notes from the kelp

A kelphisto komrade komposer named Paul Muller enjoyed these photos so much, that he took the time to set them to his very well-suited music in this compelling, soothing, transportive video. It’s a fun switch to have my photos underscored by someone else’s music, for a change. Thanks, Paul!

…click to listen:

…about the music

Maui in the sunshine, San Juan Island in the snow.

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Well, since New Year’s I’ve been in two equally gorgeous, and very climatically contrasting island environments. I giddily celebrated the completion of my 50th dizzying rotation around our Sun on the sunny isle of Maui, and returned a week later to the unusual experience of inches of cold white stuff on the otherwise often-sunny isle of San Juan. One of the many reasons I love living here is that the winter temps mostly hover in the mid-40’s. So it’s a big deal when snow arrives– especially many inches of it that stick around for two or three days before being melted away by the return to temperate normalcy.

It’s hard to decide which climate to feature first, so I think I’ll juxtapose some recent photos in a weird, blog-of-consciousness stream of pixels. Some of these pix have appeared elsewhere, but that “elsewhere” reaches a slightly different crowd, the majority of whom are also music-makers.

Indeed, my Facebook page gets a lot of the attention from me these days, for short-form offerings. Longer than a 140-character tweet (where the heck did they come up with THAT number?), but shorter than a blog post, it’s a handy dandy communication tool for the attention-starved, multimedia-inclined (yep, that’s me). Photos, links and videos are a quick and effective way to say two things: 1. I have a pulse (yes, Facebook is a Narcissist’s dream come true) and 2. I actually think you’ll like something I like (ok, there are lots of Narcissists on Facebook who don’t really seem to care about #2, but I don’t include myself among them, of course. I mean, really: doesn’t everyone like what I like??).

Clustering under the Maui ocean

Hovering beside the [temporarily snowy] Salish Sea.

I’ve rarely got anything lengthy to say within the cocktail-party e-walls of social media. The format is geared far more toward “immediate gratification tribal interaction,” rather than intellectual pithiness and emotional gravitas. But with more than just a few handfuls of e-friends (my last count was nearing 2500; I better send out for more wine and hors d’oeuvres)– many hundreds of whom I actually know in “real” life (this is a delightful-but-shocking realization)– that instant, happy feedback is an addictive drug. I’m the gerbil who keeps hitting the sugar water bar in the cage, delighted when my tapping results in what I crave. Connection. So sweet.

Sweet indeed: fresh papaya, pineapple, apple bananas and yogurt… plus coffee and connectivity. Absolute perfection in front of the crashing waves of Hana Beach.

Cold, indeed: fresh snow, and not a piece of fruit in sight… plus coat and camera. Absolute contrasting perfection, just a day later, on the slope of San Juan Island’s Mt. Dallas.

So I use the stickiness…

I was disappointed that he didn’t have a Cockney accent. But, we were in Hawaii, after all.

of the web…

This beauty was about four inches long!

…to get others to stick to me. At least for a moment, as I share instances, usually non-musical:

Ah, to be immersed in warm water!

…that matter to me, and perhaps even entertain others:

A whitemouth moray eel! Kewl!

And this, in turn, shows others where my music actually comes from.

As seen from my desk upon return: sea temperature: 46 degrees. Air temperature: 21 degrees. The result: a magical, unusual sea fog.

Leaving an exquisitely beautiful place…

…only made me appreciate the one in which I live even more.

Here’s to another 50 years of precious awe.

…click to listen:

…about the music

This way.

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There may be no better way to begin the first day of the new year than with a walk through a wilderness area. Especially when, at 48 and a half degrees latitude, the temperature nearly matches the map coordinates, and the wind behaves itself (for a change. Lately it’s been a lot like THIS).

It’s particularly awesome when that wilderness is walking distance from one’s own bed. I will never cease to appreciate the beauty of where on this planet I live.

Any happy, alcohol-induced fog from the previous, festive day night was quickly escorted into the ether as fresh, ionized air surrounded my senses. Okay, fresh, strong coffee got there first. But once afoot, the joy of this stunning solitude took hold, and I shot a few unremarkable pix to share with my 2012 Kelphistos of what is, beyond the lens of my limited photographic talents, a truly remarkable view.

The grey-blue land at the horizon is Vancouver Island and British Columbia’s capital, Victoria.

Turning one’s head down and to the right, here’s the clear water at the shore. The beach is lined– as all here are– with the area’s history spelled out in driftwood lettering.

The Olympic Mountain Range is a LOT larger than it appears in this picture. New Year’s resolution # 372: learn to take more effective photos!