ODE TO THE GATEKEEPER

ODE TO THE GATEKEEPER

By Merrily McCarthy

I want to curl myself
Up in your lofty pine boughs
Run my tongue, to taste
Your silver/green pine needles
Roll upon your ancient wood
Until absorbed, I feel part of you…

When I am thirsty
I drink deeply from your eyes
Their liquid amber glow
Filling me to the quickness
Of my heart…
My hunger demands, more…

I listen to you, pines
Listen to your shimmering
Listen… harkening to your voice
Watch the Raven,
He talks to me
And the small sky peepers
And the Mountain Blue Jay
And the flutter
Of the Dogwoods; their gospel green leaves,
Flowers of white petals
Sitting as statements in the sun…
Delicate visual poetry.

Set me upon thee strong member
Pierce with lust and passion;
Not the cold/hot melt of snow
When so cold it burns…

There are more than
Four seasons to my heart;
Each more eager
To change into love
Than the last…

Puff your breath deeply
Into my eager wanton lips…
Allow me to swell within
Filled by your soul-vesseling vapors…
Where I may take you
Down with me
Whence flows
The oceans heavy currents
So formly moved by it’s unrest…

I want to die in your arms
Have your truth buried in me.
I want to lay with you
In the sweet moments of tomorrow
Sharing our dreams together…
With no unspoken promises
Still burning upon our lips.
I want to cry out
Know why the eagles soar
Every time I am loving you…

I want to be the first sight
You see in morning light,
As we rise to dawn of day…
And the last ear at evening end
To hear what song your
Whispered words will play,
Now tenderly hold me close
While gentle sleep floats us away…

When the sun sets,
It’s pale pink rays spread
Across the horizon of the sky,
I want your heart surrendered...upon mine
Entwined as we both melt in our heat…
Pulsing to the rhythms of an earthen beat…
Carry me upon your waters
As we move soft, low and sweet…

May I bear the burden
Of your full weight
Bouldering above
Your mighty talus feet…

In Old Europe the GateKeepers lived in the towers of the entrance Gates and controlled who entered the palace and the cities.  The Gatekeepers basically in this manner controlled not only who came and went, but also controlled the economy and the politics of the settlement.  If a GateKeeper did not wish something to be told or sold or brought into the city behind the walls he could send it away and no one would ever know.  GateKeepers were given extreme power in Old Europe.  Modern society has evolved the gatekeeper methodology to  be implimented into software systems as well as the traditional people controlling information, such as in the newspaper companies or the United States Capitol, or simply a bouncer in a nightclub.   GateKeepers are everywhere in some form or the other as they may be informal or formal.  An Editor can be called a GateKeeper.  A minister is a GateKeeper for religious thinking and related activities.  A parent is a GateKeeper for the offspring and how the children relate to the rest of the social structure.  Our environment is a GateKeeper because we as humans have to conform and live within the boundaries of environmental possibilities.  A husband or a lover is also a GateKeeper in a family or in a relationship, or the GateKeeper could possibly be the wife or the mother...just depends on whomever exerts the controlling powers at the time.  It appears to be somewhat embedded in our system of thought.  Perhaps today humans refer to it more on the level of self actuating responsiblity, as opposed to an intellectual activity that is removed from ones own immediate resources.   It is interesting to note that this old system still flourishes and helps contain and regulate the flow of information and the input of knowledge and who gets rich and who does not.

When Old People Cry

When Old People Cry

Would you like to place
Your succulent youthful lips
Of softly rosen hue
In front of mine
For me to fully view?

How would you feel
To taste my warmth
That lingers wet
Upon my aging cheek?

One tender knowing kiss
Placed gently
Caressed by our breathe
Whence we lovingly speak...

Is it to much to hope
That tomorrows love
Is better born
Than my old wrinkles
You find today
Growing from, I see
Your frown of scorn...

As you place
Your Golden Kiss
Upon my old and wrinkled face...
Is there some wisdom torn
From pages written long ago
When springs love is renewed again
Kissing good by to winters
Softly falling cold blue snow.

I offer up my wrinkled cheek
Having tipped its last tear good by
Now I settle in with decaying age
Knowing youth is gone.
In my last and final phase
I allow myself the luxury
WHEN OLD PEOPLE CRY...

At last we finally meet
Understand this destiny of ours.
The ancient storms of billowing dust
Are fastly filling my cracks of time
I cannot escape the weight as I bend
Yet, I stand against it to struggle
From my darkness, I see your light.
Although I am burdened
Battle scared and torn...
The love I feel for you
Floods my thundering heart
Amidst noble and sacred cause
When brightly worn...

Tho my last breathe
May whistle between
Lost and missing teeth...
Lo, many ruptures of my veins
Corrupt to watch -
I nurse the tumors and the aches
Causing me to tremble -
Feeling your glowing passionate heart
Surrounds, ah, embraces
My insistent body and my vibrant song
Like a mantle of protective cloth -
Streams of fabulous shimmering gold
Keeping me from falling
Into the furnace of the unloved
As I slowly dimenish and grow cold.

Your thoughts ever so worthy
As well your cherished gift
To us of life...
Found deep
In the well of your heart.
Handsome youth;
Born from your Mother's
Tender bearing womb...
We bear witness
To your noble nature,
Caring character -nourished by inspiration
From the man you are within...

Favor me with acceptance
As I lay my aging body
In the path of your great grace...
I realize I am not worthy
To gaze upon your most lovely,
Gracious face...

Now at times scattered in the web
Of my wracked and feverish brain
I collide with ancient atoms
Free radicals of storm and strain
And I wash my hands of genocide...
Finding a humble solitary rock
Willing...
Somewhere in the universe its placed
Bury my head upon it' s edge.
No, there is no culmination
Only souls determined disintegration
I know sorrow; I know it's happening:
WHEN OLD PEOPLE CRY.

So I allow you to kiss me
Your lips: comfort divine.
And for as long as I have
Left to remember
Your soul and mine entwine.
I joined with you
Returning to blessed youth
Giving to you -
Surrendering -
All my knowledge, my ancient wisdom
And my truth...

If you look really hard....

If you look really hard you might find an anteater roaming around Yosemite Valley.  Of course they are shy creatures and tend to cling to the edges of the cliffs where they can hide under the nearest tall trees.  I had to chase this one  out in the open and he refused to show me all of his body.  But he kept rolling this rock under his foot.  My guess is he was crushing black ants and then snorting them up with his long snout.  I think his snout might be a bit clumsy if he was kissing an aardvark...but it would be great for other things , like sniffing out a squirrel in a squirrel hole.  Or getting into a crack in a rock.  Or ferreting out honey or acorns stored in a hollow tree.  Keep your eyes open.  This is  a good time of the year to be watching for the anteaters.  The big black ants and spiders are everywhere, well they are not flying, but they are all over the paths especially at night when you can not see them because when it is dark in Yosemite Valley it is so dark everything looks like a tar baby.  Spiders do not fly, but they do drop out of the trees onto your shoulders or your hair...this is a freaky sensation when you are walking around through the forest and you start to itch and you feel a set of 8 feet running across your arm.  Have your camera ready so you can show your pictures to your friends and family on any where on the Internet of the Yosemite Valley Anteater.

Here is another Yosemite Valley favorite...a nut eating squirrel.  Most squirrel do not stand in the path on a tree branch to chew on a nut.  but this guy is brave and has been waiting for someone to come along and take his picture.  He posed for a good 5 minutes so I could get the perfect shot.  I liked the other one I took where he was balancing on one foot and juggling three nuts at the same time.  That was way cool, but I do not have a high speed shutter so I missed the action and all I got is a blurr of nuts hitting the squirrel on top of his head as he was falling off the branch.  it was a Kodak moment!

You have heard of mushrooms.  Well this is one of Yosemite Valley's largest to date.  It had a baby mushroom next to it the day before this one popped out of the ground, but we would assume some critter got more hungry than i got happy with my camera.  This is like looking at Alice in Wonderland...wow Alice your own private toadstool!
A piece of this and you would have many rock climbers not ever wanna come home.  I had a picture of a purple one and one that was golden colored...truly an event.

These guys are a band called Ravens of The Valley.  They run a very clean act and clean up after themselves whenever they play, which is often.  They are very popular and have regular groupies and shows.  Their music is more on the classical side in particular when they lay on a good string.  they will entertain for hours and the pay requirement is just a bit of whatever you wanna give them.They are already fat so do not take the handout seriously!  The little bird needs more nourishment.  The larger ravens decided to take matters into their own hands.

Yellow Pine Pollen

YELLOW PINE POLLEN


FILTERS THROUGH THE AIR
BLOWING LIKE CLOUDS OF SULFUR
SPEWED, BLOWN BY A FINE WIND
MINED FROM PINES TALL AND SLIM
SCATTERED UPON THE WINGS OF PUFF
DROPPED, THIS FINE PINE DUST
EVERYWHERE YOU STEP
IT IS GATHERED BY
THE FOOTPRINTS YOU MAKE
THE DUST OF POLLEN IS THERE
NO MISTAKE...
SWEEP IT UP 
IT APPEARS AGAIN
LAYERS UPON LAYERS
BREATHE DEEPLY FRIEND
FILL YOUR LUNGS
GET UNDER YOUR SKIN...
YELLOW PINE POLLEN
COLORING BEAUTIFUL WIND SCAPES
WITH YOUR HUE FILLED CLOUDS
BILLOWING, SHIMMERING
AS THE SUN LIGHT STREAMS
THROUGH IN BEAMS
LANDING SOFTLY SETTLING
NOW HERE, OR THERE
EVERYWHERE
IN YELLOW PARTICLES
DUSTING THE CORNERS
OF BUILDINGS
OF STEPS
ON TABLES
ON CHAIRS
ON THE GROUND
IN YOUR HAIR
DUSTING THE SPIDER WEB
THAT LIVES WHERE IT HANGS
BY THE SPIDER THAT IS COVERED
IN YELLOW PINE POLLEN...
YOUR CAR IS STRICKEN IN 
PINE POLLEN MESSAGES...
LINEAR WRITINGS OF YELLOW GOLD...
DO YOU LOOK UP IN THE TREES
SO YOU SEE ITS BOTANICAL ORIGIN?
DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT DOES?
THEY SAY THAT LAST YEAR
THERE WAS NO PINE POLLEN
AND THIS YEAR, WE HAVE
POLLINATION IN TOTAL 
ILLUMINATION...
NATURE HAS CHANGED AGAIN.
SHE MAKES YOU TAKE NOTICE
OF THE UNSEEN MIRACLES...
SHE EMPHASIZES THE WEB
THE CONNECTIVITY OF ITS PARTS
ARE YOU SEEKING THE RADIUS?
IT LEADS TO THE SEAT OF YOUR SOUL.

The Mighty Merced River

Moving this way or that
Shifting out of control
Grasping for more of the same
Swooping backward
the river...
Owns a sense of urgency
To go quickly
Somewhere
To push each arching wave
over, out of the course
Of all the other rivulets 
attempting in desperate motion
It flows
as long as there 
is its substance...
water.
It flows disrespectfully 
Of all other
Molecules...
But its own.
Is its destiny Mercy?
If you are not in its way...
Not under the booming
Barreling of her mighty waters
Not ready nor willing
To succumb to her
roiling, frothing momentum
The earth is able.
The mountains,
can hold her in check,
between her heavy
clumsy granite legs.
Between the exploding
clefts in her cheeks
Like the sounding 
of an ancient ape
booming out across all earth
its need to regroup or mate...
But slowing her slightly
With distractions
such as fallen logs
perturbed troubled boulders
curbing her avaricious lust
to take whatever lays upon
her surface,
to sweep away what may
fall into her deep folds...
Knocking against a boulder
as big as a house
or roughing on pebbles
as small as marbles
in a boys game.
But, the River is
not a game;
not for little boys.
She is for herself,
for humans,
for creatures,
for all life on earth:
who need to understand
Her wet essence.
Every drop.
Represents life itself
for us all.

And she will take you 
Back with her
To a beginning.
Someday she will claim
you...victoriously.
Leaping upon your limpness,
Churning at your struggle,
refusing to release you
from her suffocating grasp.
Boiling, Foaming, Gripping:
Stealing, releasing you of
your energy...taking back
her water she gave you 
to drink...
Dashing you to bits
in her madness
to reach the hot empty
aqua-furnace far below
the earths crust:
steaming forth from her hot mouth.
Quenching the never-ending thirst.
With cold up welling swells,
splashing high,
jumping all boundaries;
rolling where she will,
filling spaces
with calm beams of liquid light.
Existing as water can
unseen and despoiled by
humans...
bouncing, playing
wet leap frogs on the rocks.
Chasing after boulders from the high side,
top to the down, rushing thrusting
eager to reach the bottom.
Embodied by its unholy weight
It"s power...
into the abyss
of froth choked ecstasy
releasing the fragrant scent
of water...
of evergreens and air...
blended with climate-wine.
Sweet, I sing of River Waters.
Intensely pushing or pulling
on your colony of currents.
Curling, expanding, embracing
this crazy tumbling
of being somewhere
then displaced to nowhere
another position in our universe.

You River, unstoppable torrent,
reaching in never ending 
streaming; surround me.
Complete my soul.
Allow me to be swept away,
drenched in your wetness.
Loved by your elemental viscosity.
Your silken cool gurgle touching
under my skin...
Within me your surging power
Thundering space between my pores.
I dare,
I delight to swim with you.
To know you intimately,
sweeping pressing against my urgent return,
fulfill my need.
I see the curves of your river spine.
Fountains of wonder stream forth.
Flowing in endless precision.
Each boulder your sturdy bone.
Each particle of wet drops,
your life BLOOD.
Spilling hard against the earth,
Dropping from the pale lithosphere
You bleed out onto our earth
You leak from your wounds;
yet you slip through my fingers
disappearing...
AS THO YOU NEVER WERE.
Leaving me damp
Wanting more
Come
Crash down on me
Suspend who I am

Make me one more drop of you...

The Universal Mother

The ninth of May was Mothers Day...the day of Universal Motherhood.  At the Ahwahnee so many people wished me Happy Mothers Day that my head was literally swimming.  So many people gave me hugs and smiles I was feeling like a squished fish.  I wished so many Mothers and Mothers to be a Happy Mothers day that I was beginning to feel like a recorded message.  Then I realized something.

Every woman in the Universe is a mother or a potential mother or a mother in the making and we introduce each other to the myriad facets of Motherhood and natural nuturing processes over time.  Motherhood may be in our genes, however we acquire the talent and the gifts over time and education in order to be mothers of the world.  Being a mother is more than giving birth to humans.

On this specially created day of mothers, I realized that ever since I have come to Yosemite National Park to work that I have been blessed by superior management of self realization...a gift that has absolutely nothing to do with what one may do for a normal work day, but everything to do with what one does for personal development.  However in my case it has been given as an extraordinary insight from special individual persons.


The role of a woman in this society and others is basically that of a home maker or home worker.  We have inherited certain specific tasks and functions to make our world more harmonious and peaceful.  Some of these point source tasks are tending our gardens, watering our flowers, raking our leaves, cleaning our paths, throwing out the trash, and those are inside or outside or our homes.  On the inside of our homes we do the laundry, iron the clothes, hang the clothes up, fetch the linens, make the beds, vacumn the floors, clean up the bathrooms, scrub the tubs, the toilets,  and throw out the accumulated trash.  In our kitchens we select what we will eat, we cook, we clean dishes, and we socialize with others in our household.  Inadvertently we clock in and clock out of our various ADL's...our activities of daily living.  We take note of each others behaviours, and we list our daily activities and we run checks on how we do each day, both for our own personal evaluation and for the sake of our smooth operating homes.  We tend to each others needs in many ways as we move about our homes.


With a sudden sense of clarity, I realized that my manager at work has placed me in all the capacities and functions listed above.  I have become by function and duty A MOTHER of the Ahwahnee Hotel.  Of course I am not sure this is intentional, however it is a point in fact and for this I am eternally grateful.  While this Mothering quality was hidden inside of an occupational task it has become a point of sensitive realization and has taught me a lesson that through a sense of a mothers duty to like myself and my soul.  That you ladies, daughters and other mothers of my universe!

These are the Anthuriums and grow in pots.  They enjoy moisture and find growth where ever they find light. By their existance they help humans manager their own lives and make a day more beautiful.  Happy Mothers Day!

Heavy Waters

Every time I take one of these photos on my camera phone I do not adjust the light.  So when I take a look and see a photo like this I am astounded by the lightening because I had nothing to do with it.  This prevalent yellow glow, described by many as the light of the angels always shows up in my photos.  I often wonder if other photographers develop the same types of images, in particular the ones showing the "angel lights"?


When Mr. Underwood developed the architectural drawings for the Ahwahnee he created a true and natural cross that extends from the Fireplace One position in the Elevator Lobby to the Solarium Room at the far end, with the cross tie being the Winter Club Room to the Mural Room.  If one were to imagine the surreal side of this idea, coupling the two social religious constructs together i.e., a cross and the angelic glow, you may imagine the existence of some extraordinary spiritual entity taking up perpetual residence inside the Ahwahnee Hotel.

This is a view of Fireplace Two of the Great Lounge of the Ahwahnee Hotel.  The green tree is a Norfolk Island Pine.  They grow in the Rainforests of New Zealand.
What are they doing in Yosemite National Park?  Why they are part of our Christmas celebration and a lasting and beautiful living decoration for the Hotel.  The air in the Hotel is a bit on the dry side and the tree needs to be misted and watered somewhat, on a daily basis.  Our guests are greatly attracted to these beautiful trees.  We had many inquiries as to the type and the desire for future home purchase for home gardens.


However you might note the same telltale angelic glow, as well as the neon lavender glow from the light surrounding the fireplace fire.  

Here is another example of the angelic glow cast upon this black and white photograph.  This was a mode of travel to and from Yosemite in the early 1930's and for a few years following.  The angelic glow is host to many excited travelers and it lives on casting its hovering spirit into eternity.  Perhaps that sounds like too much hocus pocus, or dreamers talk, nonetheless, I can not deny that everywhere this glow exists throughout the hotel and often beyond.  Some will say it is photo magic, or over exposure or perhaps even bad photography.  As for me and my images, I claim they capture more than the eye can see and more than more than our earth bound intellects understand.

The Development of the Socially Conscious

Our human species assumes we know everything when we are born.  This statement is a general assumption of course, because not everyone assumes this.  However, have you ever heard a mother speak to her toddler as though she thinks the toddler understands precisely what she is saying and as yet the toddler has not even learned how to say mother or father or its own name.  Yet the mother will insist, "I told you not to do that.  Why don't you ever listen.  Don't you understand...etc."  If you are privileged to stand and observe this type of behavior occuring between mother and toddler, you will see the toddler roll up his tiny hands and stuff them into its eye sockets and the tear will roll.  Why?  Because, the toddler feels the sound of the voice and feels the anger from its mother, but very possibly does not understand...the toddler was just born into the world perhaps 18 months prior, so how could it know?  but we of the human species assume the toddler knows everything!  


We get dumped into this world of ours with certain sensory devices, seeing, hearing, making sounds, feeling, tasting and so on and from those  senses we begin to build our world.  We begin to construct from our environment the information we need to know to survive in it.  The greater degree of environmental intelligence we surround ourselves with or were blessed with upon birth, the better our ability to accumulate and absorb our encumbering world.  We interact with where we are at, no matter where or what it may be;  this movable and creative ability can be a continual inspiration to all humans


The best thing about humans is that we are LEARNERS.  And as such we continually put together and process information in order to create more liveable circumstances for ourselves and the lives of other people.  We may be bound by certain rules and regulations, however those same rules and regulations give us the opportunities to continue developing human social consciousness.  This constant wave of human development is an elemental factor in electronic wave rolling that moves through sky, water and earth in a similar never ceasing motion.  We humans are part of this process and absorb and feel this environmental wave, although we are contained and held in place by other physical laws of our known universe.

Many people I have met in Yosemite National Park refer to it as Yosemite University because of the opportunity for humans to absorb, assimilate and interact with our basic elemental creations.  Some of these would include: the forests, the rocks, the water,  the creatures that call Yosemite home, and the humans that have invited themselves into Yosemite to share in its natural environmental processes.  The Yosemite Park itself is a teacher, and one that carries the natural credentials of the universe.  If you are a student, open to the call of the wild and the way in which natural processes are created, then you will discover the endless phenomena of 360 degrees of educational process.  However you may have to step outside of your car to do this, or exit your tent and breathe the crisp air, or take a hike where 7-11 does not exist, you may have to stretch your limbs in unimaginable ways in order to climb up granite walls, you may have to leave no trace that you were ever here.


As we press forward with the idea of SHARED living environments we are taught by our experiences that we are not alone in this universe and that we must accommodate living entities that exist on trillions of levels, from small floating sightless ocean creatures in the depths of the sea, to high circling eagles air borne above the clouds where no man can fly because man does not have wings, and with each other human that we see or do not see. "For those things we have done and for those things we have failed to do."  In order to continue life we are indeed burdened by brotherhood, however we should develop good social consciousness and nonetheless not lend ourselves to exploitation, and yet not exploit our environment and so we see our mathematical dilemma... it may be that we press on, living close to the edge, in order to be born again, and yet again, so that we finally understand that each birth is a new realization and the beginning of yet another wave of awakening.

Ahwahnee Weddings

Today we had weddings.  Three weddings throughout the day.  It was a perfect day for glorious weddings with happy brides and handsome grooms.  What a place for a wedding, beneath spectacular skies,  towering granite walls dripping with spring snow melt, pines, and cedars and fir swaying gently in the wind, pale blue sky graced by puffy cotton clouds, and air so pure and brisk it sweeps right through your body.


This photo was taken this winter on the wedding lawn.  Believe it or not the wedding was held on the fresh fallen snow and the guests sat on the white chairs while the bride and groom declared their love for each other.  They might have gotten a little shaky before the ceremony was over...since the temperature was about 30 something at the time.


It is interesting that guests for weddings in an outdoor setting dress according to the weather, however, the bride seldom ever does.  Many brides during the outdoor service dress as though they were inside in front of the fireplace, all cozy and warm...however, sleeveless wedding dresses are not warm and yet the brides tend to never feel the weather.  I suspect they are too excited and happy to notice the temperature.


There is a spiritual awakening outside under the cliffs, trees and sky...something totally elemental about the natural influences of the area.  Everyone declares the unseen presence is alive and watching over us.  Many people feel this presence and I would suppose that when a minister is standing in front of you and reading the wedding ceremony, God must be floating about high above and listening to every one of the human thoughts.


Or maybe it is the squirrels in the trees or the deer in the bushes or the bear in the blackberries.  Or maybe it is that we are inside of a container of granite walls and we feel secure and protected and so we think all is well...


We are in a space in time that is over 104 million years old...more or less.  Certainly we are surrounded by walls that speak to us and light that is refracting and reflecting in many dimensions unknown in other areas of the earth.  Perhaps we are part of an experience that is unworldly and are not even aware of it.   We are all part of some greater experience and as we touch our tasks or our duties, then we reverbrate our experience to one another and thus we create our creations and those leap forward and so on and on.

No matter where a wedding is held, it is special.  Frank Sinatra had four major weddings; Nancy, Ava, Mia, and Barbara.  They were all spectacular ceremonies, although he never made it to Yosemite, nor did he make it to the Ahwahnee.  However President Kennedy did, as well as Queen Elizabeth.  Each wedding that Frank Sinatra had was lavishly planned and perfectly performed.  He created quite the luxurious style of weddings throughout his life and career.  It greatly influenced the wedding preference of the American Culture throughout the 40s, the 60s, the 70s and the 80s.  Every woman wanted the diamonds, the furs, and the commitment.  In 2010 we are observing a resurgence of the wealth inspired weddings of the late 40s, with the little woman being catered to, however the little woman of 2010, now has a doctorate and a career and stands steady alongside her husband.

After the wedding ceremony the bride and groom and their party retires into the hotel where generous portions of gourmet food is specially served in the manner fit of any queen or president past or present.  The private party is out of sight and beyond the curtains tucked comfortably in the solarium where sunlight dances in grand display upon the Glacier Points majestic and mighty cliffs and the newly weds life is blessed as it passes from one moment of heavenly experience back into the reality of the human cultural expression.

The Miwok of Yosemite and Mariposa....

Not far from Yosemite Valley and the Ahwahnee Hotel is another area known to wandering bands of Miwok and other Native American Communities.  This area is located down the hill on Usona Road.  The area dates back with living communities of Native Americans some 10,000 years  with steady and consistent habituation.  Verifiable evidence is available of settlements with active human patterns of daily living.  During a summer excavation a few substantial artifacts were unearthed, such as daub, charcoal, grasses,  and arrow points, some in obsidian and others in steatite.  These fragments of a long ago civilization and evidence of a band of wandering humans can be found at Fresno State University in the Archeaology Lab of Dr. John Pryor, who has made his life work studying California Native American Cultures.


I had the privilege of being one of his students and sat still for three weeks in order to train myself as an illustrator of archealogical artifacts.  The above dramatization is one of my drawings in colored pencil.  I also performed renderings of charcoal, points, and botanical specimens that are indigenous to the area and the culture of the local Miwok community.

This drawing is of our excavation site and how it looked in 2009.  The above prior drawing is a suggestion of the way the village appeared 10,000 years ago.  This Blue Tarp drawing is the official class dig.  There were around 20 of us and we camped out for three weeks.  We dug the site and filled it when we completed our excavation project. Sometimes the weather heated us up and sometimes we had a little rain.  

These are drawings of charcoal dating back thousands of years...I was able compile these drawings from small bits of ancient charcoal.  This indicated an area where either warmth or cooking was created, and thus left bits and pieces of the remains of the firepit.

This is the acutal site of the Miwok Village in Yosemite Valley.  The recreational village has cedar bark tepees that have been specially constucted for public viewing and the offical roundhouse is used for special ceremonial occassions.  On the premises is also a sweat lodge.  The Miwok of Yosemite used this style of house during their stay in the Yosemite Valley.  Nearby the gathered acorns and rolled out their product on the large granite matates, using manos, or hand held stones.  There are large granite stones that display holes where they have been made or worn into servicable depressions for the purpose of grinding the acorns.  Many books are available in the Yosemite Book Store near the Visitor Center that explain the process and demonstrate the necessary skills to make excellent acorn mush.  If books do not satisfy your curiosity, then Julia Parker is on hand in the Museum to answer your questions and provide entertaining explanations to all your questions.

I have some rather found memories of Bass Lake.  I worked for CLM for three seasons at Lakeside, Rocky Point  and the Boat Ramp.
Bass Lake is on the way to Yosemite, and stopping there is certainly worth while.  Some of the more long time employees have worked in Yosemite until they could afford to purchase their dreams homes in Bass Lake area or around Oakhurst.  It has been rumored that a number of Hollywood movie stars and directors of note have purchased mansions up on the hillsides.  How fun that would be!  A boat docked at the Pines Resort, and a mansion on the hill.


This year there should be plenty of water in the lake since the snow run off from the Sierras will be strong this year.  We are enjoying a high rise on the Merced River and more snow and lots of rain.  This year we are 107% of expected snow and rain.  We are just praying that it does not get too warm and bring the high Sierras down with a torrential fury.  That happened back in 1996 or 7 and we had to close the Park due to flood waters.  We have signs posted that depict flood swells of up to 11 and 12 feet.  That is alot of rushing water.


Up the Merced River is White Water Rafting and the other day 2 orange rafts were swirling out in the rapids with guests afloat and a paddle.  They were having a great splashing in their water attire...or life vests and some were paddling and watching the perilous  solid grey forms protruding menacingly out of the water.  Bass Lake is placid by comparison.  Just radical boat drivers showing off there best sleek forms.

Yosemite does not have a lake, however if you drive up 120 to Hetch Hetchy Dam you will find a bigger and better lake, but this lake is not for swiming, nor boating...although you can camp around the lake.  Yosemite has water falls and more water falls, and running rivers and running bears and lots of people that like to get out of their cabins or tents and run and run.  The main reason for all the running is the air we breathe up here is great.  It is crisp and clean and sweet, filled with the fragrance of Pine and Cedar and meadow grasses and the sweep of air off the granite cliffs.  Since the altitude is only 4,000 feet or so you can run and not easily fall out of breathe.  You might loose your breathe if you see a bear, or you might become breathless at the sight of the many deer  in the Valley, especially in the low light of sunset when the deer come out to forage or feast on the tender meadow grasses.

You will see coyotes on your hike, run or walk, but you will not see real live wolves like these two wolves pictured here.  These two wolves like to live in the wilds, but they became orphaned at an early age and adopted by man.  They grew up in a civilized environment and became tame wild pets of a wolf loving owner.  If you are lucky you might see wolves like these in Yosemite, however they will be on a leash and their owner will be with them.  And although greatly loved by man they are still wild and deserve to be respected as such.  Notice how they are sitting in very close proximity to each other, with the white wolf touching the  other wolf, and she has her legs demurely crossed.  They are calm and yet remain focused.  These two lovely creatures, although the white one has passed on and the other lives with a family live not in Yosemite, but near Isle Royale in upper Michighan state near the Great Lakes.  The White Wolf was called Mikey.  The darker wolf is his sister.

The Shape Of Things

How many different ways can we see things?  This image is of course of a tree that has fallen down and the tree is one that has a tree knot on it.  However after a wee bit of contemplation one can begin to see spirit shapes in this lonely transitioning knot.  How many can you see?  A favorite passtime of many people is looking into  the sky at the clouds and reading the shapes of the clouds, pointing out the various images that can be found in the shifting gaseous formations.  It is our brains that detect these minute alterations of formations.  We interpret them according to our own intrapersonal perceptions.  One person may see one image or vision and another person may detect something altogether entirely different.  Both may see something that is important to them or  a shape that they recognize as meaningfull and both persons may be looking at the same shifting cloud or swinging tree or rock strata.  It might be whatever is on your mind.

When I photographed this wooden knot on this fallen log, I saw the feathery head-dress of an Indina bonnet and the profile of a woman with her mouth open and tiny infant legs...just a strange combination of linear elements that are encompassed within this one know.  On the other side of this knot the shape takes on the more obvious profile of a man wearing a feather head dress.  So I look at one side as feminine and the other as masculine.  Both are part of the same whole.  The same psycho-social makeup of human beings.  So does the earth bound tree absorb part of the humans buried body and turns it into a spirit inside the wood tree and informs of us the passage or of the changing of one element to the other as it does so.  Or is this the strong spiritual power of the underwood trying to communicate with us using the tree as its vehicle of change?

All around me in the trees, the clouds, the flowers, and the rocks I see spiritual messages and the writings of the woods.  Have you ever looked deeply into the linear structures of the branch networks as they lace and inter lock out in the woods.  When I look at them I see writing.  I like to think it is God writing to us and talking to us through linear graphics built from the products of nature and the elements.  It is like reading a book written in my primary language.  There are woods written in the trees and in the forest branches and on the rocks and in the sky...if we do not read them perhaps we are still only searching for pictures, nothing more.

If we believe nature is writing to us its eternal message perhaps we need to learn to read these writings and interpret them for others to understand.

There is a place on Highway 140 almost half way between Mariposa and the Valley entrance that looks like this.  Stop signs in the middle of nowhere.  The sign reads expect 15 minutes wait...to the left is a bridge that crosses the Merced River, then the road curves around the towering cliff wall and exits on the Merced River on the other side.  Drivers of vehicles must cross over the Merced River two times and then resume travel on 140 going into the Yosemite Valley.  


The road does this for a very particular reason.  Several years ago their was a mountain slide and a good portion of the mountain slide down the incline, spilling across the 140 highway and down into the Merced River.  If you look closely into the image you can see the lower slide area as it crosses the road directly in front of you, that is, on the other side of the fence.  The real view is rather traumatic and quite the eye opener for people with a keen respect for the greater powers of nature.  


They believe no one was trapped beneath the mountain slide.  But no one knows for certain since no agency has removed the earth.  To do so might possibly bring down even more of the mountain so it is a standing tribute and reminding monument to a geological event.  It is necessary for us to see as it is an event of extraordinary circumstances that we, on any normal given day might not encounter.  And hopefully never be under.


Rockslides are a common occurance all along 140.  If you keep your eyes looking toward the cliff side you will see rocks every so often in clumps that have recently slid or tumbled from above.  If you notice the geological structure of the cliffs you can see the layers and the angle of the layers of these various types of rocks.  All along the 140 the types of rocks and the qualities of their attachments vary.  Some of these rock structures are firmly in place and others are unstable and some are totally unpredictable.  


The Merced River Canyon road is by far more scenic than 41 for geologic features and rock variations, and in addition to the natural formations the plant life at this time of year can be noted for the flowering purple blossoms of natures plum trees...I believe that is what they are, if not write me a note on their exact biological name.  The mosses are verdant green attaching themselves to the red rock like snow on the top of half dome...natures natural frosting.


Plenty of turnouts are sprinkled along the Canyon drive.  And of course interesting places like Savages and Hite Cove Trail, places of extraordinary beauty and in this time of year, the spring, the mountains are alive with the beauty of the wild flowers.  The area is also replete with  brilliant orange California Poppies.


NPS Warehouse is also located along this drive, as well as El Portal, and two large motor hotels for tried travelers.  Up near the Park Entrance is a famous rock formation that forms a roof over the road for thrill seeking motorists to observe as they pass beneath, hoping that it stays put for a whole lot longer.  The road was tunneled under it so the natural rock roof has been in place for over a good 100 years to date.  


On the right as you travel up 140 you can see exquisite river scenery, with river and rocks binding their timeless beauty together in every changing geometric patterns.  

You walk while the machine talk...

If you see these guys working our roads, be patient  these men are fixing the roads so cars can run more smoothly and the underworks of our pipe systems keep the flow going.  They are working between the breaks in the storms of either rain or the snow and or the ice, to get all there preparations ready for all the late spring and summer visitor influx into Yosemite.  It will be busy enough then, so hold steady...a lot of people need to get on their way...where ever that may be.


For persons in a bigger hurry you can always enjoy nature better with a walk or a stroll along the many well trod paths.  Some are pathed and others are earth hardened and lined with rocks, and signs to make certain you know where you are going.  Unless you know the forest well and have noted the landmarks, please stay on the paths.  We can come to find you, however we prefer that you know where you are going and staying on the paths can be a certain guarantee.

While on your hike you may see these large metal containers around.  They are legend and cost a lot of money to place around the park.  The are supplied by the National Park Service and are known as Bear Boxes.  Their intended use is for food storage.  Bears smell food from humans, in their cars, in their back packs, on their persons, and from discarded trash.  All of the food one is not using at the moment is supposed to be placed or left in these boxes in order to keep the food safe from the Bears or other forest wildlife.  People who have visited the Yosemite Valley or other National Parks should be very familiar with the sight of the Bear Boxes.  Others may find them unusual, unless they have had their food cache stolen or had Bear break into their vehicles.  Bears love roaming the parking lots and breaking into a car to steal anything that resembles a food item.  So if you need to use a Bear Box, help yourself.  Bears will not bother your food if you keep it close or on your back in a backpack, but if you drop your food on the ground inside your favorite Janzen, and walk to a scenic spot, be well aware you may come back to see your Bear friends scurrying away wearing your backpack!

Along your walk you may find items like this.  This is an artifact.  It is made of iron and possibly used during the stable days or horse bearing days about 100 years ago.  I challenge you to find this.  I will give you a clue.  It is near the Royal Arches and near a well walked path.  If you can locate it come at see me Merrily McCarthy at the Ahwahnee Hotel...just ask the front desk to find me.  Perhaps you know more about it and would like to give me more details.  This iron ring is permanently imbedded in this portion of granite, so do not pull it out hoping to bring me this ring.  It can not be done and you would not want to move this piece of old history.  It is ours to enjoy.

This is one of the first spring plants to be shooting up out of the earth.  We see more and more of this even with the ice and snow storms.  While walking watch out for branches, rocks, ice, and cones.  Other hikers are always good to see, especially when you are in the forest.  It is a fun place to let the world roll away and get acquainted with someone new.  Share something special and perhaps make a new friend.  Be like this plant, ready and open to experience the new wonders of spring time.