back from the desert

unfortunately the glacier project melted before our eyes, though my trip to the desert was completely salvaged by the wonderful people, art, and fun nonetheless. it was risky to join a camp of folks i didn’t know, building a large art project that was perhaps too ambitious for the community trying to build it, but that’s just how it goes sometimes. yet i fell in love with the people on the project, one and all.

and i met amazing neighbors, saw most of my friends at least once, was awe struck by the art projects, was even asked to officiate a wedding, and deployed my moroccan tent yet again.

as for what could have gone better: i didn’t eat very well, somewhat a consequence of a meal plan that didn’t completely materialize and my own laziness failing to set up a personal kitchen. i also typically over packed. brought too many clothes and too much food. but i was happy and healthy.

and i now have a budding interest in lichens. who knew they were actually a fungus and an algae or bacteria working in concert? when i did a two week long retreat on vancouver island, in british columbia, the trees had long beards. they looked primeval and magical; gnomes and ents would live there. i wonder if those were lichens in the trees. and last week i found structures completely covering the rocks in the desert. like a mossy skin, the resulting formation sometimes broke off revealing the original rock beneath. but otherwise an odd shell covered every rock like coral.

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