It’s pretty amazing, how highlights of your life just happen
Not too fanciful, no swirling lights
We were driving through a long gravel road
Stepped into a hexagonal shaped house
With a hexagonal table, a hexagonal lamp, and a hexagonal sink
Honeycomb shaped, you could call it
But the owner says it represents a carbon molecule
Stable, steady, layered
How solid that sounds
I love graphite (which, I feel, is the color of my car, instead of plain gray)
Chatting over the turquoise hexagonal table
Before the turquoise back splash over the stove
Time slowed down for us
Along with the swaying of the hoftas
We were in company of the deer stories, those who fed on the hoftas illegally
I thought, well, another great meal of sun-dried tomato and olives pasta
Little did I know
Our adventure barely begun

Into Conkles Hollow we strolled
Beneath the galloping dark clouds
Rick checked, Are we sure we’re doing this?
A hearty Yes! came from the crowd
So in we went
On the West Rim
Straight into the thunder clouds

The rain poured like never before
Like a zillion dew drops playing with every leaf, mushroom, rock
Soon we were drenched from head to toe
But were we happier than before!
As if our inner childs were released into the dancing streams
Pitter-pattering with our sneakers in mud
Oh, the mud
With the tree roots weaved into them
It’s almost like a quilt of puddles and compose
Reminded me of rice paddy fields

And then there were the rocks
Or sometimes we call them a gorge
The heaven created a basin
And we walked its rims
What fun to take pictures of the steep rocky sides!
Some trees clung on tightly to the sides
They trusted their roots, and the rocks
The rain eventually stopped
But new waterfalls formed
Crystal clear slushing penetrated the misty thick air within this mimic tropical forest

If I had a choice,
I would prefer to have the rain first again
For the child to run and jump from root to root
To gleam in awe of the rock formation
To watch a glistening drop of rainwater slide off a pine leaf
To watch out for poison ivy (leaves of three) and ”let them be”
To be drenched and be completely happy
To feel the mist on my moisten skin
To touch the cool streaming water and wish I were in sandals
To see the world part between the crack of two rocks once one
I would prefer to have the rain first again

With apples and lemon soda and pineapple cakes
We wrapped up our trip
And got a bonus home concert of two
This is luxury
The lush green, the cool and clean air, the fireflies
My second best hike after Ali-Shan
I would miss it
But I would remember it with my heart
And never forget, what pure and simple happiness feels like
And a toast, to embracing people, to the creations of Mother Nature.

(寫於7月12日 在Conkles Hollow的一次遠足之後)

Rick and Betsy’s home
看到那太極嗎？

Conkles Hollow State Nature Reserve
我們從East Rim Trail繞著山谷從West Rim Trail繞回來

雨水

從上往下眺望　山谷彷彿千层糕

雨水形成的瀑布

濃密的樹林