Return to Silver Falls

 Sunday, we met some friends for a hike along Silver Falls.  The last time we went was a summer a few years ago (August 2017), when it was much dryer (and smokier).  Some of the falls were mere trickles back then.  Since we're still in Winter and there has been rain, the falls this time were more vigorous.  And the paths more muddy.


The falls are in a park that was built in the 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  The buildings are stone and wood beam construction, only not as fancy as the Mt. Hood Ski Lodge.


I'm not sure that I have a favorite fall, although I like the ones that cascade over a rocky lip and cover crescent shaped caves.  I'm unsure if the caves were ever used by the native folks.  I imagine they'd be a pleasant campsite during the summer months.


The only down-side of the hike was that during the end, as I was looking down to avoid stepping in a puddle or sinking into a mud-hole, I walked smack into a branch hanging over the path.  The blow was softened somewhat by my glasses, which translated the force of the branch across the bridge of my nose.  I thought for a moment that my glasses had become a permanent part of my face, but luckily, I was able to unembed them.


Surprisingly, the only wildlife we saw there were a couple of very tame and aggressive ducks.   While they weren't nearly as bad as the seagulls of the Atlantic City Boardwalk, these birds had no personal boundaries, and weren't above lunging at small children in the hopes of nicking a few stray crumbs.


I thought maybe we'd see osprey or bald eagles or red-tailed hawks, or other raptors, but the only ones we saw were the ones huddled in trees and surveying foggy pastures.


Oh! That's right, just out of Coburg we saw a herd of elk along I-5.

Art Trying To Imitate Life

When I went to the MET last, I got a book on pop-up paper construction.








It goes through various types of folds and cuts one can make to create three-dimensional sculptures (for lack of a better word) out of paper.








I've been experimenting by cutting and folding blank 3X5 inch cards.








Last weekend when we went to Silver Falls, I thought, "I know, I'll try to make some pop-up designs of the falls."





So I tried.









I think I got some fairly Art-Deco water, which tends to look more like hair or snakes than water.

 And I also think I got something that looks not so much like water cascading over basalt layers but rather a stage set for an absurdist 60's play.

Oh well.

Silver Falls

Sunday we met with our friend, Nancy, and went for a six mile hike through Silver Creek Falls Park.  The day was pleasant for hiking:  walking along the creek beds or in treelined gorges we managed to stay cool and the smoke from various forest fires wasn't so concentrated there.

There are a variety of falls; the water flows over basalt shelves and cuts through differing layers of rock, depending on the rock's hardness.  The usual configuration there is a crescent of hard basalt working upstream, with an undercut of softer rock forming a second crescent-shaped cave underneath the fall.  Some falls are cascades over basalt, others are trickles filling deep pools.  I don't remember every visiting before, which is too bad; there are many interesting falls and the buildings have a CCC and WPA charm reminiscent of the Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood.

The valley has been smokey.   Everyone thought last May and June with all the rain that this would not be a huge fire year, but I guess it let a lot of grass grow, and there's been more fuel.  Monday and Tuesday the air quality has been certifiably unhealthy and daytime temperatures have been in the nineties.  The last few sunrises and sunsets look like some florid seventies poster or else from the planet Tatooine.

The family has gone on a short trip, so the cats and I have been staying inside.  I've been alternately cutting out words to get a story to spec, and Monday to Tuesday I threw together a 1000 word short story.  I tried a technique of writing the story backward, starting at the end, then going backward scene by scent (actually, just sketching in a paragraph) to the beginning.  Then I went forward, fleshing in bits.   The story was ready to read (barely in time), and I wish I'd read it aloud a few more times to polish out the rough spots.  I expect I can polish it more this week and turn it in next time.

After Wordos, I went to the gym:  25 minutes and 260 cal on the elliptical.  3x12x60lbs on the pec fly.  3x12x80lbs on the lat pulldown.  3x12 Roman Chair curl-ups (I'd been adding in some side curls, but I think they've been bothering my back, so I only did straight curls this time).   3x12x40lbs barbell curls.  2x12x40lbs reverse barbell rows.  

After the gym, I re-joined the Wordos at the bar and grill across the street and virtuously had a glass of water.

Falls, Dreams, and the Wordos Reading

Last Sunday we went on a hike to a fall near Silverton.  It's a smallish creek, but it flows over a tough basalt lip.  Softer soil underneath the basalt has eroded out, so the trail makes a crescent through a cave behind the falls.  A maple grows near the bottom of the fall, and twines around the basalt lip, a natural bonsai twisting to trap as much sunlight as possible.  Within  the wide cave, there's a bench, and it's dry.  Sitting in the shadow of stone, the sunlight flows through the falling droplets of  the spray. I imagine that it would be the sort of place to sit and write haiku.

Tonight (Tuesday) is the Wordos Halloween reading.  As usual, my story is about 300 words over the thousand word limit, so I have some trimming to do.  

I had a very weird dream Tuesday morning.  I think it started out with men in a hott-ub or something.  Then I was at a kind of book fair.  Then I was introducing Mark and The Child to K.W. at her house, who was much more harsh Southerner than I've ever encountered her.  Then we were trying to beat a storm home, and I had to drive the car through some water.  There was a break, and I was staying with a Mexican family and at first the very traditional father thought I was having an affair with his daughter, but then the dream shifted and they thought she was a lesbian.

---

The short story for the Halloween reading was received well.  By changing the POV from a whiney teen (essentially) princess to a self-possessed kung-fu instructor, and making the teen character a sullen boy, I side-stepped narrative summary whine to the plot.  People seemed to appreciate the teen's "whatever" voice.  (Although there was a discussion of whether teens say "whatever" or something new).

There were thirtteen stories in all, and they spanned the range from funny to creepy to interesting.  A number of stories addressed the changing traditions of Halloween, lamenting how the holiday has gotten tamer.  Some alumni-members returned and read their stories, and it was nice to catch up a little with them.