Let's Go Fly A Kite

Sunny day, steady breeze, 78 degrees. Yup, perfect kite flying weather. I took the octopus kite out for a little flight today. His eight little tails have issues unless the wind is completely consistent, so he took a couple of nose dives (do octopi have noses?). Overall, I'd say it was a great day to fly a kite! Not only did I get some good quality entertainment, I got lots of compliments on the kite from the girls who work at the coffee shop, and gained a few freckles, too. Oh, how kite flying is fast becoming my favorite hobby!

Cinema

Those of you who know me personally are aware that I have worked at the same movie theatre for over nine years. Considering that I am only 24, that is quite a long time (28% of my life to be exact). Because I recently graduated, am relocating to Madison and recently received a demotion (a large corporation with a different management structure bought us out), I decided to look elsewhere for employment.

Leaving is a bittersweet feeling. While I know that I am on to bigger and better things (I recently got hired by a hip mom-and pop shop in Madison's premiere shopping district), many of the people at the theatre are like my family, and the theatre was part of my life during some of my most formative years. Those free movies were great, too. However, I will hopefully never have to work a Christmas again in my life, or have a 17 year old give me an attitude about how he didn't bring his ID for an R-rated movie, or have to clean up a child's vomit that doesn't look any different than the slushie he just drank. Change always feels a little strange, but I am embracing the positive aspects of my uncertainty.

Today's Hike

For the first time in what seemed like ages, the clouds lifted and the rains ceased. Since my mood is so greatly affected by the weather, I had to take advantage of the beautiful day while it lasted. Since Wisconsin has so few beautiful days, I feel guilty when I don't enjoy nature's gift when she has been nice enough to grant us with her beauty.

A routine hike at Aztalan State Park provided me with just the dose of nature I required. The prairie was full of wildflowers and I spotted several "fairy rings" of mushrooms. I continued on my hike and decided to head off the trail and head towards the river.

The river bank has made life difficult for the maple trees that were brave enough to call this area their home. Consequently, the trees are cragged and the continuously shifting landscape causes the trees to grow in unusual directions. One large tree grew out, parallel to the river, and allowed me to perch myself over the placid waters. With my legs dangling over a large branch, the Beethoven string quartets I was listening to on my iPod were interrupted by the sound of fish slapping the water after they attempted to grab a mid-day snack of mosquitos and mayflies. Songbirds sang their own symphonies and the sound of water lapping the shore aided me in my meditation. It was then that I pondered how different the Crawfish River of today would appear to the indigenous people who called Aztalan their home hundreds of years before. Selfish humans have since polluted the river with farm run-off and byproducts of industry. We could have learned a lot from the ancient inhabitants of Aztalan. By acknowledging the preciousness of our Earth and respecting the miracle of her beauty, we could all have a healthier place to live.

I continued on through the woods and ran into a young white-tailed deer. Because my journey was one of deep thought, I literally stumbled over him. The deer looked at me intently, wondering how such a clumsy biped could possibly have snuck up on him. Our eyes locked for what seemed like minutes before he ran away from me. Bounding down the trail, the young buck's white tail grew smaller as he bounced away. Eventually, the white of his tail was enveloped by the shade of the forest.

The end of my journey found me sitting on top of burial mounds, cross-legged under the shadow of an ancient oak. The view from that hill is of the entire park and of surrounding small dairy farms. Large white clouds contrasted the pale blue sky and it was at this moment that I truly understood the my place in the world. Pondering the interaction between the bucolic scenes of my youth and the endemic mounds built by indigenous peoples centuries before revealed how tiny this moment was in the vast spectrum of time. Barn swallows, hunting for dinner, danced in front of me and grew smaller as they flew towards the horizon. Eventually, they disappeared.