Friends Neil and Kate keeping in touch with their daughter Ana, off somewhere in Italy at the time.
This photo, centered as it is on digital communication and modern life, seems worlds apart from the older, less technological one of the previous post. We might think the residents of that farmhouse – given their immersion in that natural world – might have have no time or inclination for Skype, but who knows? As a friend of mine said recently “..I learned something today, about not jumping to conclusions..”
T-shirts, Long Trail beers, smartphones, and camaraderie were all very much in evidence in this group of twenty-somethings, standing at the top of Deer Leap Overlook, in a brisk late October wind with Pico off in the distance.
The water level was quite high for our annual Arches trek this year, and with the strong current, I didn’t even try swimming up to the falls, just off camera on the lower right. Unfortunately, that meant missing out on a wonderful last-all-year waterfall massage, one of the gifts of the place. But another – the sound of the waterfall itself – would settle deep into recesses of body and soul over a few hours time. The water itself was refreshing but sooo cold this late in August.
JJ meanwhile fell in love with my $20 “estate sale” guitar, and between us, we covered twenty or so songs, and made up a few originals along the way. Not a bad start for our “One World, One Guitar” tour, coming, perhaps, to a town near you.
Mike was one of my oldest and dearest friends, going back to undergraduate days at the University of Vermont. He passed away December 10, 2017, some thirty years after a diving accident left him a quadriplegic. But he hardly missed a beat, and continued to live a rich and full life in the midst of a wonderful community of friends and family, all the while writing and playing music and teaching at East Carolina University. You can hear him talk about his life in an interview from 2010 with Mark Helpsmeet of Northern Spirit Radio here.
A song we wrote, Lonely Surfer Boy from Vermont – recorded by the Ultra Brothers here, (turn it up! and try it in mono) – had some legs but, uh, never cracked the Billboard charts.
I hope you’re enjoying the Celestial Music, my friend. We miss you here.
Taken over a quarter of a century ago, on slide film. Steve (third from left) and Laurie lived in a shack right on that stream in the background, and welcomed many a soul there for some serious R and R.
