriend today, and I'm still trying to figure out the dynamic. I can't decide how she'll take me hanging out with him. There was an offer to go have a drink, which I declined (surprising, right?) because I need to know whose head is on the chopping block first. I also think he's a really nice guy, and very funny, but I'd really just like to be friends with him without the over-looming drama explosion. and please, she's a freshman. and territorial, so I dont see this ending well. 

• I went for a run in the mud the other day, which felt fantastic. I want to go again!

• I have so much choreography running around in my head that its driving me insane. I couldn't concentrate on the rock wall today, because they were playing music and all I could do was think of choreography. 

• and I have a new love for button-down shirts worn open as overshirts. 

• I got into a research trip in the fall with my professor, so I'm thrilled about that. Hawaii, here I come!

• I was told recently by an adopted brother that he wasn't sure if I "peed standing up or sitting down" to which I said "thank you." I love it when i can dress however I want and still that question is asked. I suppose that begs the question of whether the concept of androgyny as it is perceived by others lies in appearance or in personality and actions. maybe a bit of both I think. thoughts?