On March 28 in 1848, for the first time in recorded history, Niagara Falls ceased flowing when an ice jam in the Niagara river above the rim of the falls caused the water to stop moving.
You just have to love knowing stuff like that.
I'd rather be outside than in. I'd rather be moving than sitting down. I'd rather be tent camping, than stay in a hotel (but I do love those little shampoos and soaps) Things that have made me who I am: the beach, the desert, the mountains... many colors, textures and sounds... music, art, poetry, reading, and every single thing encountered - good and bad - that has led me to sitting here, writing this... What I miss: Having backyard jam sessions, barbecues and s'mores around the firepit. Swimming and boogie boarding in the ocean and then lying down on the warm sand. What I like now: Being in the forest when it's raining, the ocean, the beach... the big tree roots, the little soft stones, all the happy dogs, no traffic, blond dreads, women who look their age.
I'd like to meet:
Everyone all over again...
Music:
Happy noise, rythym & blues, honky tonk, rock n' roll, Blue Note jazz, acoustic guitar, Julia's flute, Nick's guitar, Kevin's angst, Marky on drums, Hiro at the mic, Larry's words, Memories of The Dark Horse's everywhere, Darren's mandolin, piano, harmonica, conga drumming and campfire songs.
Blasting rock and roll and singing along really loud in my car. Driving through Joshua Tree listening to U2... "And I still haven't found what I'm looking for...". Driving through Death Valley in the winter at sunset blasting Led Zeplin's "Going to California... with an aching in my heart...". Driving through the redwoods listening to the Talking Heads "Home is where I want to be lift me up and turn me round...". Driving through the bottom with The Decemberists "I was meant for the stage... I was meant for derision... I was meant to raise these arms with silence all around me." Favortie lines: The Roche's "She gave me a wooden chair, that I sit on in my underwear."; Traffic's excellent attempt at Brubeck's "Take Five": "And it wasn't the bullet that laid him to rest, but the low spark of high heeled boys." Bowie from David Live (not the studio version) "Time takes a cigarrette, puts it in your mouth...Wall-to-wall is calling, it lingers, still you forget... (and then the whisper) ... oh no love, you're not alone."
Movies:
Wes Anderson, Charlie Kauffman, Nick Parks, Alfred Hitchcock, Jim Jarmusch, foriegn films WITH sub-titles, Motorcycle Diaries, Babette's Feast, My Life as a Dog, Man Facing South East, The Paper, All about Eve, Wag the Dog, Ulle's Gold, Amelie, Harold and Maude, Annie Hall, Zero Effect, Punch Drunk Love, Benny & Joon, Dog Fight, The Imposters, Wings of Desire, American Splendor...and yes, I can safely say that I have probably watched Out of Africa a good fifty times or more. Favorite line: "If you tell me anything now, I'll believe it."
Television:
Julia Childs, an inspiration...
She was 50 when she did her first PBS show. Documentary, The Egg, American Masters, The Dick Van Dyke Show, biographies, anything on Sundance, IFC and real. Trio (bless their hearts)...And, yes, I've been known to watch unusual surgical documentaries. Update: I haven't watched t.v. since July of 2005, when I pitched a tent in my back yard... but that's a cuppa.
Books:
John Steinbeck, Dave Eggers, Bill Bryson, travel books, gardening stories, real adventure stories... Into the Wild, Tim Cahill, May Sarton, Edward Gorey, atlases, encylopedias, Poetry read aloud, Nick Bantock, Beatrix Potter, L.M. Montgomery, essays by E.B. White, photography books... ghosts stories read under the blankets with a flashlight.
Heroes:
The Rose in my garden...
..
