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same energy

PostItForward Prompt

Share a photo or GIF of something that calms you down. Don’t have one? Here’s one.

I always enjoy calming kitty.

But I also want to share a few others:

Keep reading

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward is a sweeping and harsh tale of a family in the days leading up to a hurricane that Esch’s often-drunk father is certain will be the big one. He wants to prepare, but Esch and her brothers are worried about other things—Randall is preoccupied about basketball camp this summer, and Junior follows his siblings around as Skeetah frets over prized fighting pitbull China and her new puppies, and Esch tries to hide her pregnancy from her family and from Manny, the father.  

Salvage the Bones is a difficult and harsh novel. When I was reading it, I had the vague sense that I didn’t like it—it has a slow start—and yet when it was done, I felt the novel and its characters hanging on me like humidity, like a mist of sweat holding onto my skin. The twelve days leading to Katrina are full of a pregnant, heavy anticipation that doesn’t actually much heed the hurricane—until the final days, only Esch’s father is worried about what is to come. The National Book Award–winning novel exposes Katrina’s horrors by making us fall in love with the poverty-stricken, motherless family that is haunted by its past; by letting us grow accustomed to Skeetah’s stubborn obsession with his dogs and Esch’s stubborn and strong persistence. The drama of the tale seems to weigh most on Esch’s pregnancy or the health of Skeetah’s puppies, and in precisely that way does the novel catch the real point of the hurricane striking: no one was ready, even those who wanted to be ready. We know the hurricane that is coming, and we know what it will do as readers, and yet we too are so caught up in the drama that we aren’t ready for Katrina when she arrives. I have my nitpicks with this novel, but it has stuck with me, and kept me thinking days after I finished it. 

Trail off into the mist….

Naches Peak Loop, Mount Rainier

Perimeter Trail

[05|20|16]

From what I recall, we only did part of the perimeter trail in Ouray this day. I remember finding it way more tiring than I was expecting! This is a classic trail. It has so many dimensions--waterfall, gorges, baby baths, aspen groves, meadows that open up to views of Mt. Abrams, Hayden Mountain... I did do the complete trail the year before in July 2015. I think there was a bit of renovation completed on the trail between those times. I also remember specifically that I did not do any online research prior to hitting the trail, and I went and asked the Visitor’s Center where the trailhead was. Oh, only right across the street! But I do wish I had read this blog post first, from Rocky Mountain Hiking Trails. Below are a few half-assed shots of the part of the trail that we did. I probably didn’t have enough strength to lift my arm. Oh, and it looks like there were some pretty trees in bloom in town, too. 

Interested in updates made to the trail? This’ll help you out.