Saturday, January 05, 2008

in the direction of the wind

so, i'm fresh in from a day with a bunch of adolescent girls, including mine own. what a wonderful, mindnumbing, delirious day we had.

at one point, my girl and i dangled over a creek and raced acorn boats down the currents. we stumbled through the brush, (she didn't want to walk on the path) and i saw no harm in it, though i'm sure we broke some unwritten rule somewhere. but we followed the creek, not the path. and it was wonderful.

sometimes, just getting somewhere takes the fun out of exploring. but my kid is undaunted and wanted to meander.

deer scat, tracks, even a femur half devoured were some of our discoveries. commonplace to many, but i'm pretty clueless, not a real outdoorsy type, though i love learning, these experience reveal how little i actually know. it's good to get a glimpse of our limitations, especially in a place of utter and complete peace. as if, being limited, mortal, frail is enough.

i'm a moss expert.
she said. and proceeded to tell me about the different types of moss. we came across some she didn't know. and i smiled to myself, thinking, some expert. but didn't say it. at least she thinks she's an expert.

she's fond of moss, what can i say.

it's a time of trepidation when one is preparing to teach a group of girls of slightly varying ages information they may or may not know in diluted or undiluted strains of information (that's a weird sentence, i know, but i'm too tired to go back and fix it).

so, i had fun with them, enjoyed them. tried to remember their names but there were simply too many of them, and i couldn't. time was too short.

so we got our twiggy fires burning and boiled water, then these pirahna girls attacked the chocolate i brought along to sweeten the deal, they were tired and ready to go home at the end, my workshops were last and second to last for the two groups.

went by my first second job and got my last check, hoping never to set foot in that place again. i'm done, i'm so done.

and it's good to be done.

my chapbooks have finally arrived and another book i've put together. i can't wait to tear into them.

but before i do:

which way does an a frame point when starting a fire?

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