Mt. Shasta - Beautiful, Spiritual, Friendly and a bit Wacky

I was walking down the main street in Dunsmuir and noticed this grape rolling in perpetual motion in the water fountain. It was amazing. I, of course, totally ruined it by grabbing it and trying to put it back - NOT. Luckily I took a bunch of photos first. Below, is Siskiyou Lake near the dam. I go here every morning to hike and sing and write. My roommate sleeps until the afternoon so if I want to be noisy or do anything I have to go somewhere else. I wrote the lyrics to a song and collaborated with a new friend, Rod, who wrote the melody on his lunch hour. This is after at least ten musicians I've shown the lyrics to told me it couldn't be done. Rod's version is beautiful. Anyway, this is about a mile from where I'm staying so I just drive over there and practice singing the song, write stuff, go hiking, take photos and shoot video, etc. It's so beautiful.

I've been photographing stones that look like hearts that I find by the lake. Here's a couple of them.

II put these stone hearts in here because it reminds me of a wonderful experience I had on the full moon - my first total full moon eclipse. The photos below show the progression which began when my new roommate, Jules, woke me up around 5:30 to come and watch the eclipse of the moon. The first shot has a reflection in it.






The day after the eclipse I was invited to a woman's full moon drumming circle and pot luck. After the drumming, one of the women told us how she had driven up to Castle Lake (about 11 miles from Mt. Shasta) and as the sun hit the ice that covers it the ice makes weird noises that sound like dolphins. The next morning I drove up to Castle Lake, and sure enough. it was making weird noises. I thought most of the noises sounded like stomach gurgles and near me I witnessed a lake fart - a small hole appeared when water and steam was forced out, making a squeaking noise. Other longer noises did sound like dolphins. Below is Castle Lake. I tried to tape the sound but the wind was so strong it's hard to hear.
I figured that if I could drive safely up to Castle Lake, then the road up to Bunny Flat (on Mt. Shasta) was probably open too, especially since I'd heard someone talk about going up there. We've been lucky to have such good weather. Karin and I hiked for a while from this point but the snow was too deep and I kept kept falling through so we turned around after half a mile.
While we were hiking I photographed the moon through the clouds. Weird. It was almost as bright as the sun nearby. It also has this strange rainbow effect going on. Maybe it was something else?

I started volunteering at the Humane Society as their photographer and go there as often as possible - it's giggle therapy for me. I've put up a blog site with my favorite photos. Below are a few examples.



Below, Brooke is an assemblage artist. This is one of her pieces, a fence that is encircling her studio. Her husband, Alex, is a potter who makes ceramic drums.
I've gone several times now to help Monica, a mosaic artist. She got a grant to build two concrete benches and decorate them with tiles. I'm learning how to do it and it's like a meditation for me.

I also joined a local barter group, below. I'm meeting lots of people this way.
These kids traded some bundles of sage for a jar of homemade dill pickles. They dug in and ate just about the whole jar before the evening was over. Next time I'm going to get the pickles first.
This is the resort where I'm presently renting a room in a condo. It's very beautiful here and reminds me of growing up in Ohio where my dad owned a country club. My music collaborator, Rod, is the head golf pro here.

Rod, above at the resort. Below is a shot of Rod's music partner, Jimmy Limo, the one man band - until Rod joins him with his harmonica, which he plays with a lot of soul.
I joined a local Telos study group and one time we all went to the local public access television studio at the College of the Siskiyous to watch the taping of an interview with Colonel Billie Woodard, below, who claims to have been born in the inner earth. He makes the copper headbands that he and (below) Bob and Joy are wearing. The host, Arthur Aday, calls his show Aday in Telos. It's so much fun here.

I do a lot of hiking here and keep finding interesting looking tree things, like the piece of wood below that I painted so it could be used in our ascension ceremonies.


I've decided to interview all the dowsers I meet and put everything together into a documentary. Beverly is my second interview. There are so many different kinds of dowsers.