Rip Rap Loop

Egg and I took a spin out to Twin Sister Falls, near Brecksville. Egg has been there a few times, but I bailed on the ride last time he and everybody else went there, so I was left wondering.

Honestly, I wasn’t really feeling a ride, or at least getting out in the cold, but riding came through as always, and once we got going, I shed that funk that had been haunting me all day.

 

One the way back, a beaver crossed the towpath right in front of us. I thought it was a porcupine at first. He crawled down the bank to the river, not quite scared, then rolled in and began his ferry to the other side. His life.

 

Twin Sister Falls has got to be one of the most beautiful sites in Ohio. There’s got to be a story around the name and its obscurity.

 

Did you know Mr. Rodgers saved PBS?

Riprap

 

Gary Snyder

Lay down these words

Before your mind like rocks.

placed solid, by hands

In choice of place, set

Before the body of the mind

in space and time:

Solidity of bark, leaf, or wall

riprap of things:

Cobble of milky way,

straying planets,

These poems, people,

lost ponies with

Dragging saddles —

and rocky sure-foot trails.

The worlds like an endless

four-dimensional

Game of Go.

ants and pebbles

In the thin loam, each rock a word

a creek-washed stone

Granite: ingrained

with torment of fire and weight

Crystal and sediment linked hot

all change, in thoughts,

As well as things.

Copyright © 2009 by Gary Snyder from Riprap and Cold Mountain Poems. Reprinted by permission of Counterpoint.

 

To the Lighthouse!!!

Keep them dogs on a leash

So Karen and I decided to ski out to the lighthouse at Ludington. Temp was much warmer than the day before – 25 degrees vs 11. Barely any snow covering the road but it was better than walking on the ice and we made good time. Once out there, we poked around the lighthouse and checked out the shore ice. The water was crystal clear. As we headed toward the dunes, I saw a ranger pull up. Now you have to understand that the only people we had seen since we had left the parking lot were three intrepid guys who had camped out in the dunes, which must have been a cool experience. So as we started hiking up a dune, I looked back and saw the ranger get out of his truck and motion toward me. I waved back and he yelled “thanks for putting the dogs on leashes” (which we had just done) and then “Make sure you keep them on.” A little sour to go with out sweet. So Karen skied back with Csaba heeled beside her. Only thing more impressive was when she put Supe on the leash too. Such a stud.