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| August 21, 2010 in the evening |
Wind has eroded sand from the mountains around Death Valley and carried it southward for thousands of years. It flows unimpeded until it hits a mountain that slows its speed, causing sand to settle out and accumulate. Eddie currents of wind circle around Tucki Mountain reshaping the piles of sand a little more with every windstorm. But the dunes remain trapped in this general area.
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| May 4, 2021 - in the morning |
Memory is like a sand dune shifting with time. Today, as I trekked in the Mesquite Dunes where I trekked on August 21, 2010 just before sunset, I tried to remember. I maneuvered that trailless labyrinth of loose sand along the same route, not feeling certain it was the same. I remembered a certain high dune and a location from which I had photographed it. Eleven years of change in both the dunes and my recollection of them became a study in our likenesses and differences—me with my memory, dunes with new shapes.
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| Tucki Mountain |
These two dated pictures show what I think is the same high dune. I think so with memory changed because I have changed, and reduced by what I have forgotten. The pictures show a similar but not identical dune, not exactly what it was, but recognized.
This dune is like an old friend not seen in eleven years or
more with whom I have reunited. We are
different, but we find enough likeness to believe we can still communicate.
Michael Angerman has started a map of the places I stay on this
trip. The map will not change for a
while as I stay in Beatty, Nevada, for about two weeks. Google Map Link
Now you've gone and dune it! Trekking across the sands without a camel again. Well I see you have your trusty bicycle which is a good thing. Are you planning to ride it up one of the dunes or will you tuck yourself into Tucki mountain? Okay I'm done being silly but I'm glad to be in the best seat in the house to watch your journey.
ReplyDeleteLois, I love your kind of silly. The best seat is on a bicycle, not a camel which bites and has only one gear. Neither, however, does well in a house. But today in a jeep on a rough dirt road I wished for a camel.
Deleteeleven years later
ReplyDeletehow the wind
shapes her face
the me in memory
face to face the dunes
of death valley
sun and shadow
the shifting sands
of forgetfulness
posted these
, written inspired by you on awakening
This morning..here too
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4223525691045813&id=108107262587697
Kathabela, Thanks for a good take on two faces — mine and a dune’s — meeting after eleven years of shifting sand. Btw, the link does not open.
Deletehammered gold
ReplyDeleteshaped into
soft curves
where the sun
highlights its beauty
on the photo taken 5/4/2021
Yes Erika, I imagine a little figurine of solid gold, how much different it would look, or how similar, and wonder why gold is more desirable.
Delete