luxury status

June 30, 2003

The evil humidity let up for the weekend, so it was possible to breathe. It's a little humid today, but not nearly as oppressive as it was last week. It's actually possible to sit in my study and use the computer without sweltering, though I am still worried about the flaky power as I hear distant rumbles of thunder.

Anyway, I can sort of hold my camera steady and take pictures now. It will be a shame to be unable to do that again for three months after the rotator cuff surgery but such is life. Seeing the movie, Rivers and Tides, about installation artist Andy Goldsworthy made me want to take pictures on Saturday. It also made me look at Waterfire differently. I can never take enough photos of Waterfire. I keep trying to get the definitive image, which of course I can't ever do. Fire moves. Water moves. Water and fire and boats and people interact. Then there's the smell of smoke and the sound of the music. No still photo can ever capture what the reflections of the fires do in the wake of the gondola or the water taxi or the stoker boat when they come around to put more wood on the fires. No still photo can ever capture the moment when the wind changes and the smoke blows in your face and smells like a whole childhood summer of campfires at Otter River. But I take pictures anyway.

When camping at Otter River back then I used to stare into the fire, into the red hot spaces between the logs, and imagine small fire people who could walk around in those passageways and explore them as they changed. I wished I could be a fire person and walk in those spaces too. I talked about that one night by a camp fire in New Mexico at a Nightwalking workshop, totally unaware than the people running the program had planned a firewalk for the end of the workshop. So I kind of got my wish - walking into and exploring the fire. It was a bed of hot coals after the fire had burned down, not flames, but it was definitely fire. And yes, it is possible to walk barefoot across hot coals and not get burned. I'm not sure if it changed my life, but it was kind of fun.

Speaking of Otter River, I was leafing through the latest issue of Travel and Leisure and came across an article on luxury camping. Leaving aside that "luxury camping" is an oxymoron, I was amazed to see Otter River State Park, Baldwinville, Massachusetts on the list of campgrounds with special amenities for luxury camping. It turns out they now have yurts, which you can rent for $30 a night, with electricity. They sleep six. I immediately set down the magazine, powered up the computer, and fired off email to BiB (No Prob Bob) and Kevin with this unbelievable news. I figured Donald and Thomas wouldn't remember enough about Otter River to be amazed/amused at its ascent to luxury status. I wonder if the road between there and Lake Dennison is paved now.

Today's Reading
The Natural History of Moray by Charles St. John, In the Land of the Blue Poppies by Frank Kingdon Ward, Birding on Borrowed Time by Phoebe Snetsinger

This Year's Reading
2003 Book List

Today's Starting Pitcher
Sox have an off day