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SIMPLY
ED
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This
picture is of Ed at the Jacob Ruby Mine
where we sat like ants in the sun going
crazy for a few rubies.
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Like a
mantra, the evocation of the name 'Ed'
causes children to behave, women to wail,
and lesser men to struggle with acid
reflux. Grand Pubah of the Sacred Order of
the Leaping Gnome, Ed is my hiking bud. He
enjoys our forays into the wilderness with
the same sanctity and acts of sacredness
that i do, yet his purpose is so linear
and goal-oriented, that he compliments my
tendency to wander and squat and be, just
perfectly. He admits that i serve an equal
purpose for him, namely to be able to
point to a plant and get a detailed
rundown from me, or better yet, as a
reminder to stop and smell the sassafras.
He is quiet and honest with a broad smile
that infects. He is a person who can do
anything, and is all the greater man for
his desire to be a great dad to his
children and loving husband to Diane,
which he accomplishes daily.
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DIANE, THE PONDERER
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Diane is
every bit as deep as she is petite.
Insightful and charming, she will be your
personal devil's advocate with wit and
wisdom, and a bit of coyote tricksterism.
It is my pleasure to proclaim that i am
related to her, and, even though i have
not hiked with her very much, she has
helped me get to where i am going every
bit as much as her husband, Ed. Perhaps
more so, because i trust and love her
unquestioningly, and thank the fates for
the gift of her in my life. Her evidence
in these pages are in subtle colorations
and moments of reflection, which she and i
are capable of hashing and rehashing
ad-nauseum.
The picture
is of Diane, the hikestress, at the lesser
known 'Sutherland Falls' above Courthouse
Falls.
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MOM and DAD
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My Mom and
Dad - Mom for the earliest appreciation of
nature and work ethic, and Dad for the
right to believe that my uniqueness is a
gift. Together, they have made my life
loving and bathed in golden light. Mom now
lives on a beautiful farm in Virginia -
staying much more busy than she intends
to, with farming, canning, AARP duties and
just a little 'Freecell' - with her
husband Tom. Dad passed away in 1995. Both
remain great inspirations to me.
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JAY
Handsome
and talented, Jay is my botany guru. He's
also many things, not the least of which
is an excellent photographer who has
helped me learn that the process of
learning itself is enlightenment - not the
knowing that comes afterwards. Jay remains
hyper-vigilant, hyper-aware, alternative
to alternative, and we should ALL be
thankful he presses his talents for the
cause of good and not the dark side. Oh,
and girls... Jay is exactly that kind of
striving, starving artist you've been
looking for - complete with tortured soul
and obsession for love - minus the ragged
clothing! E-mail him praise of his near
godliness and e-commerce transactions of
financial gain to this
address.
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JULIE
Julie Rosa
is a local photographer who has been
making a living at capturing local scenes,
flora and nostalgia with her camera and
selling them to gift shops and at
Dreamland Flea Market. She is a non-stop
barrage of talk and excitement that's
infectious and interesting. She and i go
on many drives and some hikes into these
beautiful woods and always come away with
something learned and more to appreciate.
Luckily, her boyfriend Wong isn't the
jealous type... and someday we'll get him
out into the mountains.
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NATURE HEROES
Henry David
Thoreau - turned a boy bent
on service to himself into a man who studies and
questions and grows, sometimes painfully.
Similarly, i am indebted to my 9th grade teacher,
Mr. Corruthers, wherever you are, for being the
lens thru which i discovered Thoreau and the
Transcendentalists.
Tom Brown,
Jr. - His books of
sharing him growing up under the tutelage of
Grandfathers is a wonderful story and a fine
inspiration. He now runs a Tracker
School of Tracking,
Nature, and Wilderness Survival.
Edward
Abbey
Euell
Gibbons
Rachel
Carson
Theodore
Roosevelt
John
Muir
OTHER VISIONARIES
Joseph
Campbell - helped me
understand that man is defined by myth, and that
the two - like consonant and vowel - are gibberish
without one another.
John Lennon
- not just any
Spaniard in the Works.
Richard
Brautigan - this cellular
coyote howls at the edge of my fingerprints.
James
Joyce - Is he also
abced-minded?
Carlos
Casteneda
Rene
Magritte - who taught me the
difference between things and the representation of
things, and a whole lot more!
Lao
Tzu
Steve
Wozniak
George
Gershwin - Whose single work
of genius, Rhapsody in Blue, is my anthem.
Johann
Sebastian Bach - While someone
else created the musical scales and tempered music
into segmented parts, J.S. Bach put the nature, the
playfulness, the beauty and the thoughtful energy
back into that man-made artifice.
Miriam
Makeba - "Mother Africa"
has brought to me rhythms of a simpler and
atavistic life in the very opposite way J.S. Bach
has, and paired music with emotion that i cannot
express.
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