Oh sure there are the stars beyond that glimmer in every hue
With skies that stretch out lazily in the deepest shades of blue
Who watch below the emerald seas as vast as the mind can soar
Where sitting gently the whitened clouds whisper ancient lore
From which they pour Thy silver rain down gently to the earth
Whose eager soils soaked in browns are nourished for new birth
And thus the golden ways of old repeat under the sun
And what has always ended will, as always, have just begun.
We are on our way out of Thailand and it is a complex amazement at how time will go, unheedingly, at whatever pace it wantonly desires. Time can so torrentially drag the heart into a lost feeling of finiteness that it’s no wonder the more we experience it the more we find it in distaste. It affects everything we can sense – sight, taste, smell, sound, touch. If you disagree – I invite you to buy a piece of fruit, make it your favorite for added effect. Place it in your bedroom where you can use each of your senses to examine it daily. What a beautiful piece of fruit! On the 20th day (perhaps *much* sooner if you’re in a tropical place like…oh I dunno Thailand?) if there is anything left other than a piece of semi-gelatinous-vomit-inducing-bio-matter you have either cheated and used your refrigerator or have found fruit grown from the spring in Tuck Everlasting. I’d say the former is infinitely more likely. But the latter provokes something beautiful and suggests we are not entirely bound to time’s rule. I think it suggests that things outside of our 5 senses are beyond the capacity to be governed by time!! The heart, the soul, the imagination ( and even if you believe the heart and soul are ephemeral, you must believe that the imagination is infinite) are our true un-doings of time. With them we can create and perceive a world where time is truly not in control. Time is not the ender of things but is rather the baron of initiation, a gentle reminder that in this wild, wild ride called life, things never truly end but instead are just constantly beginning!
…And so while our stay in Thailand has been wonderful and we’re a bit heavy hearted to move on, we know it’s time to go…um yeah that and our visa’s are expiring too =p. We did so many things!!! I’m guessing most of you will realize of which internet was not among them. We are sorry for being out of touch for so long!!! Our visa expiration was fast approaching and we had much planning to do on where to next venture. Plus, the one internet shop on our side that has power at night was closed for many days (up until we left) which made things that much harder. We are both doing well and are in good health. Both tsunami and plane crash have left us to our peace – thank you for all your concern! Back to the wrap up - our days were spent with lots of climbing, reading, cooking, and hanging out. I lead my first set of 5.10d’s which felt really good!! Tara took a lot of pics and I made a college out of them below. The ones where I am clipping draws I’m lead climbing. There are also a few top roping pics. I must say that I’ve never enjoyed cooking so much in my entire life! We cook one meal a day on our little burner and it is by far the best food I’ve eaten since my home cooked meals with my Mom or Tara’s family. Tara not only knows what’s goes well with what– but when we start eating the nurse part of her kicks in and our meals are often filled with a mini-biology lecture ^__^ I’ve come to agree with her that it is impossible to use too much garlic and onion for flavor! We are both feeling really strong. We’ve also been learning a lot about trigger points b/c Tara hurt her left wrist climbing. It’s a fascinating subject and I’ve had several of the massages done before but have never tried to learn about it. It’s based on the concept of referred pain and provides area maps to treat trigger points (a constriction in the muscle) depending on what area is bothering you. If any of you have upcoming surgeries for shoulder’s, wrists, knees or whatever else look into this first!
We finally decided that we’ll be heading down to Malaysia. There is clean water, good snorkeling and great climbing there. That’s it for now – we’ll post more soon!.
Jonathan and Tara
With skies that stretch out lazily in the deepest shades of blue
Who watch below the emerald seas as vast as the mind can soar
Where sitting gently the whitened clouds whisper ancient lore
From which they pour Thy silver rain down gently to the earth
Whose eager soils soaked in browns are nourished for new birth
And thus the golden ways of old repeat under the sun
And what has always ended will, as always, have just begun.
We are on our way out of Thailand and it is a complex amazement at how time will go, unheedingly, at whatever pace it wantonly desires. Time can so torrentially drag the heart into a lost feeling of finiteness that it’s no wonder the more we experience it the more we find it in distaste. It affects everything we can sense – sight, taste, smell, sound, touch. If you disagree – I invite you to buy a piece of fruit, make it your favorite for added effect. Place it in your bedroom where you can use each of your senses to examine it daily. What a beautiful piece of fruit! On the 20th day (perhaps *much* sooner if you’re in a tropical place like…oh I dunno Thailand?) if there is anything left other than a piece of semi-gelatinous-vomit-inducing-bio-matter you have either cheated and used your refrigerator or have found fruit grown from the spring in Tuck Everlasting. I’d say the former is infinitely more likely. But the latter provokes something beautiful and suggests we are not entirely bound to time’s rule. I think it suggests that things outside of our 5 senses are beyond the capacity to be governed by time!! The heart, the soul, the imagination ( and even if you believe the heart and soul are ephemeral, you must believe that the imagination is infinite) are our true un-doings of time. With them we can create and perceive a world where time is truly not in control. Time is not the ender of things but is rather the baron of initiation, a gentle reminder that in this wild, wild ride called life, things never truly end but instead are just constantly beginning!
…And so while our stay in Thailand has been wonderful and we’re a bit heavy hearted to move on, we know it’s time to go…um yeah that and our visa’s are expiring too =p. We did so many things!!! I’m guessing most of you will realize of which internet was not among them. We are sorry for being out of touch for so long!!! Our visa expiration was fast approaching and we had much planning to do on where to next venture. Plus, the one internet shop on our side that has power at night was closed for many days (up until we left) which made things that much harder. We are both doing well and are in good health. Both tsunami and plane crash have left us to our peace – thank you for all your concern! Back to the wrap up - our days were spent with lots of climbing, reading, cooking, and hanging out. I lead my first set of 5.10d’s which felt really good!! Tara took a lot of pics and I made a college out of them below. The ones where I am clipping draws I’m lead climbing. There are also a few top roping pics. I must say that I’ve never enjoyed cooking so much in my entire life! We cook one meal a day on our little burner and it is by far the best food I’ve eaten since my home cooked meals with my Mom or Tara’s family. Tara not only knows what’s goes well with what– but when we start eating the nurse part of her kicks in and our meals are often filled with a mini-biology lecture ^__^ I’ve come to agree with her that it is impossible to use too much garlic and onion for flavor! We are both feeling really strong. We’ve also been learning a lot about trigger points b/c Tara hurt her left wrist climbing. It’s a fascinating subject and I’ve had several of the massages done before but have never tried to learn about it. It’s based on the concept of referred pain and provides area maps to treat trigger points (a constriction in the muscle) depending on what area is bothering you. If any of you have upcoming surgeries for shoulder’s, wrists, knees or whatever else look into this first!
We finally decided that we’ll be heading down to Malaysia. There is clean water, good snorkeling and great climbing there. That’s it for now – we’ll post more soon!.
Jonathan and Tara
3 comments:
i love the pictures! but for some reason the font is teeny tiny and unreadable....
Wow, it's like some secret code or something. The 1 size font made for some quick reading...:)For you other readers, you can cut and paste into word and learn more about Tara and Jonathans adventures.
Love Dad
Somehow I missed these last couple of updates, so I have just been reading about your CLIMB and the scabies! So glad to hear you are back safely. It looks daunting to me but I am not a climber. Sorry about those scabies. They look like they really hurt. Hopefully nurse Tara took care of you.
It was great to hear from both you and to know you are safe and happy.
Love, Alex
Post a Comment