January 2, 2012
New Year’s Way
![[IMAGE] coast](/blog/blogpix/ac-coast.jpg)
![[IMAGE] path](/blog/blogpix/ac-path.jpg)
…about the musicThis way.
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.
![[IMAGE] cove](/blog/blogpix/ac-cove.jpg)
The grey-blue land at the horizon is Vancouver Island and British Columbia’s capital, Victoria.
![[IMAGE] beach](/blog/blogpix/ac-beach.jpg)
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.
![[IMAGE] trees and sky](/blog/blogpix/jan1sky.jpg)
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!
Laurie MacBride said,
January 2, 2012 @ 10:49 pm
Alex, I couldn’t agree more that this is the very best way to start the new year! Like you, I enjoyed a walk on the beach on New Year’s Day, in my case, Drumbeg Beach on Gabriola Island. Both of our two islands are exquisitely beautiful. Happy New Year to you, and many thanks for listing me on your website’s blogroll – I’m honoured! I continue to read your blog regularly and enjoy it a lot.
Glenn Buttkus said,
January 4, 2012 @ 10:30 am
Oh my goodness, what a refreshing walk. Intermezzo@1:38 was the perfect companion for the stirring stroll. Cello, cello, I never get enough; it seems to be my spiritual and emotional totem and mantra. We played pinochle with friends until 2am on the eve of 2012, as is our custom.
Your prose was poetic, per usual, propelling us along in the high grass and propping us up in a tall beautiful stack of driftwood; with logs from Canada and China glistening in the still water of that cove. Here are the poetics that emerged:
Driftwood Lettering
There may be no better way
to begin the first day
of the new year than with a walk
through a wilderness area.
Any happy, alcohol-induced fog
from the previous, festive 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,
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.
Alex Shapiro
Bernard said,
January 5, 2012 @ 6:56 am
Happy New Year, Alex. Who does this wild stretch of coastline belong to? Is much of the island like this? Is it protected? Or is it gradually being eaten up by houses and, dare I say it, composers’ and artists’ aquatic studios (Oscar Wilde: “Each man [and woman!] kills the thing he [she] loves”…)?
Alex Shapiro said,
January 5, 2012 @ 10:07 am
It’s protected by the National Park Service, happily! Mine is the sole aquatic artist studio in the area, built long ago 🙂
Alex Shapiro said,
January 5, 2012 @ 10:08 am
Happiest of new years to you, oh poet of the facing sea!