Starfish Soup Sucks

I awoke to the aroma of a character rich signature blend and walked into a cup half full of it while wandering down the hall towards the sounds of early activity.

When we had finished our morning duties, I said goodbye to my family, and stepped out into Mother Nature with her son, and had me a little adventure.




First, we walked out onto an intense scene and imagined it from up close, and then we decided to make that happen.



It was not easy to find any sort of trail which would lead us to the water, so we had to forge down a mountain through all kinds of brush and detours caused by impassible cliff drops.



When we arrived at the shore line, the sun was out, and so was the tide, so we made use of the creatures found within the small pools along the point as bait for our fishing line.



After camp was made, and some salt water was set to distill, Brandon took his line with hook full of rock crab to shore, and cast a hopeful line out into a murky sea.



Moments later, all kinds of commotion was going on near the shore. I crested the hill between camp and sea to find Brandon untangling a starfish from his hook. Apparently, starfish can move pretty well when they are hungry.



When I decided that all our survival efforts had failed, I enticed my traveling companion with the promise of a fresh salmon feast in exchange for accompaniment back up the hill.



Basically, we learned alot of things about nature that day.

First: while sandals are good for many things, hiking down mountains is not one of them.

Second: Fresh water is good.
Third: Starfish soup SUCKS.
Fourth: Salt water is hard to distill.
Fifth: Kraft dinner made from salt water tastes alot like playdough.
Sixth: Don't eat playdough when you're thirsty.
Seventh: While hiking down mountains in sandals is no fun, hiking up them in sandals is even less fun..



And finally, Eigth: When you're lost in the woods, look for coloured ribbons in the trees to guide you.



Even though my front yard was nowhere near as vast as Brandons was, the comforts which followed were well worth the long road home.

Addictions Never Last Long In The Woods

When I told Colin that B.B. would be paying me a visit soon, he knew I wasn't talking about Black Belt Jones, or 'Barbi the party Baboon' or even the fact that Brandon lived a couple thousand miles away didn't stir any thoughts as to the identity of this mysterious double B character.

I picked up the B's at the corner of Louis Lane and Canada Avenue. He had a backpack filled with camping gear, swinging pots, and party clothes. After a quick ‘hey, how ya doin?’ we headed wood-ward to hang out with all of nature for a bit.

Out of town and driving along a river, we found a parking lot well above the water, and located a trail of descent which would lead us down to brook.



While walking along the river bank, we spied a small island feet from shore with the perfect wizard staff on it.



One leap, splash and swim later, and my companions outfit had maxed out its potential for coolest summer getup of the year, IMHO.




Talking with my nomadic friend reminded me of how fragile life is, as a leaf in the breeze.. “addictions never last long in the woods” he said after a brief contemplation following one of his tales. I laughed, and reflected on my own addictions. The ones which I could go without, and the ones which were more comforts than toxics. A job, a car, a home, someone to believe in, and really, just anything to hold onto..



Some of us feel the need to grip at these things, and some of us will find em wherever we go..