Dipping my toes in a river in the Rocky Mountains, summer 2012. I’ll be heading out in a few hours for some of the first travel that I’ve done in a few years that has nothing to do with work. And I’ve packed as minimally as I can: few changes of clothes, a book, my computer and cameras. Looking forward to documenting what I see. Updates to come from the west coast. Til then, here’s some reading:

For All by Gary Snyder

Ah to be alive
on a mid-September morn
fording a stream
barefoot, pants rolled up,
holding boots, pack on,
sunshine, ice in the shallows,
northern rockies.

Rustle and shimmer of icy creek waters
stones turn underfoot, small and hard as toes
cold nose dripping
singing inside
creek music, heart music,
smell of sun on gravel.

I pledge allegiance

I pledge allegiance to the soil
of Turtle Island,
and to the beings who thereon dwell
one ecosystem
in diversity
under the sun
With joyful interpenetration for all.