A picture is worth a thousand words, and tells far more than a thousand hidden stories….

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Photo #523: Storied HillsLocation Taken: British Columbia, Canada
Time Taken: June 2010

You know, every so often, when I’m trawling through my photo collection for one I can talk about, a photo will catch my eye and demand to be posted right then. Usually they are obliging enough to have something I can say about them, but this one, well…

I’m mostly getting feelings and pictures rather than words.

The rare rain pouring down, grabbing stray pieces of dirt and pulling it downward.

The sandy soil raining down from that bare section, pouring down into the stream as its support gets undermined.

A sapling finding just enough water to grow, and reaching as high as it can to the sky.

The grass sleeping in the winter, and burned dry in the summer, but growing as strong as it can at other times, with the energy only those who have waited can claim.

The gentle curving of the stream as it finds a low spot to wind its way through the hills, carving deeper and deeper as the years go by.

The dance of moisture and wind bringing more rain to the distant hills than the close ones, allowing trees in one spot and grass in the other.

The slow, persistent squeezing growing the hills taller and taller as the North American plate pushes westward into the Pacific.

The high thin clouds, resting after bringing their load of ocean water to the mountains, and slowly gathering up energy from the sun to form the grand storms of the plains.

The slow plodding of cattle and deer and elk wandering the thin grass, looking for tasty spikes left behind by all the other creatures that wander these hills.

The whirring of cars passing by on a nearby highway, not noticing all the stories hidden in the hills, save for a few who look and wonder.

  

Behind The Illusion, The Real Magic Happens

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Photo #522: Behind The IllusionLocation Taken: Maryland Renaissance Festival, Crownsville, Maryland
Time Taken: October 2010

Now that my feet and muscles and, well, everything else have stopped hurting quite as much, I do have to say it’s good to be back working at the Renaissance Festival.

It’s a very different experience working at the festival as compared to attending it. And you know, I think I prefer the working experience.

The joy of a place like this is being in someplace a little bit different than normal life. People act a bit different, dress different, and well, the whole place is separate from normal patterns of life. When you’re an attendee, you get to step in and be treated like the honored guest you are, exploring all sorts of items you don’t find in just any old shop, seeing live shows whenever you want, eating foods you never make at home. It’s a break from reality, and a welcome one.

If you work there, though, it becomes its own reality. You aren’t just visiting this place out of time, you’re part of it. It’s your job to help people past whatever snags in the path are in their way, or at least your job to sell them tasty treats. I give out a lot of directions and the like despite it not being in my job description in the least. Well, sort of. My official job is “Sell Italian Ices to people while dressed up in old fashioned clothes”. To me, though, my job also includes “Make this an enjoyable experience for anyone who visits and interacts with me”, which involves a lot more effort on my part.

But it’s worth it. I love seeing the smiles on kids’ faces as I hand them a tasty treat, and love the way that I can tell they’re actually paying some attention to my carefully crafted warning about not dropping the dang thing in the dirt when they actually look up and into my eyes. I enjoy giving out the occasional extra napkin to people who come back with sticky hands. There aren’t any sinks around that they can use to wash up, and a napkin or two is worth these people having a much better experience – and a touch of generosity from others to top it off and brighten their day. I love giving out directions, which I do quite often as my spot is an intersection of five or so paths, and many people get turned around there. I’ve even taken some of my break times to walk to parts of the festival I haven’t been to for a while, just to see what’s there so I can give directions to it in the future.

I especially love seeing the backside of the illusion. In between the rows of shops, hidden from sight, are large openings filled with all the sorts of things that are needed to run the businesses but don’t mesh with the aesthetic of the place. There’s a bunch of trucks back there, and all sorts of electronic devices. The kitchens are quite modern too, and need their own support items tucked away in small outbuildings. There’s also offices scattered around, full of phones and computers and all the sorts of thing needed for keeping things running smoothly. Oh, and some bathrooms and the like. There’s a lot that goes into this sort of thing, after all. And somehow, for me at least, knowing how the magic happens actually makes the magic all that more impressive.

Which is probably why my favorite part of the Johnny Fox show at the stage right next to my cart, the one I’ve seen far far too often, is the cups and balls trick. After seeing the same trick twenty times, I’ve spotted a few of the slight of hand motions used for the more impressive parts, and actually, the skill required to do those is even more mind-boggling than the fact that he managed to sneak two apples and an orange into these cups without you noticing.

It’s not that way for everyone, I know. For some people, the magic can be ruined if they know how it works. Which is really quite sad when you think about it. They have a mindset that finds reality boring, and amazing feats of human ability to be something to hand-wave away with “it’s just a trick”. Of course it’s a trick! That’s what’s so amazing about it! It takes a lot of study into both physical skills and human psychology to pull the trick off, which is actually much more impressive than if that apple outright teleported into the cup!

Knowing the how can actually really enhance your joy of something if you let it. Once you can stare at something and see three or four layers of reality stacked on top of each other, the normal everyday world is even more magical than the make believe worlds we create.  That’s part of why I love geology so much, being able to see both the rock I’m looking at and the eons of time and events that went into forming it.

Though, honestly, if a lot more parts of the world looked and operated like the Renaissance Festival did, it would be a lot more interesting and exciting. But then, I’m biased.

  

Have I mentioned that pain makes me babble?

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Photo #521: Orange Black ButterflyLocation Taken: Seattle, Washington
Time Taken: June 2008

Today was the first day of the Renaissance Festival I work at, and like every first day, it wiped me out.

It’s nothing too serious, just a whole bunch of muscles having to work in ways they haven’t seen in 10 months. So I’m sore in all sorts of odd spots, and the bottoms of my feet hurt. The muscles will regain their tone shortly, and the feet will regain some callus to protect them, so I’ll be just fine soon. But today, I hurt.

Doesn’t help that I’m pretty sure I got a bit too much sunlight today. I can handle small doses, such as what you find in the shade, but it was a clear blue sky all day long and I couldn’t always get completely out of the direct sunlight. I’m feeling the effects of a minor sun overdose, aka a general lethargy, a mild headache, and a strong lack of anything even vaguely resembling motivation. It’s amazing I’m even getting around to getting this blog up. I was strongly considering just going to bed and getting to it in the morning.

But aside from that, it was a rather good day overall at the Renn Fest. Nothing overly special happened, and I chatted with a bunch of people I hadn’t seen for months. Oh, and I saw several butterflies! One was pretty much pure black, while the other one was yellow and black stripes. Fairly common butterflies for the region, really, but even the common butterflies I don’t see that often. So it’s still a treat!

  

Beautiful Baubles Looking Over Pretty Puget Sound

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Photo #520: Glass BaublesLocation Taken: Pike Place Market, Seattle
Time Taken: June 2008

You can find all sorts of things at Pike Place Market in Seattle. Including, obviously, rather pretty baubles.

I always feel a little awkward posting photos of other people’s art. I mean, it’s not my work, and they might not want photos of it on the internet with no accreditation. And I certainly don’t have a clue who made these pretty glass sculptures.

Admittedly, I feel less awkward posting pictures of others’ art than posting pictures of other people period. You may have noticed a dearth of photos containing humans in the stuff I post. I always feel like I look odd in photos of me, since I’m so used to my image in a mirror instead, and know it’s the same for other people. On the other hand, I always feel a little excited in the few times I do find myself in a photo, so it’s a mixed bag. So for now I just avoid the matter entirely.

For artwork, on the other hand, I go by a fairly simple criteria. Does the photo itself add some artistic merit beyond the artwork itself? In most cases, this is due to an interesting composition, as it is here. Or maybe an unusual juxtaposition, or a touch of serendipity in timing. By framing the artwork in a certain context, I enhance and expand upon the piece.

Besides, these are some really pretty glass pieces, and nicely displayed.

  

The Ancient Cedars of the Northwest

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Photo #519: Ancient CedarLocation Taken: Olympic National Park, Washington
Time Taken: June 2008

All along the highway that heads between the Olympic Mountains and the coastline of Washington are signs that say stuff like “Giant Tree! Next Left!”

Admittedly, if you want giant trees, that is a really good place for it. It may not be the sequoias of southern California, or the redwoods of northern California, but trees grow big all along the west coast of the USA. And this particular corner of the coast does quite well for itself. There’s plenty of rain and no strong thunderstorms to knock down any trees that dare to grow too high.

We stopped at three or so of the giant trees. Admittedly, they’re rather tough to photograph. Photos don’t do scale that well. In this photo, well, all the gnarled wood you see? That’s all part of one large cedar tree, about, what, 10 feet across?

That’s what a lot of the giant trees here are, cedars. They don’t grow as tall as, say, redwoods, but they expand outwards quite happily. They also have a tendency to become very gnarled and start losing bark when they get too big, which does put a damper on things. It’s still quite impressive to stand next to a tree that has age written into its every surface. These are trees that show their age, and are proud of it!