The Ink-Pot and the Palette

It crossed my mind that yesterday's outburst of hysterical haiku could be one of those indicators that I need some time away from work.

So I took some.

( When I stand upright in the wind, my bones turn to dark emeralds. )

There is this cave
In the air behind my body
That nobody is going to touch:
A cloister, a silence,
Closing around a blossom of fire.
When I stand upright in the wind
My bones turn to dark emeralds.

--James Wright, "The Jewel"

avventura1234 and I are goin' prospecting for minerals tomorrow, in the back country (of which the Pacific Northwest has a great deal). This particular bit of back country is called Cedar Butte. It's located here:
45°35'26.39"N

123°38'44.44"W

which is to say, about 30 miles northeast of the coastal dairy paradise of Tillamook, Oregon, and about 50 miles more or less west-northwest of Portland. To get there we take a primary state highway (26--the Sunset Highway) to a secondary one (6, the Wilson River Highway), to a Tillamook County Road (North Fork Road), to a gravel road (Cedar Butte Road) to a hiking trail (unnamed, to the best of my knowledge), very significantly uphill for a mile or so to a field of augites.

Augites, you ask?

Well, Mr. kispexi2, a geologist, heard that we live within spitting distance (relatively speaking--Mr. kispexi2 lives in Scotland) of one of only a small number of locations worldwide where augites can be picked up off the ground. Fetching little black crystalline rocks spewed forth by volcanoes (of which the Pacific Northwest also has quite a few), is what augites are. They look like this:



These Tillamook County augites are still lying around on the ground presumably because they're so damned hard to get to.

I mention all this for two reasons: because I plan to take pictures of our expedition and post about it when we return, and because if we get lost up in the back country of Tillamook County, I want the world to know EXACTLY where we went! Because, God help us, we got our directions from a guy named Billy Bob.

On the advice of my good friend Gayle, who cares about me and sometimes knows better than I do when I'm stressed out, I took a day off work today. The bastards, you see, were really starting to grind me down.

So I decided to drive down to the beach. Walking by the ocean always has a reconstructive effect on my spirits.

My phone went dead, so any idea of chatting the long drive away was out. My lost-wallet credit and debit card haven't been replaced yet (grrr) so I just had to hope nothing went wrong with me, my six dollars in cash and my signal-free phone.

( Don't worry. Nothing did. Phone-cam pix ahoy. )

Then I came home and availed myself of the Bathtub of Resuscitation, and all in all, I'm almost beginning to have the feeling of starting to be de-stressed!