Shore Lines

Mendocino paddling.

"Secret Cove"

The entrances to the cove on an energetic day.  The southwest swell had mellowed and some rock formations shielded the approach.

Heading in.

Inside and looking back out.

Beached: the tide had dropped enough for a landing.  Often, I've arrived with no beach at all.

The current pulling outward with the receding wave.

The view of beach's end.  Substantial log there.

Looking upward from that beach: amphitheatre style, but no easy way upward.

Checking my own exit.

The arches again.

Heading out.

Exploration's Joy

When I first found and read Charles De Lint's "The Little Country" back in grad school--on the heels of De Lint's "Dreams Underfoot"--it felt as if I were rediscovering the best aspects of play and treasure-hunting and discovery itself. I was having a fine time as a Renaissance / Medieval / Restoration / Neoclassic / Romantic specialist--I kept changing my fields, for I'm a hungry and ambitious generalist at heart--but I was spending my days and nights bearing down perhaps too hard as a student, as a researcher, and not as the learner, as the adult-child, as the explorer that I am most at home being. I relearned to refresh my professional studies with such spirited and generous storytelling--and to bring such spirit and generosity to my professional duties in the classroom and in the carrel.