February 19, 2008
But wait! There’s more!
On a clear day, you CAN see forever. Almost. To balance that lovely view of the Olympics in my last post, here’s another gift: the Cascades, directly to the east, framing Lopez, Decatur and Blakely Islands. I gaze at this sight and a sense of absolute serenity overtakes me. I have no idea why. There’s something about the combination of wind-whipped water, tree-blanketed islands and snow-covered mountains that just makes everything instantly wonderful. Add an 11,000 foot volcano to the mix and wow, what a sight.
Then, add a zoom lens, and even with a little haze in the air, suddenly something that’s 300 miles away looks so close you could walk to it. I think I see people’s ski poles as they make their way down Mt. Baker:
A dreamy vista, very 80’s but hey, these mountains are even older.
Glenn Buttkus said,
February 20, 2008 @ 6:29 am
Living in the virtual shadow of Mt. Rainier as I do, I am thrilled daily by the Ring of Fire, Rainier, Adams, and St. Helens. Part of the thrill of staring at them is the realization that they are active, that all of us near them are in some danger. Mt. Baker is a stranger to us in the south sound. I love to wave at it as we head up that way for day trips, or on the way to Canada.
It is interesting to me just how much you are a writer as well as a composer, that visualization just must be an important ingredient in your creativity. You find such beauty, uniqueness, and joy in a patch of grass, in the wave of some limbs in the wind, with your feathered friends who pass the word that there are seed handouts at Rancho Shapiro. Here is my view of your view:
Dream Vista
On a clear day
you CAN see
forever,
almost.
To balance
that lovely view
of the Olympics
in my last post,
here’s another gift:
the Cascades,
directly to the east
framing
Lopez, Decatur, and Blakely islands.
I gaze
at this sight
and a sense of
absolute serenity
overtakes me.
I have no idea
why.
There is something
about the combination
of wind-whipped waters,
tree-blanketed islands,
and snow-covered mountains
that just makes everything
instantly wonderful.
Add
an 11,000 foot volcano
like Mt. Baker
to the mix,
and wow—
what a sight.
Alex Shapiro 2008.
Ah, and then there is your music, DreamVista: 1:36. Immediately we are swept off our feet and launched into the wind. You just cannot seem to keep our feet on the ground. You are a flier, part musician–part astronaut; not fearful of orbiting earth, or playing tag in the stratosphere. By the second bar then we take flight, like twin bolts of mind light leaping that tiny 100 miles easily, soaring high and fast over your archipelago, like condors with ten foot wing spans, flapping our magnificent feathers strongly toward the pull, the magnetism of that tall stately volcano; and then to reach it and circumnavigate it, to touch it and be touched by it, until we are satiated with its craggy essence, fully gorged on its beauty, in awe and at peace as we work our way through the thermals winging home, back to the beach, back to your nest.
Nice place you put us today, lady. Thanks yet again.
Glenn