My how time flies no matter what one does!
Well, let’s see…
Yesterday, May 16th, our Lancaster Unitarian Universalist Church met with the Victorville Congregation for a nice Sunday Service and picnic at the Devil’s Punchbowl not too far from here – about a 45 minute drive, while it was halfway for everyone. I was a nice getaway while the weather was just as nice. The spot that was chosen for our service and picnic was real close to the parking lot, while also just a few feet – maybe about 20 – from the edge that overlooks the Punchbowl.
There were a lot of flowers in bloom, while I was able to take a picture of a Yucca plant (which grows up to be a Joshua Tree) that is going to be blooming in the next year more or less. I actually took a lot of digital pictures, digital footage, and 35mm photographs, which have yet to be developed and are sitting in front of me on my computer table. I got a lot of real nice shots, or at least I think they’re great, and many, if not all of them, are going to be used in one project or another.
When I arrived, though I stopped a few times and took some more pictures for a photo montage, I headed towards a couple of the members I recognized and saw where our area was set up. It wasn’t hard to notice it either, as there were a few of the folding chairs with the cushions that I had made set up marking our area. I took too much, and especially for the hike I did afterwards, but managed to have a good time still while getting quite a few pictures and footage! I took my MSI Wind Netbook since I was going to practice taking movies onto the SD Card and figured I’d be downloading the images and movies from the card to my computer each time I filled the card. Well, needless to say, I didn’t fill the card and could have gone without my Netbook laptop!
While driving up there, and especially on the one road going in and out, I had a wonderful feeling come over me – a feeling of ‘Peace’ and that it was meant to be that we were there! Especially for me! I did have a very peaceful feeling while all the emotions I’ve been dealing with over the past few weeks seemed to be gone, while I also felt like someone or several Spirits were holding me and comforting me. Sounds crazy for some of you while others will understand, but that’s what happened!
The service didn’t start for a while since folks were coming from different areas and as far as Victorville, with places in between, so I took the opportunity to take a lot of pictures! I hadn’t been in the mood or frame of mind of taking pictures at all for quite a while, although on a couple trips to Rosamond I did take some pictures and footage. The alfalfa and a few other crops that were being raised out in that distant part of Rosamond, while I also took some shots of the Tehachapi Mountains and footage of the farm equipment being used inspired me.
After the service was over and after we ate, we talked for a while as we enjoyed the openness and peace of the area, then along with five other folks, I decided to go for a hike, while I paid for it later! I planned on getting some good stills in both digital and film, while also taking some digital footage onto my SD Card and seeing how it worked so I could edit it and make a nice movie or documentary, and all turned out pretty good considering!
I started out following one gal from our church and Ross who lead the service, but not far down the trail and when some obnoxious and noisy kids were being loud, I decided to take the short trail to start so I could get away from those kids! That trail was real short though, but it did help me to avoid those noisy kids so when I took some footage I’d get the sounds of nature, which I did!
I was having a blast while feeling the pain as I hiked the trails, which were quite narrow at times and unnerving when having to look at a few drops that were straight down! I didn’t let them bother me though as I forged on while stopping in spots that varied in widths, while a few times I had to lean against the rocks behind me in order to try and steady my camcorder so I could get some good action shots, which were mostly of a waterfall that was in a crevice between two huge rocks or boulders. At one point I had to crawl under a fallen Pinion Pine tree that was still alive but straddling two boulders, one that shifted under its root system making it fall away from the mountainside and landing on the other boulder. Another point in the trail I had to take off my bags and set them on the upper part of the trail where it continued, then carefully climb up the ledge so I could continue. I remembered from a few years back when I went with one of my past professors in my Physical Geology class on a tour of the San Andreas Earthquake Fault that there was a nice step at the time, but it was gone! I had gone too far as well to turn around and head back from where I had come, though it did cross my mind, and especially since the ledge I had to climb to continue had a drop too close for comfort and it had to be at least a five hundred foot drop almost straight down!
When I was done and in pain from the hike, while not being use to it, I had met up with one of the workers and was told about the fallen tree and ledge. The fallen Pinion Pine was an act of nature; while the missing rocks or steps were the destruction of some youth thinking it was funny to mess up the trail for everyone else. I was also told that somehow they’d fix that spot since it was hard to maneuver and dangerous at the same time!
While somewhere about halfway along the trail one couple asked me if I had been on the other one and I said that I wanted to do that next, though my body said otherwise! I was then asked if I liked hiking in the dark. Hearing that made me realize that it was better for me to come back another day as I’d want to capture as many stills and footage as I could during the daylight hours, or early morning or coming to the end of the trail around Sunset. I had gotten a lot of footage and stills though and knew that there was no way I could handle another seven miles of trails, especially hearing that the other one was a lot of up and down while crossing riverbeds and valleys!
When I got home it was all I could do to change and try to relax while taking a long soak in the tub with the hottest water I could tolerate! When I got out I was still sore, while I was up and down about every three hours due to being so sore! I’d do it again though and will be, but not for at least a week!
Today, Monday, and my mother’s birthday, along with Friday and Saturday, I was multitasking or doing so much that I’d have to stop and think what I was doing or should do next! I was scanning some negatives I took years ago after some earthquakes and of the damage I photographed, while I was also sewing while my scanner was scanning the negatives. When each batch of negatives was done, I’d save them for use in a Photo Book or Coffee Table Book, as well as a Documentary movie. I was also trying to figure out how to use Pinnacle, which is a PC program for editing digital footage, but it has to be a certain type of footage that’s captured with an SD Card or written in PC language as an avi or Pinnacle won’t even read it without a plug-in that helps it to read any other format! I know, going over your head for a few of you, while some of you do understand!
As far as the balance of the days missing, I was in Rosamond again doing woodwork, while also relaxing from what I’m going through here, then the other two days doing mostly sewing all day long up to my usual time of realizing it’s late and time to go to bed!
