Unabashed

I didn’t even know I was incognito until I passed the sign that said “Cognito Dead Ahead.” I suppose you’ve noticed that I’ve kind of taken a break from the internet. I’ve gone into the woods and found out that I still like it there. I like the smell of earth, the taste of water, the sounds of crickets and birds, the trundling of a spring-fed, freezing-cold stream, and cool air flowing down a tree-covered mountain side in the dog days of summer. And what am I doing out there in the hinterland, all alone and sweating? I’m soul searching, a lot of the time. Good news on that front, too: I found it. It was deep down in a shadowy place, but it was there, and I managed to coerce it back up into a more well-lit area for the time being. I’ve made some minor adjustments in my life, as always working towards nirvana, and though I keep getting closer, and each time I crest a hill or mountain to see how much closer I’ve come, I see that there’s still a whole valley, desert and frozen tundra to cross. Dragons to slay, foes to vanquish, etc. But I guess I’m always that one step closer, right?

If you’re wondering what adjustments I’ve made, well: I’ve cancelled my premium livejournal membership, even though I get almost as many comments there as here, I just got tired of it. I cancelled my Rivals.com membership, too, because I can get plenty of football news from the local writers. I signed up for a Geocaching.com account to replace those two, and consider it $30 a year well spent. As for writing…well. There hasn’t been much writing, honestly. The stories are still there, but they don’t really want to come out, and I’m tired of trying to force them. I suppose in one respect I consider it an accomplishment having been published at all, even if it was in a genre rag and on a couple of web sites. I’ve written a book or three, dammit, and though they may never be published, they’re there for me to show, and it’s an accomplishment just to have written one, I’m told. What’s the future for Matt Mitchell’s fiction? Who knows. The stories are still there, probably festering, but if they don’t want to come out that’s fine. I’ll let them sit for a while. I’ve done the hiatus thing before, and if I’m really really serious about it I know there’s really no chance of me ever being a professional writer.

As for the blog you’re reading, I have no intention of shutting it down. I feel like I still have something to say, and at least a few folks are sticking around to hear it, so…I may write a bit more sporadically than I have in the past, but I’ll still be here, talking as usual about marvels and wonders, the environment, space and the occasional outdoorsy piece. As for reading other blogs…well, I’ve kind of let that lapse, too. Sorry. I’m coming back now. I’m trimming the fat and sticking to the blogs I like most. Steve, Ken, and Matt…you made the cut along with a few others, and I’ll try to catch back up with what I’ve missed.

Don’t get me wrong, now, I’m really not glum. I recently discovered that it’s possible that I’ve been glum for a while, but my wife assures me I’ve made a full recovery and new Matt is fun again. And there are still things to be excited about: my project, of course, still is plodding along. It’s still in development, but some of the proofs I’ve seen and some of the original artwork we’ve acquired is top notch, really beautiful stuff. You’ll see it all soon enough: September 8th, be prepared to sign up for a new social networking site that’s going to change the way social networking is done. Trust me, it’s different. It’s new. And it’s my little baby, my little brainchild. I still wonder if it’ll take off, naturally, which I suppose is a source of some stress these days. Let’s just say it’s not free to build a professional, original site from the ground up. Nor cheap. But even if it doesn’t, we’ll still eat and live and survive.

This heart to heart has been brought to you by New Matt ™, hoping to make all your tomorrows brighter.

:-)

written by Matt Mitchell

Yeah, I know it isn’t Autumn yet, but Saturday was noticably cooler than it has been, and the sun has crossed the ecliptic and is casting shadows now with just a little more slant than they have been, and the air just suddenly grabbed that crisp Autumn feel, if only for a day. It was still 89 degrees, but that’s cool compared to the 102 of a few days before. One thing’s for certain, the days are shrinking, slowly, and the nights are growing longer, and though there’s still lots of hot days left this summer, their numbers grow fewer every day. We’re just slightly more than a month away from the Autumnal Equinox, and I think I’m ready for this year’s long hot summer to finally be through.

Photo by law keven.

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: Autumn, cool, first day, long hot summer, new day

Anyone remember those commercials in the ’80s for 7-Up, the “Feels so good, comin down” commercials? I do. I used to sing that song when I was about 14, driving a tractor for $3.50 an hour across the green pastures that are now just about two miles down the road from my home. I used to sing it like I was calling the rain, as if I was the rain man, doing a rain dance, praying for the heavens to unleash their gift. I still do, sometimes, when it’s really hot like it has been lately, I’ll sing it to myself, staring up at the sky as I do, rousing the Great Spirit to let loose the Thunderbird. I evoke rain. It rarely ever works, but then, rarely is still pretty good odds when you’re dealing with rain in a drought-stricken landscape. Tonight, it worked; yes, I know you doubt, but I walked outside, taking out the trash, felt the grass crunch under my shoes, pulled my head back and sang, softly, the rain song:
“Rain rain rain rain, beautiful rain,
Feels so good, coming down.”

And then I felt the cool breeze and, moments later, a plop splattered down on the porch. By the time I came back inside to tell my wife what was happening, she said, “What did you do?”

“What do you mean?” I asked. I actually thought I’d done something wrong.

“Is that thunder?” she asked, letting me in on the joke. Little did she know, though, that I did do it.

I smiled and nodded, and another rumble boomed, rattling the door in its frame. ”It’s raining right now,” I said.

“Let’s go outside!” she said, and we did. We let the sprinkling drops rain down on our upturned faces, feeling the cool drops for the first time in at least a blue moon. I did that. There’s no possible way it was a coincidence, is there? Still, it was pretty nifty.

And now, in its full glory, the original commercial that made me like 7-Up (It’s since fallen out of favor. Once they claimed to have only 7 ingredients and “all natural!” I checked the can and, yep, high fructose corn syrup. If they’d have put arsenic in it, I guess they still could call it “all natural” though, right? Still, don’t peddle poison and expect me to gleefully put up with it. But they did have some, um, delightful commercials back in the day).

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: dance, drought, great spirit, rain, song, thunderbird

Photo by sea turtle

Yesterday was the first day of spring, also known as the vernal equinox, and the Sun was at a point on the celestial sphere where the celestial equator and ecliptic intersect. Traditionally, it’s the only day you can balance an egg on its point. It’s historically been a day for collecting eggs, eggs being a symbol of fertility and new life. Also, some traditions hold that the sun is resurrected on the day of the equinox, because after that day the days become longer than the nights. Today, the first day after the equinox, the day will be a little bit longer than the night, and increasingly longer until the day of the summer solstice, at which point the sun’s arc will decline a bit, and the days will grow increasingly shorter through the autumnal equinox. (Of course, all of this is reversed if you’re in the southern hemisphere.)

The moon is also full right now, so be wary of any practicing lycanthropes in your area. This month’s moon was called the Worm Moon by the Native Americans.

Five things to do during the first days of spring:

1. Go hiking.
2. Balance an egg on its point. It doesn’t count if you do it on the butt–you can do that any time of year. (Did I just say “do it on the butt?”)
3. Light a fire at dawn. New fires were lit at dawn in some cultures to celebrate the return of the sun to predominance in the heavens.
4. Decorate some Easter eggs.
5. Open up some windows and air out the house. It’s time for spring cleaning…

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: equator, equinox, solstice, Spring, sun, vernal

Wrapped in full darkness in the middle of the exceptionally silent forest as the eclipse began: deadstill. I lay down on the cold uneven ground, staring up for the calm extravaganza, imagining the blaze of sun on the far side of the world, brilliantly encompassing half the globe where life is shrill, humanity volatile, sweating. Reaching past Mother Earth and touching the pale white moon, sunlight was still a tangible thing, a thing I could inspect, collect in a small wooden box, if only in moonbeams. The moon, a tiny speck of luminescence in the Sea of Liquid Infinity, was creeping behind Earth’s shadow to hide.

Gradually the invisible life around me, the hiding, silent masses, began to liven, becoming an outburst as the eclipse progressed. Unsettled critters, scurrying chirping clucking clicking mewling screeching, howling. The tempo of my heartbeat intensified; I didn’t have their senses; I didn’t know what was wrong. All I could see was the purple hue of that which is always white, fading to black, blotting to nothingness. I couldn’t conceive of why it would affect them as it did; all the same, it excited me. It made me remember that, as an animal, I am quite stupid. I don’t feel the palpitations of mother nature, I’m not in tune with the discord of the universe, I can’t experience oneness with the everlasting, like they can. I was a separate, singular entity, soaking up the experience like rainfall, not really wanting it to end.

Soon the moon crept back into the light, and the normal pace of life resumed, for them. For me, it never altered course. The soft night buzzing, a pleasant but cacophonous melody of the still and invisible and multitudinous, pleasing night sounds to accompany me back along the moonlit path, the bone-white glow of the full moon all around me.

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: full moon, lunar eclipse, moon, night, wildlife

We had our first snow here in 5 years on Saturday. It was fun, although for you folks who get a lot of snow I can see how it would be a pain if it lasted for more than a few days. We accumulated about an inch, and by three in the afternoon it was mostly all gone, but was fun while it lasted. I did not build a grassy, muddy snowman and there wasn’t enough to sled on, although my front yard is sloped enough so that would be fun if we ever got the chance. My wife put out a bowl to collect enough snow for some snow ice cream, but when she went to get it it was full of water. Basically I just went out with my 3-year old and walked around for a little while, but he got irritated quickly as it kept fluttering down into his eyes. It was his first-ever sight of snow in real life, and he was pretty excited about it until he got out in it, then he just wanted to go back inside. I stayed out for a while, thinking about global warming and wondering if it’s all just hogwash or if we are all, in fact, doomed.

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: Snow