Looking Down

Let me start by telling you about me and looking down.

I. DON'T. DO. LOOKING. DOWN.

Well, the fact is that I do, but let me explain that it is the fact that in order to look down you have to go up that is the problem.

I do go up.

I would not be able to be a hiker if I didn't sometimes go up. Up is where the best hikes are.

~

When I was eight my sister was eighteen and a recent high school graduate. The family tradition was a graduation trip--the whole family. Our trip took us to Chicago, where we had a room on the seventeenth floor of the Conrad Hilton Hotel. Once we got moved in, my Dad took my sister and brother and headed down the hall. Being an obnoxious and curious eight year old, I followed. I think my Mother knew where they were going and had more sense.

Where he was taking them was to the fire escape so that they could look down. I realized what my mother knew already about herself and probably about me--WE. DON'T. DO. LOOKING. DOWN.

~

 

but

 

~

Knowing this, even for the past sixty years I continue to go up--and stand petrified as far from the edge as I can and look down.

Yes. I have, over the years, been to the top of the Washington Monument, the Empire State Building, the Space Needle, the roof of St. Peter's Basilica, the roof of St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, and who knows how many other UP places.

~

 

Let me tell you the story of going to the top of the dome of Santa Maria dei Fiori in Florence--the world famous Duomo.

 

I spent a college year at Gonzaga in Florence. Having made many weekend excursions to various parts of Italy, some classmates and I decided to do some local touristy stuff. To get to the cupola at the top you climb a stairway between the outer and inner shells of the dome. It is narrow and steep and winds around the dome to reach the top.

 

As we were going up, others were coming down. That included a small group of Franciscan Friars in their brown habits--one being a very diminutive older (to us) balding (or tonsured?) man whose voice we heard as we came nearer and continued as we went up and they continued down. What was he saying? Well, roughly translated from the Italian which I spoke quite adequately at the time: "If I ever--puff puff--get my hands--puff puff--on the idiot--puff puff--who talked me into--puff puff"...and the rest faded as we moved farther and farther apart.

 

 

 

So, as each opportunity to go UP comes along, I think of that little friar so many years ago, and the fire escape in Chicago, and I go UP  and stand back petrified and look down.

 

~

 sometimes
~

When I was in India in 2000, my group went out to the edge for a group picture.

You can see them here making their way to the edge of the cliff. You can see that they would be looking down on the valley. there they are on the edge.

 

without me.

When we traveled to Russia in 1998, we hiked in the Stolby National Park in Siberia. It is a famous place for rock climbing. I climbed to the top of one of the large boulders and my son or husband took my picture looking down.

They had to do that because otherwise the rest of the family back home would not believe I had done the climb. They know I don't do UP.

 

In fact, when the whole family went to Silverwood Theme Park a few years before that, hubby and I had ridden one of the larger roller coasters. When we regrouped for lunch the kids did not believe me, so we had to ride it again with them as witnesses.

 

In 2010, when we hiked in the Highlands of Scotland, we were climbing some of the Corbetts. The Corbetts are "mountains" that are between 2000 and 3000 feet in elevation. Munros are over 3000 feet. You can see here that we were looking down. Elizabeth is much closer to the edge than I am.





After Scotland we traveled to Wales, where we hiked with Liz and George and looked down on the sea.

 

 

and then to London, where we looked down on the Thames, the Houses of Parliament and the Embankment from the London Eye.



 In Seattle, we have looked down from Seattle's "Big Wheel" and from the Space Needle.

 

This Spring we looked down into the Grand Canyon at Phantom Ranch.

 

And a couple of years ago I looked down the stairway at Maryhill Museum at Sasha and Lisa.

On one of  our first snowshoeing treks we looked down from Nisqually Vista at the snowboarders below the glacier.

 

It was certainly not the only occasion at Mt. Rainier to look down.

White River

Road to Sunrise from Sourdough Ridge Trail.

Busy day at Sunrise.

 

But my favorite picture looking down is this one from a flight from Seattle to Phoenix about twelve or thirteen years ago.

 

 

 

 See if any of the other headbanger members are like me, not wanting to go up, but finding some way to take a picture looking down. Their links are in my sidebar near the top.

 



Winter for the Headbangers--Winter Fun for Me

While I could care less about winter at home, if all the circumstances are right:

1.  the weather is right
2.  the pass is clear,
3.  we have gas money and funds for an overnight and a meal,
4.  health concerns allow for sufficient energy,

then my favorite activity is snowshoeing and my favorite place to do it is Mt. Rainier.

It's an overnight project because the park entrances on the west side are the only ones open in winter--and we live east. We head to Ashford, get a room, and make the trip to Kautz Creek or Longmire for the afternoon's trek. Then the next day head to Paradise and take  a long hike there.

The snowshoes and snowpants are packed away in the car. The tire chains are loaded just in case. And we are just waiting for all the other factors to fall into place.

It is glorious!

See what I mean about the road in the pass and carrying chains?

We hope that some medical issues are resolved and we can make the trip again next month. Snowshoeing takes a LOT of energy. These pictures are from years past. The snowshoes lived in the trunk last year without ever being used.

It is worth it for the views.

So that is winter a I like it. The theme was chosen by Lew. You can check on what he and the other headbangers found to post about winter by clicking their links in my sidebar.

It's Cold Out There

Except it isn't.

When I posed the theme "It's cold out there" for our header challenge, I did not anticipate that when the assigned week arrived that our October winter weather would have turned to a December fall rise in temperatures. It's not like it's time to go around in sandals and shorts, but finding a cold out there image this week is not going to happen.

So I returned to yesteryear. Some pictures from some snowshoe trips to Mt. Rainier and to Satus Pass. A bit of urban hardware. A bit of country hardware. Most of these images are about five years old.

Here goes. I think I have decided which to use for the header, but I may change my mind by the end of the post.

Frozen barbed wire

Meadow above Satus Pass

Urban Security--well, sort of urban if you call a city of 10,000 or so urban.

Nisqually River Ice and Snow



Paradise River Ice and Snow

Reflection Lakes not reflecting

Looking for a Camp to Rob

Well, I ended up changing my mind. I was ready to post the camp robber for my header, but gave hubby a vote and he nixed it. What do you think? And what do you think of my headbanger friends? You will find their blogs linked in my sidebar.

Snow Rollers (look below for my COLD post)

Tom posted some snow rollers for his cold post.  He has some great images of them as they are created by the wind blowing across the snow.

I have not seen them created this way, but the same structures are created by the snow rolling down the slope in avalanche prone areas in the mountains.

 We moved through that area  quickly--didn't want to be downhill of the main event if it occurred

 

Ideal Weather

Out Header Challenge theme is Ideal Weather.

Well, at the moment there are few places on earth experiencing ideal weather. Storms, record low temperatures, icy roads. Today many local school districts had delayed starts because of the weather.

I had been at the church late this afternoon (Tuesday) preparing for the evening's classes and started getting texts from the volunteers. Are we having class tonight? Well, yes, didn't I text you yesterday to remind you that we were starting up again this week? But what about this weather?

Weather? What is it doing? It was raining a bit when I came in an hour earlier, and you don't get much view from my basement office.

Sure enough. The bit of rain had turned to freezing rain and snow. We cancelled classes and had parents take kids home as they arrived. No need to have them have to come out in icy conditions twice.

Tomorrow (Wednesday's) lab, doctor, and chemo appointment in Yakima is an early one. We will allow at least time and a half of normal travel time, but if the school districts between here and Yakima are on a delayed schedule, we will call North Star Lodge (cancer center) to get a reschedule.

Ideal weather depends on your plans. This weather is ideal for curling up with a good book.

On this day last July, the weather was ideal to hike the Naches Loop Trail.

 But a good December or January day of snowshoeing looks more like this.

Our Headbanger group sets a challenge each week and vote among ourselves as to who has best captured the spirit of the theme. This week's "Ideal Weather" was proposed by Craver VII. You will find his link and the others in my sidebar.

Solid Color

When Craver Vii set this week's theme as "solid color" I thought "Huh?" He suggested that we all would have something in our archives that would satisfy this theme. Still thinking "Huh?" I perused my photo archives to see what I could find. Being currently very busy and having more than six years of images on my external hard disc (Four or five cameras at least one of which took 10,000 pictures before starting the count again--oh, dear--that  is a lot to go through.)

I didn't go very far back before I identified this one, from which I cropped the trees from the top. (Added benefit, it makes the image the right proportion for my prefered header size and shape.)

I wonder, though. White. From an artist's perspective it is the absense of color. So does it indeed fit the theme. Craver said solid COLOR not solid NON-COLOR.

But as an artist immersed in a family of scientists -- well, some scientists and definitely some artists and some artists who work in science--looked at from the scientific point of view white is the presence of ALL color.

Color is seen because of light reflected and light absorbed. Blue reflects all the blue lightwaves and absorbs everything else. Red reflects the red waves and absorbs the rest. So white absorbs all the lightwaves and reflects none of the colors. Therefore, we see as artists the absense of color because as scientists we know that all the colors have been absorbed.

So here is my solid color, and I will stop typing so as to keep myself out of further confusion--except to point out that the rest of the headbanger blogs are linked in my sidebar so that you can see how they interpreted the solid color theme.

Skyline--this week's Header Challenge

When you think of the word "Skyline", our header challenge theme this week, you think of some of the world's great cities.

Such as:

Edinburgh (the old) from Calton Hill

Seattle--seen from Vashon Island

or a bit closer (from Seattle's Great Wheel.)

London--with the old--St. Paul Cathedral--and the new--"The Gherkin". (from a river cruise)

San Francisco--with a hint of fog and a bridge. (from the Alameda Ferry)

 

Dictionary dot com
1. the boundary line between earth and sky; the apparent horizon: A sail appeared against the skyline. 2. the outline of something, as the buildings of a city, against the sky: the New York skyline.

All of these good examples of definition #2.

Today I prefer Definition #1. With my honey against the skyline.

Happy Birthday to the love of my life.

Nisqually Glacier View loop trail, Mt. Rainier

Thank you Lew for the perfect theme for this week (the picture was taken Friday afternoon.) Lew and the others will be found linked in my sidebar.

Mountain--Sun--Snow--Blue Skies

Watch the skies...

Look closely and youcan see soft snow being blown over the ridge.

Go between the poles. Otherwise fall in the creek.

 

Afternoon shadows.

Another peek at the peak. Skywatch!

Perspective.

Light on the Tatoosh.

More of the Tatoosh Range.

Snowshoe patterns

Natural Arch

Once again it is Skywatch Friday.

Which we got to spend with beautiful skies.