Life is pretty slow, but steady. Work has ups and downs, and is fairly frustrating a lot of the time, but after 2 1/2 years I've really hit a point where I feel like I really know what I'm doing and talking about when it comes to taking care of these children and their development. I'm still exploring what I want to do long term, if I want to go back to school for early childhood education (or early childhood with a specialty like speech or something), or if I will burn out in another couple years and should be looking into something else entirely, but that's a whole lot of stress I don't want to deal with quite yet.
Recently started watching Chuck, which I'm loving, as well as delving into the 3rd season of Dexter and the 1st season on Arrested Development (with Battlestar Galactica waiting in the wings to be started) . Yep, ,still watching too much tv online.
Hope the Flist is alive, kicking, and doing well.
( Pictures of the collection beneath the cut )
So no spoilers! Just felt I should get some sentiments out before I embark on the emotional process of watching part two of End of Time.
Took a hike today out at Valley View Glades, made a post about it here: http://pocketranger.blogspot.com/
I have always blamed the film Fantasia for being my introduction to classical music. It has always been a long-time favorite of mine, though I rarely watch it (the only copy we've ever owned I left at my parent's house). But something about the combination of music and art really struck a chord with me. Every time I hear Night on Bald Mountain, how can I not immediately picture little dancing fire demons falling into hellish flames as a big giant gargoyle looks over, ghost skeletons riding ghost horses over a village towards the mountain? Even though now I can appreciate the music a little more for it's beauty, I still get creepy shivers of discomfort and fear from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, because the Genesis segment of Fantasia absolutely terrified me when I was a child to the point that I wouldn't watch it all the way through. Others were afraid of Night on Bald Mountain, but not me. Ghosts, darkness, demons-- those didn't bother me in the least. Earthquakes, volcanoes, lava, destruction... those were the things I had nightmares about. I still have trouble listening to it. I would say that Dance of the Hours reminds me of dancing hippos, but to tell you the truth it is actually harder to get that song away from my childhood love of the song "hello muddah, hello faddah." And obviously, how can I not think of Mickey Mouse when I hear The Sorcerer's Apprentice?
But Fantasia is the reason that I fell in love with Beethoven's 6th Symphony, Pastorale-- this still probably one of my absolute, ultimate favorites. Though Ihaven't seen the movie in years, to this day with each movement I can picture the entire sequence of events as if they were happening on the screen. I know when the pegasus babies go down the rainbow, when Bacchus has his wine party, when the centaurs hook up with their ladies. Weird... it sounds so much more on crack when you actually write it out like that. The point being that more than almost anything on Fantasia, the imagery for this piece has stuck with me the clearest, and quite possibly can never be wiped out. For the most part, Fantasia was my very first introduction to these pieces, probably to most classical music completely, and it is possible that fro the rest of my life, I will bring up these images when I hear these specific pieces even if I have come to really appreciate them in new ways.
But not all my memory is connected to something as... lofty as Fantasia. No, Looney Tunes had to get in there and make it EMBARASSING. How is it fair that when I hear Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, I have to imagine ACME anvils falling from the sky trying to crush the coyote? Or when I hear Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld, do I REALLY need to imagine Bugs Bunny dressed up in drag trying to woo Elmer Fudd and then running for his life as shenanigans take place (though girls doing the can-can is a quick second in imagery there, for obvious reasons). Or Edvard Grieg Peer Gynt's HAll of the Mountain King, Daffy Duck dressed in robber clothes with a sack of stolen money from a bank? Ok, granted that that song is also used in that context a lot-- sneaking. Or Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody #2, which also brings to the mind unbidden images of crazy shenanigans (yes, there are a lot of those in Looney Tunes, aren't there?) happening as daffy and bugs and others run around, or Tom and Jerry? I can't help it! I'm sure that cartoons are the first place I probably heard Edvard Grieg's "Morning", though the imagery there is kind of obvious and universal... so I don't know if that counts. On a stranger note, even Bugs Bunny did a version of the Barber of Seville.
This could be a call to comment on how media affects our childhood, but why would I want to go that route? If it hadn't been for some of these things, I may never have been exposed to some of these pieces in the first place, and so a little crazy imagery is worth it. Even if it is cartoon bunnies dressed as cancan girls. Going back as an adult and listening to the pieces again, the full pieces because of course Looney Tunes would only play you the familiar part, I can get a new understanding and love for the songs all over again. I just happen to have funny imagery in my head. I'm willing to bet of us do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWGQaczN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvXEElJF
Hike blog updated from today here --> pocketranger.blogspot.com/
(if you have a yahoo or google account and want to follow me there, that'd be awesome!)
For each activity, we had to write up how they fit into the Missouri Pre-K standards (Math, Science, Literacy, Physical, etc), but also how they fit into the school;s own philosophy of attuning to the three spheres of development (such as early literacy and psychodynamic), such as "this activity teaches empathy and compassion/phonological awareness/autonomy/independence/etc by such and such and such. It was a LOT of work, but I think it really came out great. We had such a tiny group this year that it was a lot less stress once the night actually started than I thought... I gave the introduction and read the opening book to only three families! The rest that were there had been in a sibling's room to start instead and came in and out as the night went on. Doing stuff like this stresses me out and sometimes feels like BS, but then when it's all done I look at it and feel proud and like I actually know what I'm talking about.
I'm exhausted. Going to have a pot of tea and curl up on the couch.
Post on the hike today at pocketranger.blogspot.com/ which I'm still testing out to see if I can get any followers or not (my only two so far being Allison and my mother XD). So feel free to do so if you're interested!
I also found a tea that tastes the CLOSEST to the blood orange tea I fell in love with at the Salzach Hotel in Salzburg. I have tried many blood-orange teas in America (all bagged if I remember correctly), but nothing has even come close. The tea I tried last night was a tangerine ginger tea and is more of a pink than a deep orange, but taste-wise it brought me back to a cold Salzburg winter, studying for my art history test at the top of the cafe overlooking the river. I bought some, to say the least, and I'm really happy about it.
Second, back from Kansas City road trip to see the Pogues and Bruce Springsteen. The Pogues were amazing, if not hillarious considering the lead singer was so stone drunk no one could understand him whether hew as talking OR singing, and he tripped and fell on stage and wore sunglasses the whole time and drank gin from a cup and has no teeth and in general was completely, utterly smashed. The Bruce Springsteen concert was cancelled due to a death in his family, so that's really, really sad. I was sorry and disappointed to come away from Kansas City without seeing Bruce, but understandable, of course.
On the way back, AShley and I decided to get a taste of small-town Missouri by visiting the memorials of two amazing dogs, Old Drum and Jim the Wonder Dog. Old Drum has a statue of himself in front of the courthouse, and Jim the Wonder Dog (who was apparently pyschic) has a memorial garden!!! It was amazing. pictures under the cuts of Ash and I being annoying tourists to ridiculous sites. The first pictures are the ones of the park, but if you're really interested in the story of Jim the Wonder Dog and how he was psychic and amazing, I posted pictures of all the plaques in the memorial garden detailing Jim's story. XD
( Wonder Dogs )( Wonder Dogs )</div>
After my weekend roadtrip got pushed back, I decided not to let this fantastic fall day go to waste. The trail I was on was crowded with lots of people and families, which I'm not always crazy about, but granted this was a Saturday afternoon, and the first sunny day we've had after what feels like almost two weeks of straight rain. It was sunny, cool but not cold, and the fall colors were breathtaking... can't hold it against people to want to take advantage of that! I had no trouble parking or anything, and there were still moments of my hike where I was alone.
This hike was very simliar to the Lewis & Clark trail hike I did a few weeks ago in the sense that it had a variety of scenes, both rocky bluffs looking out over hills of trees and a river (the Meramec River this time), as well as long walks through the woods. However the second half of the Lewis & Clark trail was really more deep wood walking, while this trail had a more relaxed trail, very flat, that just followed the river (and was very muddy, but again the rain is to blame there). There was really almost no hard parts, except maybe one incline right at the very beginning, with all the steeper descents helped along by wooden steps leading down to the river banks. There is a mix of outlooks that are both free rocks and then platforms as well. The trail itself is mostly rocks on the bluff part, which with all the leaves on the ground made it a little hazardous for a clumsy person like me, and the river trail is mostly packed dirt (or lots and lots of mud in this case). The scenic outlooks over the Meramec River and the fall foliage was absolutely beeeautiful, and I would definitely recommend this time of year for this hike.
My main problem was the lack of trail markings. The trailhead for the Scenic River Trail was actually to the side of the parking lot and then right when you start, I couldn't figure out if there was a trail leading to the right as well as left before noticing the red marker nailed to a tree on my left showing where to start. There weren't too many problems with keeping to the trail on the bluffs section, except for a few times were it looked like the trail split off-- usually both split offs ended up joinin back together within a minute, and a few signs mentioned which trail was the bike trail as opposed to the hiking trail. However once you get to the trail that follows the river, you cross into a large open field and a crossroads that I found incredibly confusing. Going to the left, I find a sign pointing to a different trail, and the red marker pointing back the way I came. Another sign points out the parking lot. Then to the right, the trail through the field continues back to the river through the woods, with no sign saying which trail it was, though a little way in there was another red marker that COULD have been orange. The map that I got at the park office and the map in the 60 Hikes within 60 Miles book were of no help because it was really hard to tell where you were on the trail. None of the trailmaps I found along the way had markers to say where you were or a name of the trail, so I could only assume I was still on the Scenic River Trail, or at least one of the spurs that were described in my book. Then at the end of the trail (I kept following ht river), I was confused because I hit the actual road again, and went under a bridge and walked along the road until I found the parking lot I'd started in. So super confusing, and even a couple that I stopped had no idea what trail they were on or where they needed to go.
Overall, despite the confusion, it was beautiful and a great hike. The views were fantastic, the walk was relaxing and I had a great afternoon. I didn't want to miss the last chance I might have to enjoy not only the fall weather,but he changing of the leaves. ( Photographs )</div>
- Music:Amelie soundtrack, Indigo girls on ipod mix
possible names for hiking journal:
pocket_hiker
the_littlest_ranger ???
The book descripes the difficulty of this hike as moderate, which is certainly true. While the first mile or so is very flat and easy going (I wasn't so happy that you could hear the traffic from MO 94 for awhile there, but it's not that bad), the long hike has lots of terrain types to worry about. On the way up to the best scenic outlooks was a steep hill climb over rocks and loose stones that took my breath out of me for awhile, and there were a lot of steep descents throughout the trail. You kind of went up and down the bluffs, climbing up steepish hills to get to the views and then twisting back down into the hollows and valleys to bottom out on level ground, and then back up again. Near the end of the hike you end up mostly on flat ground down in the valley with only a few climbs, none of them worth much trouble, so there's quite a bit of this hike that is just a pleasant walk in the woods. A walking stick did me some good though on some of the more steep inclines. Also, near the trail splitting point, I had a lot of trouble keeping the trail in sight when it went into a dry riverbed. Luckily a hiker passed by at that very moment and showed me where it picked up again on the other side.
The best part of this hike is the views it offers from the bluffs overlooking the Missouri River. I kind of wish I was brave enough to hike the trail clockwise like the author of the book does, because those views would be brilliant to save until the end of your hike. However going by the trail markings, you get most of them first and then the rest of the hike is forested. The views are breathtaking. You look for the little spurs that lead you out onto rock outcrops, and the Katy Trail is below you (you can sometimes hear families that are walking down there) with the Missouri River stretching out on either side and a wide expanse of forest across from you. This is where I sat and had some lunch and sunned and generally enjoyed the absolute gorgeous beauty of the landscape and the silence of the surroundings. I was tempted to actually just spend the day right there on that bluff and then hike back the wa I came when it was time to go home. If I had had a book, I might have!
For someone not used to this length of hike, I admit the trail seemed to go on FOREVER. I was sore and asthmatic by the end, but felt very accomplished. I cannot say how happy I was by the end of the trail to hear the familiar sounds of traffic from MO 94 letting me know that I was near the end. I think knowing now how long 5 hours actually is to walk, I'd be able to better concentrate on the trail itself, because this time I was so tired and tryin to figure out where on the trail I was that some of the last couple miles seemed all the same. I took this hike on a weekday afternoon and ran into eight people (three of them with dogs) during my whole trip, so for most of hte stretches I was completely alone without any background noise from other hikers, which was nice. One thing I did not like was that while the trail was marked really well for the first 3 or 4 miles (with "trail" signs and mile markers, which was nice), once you got onto the Lewis Trail, the mile markers seemed to stop and the trail markers were fewer.
I would like to retake this hike (perhaps the shorter one this time) once the leaves start changing, because I can't even imagine how gorgeous those scenic outcrops will look! Also in the winter, you could probably get some great views o the river from places on the trail you normally couldn't because the trees would be without leaves. Definitely a great hike, but I know I'll be feeling it in the morning!
( Pictures under cut )
Was lucky enough this weekend to go to a park I would not usually get to see because it is more than out of my usual driving range. Giant City National Park is near Carbondale, Illinois. We were lucky that we were even able to go because of the immense damage the park suffered in May due to hurricane-like conditions, but luckily we had a friend who was able to guide us to a usable entrance (that I never would have found).
Hike itself was absolutely lovely. It was the weekend, so it was a bit crowded at times for my tastes with families, but it was shady and beautiful and not quite like a landscape I've hiked before due to the sandstone rocks and cliffs all over the place. While there was one main trail, there were so many little alternate paths you could take by climbing up rock paths, going through little alleyways between giant rocks, and having the option to climb here and there over rocks and up paths. The trail itself therefore is a mixture of absurdly easy and slightly more treacherous. It wasn't a long trail, but between climbing and resting to take in the scenery, it definitely encourages hikers to take their time. NOt a huge fan of the gravel type trails, but overall I had an amazing time on this little trail.
Also we visited the Alto Pass overlook, which isn't so much a hike, but there is a wonderful rocky outcrop overlooking the hills of southern Illinois, which would be even more amazing with the changing leaves in a few weeks, I bet. You can also see the country's biggest cross some miles in the distance. There is a little stoney staircase that leads down to a path, but I was unable to take the little trail and see where it went, but definitely worth the look because the stairs, while a little scary looking, are really cool, and there are some fun rocks to climb.
Had a great time, and there are more pictures of the trip to Carbondale on facebook, but these are really the bulk of them. Under a cut because I didn't change the size or anything. Also includes more pictures of people than usual because I wasn't alone on this one!
( Pictures! )( Pictures under the cut )
www.facebook.com/album.php -- more overlook pictures, and a really neat secret garden thingy in Makanda, Il. and winery pics, etc.
www.facebook.com/album.php
While it was tough making myself get up so early on a sunday morning when I could have slept in, it was definitely worth it. I always feel so GOOD after a morning hike. I love the quiet time, the isolation, the nature, being alone (Though I do love hiking with a friend/my dad equally well). I even love the drive there and back. I need to actually make this happen more often, and not slack off in the winter-- winter hiking, if dressed properly, could probably be wonderful! We'll see though. Also I can pretend to be Lewis & Clark or Aragorn as I explore the wilderness. Except they didn't have trails and probably didn't care if they walked into a hundred spider webs, which make me all icky.
( Englemann Woods Natural Area )
Blue Planet Live: September 19th-20th 2009
La Boheme: October 21st, 2009
Music of John Williams: November 7th - 8th 2009
In the Heights: November 10th-22nd 2009
Dvorak's New World Symphony: November 27th-28th 2009
H.M.S. Pinafore: February 20th- 21st 2010
Mozart's Requiem: February 26th -27th 2010
Avenue Q: April 30th-May 2nd 2010
Rachmaninoff 2nd Concerto: May 7th-9th 2010
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