Day 4

i could feel the humid, deep, salty air growing cooler tonight as i sat atop the bobbing blob perch at the end of the long pier. the wholeness of oxygen made me want to open my chest somehow and breath with entire concentration. a faint fishy smell reminded me of sea world and i began re-reading don miller's 'blue like jazz' with a great zeal that had previously been strangely difficult to conjure. the soft glowing skies were matched with perfectly still waters. somewhere behind and out of sight, a trickling creek fell to the beach in a whispering crystal orchestra. an unspeakable load fell from my shoulders in the surreal stillness after considering that i as an individual, not humanity or corporations or society, was the cause of most of the problems i think i have. as miller's pages turned and the grey waters were punctuated with the heads of sea otters, the consistent tranquility was broken by a sound that made my very chest pull into itself. across the waters i heard a rolling

"bfffewe.....bfffewe......bfffewe......"

and i stared until i saw three orca whales emerge, spray, and then sink along the distant surface. they continued spraying and moving across the horizon and each exhale reached my ears just before the trio dipped beneath the glassy silver once again. i put the book down and began to play simple melodies on my pocket harmonica with a deep appreciation of the significance that beautiful simplicity can bring to a moment.

before all this, earlier today, i started my job training. i'm gonna be teaching and helping kids to shoot and edit their own mini videos of their week at camp while also working in the flow with the other two video guys to produce each week's documentary-ish recollection for the kids to take home of their camp experience. nick and ryan have just graduated from vancouver film school and are really passionate about their visual arts. i'll probably learn a great deal from them. most of the rest of my afternoon was spent watching past summer's productions and getting familiar with the cameras and computers. both went a long way in providing vision to the previously seemingly heavy duty.

there's also a couple of school groups that are renting the property for the likes of day trips and weekend retreats and, although they are almost completely on their own, we still wash their dishes and such. tonight's dinner was a totally organic creation of rice and pumice and other things that rabbits and hippies like to eat. it was quality, however.

finally, nalgene bottles cause cancer apparently. at least canada thinks so. i guess all the granolas will be faced with a huge decision- kill the environment with disposable, plastic bottles or kill themselves with toxic, environment-friendly containers. now would be a good time for someone to step up and make a new, organic water-bottle. just a thought.

tomorrow i will pack my canned salmon salad and trail mix granola bars and will climb the mountain. the forecast shows the brightest weather yet so tomorrow should be good.