WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.220 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.220 --> 00:00:07.500 align:middle line:84% I think most of you probably read about the Cedric Dempsey 00:00:07.500 --> 00:00:13.800 align:middle line:84% cancer run, and I have found out that if organizations 00:00:13.800 --> 00:00:17.700 align:middle line:84% participate in the run, the non-profit organization 00:00:17.700 --> 00:00:21.000 align:middle line:84% will get 25% of the money they raise. 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:27.880 align:middle line:84% So the Poetry Center staff is going to participate. 00:00:27.880 --> 00:00:32.520 align:middle line:84% And we're asking if some of you will sign up 00:00:32.520 --> 00:00:37.020 align:middle line:84% to also participate for the Poetry Center and/or sign 00:00:37.020 --> 00:00:39.420 align:middle line:90% up or sign up to make pledges. 00:00:39.420 --> 00:00:42.750 align:middle line:84% There's a sheet that's going to be out on the refreshment table 00:00:42.750 --> 00:00:44.670 align:middle line:90% tonight. 00:00:44.670 --> 00:00:46.620 align:middle line:90% There's a 10K run. 00:00:46.620 --> 00:00:48.450 align:middle line:90% That's not for me, though. 00:00:48.450 --> 00:00:52.290 align:middle line:84% And then there's what they call the three mile Fun Run. 00:00:52.290 --> 00:00:56.490 align:middle line:84% And it says that you can walk or skate, 00:00:56.490 --> 00:00:59.940 align:middle line:90% so I'm planning to stroll. 00:00:59.940 --> 00:01:02.700 align:middle line:84% And I hope some of you will want to participate. 00:01:02.700 --> 00:01:06.240 align:middle line:90% 00:01:06.240 --> 00:01:09.200 align:middle line:84% Ila says we will run in traditional meters. 00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:14.700 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:14.700 --> 00:01:18.390 align:middle line:84% The student organization called among other things 00:01:18.390 --> 00:01:22.020 align:middle line:84% is continuing its series that it began last year. 00:01:22.020 --> 00:01:24.870 align:middle line:84% And their first reading will be Saturday night, 00:01:24.870 --> 00:01:28.830 align:middle line:84% November 7 with fiction and poetry readings 00:01:28.830 --> 00:01:32.700 align:middle line:84% by Karen Brennan and Tenney Nathanson. 00:01:32.700 --> 00:01:36.690 align:middle line:84% That will be at the Central Arts Collective, 250 East Congress 00:01:36.690 --> 00:01:39.510 align:middle line:90% Street, 8 o'clock. 00:01:39.510 --> 00:01:41.670 align:middle line:84% They'll have refreshments, and they will ask 00:01:41.670 --> 00:01:43.680 align:middle line:90% for donations but not a fee. 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:47.010 align:middle line:90% 00:01:47.010 --> 00:01:49.860 align:middle line:84% It's come to my attention that the new Poetry Center 00:01:49.860 --> 00:01:51.980 align:middle line:90% hours are a well kept secret. 00:01:51.980 --> 00:01:53.500 align:middle line:90% I'd like to share it with you. 00:01:53.500 --> 00:01:59.400 align:middle line:84% We are open now on Mondays through Thursday evenings 00:01:59.400 --> 00:02:00.630 align:middle line:90% until 9 o'clock. 00:02:00.630 --> 00:02:03.690 align:middle line:84% So from 9:00 in the morning until 9 o'clock 00:02:03.690 --> 00:02:06.030 align:middle line:84% except of course when there's a reading on Wednesday. 00:02:06.030 --> 00:02:08.340 align:middle line:90% We'll close at 7:00 then. 00:02:08.340 --> 00:02:11.400 align:middle line:84% So if you want a quiet time to read, 00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:13.245 align:middle line:84% come to the Poetry Center in the evenings. 00:02:13.245 --> 00:02:16.110 align:middle line:90% 00:02:16.110 --> 00:02:18.510 align:middle line:84% We've had a lot of people requesting 00:02:18.510 --> 00:02:21.138 align:middle line:84% to listen to the tapes from the early readings from this term. 00:02:21.138 --> 00:02:22.680 align:middle line:84% And they're all ready now if you want 00:02:22.680 --> 00:02:23.930 align:middle line:90% to come in to listen to tapes. 00:02:23.930 --> 00:02:27.540 align:middle line:90% 00:02:27.540 --> 00:02:31.320 align:middle line:84% Our next reading will be one week from tonight, November 11. 00:02:31.320 --> 00:02:34.590 align:middle line:84% That's a university holiday, but we're having reading anyway. 00:02:34.590 --> 00:02:39.150 align:middle line:84% And the reader is the novelist Harriet Doerr. 00:02:39.150 --> 00:02:40.920 align:middle line:84% She's written a beautiful novel called 00:02:40.920 --> 00:02:43.500 align:middle line:84% Stones for Ibarra, which is being made into a Hallmark 00:02:43.500 --> 00:02:47.282 align:middle line:84% Hall of Fame television film at Old Tucson right now. 00:02:47.282 --> 00:02:49.740 align:middle line:84% So we're very lucky to get Mrs. Doerr to come over and read 00:02:49.740 --> 00:02:51.930 align:middle line:90% for us. 00:02:51.930 --> 00:02:55.560 align:middle line:84% And then our last regular reading for the season 00:02:55.560 --> 00:02:57.810 align:middle line:90% will be two weeks from tonight. 00:02:57.810 --> 00:03:00.570 align:middle line:84% Six undergraduate students are reading in the University Art 00:03:00.570 --> 00:03:07.920 align:middle line:84% museum, Lolly Butler, Anne Heed, Harry Kressler, Kim Kuykendall, 00:03:07.920 --> 00:03:12.030 align:middle line:90% Kevin Lanoue, and Holly Welker. 00:03:12.030 --> 00:03:14.730 align:middle line:84% And we added another reading in cooperation 00:03:14.730 --> 00:03:20.460 align:middle line:84% with Women's Studies, the Southwest Center, 00:03:20.460 --> 00:03:25.260 align:middle line:84% and the American Indian Studies, and that's by the Navajo poet 00:03:25.260 --> 00:03:26.250 align:middle line:90% Luci Tapahonso. 00:03:26.250 --> 00:03:28.710 align:middle line:84% So that will be Friday afternoon, 00:03:28.710 --> 00:03:31.920 align:middle line:90% November 20th at 4 o'clock. 00:03:31.920 --> 00:03:34.350 align:middle line:84% If you got a newsletter, the announcement 00:03:34.350 --> 00:03:37.260 align:middle line:84% of Mrs. Tapahonso's reading is in there. 00:03:37.260 --> 00:03:46.460 align:middle line:90% 00:03:46.460 --> 00:03:48.380 align:middle line:84% Tonight's reading is made possible by a grant 00:03:48.380 --> 00:03:51.110 align:middle line:84% from the National Endowment for the Arts and from a grant 00:03:51.110 --> 00:03:53.480 align:middle line:84% from the University of Arizona's Southwest Center. 00:03:53.480 --> 00:03:56.270 align:middle line:90% 00:03:56.270 --> 00:03:59.180 align:middle line:84% Mrs. Zwinger will be at Rincon High School tomorrow afternoon 00:03:59.180 --> 00:04:04.190 align:middle line:84% at 3:30 in the library talking with students and teachers. 00:04:04.190 --> 00:04:06.530 align:middle line:84% And she will be at the Wilmot Public Library tomorrow 00:04:06.530 --> 00:04:10.610 align:middle line:84% night at 7:00 giving a general talk on writing 00:04:10.610 --> 00:04:12.080 align:middle line:90% entertaining questions. 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:14.780 align:middle line:84% Both of those sessions are free open to the public. 00:04:14.780 --> 00:04:17.399 align:middle line:90% 00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:20.089 align:middle line:84% When we first contacted Ann Zwinger, 00:04:20.089 --> 00:04:21.570 align:middle line:84% she said, "Why are you inviting me? 00:04:21.570 --> 00:04:23.743 align:middle line:90% I'm not a poet." 00:04:23.743 --> 00:04:25.910 align:middle line:84% And we said, "Because you're fine writer, and that's 00:04:25.910 --> 00:04:27.905 align:middle line:84% why we want to hear you read from your work." 00:04:27.905 --> 00:04:30.590 align:middle line:90% 00:04:30.590 --> 00:04:35.360 align:middle line:84% Her books are A Desert Country Near the Sea, 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:38.780 align:middle line:84% which is a natural history of the Cape region of Baja 00:04:38.780 --> 00:04:47.330 align:middle line:84% California with Edwin Teale, A Conscious Stillness, Wind 00:04:47.330 --> 00:04:52.580 align:middle line:84% in the Rock, which is the Canyon lands of southeastern Utah, 00:04:52.580 --> 00:04:56.960 align:middle line:84% Run River Run: A Naturalist's Journey Down One of the Great 00:04:56.960 --> 00:05:02.090 align:middle line:84% Rivers of the American West, and Land Above the Trees 00:05:02.090 --> 00:05:04.310 align:middle line:90% with Dr. Beatrice Willard. 00:05:04.310 --> 00:05:07.380 align:middle line:84% She's an illustrator as well as a writer. 00:05:07.380 --> 00:05:09.980 align:middle line:84% She holds degrees in art history, 00:05:09.980 --> 00:05:14.180 align:middle line:84% has served in naturalist in residence at Carleton College, 00:05:14.180 --> 00:05:18.560 align:middle line:84% and since 1982 has been lecturing at Colorado College. 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:20.750 align:middle line:84% She comes to us from Colorado Springs. 00:05:20.750 --> 00:05:23.450 align:middle line:84% I hope you'll stay after the reading to meet Ann Zwinger 00:05:23.450 --> 00:05:26.240 align:middle line:84% and have some punch and cookies with us. 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:26.780 align:middle line:90% Ann Zwinger. 00:05:26.780 --> 00:05:42.340 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:05:42.340 --> 00:05:44.920 align:middle line:90% I love the sound effects. 00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:46.180 align:middle line:90% Thank you for coming. 00:05:46.180 --> 00:05:49.900 align:middle line:90% 00:05:49.900 --> 00:05:54.190 align:middle line:84% When Lois said I was doing a reading tonight, 00:05:54.190 --> 00:05:57.620 align:middle line:90% I said, "What does that mean?" 00:05:57.620 --> 00:06:00.250 align:middle line:84% I have never done a reading before. 00:06:00.250 --> 00:06:04.570 align:middle line:84% And I must say, I'm leaning very heavily on Lois's advice 00:06:04.570 --> 00:06:07.300 align:middle line:84% and anything that goes wrong, you may blame her. 00:06:07.300 --> 00:06:10.300 align:middle line:84% Anything that goes right, you may thank me. 00:06:10.300 --> 00:06:11.980 align:middle line:90% [LAUGH] 00:06:11.980 --> 00:06:15.460 align:middle line:84% The only reading out loud of my own work that I've done 00:06:15.460 --> 00:06:17.740 align:middle line:90% is not my reading. 00:06:17.740 --> 00:06:21.040 align:middle line:84% When I wrote a book with Edwin Way Teale, 00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:25.900 align:middle line:84% he told me that Nellie, his wife of 60 some years, 00:06:25.900 --> 00:06:30.310 align:middle line:84% had read out loud every book he had written. 00:06:30.310 --> 00:06:32.890 align:middle line:90% And that's 30 some books. 00:06:32.890 --> 00:06:37.000 align:middle line:84% After he died, I went back and still go back to see Nellie, 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:40.870 align:middle line:84% and she reads large sections or as much as 00:06:40.870 --> 00:06:46.030 align:middle line:84% is possible of what I've written for publication. 00:06:46.030 --> 00:06:52.720 align:middle line:84% And it has proved to be one of the happiest of relationships 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:56.890 align:middle line:84% because hearing somebody else read what you've written, 00:06:56.890 --> 00:06:59.080 align:middle line:90% you hear all the burbles. 00:06:59.080 --> 00:07:01.700 align:middle line:84% You hear the things that flow easily. 00:07:01.700 --> 00:07:05.650 align:middle line:84% And if something flows easily verbally out loud 00:07:05.650 --> 00:07:08.030 align:middle line:90% it's easy to read. 00:07:08.030 --> 00:07:09.730 align:middle line:90% You can't do it yourself. 00:07:09.730 --> 00:07:11.590 align:middle line:84% It helps to hear somebody else do it. 00:07:11.590 --> 00:07:15.610 align:middle line:84% Anybody who wants criticism, get a warm body 00:07:15.610 --> 00:07:17.950 align:middle line:90% to read your work to you. 00:07:17.950 --> 00:07:22.120 align:middle line:84% All of a sudden, you see things that you hadn't seen before. 00:07:22.120 --> 00:07:25.330 align:middle line:84% You discover things that you wish you'd said, 00:07:25.330 --> 00:07:28.675 align:middle line:84% and you discover a lot of things you wish you hadn't said. 00:07:28.675 --> 00:07:31.390 align:middle line:90% 00:07:31.390 --> 00:07:35.740 align:middle line:84% In going over the books that I have with me tonight to read, 00:07:35.740 --> 00:07:38.170 align:middle line:84% I felt like that old show on television: 00:07:38.170 --> 00:07:42.490 align:middle line:84% will the real Ann Zwinger please stand up? 00:07:42.490 --> 00:07:45.340 align:middle line:84% It was a pleasure to read things I wouldn't change. 00:07:45.340 --> 00:07:48.340 align:middle line:84% It was unsettling to read things that I would like 00:07:48.340 --> 00:07:50.545 align:middle line:90% to have changed, still would. 00:07:50.545 --> 00:07:53.440 align:middle line:90% 00:07:53.440 --> 00:07:55.780 align:middle line:84% It was difficult to go back in time. 00:07:55.780 --> 00:08:00.250 align:middle line:84% I'm a child of the present and the future. 00:08:00.250 --> 00:08:01.990 align:middle line:84% In reading Beyond the Aspen Grove, 00:08:01.990 --> 00:08:07.180 align:middle line:84% which was my first book, as I said to Lois, 00:08:07.180 --> 00:08:08.650 align:middle line:90% I try to be courteous. 00:08:08.650 --> 00:08:12.280 align:middle line:84% But there is a whole gaggle of for lack of a better 00:08:12.280 --> 00:08:15.700 align:middle line:84% word, the little old ladies in tennis shoes who say to me, 00:08:15.700 --> 00:08:19.780 align:middle line:84% "We wish you would write another Beyond the Aspen Grove." 00:08:19.780 --> 00:08:22.280 align:middle line:90% I don't know the answer. 00:08:22.280 --> 00:08:23.380 align:middle line:90% It's impossible. 00:08:23.380 --> 00:08:24.880 align:middle line:90% You can never go back again. 00:08:24.880 --> 00:08:26.800 align:middle line:90% My children were that age. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:29.410 align:middle line:90% The place was the place it was. 00:08:29.410 --> 00:08:32.049 align:middle line:90% I knew nothing about writing. 00:08:32.049 --> 00:08:34.150 align:middle line:84% I was fortunate in having an agent who 00:08:34.150 --> 00:08:38.020 align:middle line:84% was an editor, fortunate in having an editor who was a city 00:08:38.020 --> 00:08:41.409 align:middle line:84% girl, as I said this afternoon, whose idea of wildlife 00:08:41.409 --> 00:08:45.010 align:middle line:84% was the pigeon on the windowsill at Random House. 00:08:45.010 --> 00:08:46.720 align:middle line:84% If I could explain something to her, 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:48.430 align:middle line:90% I could explain it to anybody. 00:08:48.430 --> 00:08:50.980 align:middle line:90% 00:08:50.980 --> 00:08:53.890 align:middle line:84% The passages that I'm going to read you from Beyond the Aspen 00:08:53.890 --> 00:08:59.050 align:middle line:84% Grove, one is the opening paragraph, which 00:08:59.050 --> 00:09:02.500 align:middle line:84% is what the agent read whom I think 00:09:02.500 --> 00:09:05.500 align:middle line:84% was interested in my doing the book. 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:11.050 align:middle line:84% And it was we had owned the land for a couple of years. 00:09:11.050 --> 00:09:13.300 align:middle line:84% It demanded that I keep a journal, 00:09:13.300 --> 00:09:17.350 align:middle line:84% and I'd never kept a journal in my life. 00:09:17.350 --> 00:09:19.040 align:middle line:90% I have to say I had not written. 00:09:19.040 --> 00:09:21.770 align:middle line:84% I'd done editing, but I had not written. 00:09:21.770 --> 00:09:25.510 align:middle line:84% And it's odd that this place in the mountains, this 00:09:25.510 --> 00:09:28.780 align:middle line:84% 40 acres northwest of Colorado Springs 00:09:28.780 --> 00:09:32.290 align:middle line:84% evoked some unknown, something that 00:09:32.290 --> 00:09:37.930 align:middle line:84% said, "This is a time that's precious and special." 00:09:37.930 --> 00:09:41.800 align:middle line:84% In fact, Edwin Way Teale wrote that nature writing 00:09:41.800 --> 00:09:44.950 align:middle line:84% is like preserving a fly in amber, and it's a lovely quote. 00:09:44.950 --> 00:09:48.040 align:middle line:84% And I will come to that in A Desert Country. 00:09:48.040 --> 00:09:51.370 align:middle line:84% But Beyond the Aspen Grove opens: 00:09:51.370 --> 00:09:53.980 align:middle line:84% As many times as I have opened this gate, 00:09:53.980 --> 00:09:56.620 align:middle line:84% there is always the sense of coming home, 00:09:56.620 --> 00:09:58.600 align:middle line:90% a feeling of belonging. 00:09:58.600 --> 00:10:01.840 align:middle line:84% No matter that we spend only part of our year here, 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:04.630 align:middle line:84% this wild mountain land is home in a way 00:10:04.630 --> 00:10:07.450 align:middle line:84% that no city house could ever be. 00:10:07.450 --> 00:10:10.480 align:middle line:84% The familiar vistas are framed through the gate, always 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:13.480 align:middle line:90% constant, yet always changing. 00:10:13.480 --> 00:10:15.580 align:middle line:84% The gate creaks as I walk it open, 00:10:15.580 --> 00:10:20.260 align:middle line:84% and I unconsciously note the progress of the season. 00:10:20.260 --> 00:10:23.680 align:middle line:84% The rough notched curve of the meadow, the sentinel Ponderosa 00:10:23.680 --> 00:10:27.280 align:middle line:84% pines and Douglas firs, the vast stretch of sky 00:10:27.280 --> 00:10:28.900 align:middle line:90% are always there. 00:10:28.900 --> 00:10:31.000 align:middle line:84% But where there was snow last week, 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:34.390 align:middle line:84% there is today a delicate pasque flower so pale 00:10:34.390 --> 00:10:37.030 align:middle line:84% as to seem formed of snow crystals. 00:10:37.030 --> 00:10:39.010 align:middle line:84% Where the meadow was sere and bleak, 00:10:39.010 --> 00:10:43.630 align:middle line:84% bearded with dry grasses, today wild candy tuft and early 00:10:43.630 --> 00:10:46.420 align:middle line:90% daisy sprig the returning green. 00:10:46.420 --> 00:10:49.090 align:middle line:84% Or in the warming sunshine of summer, 00:10:49.090 --> 00:10:52.000 align:middle line:84% the magenta and silver green Colorado local wheat 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:54.580 align:middle line:84% is in full bloom in the middle of the road 00:10:54.580 --> 00:10:58.270 align:middle line:84% like Thoreau's flower between the wagon tracks. 00:10:58.270 --> 00:11:01.300 align:middle line:84% Or where there was a meadow ablaze with purple asters, 00:11:01.300 --> 00:11:04.450 align:middle line:90% there's now snow a foot deep. 00:11:04.450 --> 00:11:06.820 align:middle line:84% This land is a place of all seasons. 00:11:06.820 --> 00:11:10.990 align:middle line:84% For even in winter, there is a promise of spring and in spring 00:11:10.990 --> 00:11:12.850 align:middle line:90% the foretaste of summer. 00:11:12.850 --> 00:11:16.840 align:middle line:84% The white of snow becomes the white of summer clouds. 00:11:16.840 --> 00:11:19.450 align:middle line:84% The resonant green of spruce becomes the green head 00:11:19.450 --> 00:11:20.860 align:middle line:90% of drake mallard. 00:11:20.860 --> 00:11:23.380 align:middle line:84% The gray of rock and lichen endures in the gray 00:11:23.380 --> 00:11:25.750 align:middle line:90% of lowering winter skies. 00:11:25.750 --> 00:11:28.120 align:middle line:84% The same orange red of Indian paintbrush 00:11:28.120 --> 00:11:31.030 align:middle line:84% borrows the blackbird's wings and stains 00:11:31.030 --> 00:11:33.070 align:middle line:90% the western tanager's head. 00:11:33.070 --> 00:11:36.400 align:middle line:84% Here, part of each season is contained in every other. 00:11:36.400 --> 00:11:40.060 align:middle line:84% The tight woven knowledge from all our yesterdays at this land 00:11:40.060 --> 00:11:44.410 align:middle line:84% is held in the stern simplicity of tree and sky 00:11:44.410 --> 00:11:47.980 align:middle line:84% and flower and rock, a certainty of tomorrow. 00:11:47.980 --> 00:11:51.340 align:middle line:90% 00:11:51.340 --> 00:11:54.040 align:middle line:84% The theme of home is one that I discover 00:11:54.040 --> 00:11:56.935 align:middle line:90% today runs through my work. 00:11:56.935 --> 00:12:03.240 align:middle line:90% 00:12:03.240 --> 00:12:06.300 align:middle line:84% One of the things that I learned in writing this book 00:12:06.300 --> 00:12:09.330 align:middle line:84% was about the small creatures having grown up 00:12:09.330 --> 00:12:14.340 align:middle line:84% as a kid who hated camp, I did really some fantastic creative 00:12:14.340 --> 00:12:17.580 align:middle line:84% writing at the ages of eight through 15 00:12:17.580 --> 00:12:21.540 align:middle line:84% trying to persuade my mother of the numerous ails and ailments 00:12:21.540 --> 00:12:26.490 align:middle line:84% that I'd come up with so I could go home from camp. 00:12:26.490 --> 00:12:29.490 align:middle line:84% One of the things I hated particularly was insects. 00:12:29.490 --> 00:12:32.280 align:middle line:84% That I have since become an amateur entomologist 00:12:32.280 --> 00:12:36.450 align:middle line:84% may say something for early upbringing. 00:12:36.450 --> 00:12:39.120 align:middle line:84% Although I may have started out early in the morning 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:41.340 align:middle line:84% with definite plans to go further afield, 00:12:41.340 --> 00:12:43.350 align:middle line:84% it is simply too much of a temptation 00:12:43.350 --> 00:12:45.450 align:middle line:90% to stop and watch the ants. 00:12:45.450 --> 00:12:49.470 align:middle line:84% They cope with such tremendous burdens dragging pieces of food 00:12:49.470 --> 00:12:53.160 align:middle line:84% as large as they are over log sized pine needles and around 00:12:53.160 --> 00:12:55.890 align:middle line:84% skyscraper mushrooms poking and pushing 00:12:55.890 --> 00:12:58.620 align:middle line:84% with such dedicated persistence that I, 00:12:58.620 --> 00:13:00.960 align:middle line:84% who complain about carrying wood for the stoves, 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:02.830 align:middle line:90% feel like a sluggard. 00:13:02.830 --> 00:13:05.550 align:middle line:84% Often, the ant I watch is yards from home. 00:13:05.550 --> 00:13:07.710 align:middle line:84% At leaving the nest, the ant receives 00:13:07.710 --> 00:13:10.920 align:middle line:84% the image of the sun at a point on its retina. 00:13:10.920 --> 00:13:13.950 align:middle line:84% By keeping the image in the same place as it travels, 00:13:13.950 --> 00:13:16.200 align:middle line:90% it manages a straight line. 00:13:16.200 --> 00:13:18.240 align:middle line:84% Like Hansel and Gretel, it lays down 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:22.320 align:middle line:84% a trail for the return journey, a path of formic acid, which it 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:24.840 align:middle line:90% can smell through its antennae. 00:13:24.840 --> 00:13:27.120 align:middle line:84% I draw a finger across the soil in front 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:30.240 align:middle line:84% of the ant destroying the continuity of the smell path. 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:32.820 align:middle line:84% The ant pokes about probing with its antenna 00:13:32.820 --> 00:13:36.090 align:middle line:84% until it stumbles on the homeward way. 00:13:36.090 --> 00:13:40.740 align:middle line:84% Some hills are almost a yard across and half a yard wide. 00:13:40.740 --> 00:13:43.770 align:middle line:84% Pellets of excavated earth formed cone-shaped mounds 00:13:43.770 --> 00:13:45.930 align:middle line:90% surrounding the nest entrance. 00:13:45.930 --> 00:13:50.070 align:middle line:84% These hills are inhabited by members of a species of formica 00:13:50.070 --> 00:13:53.040 align:middle line:84% who make their passageways near the surface burrowing 00:13:53.040 --> 00:13:57.360 align:middle line:84% deeper in winter to cluster in a compact, heat conserving ball. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:00.300 align:middle line:84% Mound building is typical of western ants. 00:14:00.300 --> 00:14:03.330 align:middle line:84% The orienting of the hill entrance toward the greatest 00:14:03.330 --> 00:14:06.000 align:middle line:84% amount of instant sunlight utilizes all 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:07.950 align:middle line:90% the available solar heating. 00:14:07.950 --> 00:14:10.830 align:middle line:84% A glance shows that none are built on the opposite heavily 00:14:10.830 --> 00:14:12.660 align:middle line:90% shaded slope. 00:14:12.660 --> 00:14:14.490 align:middle line:84% Banding together as a colony helps 00:14:14.490 --> 00:14:17.730 align:middle line:84% to assure sufficient food since all members contribute 00:14:17.730 --> 00:14:19.530 align:middle line:90% to the food supply. 00:14:19.530 --> 00:14:21.480 align:middle line:84% The social organization of a colony 00:14:21.480 --> 00:14:24.630 align:middle line:84% gives ants greater efficiency and even control 00:14:24.630 --> 00:14:27.510 align:middle line:84% over other insects or situations which 00:14:27.510 --> 00:14:29.730 align:middle line:90% might otherwise destroy them. 00:14:29.730 --> 00:14:32.940 align:middle line:84% In each colony there are several egg laying females. 00:14:32.940 --> 00:14:35.400 align:middle line:84% The first eggs hatch into sterile workers 00:14:35.400 --> 00:14:37.590 align:middle line:90% fed on the saliva of the queen. 00:14:37.590 --> 00:14:40.230 align:middle line:84% The worker caste as with bees seems 00:14:40.230 --> 00:14:44.190 align:middle line:84% to result from an inadequacy of protein during larval life. 00:14:44.190 --> 00:14:46.470 align:middle line:84% The stratification of a caste system 00:14:46.470 --> 00:14:50.430 align:middle line:84% engenders a high degree of sterility. 00:14:50.430 --> 00:14:52.890 align:middle line:84% While watching the ants clambering around the hill out 00:14:52.890 --> 00:14:56.070 align:middle line:84% of the corner of my eye, I see a tiny drift of sawdust 00:14:56.070 --> 00:14:59.670 align:middle line:84% falling out of the bottom of a large log. 00:14:59.670 --> 00:15:00.750 align:middle line:90% That needed a comma. 00:15:00.750 --> 00:15:03.150 align:middle line:84% That should have been: while watching the ants climb 00:15:03.150 --> 00:15:05.430 align:middle line:84% clambering around the hill, comma, 00:15:05.430 --> 00:15:07.170 align:middle line:90% out of the corner of my eye. 00:15:07.170 --> 00:15:09.600 align:middle line:84% The mound is only an inch or so high but tiny 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:12.570 align:middle line:84% fragments of wood drop with hourglass persistency 00:15:12.570 --> 00:15:13.560 align:middle line:90% on the ground. 00:15:13.560 --> 00:15:15.690 align:middle line:84% The large black carpenter ants are also 00:15:15.690 --> 00:15:17.730 align:middle line:84% at work in the early morning warmth. 00:15:17.730 --> 00:15:21.300 align:middle line:84% They operate on old logs on which the bark is loosened 00:15:21.300 --> 00:15:23.640 align:middle line:90% but the wood still fairly firm. 00:15:23.640 --> 00:15:25.770 align:middle line:84% Unlike termites, they do not eat the wood, 00:15:25.770 --> 00:15:27.660 align:middle line:84% they excavate for living quarters, 00:15:27.660 --> 00:15:29.850 align:middle line:84% but carry each bit out to the entry, 00:15:29.850 --> 00:15:31.560 align:middle line:90% dropping it on the ground. 00:15:31.560 --> 00:15:34.320 align:middle line:84% They feed on nectar and must find a heady harvest 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:37.050 align:middle line:90% in this small valley. 00:15:37.050 --> 00:15:40.440 align:middle line:84% Watching the peregrinations and excavations of the ants 00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:44.040 align:middle line:84% reminds me of André Fabre, an 18th century 00:15:44.040 --> 00:15:47.130 align:middle line:84% French entomologist and teacher whose fondest hope 00:15:47.130 --> 00:15:49.170 align:middle line:84% was to own a parcel of land where 00:15:49.170 --> 00:15:51.510 align:middle line:90% he could observe his insects. 00:15:51.510 --> 00:15:54.480 align:middle line:84% He made up for his terrible personal poverty 00:15:54.480 --> 00:15:57.240 align:middle line:84% with richness of observation and insight. 00:15:57.240 --> 00:16:01.380 align:middle line:84% He wrote a delightful account of ants over a century ago. 00:16:01.380 --> 00:16:04.140 align:middle line:84% And the tiny tireless foragers of the forest 00:16:04.140 --> 00:16:06.885 align:middle line:84% have meaning for me because of what he wrote. 00:16:06.885 --> 00:16:13.000 align:middle line:90% 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:17.680 align:middle line:84% Beginnings are important, but perhaps endings are more so. 00:16:17.680 --> 00:16:23.020 align:middle line:84% It's a tying up, a tying off, and a tithing. 00:16:23.020 --> 00:16:25.900 align:middle line:84% Trying to write an ending is the easiest part 00:16:25.900 --> 00:16:27.595 align:middle line:90% of the book and the hardest. 00:16:27.595 --> 00:16:30.460 align:middle line:90% 00:16:30.460 --> 00:16:35.710 align:middle line:84% I took a rock that was out from shore in the lake as a place 00:16:35.710 --> 00:16:40.330 align:middle line:84% to sit and see what went on all around that 00:16:40.330 --> 00:16:45.430 align:middle line:84% summed up this land as I had come to know it. 00:16:45.430 --> 00:16:47.800 align:middle line:84% We have tried to understand the patterns of the land 00:16:47.800 --> 00:16:49.450 align:middle line:90% at constant friendship. 00:16:49.450 --> 00:16:53.320 align:middle line:84% We have hoped to change it as little as possible. 00:16:53.320 --> 00:16:56.380 align:middle line:84% After all, we are only visitors to this mountain land. 00:16:56.380 --> 00:16:58.630 align:middle line:84% But to keep this mountain land untouched 00:16:58.630 --> 00:17:00.970 align:middle line:84% has meant that we have had to partially fence it 00:17:00.970 --> 00:17:04.810 align:middle line:84% with a fence almost as much psychological as physically. 00:17:04.810 --> 00:17:06.790 align:middle line:90% And this seems incongruous. 00:17:06.790 --> 00:17:09.220 align:middle line:84% Seems to be the only way in which wilderness lands can 00:17:09.220 --> 00:17:10.329 align:middle line:90% be saved. 00:17:10.329 --> 00:17:12.190 align:middle line:84% Only within the periphery of the fence 00:17:12.190 --> 00:17:16.210 align:middle line:84% is there time to learn, to understand, and to cherish. 00:17:16.210 --> 00:17:18.520 align:middle line:84% My interest in this vast world of nature 00:17:18.520 --> 00:17:21.609 align:middle line:84% began when we came to this land with the finding 00:17:21.609 --> 00:17:25.060 align:middle line:84% of a new world, a sense of discovery, a sharing. 00:17:25.060 --> 00:17:27.730 align:middle line:84% But somewhere in the learning came commitment. 00:17:27.730 --> 00:17:30.400 align:middle line:84% The realization that in the understanding 00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:33.310 align:middle line:84% of this natural world comes the maintenance of it, 00:17:33.310 --> 00:17:37.600 align:middle line:84% that with knowledge comes responsibility. 00:17:37.600 --> 00:17:40.030 align:middle line:84% The late asters and the wild chrysanthemums 00:17:40.030 --> 00:17:43.150 align:middle line:84% bend and twist in the sharp freshening wind. 00:17:43.150 --> 00:17:44.920 align:middle line:84% Fire weeds' cottony seeds skitter 00:17:44.920 --> 00:17:48.760 align:middle line:84% across the lake's surface, diagramming the darting gusts. 00:17:48.760 --> 00:17:51.670 align:middle line:84% The chilliness of the wind stiffens my hands and tugs 00:17:51.670 --> 00:17:54.640 align:middle line:84% at the pages of the paper so I cannot draw. 00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:58.030 align:middle line:84% An aster seed blows into the lake joining a fleet of aspen 00:17:58.030 --> 00:17:59.350 align:middle line:90% leaves. 00:17:59.350 --> 00:18:01.720 align:middle line:84% Cinquefoil, geranium, and strawberry leaves 00:18:01.720 --> 00:18:04.060 align:middle line:90% are burnished bronze red. 00:18:04.060 --> 00:18:08.200 align:middle line:84% On the south shore, a few aspens hold the last golden leaves. 00:18:08.200 --> 00:18:11.920 align:middle line:84% The rhythm of their quavering is doubled to semi quavers 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:13.750 align:middle line:90% by the lake's reflections. 00:18:13.750 --> 00:18:16.390 align:middle line:84% The year is on its way to ending. 00:18:16.390 --> 00:18:20.410 align:middle line:84% It is time to go back, light the wood stove, and begin supper. 00:18:20.410 --> 00:18:23.680 align:middle line:90% 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:26.110 align:middle line:84% When Beyond the Aspen Grove first came, 00:18:26.110 --> 00:18:27.340 align:middle line:90% two books are published. 00:18:27.340 --> 00:18:29.560 align:middle line:84% One goes to-- your editor gets both of them 00:18:29.560 --> 00:18:32.410 align:middle line:84% and being kindhearted, he puts you out of your misery 00:18:32.410 --> 00:18:34.600 align:middle line:90% and sends you the second one. 00:18:34.600 --> 00:18:37.000 align:middle line:90% It came in the afternoon mail. 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:39.970 align:middle line:84% My youngest daughter had just come home from school. 00:18:39.970 --> 00:18:43.420 align:middle line:90% The telephone rang. 00:18:43.420 --> 00:18:47.710 align:middle line:84% I answered it-- she answered it, and she came back 00:18:47.710 --> 00:18:49.960 align:middle line:90% and said it's for you mom. 00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:52.300 align:middle line:84% I had set the book down on the table. 00:18:52.300 --> 00:18:55.930 align:middle line:84% She had a glass of grape juice, and she put it on the book. 00:18:55.930 --> 00:18:58.600 align:middle line:90% I came out and I said, "Oh!" 00:18:58.600 --> 00:19:03.790 align:middle line:84% And she looked at it, and she said, "Oh Mom, I'm sorry. 00:19:03.790 --> 00:19:06.430 align:middle line:84% I was afraid it would leave a mark on the table." 00:19:06.430 --> 00:19:09.460 align:middle line:90% [LAUGH] 00:19:09.460 --> 00:19:12.790 align:middle line:84% That jacket is my most, which incidentally, 00:19:12.790 --> 00:19:16.030 align:middle line:84% was drawn at 3:00 AM in a New York hotel room, 00:19:16.030 --> 00:19:18.370 align:middle line:84% that jacket is my most prized possession. 00:19:18.370 --> 00:19:20.320 align:middle line:90% It says where my priorities are. 00:19:20.320 --> 00:19:24.840 align:middle line:90% 00:19:24.840 --> 00:19:28.150 align:middle line:84% The next book was a book on the alpine tundra of the United 00:19:28.150 --> 00:19:30.090 align:middle line:90% States. 00:19:30.090 --> 00:19:33.570 align:middle line:84% The third book, you're not supposed to have favorites, 00:19:33.570 --> 00:19:38.250 align:middle line:84% but this I think probably is mine. 00:19:38.250 --> 00:19:43.230 align:middle line:84% There is a family feeling still in it, but it's a difference. 00:19:43.230 --> 00:19:44.670 align:middle line:90% My family changed. 00:19:44.670 --> 00:19:47.490 align:middle line:84% My children were growing up, going away from home. 00:19:47.490 --> 00:19:53.430 align:middle line:84% I had time to do things that I had not had before. 00:19:53.430 --> 00:19:55.410 align:middle line:84% The children were there but in a different way, 00:19:55.410 --> 00:19:59.310 align:middle line:84% and they weren't long and were no longer children. 00:19:59.310 --> 00:20:01.950 align:middle line:84% And this book marks my growing up in a way, 00:20:01.950 --> 00:20:04.740 align:middle line:84% and perhaps that's what people don't like, 00:20:04.740 --> 00:20:07.260 align:middle line:84% that there is life after Tuesday's bridge club, 00:20:07.260 --> 00:20:10.830 align:middle line:84% and it's more fearsome than a four no-trump doubled redoubled 00:20:10.830 --> 00:20:11.475 align:middle line:90% and not made. 00:20:11.475 --> 00:20:14.470 align:middle line:90% 00:20:14.470 --> 00:20:18.330 align:middle line:84% Run River Run made me conversant with living out of doors. 00:20:18.330 --> 00:20:21.360 align:middle line:84% One week, I had three weeks on the river. 00:20:21.360 --> 00:20:23.670 align:middle line:84% When I wasn't ready to get off, I 00:20:23.670 --> 00:20:26.490 align:middle line:84% knew that something had happened. 00:20:26.490 --> 00:20:29.670 align:middle line:84% This book also has back notes, documentation, 00:20:29.670 --> 00:20:33.780 align:middle line:84% and a seriousness of purpose, which I don't think 00:20:33.780 --> 00:20:36.480 align:middle line:84% was there in Beyond the Aspen Grove. 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:40.680 align:middle line:84% I don't know what the change was, why it was, 00:20:40.680 --> 00:20:44.190 align:middle line:84% and frankly, I'm not sure I will ever 00:20:44.190 --> 00:20:48.240 align:middle line:84% know because I haven't really taken time to think it through. 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:51.300 align:middle line:84% I'm not sure I really care or want to know. 00:20:51.300 --> 00:20:53.880 align:middle line:90% 00:20:53.880 --> 00:20:56.040 align:middle line:84% What's important to me is to keep on working, 00:20:56.040 --> 00:20:58.920 align:middle line:84% to stretch and to learn and to grow. 00:20:58.920 --> 00:21:02.550 align:middle line:84% And Run River Run taught me that. 00:21:02.550 --> 00:21:04.410 align:middle line:84% And that's how I tend to live my life. 00:21:04.410 --> 00:21:07.350 align:middle line:90% 00:21:07.350 --> 00:21:10.830 align:middle line:84% Spare me the self-examination and the introspection. 00:21:10.830 --> 00:21:14.370 align:middle line:84% That's what makes writing a lousy business. 00:21:14.370 --> 00:21:18.810 align:middle line:84% I picked a couple selections from the upper river 00:21:18.810 --> 00:21:21.570 align:middle line:84% and a couple from the lower river 00:21:21.570 --> 00:21:23.400 align:middle line:84% because the river is so different. 00:21:23.400 --> 00:21:25.950 align:middle line:90% 00:21:25.950 --> 00:21:28.350 align:middle line:84% The upper river is a clear running trout stream. 00:21:28.350 --> 00:21:33.780 align:middle line:84% The lower river is a wide, brown silt laden smooth river. 00:21:33.780 --> 00:21:37.710 align:middle line:84% This is up north of Pinedale, Wyoming. 00:21:37.710 --> 00:21:41.910 align:middle line:84% In smooth water, the bowman is no more than a galley slave. 00:21:41.910 --> 00:21:44.460 align:middle line:84% This is a canoe, but in rapids to be in the bows, 00:21:44.460 --> 00:21:46.920 align:middle line:84% to be dripping wet, involved in more action 00:21:46.920 --> 00:21:48.720 align:middle line:90% than there is time to react to. 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:50.790 align:middle line:84% In running rapids, the object is to keep 00:21:50.790 --> 00:21:53.580 align:middle line:84% the boat parallel with whatever current it runs in. 00:21:53.580 --> 00:21:55.530 align:middle line:84% And the only way to maintain control 00:21:55.530 --> 00:21:58.170 align:middle line:84% is to go faster or slower than the current. 00:21:58.170 --> 00:22:01.530 align:middle line:84% The first stroke not to learn for river rapids 00:22:01.530 --> 00:22:02.880 align:middle line:90% is the forward stroke. 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:06.780 align:middle line:84% For this only impels the canoe into bigger trouble quicker. 00:22:06.780 --> 00:22:09.990 align:middle line:84% The rush of the current itself adding enough acceleration 00:22:09.990 --> 00:22:13.050 align:middle line:84% into disaster without helping it along. 00:22:13.050 --> 00:22:15.510 align:middle line:84% The most important strokes are the backstroke 00:22:15.510 --> 00:22:19.140 align:middle line:84% and two sideways ones called a draw and a pry. 00:22:19.140 --> 00:22:21.240 align:middle line:84% With a draw, the paddle is put out directly 00:22:21.240 --> 00:22:24.360 align:middle line:84% to the side of the boat, blade parallel to the gunwales, 00:22:24.360 --> 00:22:26.340 align:middle line:84% and drawn in flat toward the canoe. 00:22:26.340 --> 00:22:28.200 align:middle line:84% It pulls water beneath the canoe, 00:22:28.200 --> 00:22:29.670 align:middle line:84% and the bow slips toward the side 00:22:29.670 --> 00:22:31.710 align:middle line:90% upon which the draw is made. 00:22:31.710 --> 00:22:33.870 align:middle line:90% A pry accomplishes the opposite. 00:22:33.870 --> 00:22:36.510 align:middle line:84% Neither is natural movement, and in practice, I 00:22:36.510 --> 00:22:39.450 align:middle line:84% add more water to the canoe than I do direction. 00:22:39.450 --> 00:22:42.900 align:middle line:90% 00:22:42.900 --> 00:22:46.320 align:middle line:84% In a rock garden rapids such as we prefer to prepare to run, 00:22:46.320 --> 00:22:48.540 align:middle line:90% ideally the bow spots the rocks. 00:22:48.540 --> 00:22:50.490 align:middle line:90% The stern often cannot see. 00:22:50.490 --> 00:22:53.820 align:middle line:84% Draws or prys to avoid them with a nicety of judgment. 00:22:53.820 --> 00:22:56.490 align:middle line:84% For a vast displacement skews the canoe about, 00:22:56.490 --> 00:22:58.740 align:middle line:84% making it vulnerable to being caught sideways 00:22:58.740 --> 00:23:03.360 align:middle line:84% in the current, at which point the river makes a decision. 00:23:03.360 --> 00:23:06.960 align:middle line:84% At this moment, the canoe looks very frangible. 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:11.340 align:middle line:84% And I wish I were back upstream reading 00:23:11.340 --> 00:23:14.280 align:middle line:90% about running rapids in a book. 00:23:14.280 --> 00:23:16.890 align:middle line:84% The penalty for hanging up on one of these rocks 00:23:16.890 --> 00:23:18.450 align:middle line:90% is a capsize. 00:23:18.450 --> 00:23:21.000 align:middle line:84% There have been times on the river when I have thought 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:25.470 align:middle line:84% a good capsize was quote, "writer's experience." 00:23:25.470 --> 00:23:28.620 align:middle line:84% But when I actually confront this whitewater, 00:23:28.620 --> 00:23:32.520 align:middle line:90% self-preservation comes first. 00:23:32.520 --> 00:23:34.530 align:middle line:84% These rocks look like bone breakers. 00:23:34.530 --> 00:23:36.780 align:middle line:84% I don't want to lose my duffel or my drawing 00:23:36.780 --> 00:23:38.850 align:middle line:84% pads or my notebook or see the paddle 00:23:38.850 --> 00:23:41.010 align:middle line:90% splinter or the canoe smashed. 00:23:41.010 --> 00:23:43.590 align:middle line:84% There are whitewater canoes with watertight aprons, 00:23:43.590 --> 00:23:46.320 align:middle line:84% but we are running in a standard open canoe that 00:23:46.320 --> 00:23:49.080 align:middle line:84% can ship large amounts of water, immediately rendering 00:23:49.080 --> 00:23:51.360 align:middle line:90% it cumbersome and maneuverable. 00:23:51.360 --> 00:23:54.640 align:middle line:84% Mathematically, in a 10-mile-per-hour current, 00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:59.190 align:middle line:84% which is a good fast rapid, the force broadside on a canoe hung 00:23:59.190 --> 00:24:02.580 align:middle line:84% up on a rock can be up to 10,000 pounds. 00:24:02.580 --> 00:24:05.220 align:middle line:84% The swiftness of a flip is incredible, quicker 00:24:05.220 --> 00:24:07.440 align:middle line:90% than one's mind can react. 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:10.080 align:middle line:84% No amount of intellectual awe at big figures 00:24:10.080 --> 00:24:12.540 align:middle line:84% prepares me for the emotional instantaneous 00:24:12.540 --> 00:24:15.450 align:middle line:90% of that force in its power. 00:24:15.450 --> 00:24:17.250 align:middle line:84% More apprehensive than experienced, 00:24:17.250 --> 00:24:20.400 align:middle line:84% more over-reactive than precise, I miscalculate. 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:23.850 align:middle line:84% The bow barely ticks a monster rock, monstrous rock 00:24:23.850 --> 00:24:26.490 align:middle line:84% but sufficient to break our controlled forward motion, 00:24:26.490 --> 00:24:29.370 align:middle line:84% and the canoe swings broadside against it 00:24:29.370 --> 00:24:32.070 align:middle line:84% with a ferocity that nearly throws me out of the boat. 00:24:32.070 --> 00:24:34.800 align:middle line:84% Water piles up against the boat from upstream. 00:24:34.800 --> 00:24:36.840 align:middle line:84% Pressure surges against the hull. 00:24:36.840 --> 00:24:41.130 align:middle line:84% The canoe hangs there tilted, alternate wedging tighter 00:24:41.130 --> 00:24:44.670 align:middle line:84% and rocking loose, water rushing too fast and too deep for me 00:24:44.670 --> 00:24:47.820 align:middle line:84% to be able to step out into the stream. 00:24:47.820 --> 00:24:50.250 align:middle line:84% Why we do not capsize I will never know. 00:24:50.250 --> 00:24:51.840 align:middle line:84% Perhaps it is because the canoe is 00:24:51.840 --> 00:24:54.600 align:middle line:84% loaded, giving it a stability that the lighter one does not 00:24:54.600 --> 00:24:55.140 align:middle line:90% have. 00:24:55.140 --> 00:24:57.960 align:middle line:84% But mostly it's because of Perry who keeps his head 00:24:57.960 --> 00:25:00.570 align:middle line:84% and does precisely the right thing at precisely 00:25:00.570 --> 00:25:02.730 align:middle line:90% the right moment. 00:25:02.730 --> 00:25:03.990 align:middle line:90% He pivots the boat. 00:25:03.990 --> 00:25:06.060 align:middle line:84% We slip free and ferry it ashore. 00:25:06.060 --> 00:25:09.540 align:middle line:84% I'm trembling so hard I can barely crawl out of the canoe. 00:25:09.540 --> 00:25:12.000 align:middle line:84% But running whitewater is like riding a horse. 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:14.730 align:middle line:84% If you fall off, you better get right back on. 00:25:14.730 --> 00:25:17.280 align:middle line:84% The water for the rest of the morning is fast moving, 00:25:17.280 --> 00:25:20.410 align:middle line:84% but the rocks are neither so large nor so close together. 00:25:20.410 --> 00:25:22.410 align:middle line:84% The slope of the channel not so steep 00:25:22.410 --> 00:25:25.150 align:middle line:84% and the water not too deep to stand in if need be. 00:25:25.150 --> 00:25:27.510 align:middle line:84% It's good running, great for confidence. 00:25:27.510 --> 00:25:29.610 align:middle line:84% I can see the rocks pillowing up in front 00:25:29.610 --> 00:25:31.140 align:middle line:90% of bouncing back waves. 00:25:31.140 --> 00:25:33.030 align:middle line:84% The rhythm of manipulating the bow 00:25:33.030 --> 00:25:35.670 align:middle line:84% becomes an elation as the canoe skims by easily 00:25:35.670 --> 00:25:37.650 align:middle line:90% and safely, rock after rock. 00:25:37.650 --> 00:25:39.840 align:middle line:84% As we swing close to the bank, a mallard hen 00:25:39.840 --> 00:25:43.110 align:middle line:84% springs out followed by three golden tan ducklings that 00:25:43.110 --> 00:25:45.600 align:middle line:84% rock and lurch downstream in an effort 00:25:45.600 --> 00:25:46.950 align:middle line:90% to keep up with their mother. 00:25:46.950 --> 00:25:49.800 align:middle line:84% And I don't know whether I'm laughing at them or just 00:25:49.800 --> 00:25:52.200 align:middle line:84% for the relief of not having capsized 00:25:52.200 --> 00:25:54.450 align:middle line:84% or the joy of being on this river, 00:25:54.450 --> 00:25:58.980 align:middle line:90% this glorious beautiful river. 00:25:58.980 --> 00:26:01.920 align:middle line:90% But all is not fun and games. 00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:03.720 align:middle line:90% Then the wind hits. 00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:06.570 align:middle line:84% Late afternoon sunlight glares off the water. 00:26:06.570 --> 00:26:08.820 align:middle line:84% The flat surface seems to form a suction 00:26:08.820 --> 00:26:11.580 align:middle line:84% on the bottom of the canoe and it's difficult to paddle. 00:26:11.580 --> 00:26:13.560 align:middle line:84% Not only does the wind catch the canoe, 00:26:13.560 --> 00:26:15.510 align:middle line:84% but when the wind is against the current, 00:26:15.510 --> 00:26:18.930 align:middle line:84% the main velocity of the river is deeper beneath the surface 00:26:18.930 --> 00:26:22.620 align:middle line:84% and therefore of less help just when needed most. 00:26:22.620 --> 00:26:25.860 align:middle line:84% My eyes feel like two burnt holes in a blanket. 00:26:25.860 --> 00:26:28.020 align:middle line:84% It's an old expression of my mother's. 00:26:28.020 --> 00:26:31.020 align:middle line:84% I wear my hat at an angle Maurice Chevalier would have 00:26:31.020 --> 00:26:34.110 align:middle line:84% envied in order to block the low slanting sun rays, 00:26:34.110 --> 00:26:36.390 align:middle line:84% but I cannot keep the sun off my face, 00:26:36.390 --> 00:26:39.210 align:middle line:84% which is beginning to feel like raw hamburger. 00:26:39.210 --> 00:26:42.360 align:middle line:84% My hat keeps blowing off in spite of being tied on as tight 00:26:42.360 --> 00:26:43.530 align:middle line:90% as a garrote. 00:26:43.530 --> 00:26:46.230 align:middle line:84% In the shade of the overhanging willows under which we take 00:26:46.230 --> 00:26:47.910 align:middle line:90% shelter are mosquitoes. 00:26:47.910 --> 00:26:50.130 align:middle line:84% Disturbed from virtuous rest, they 00:26:50.130 --> 00:26:53.760 align:middle line:84% emerge screaming like viragos and take immediate vengeance. 00:26:53.760 --> 00:26:57.240 align:middle line:84% They infiltrate sleeve plackets, bite through my shirt, 00:26:57.240 --> 00:27:00.660 align:middle line:84% get under my jacket where I can neither swat nor scratch. 00:27:00.660 --> 00:27:03.570 align:middle line:84% The life jacket binds across the back of my neck. 00:27:03.570 --> 00:27:06.810 align:middle line:84% The muscles across my shoulders burn with fatigue. 00:27:06.810 --> 00:27:10.380 align:middle line:84% The river swings right to flow beneath a 30 foot high 00:27:10.380 --> 00:27:12.060 align:middle line:90% sandstone cliff. 00:27:12.060 --> 00:27:14.850 align:middle line:84% On the cliff's shaded face are hundreds of cliff 00:27:14.850 --> 00:27:18.780 align:middle line:84% swallow nests looking like short-necked jugs pointing down 00:27:18.780 --> 00:27:21.090 align:middle line:90% at an angle, all full of young. 00:27:21.090 --> 00:27:24.000 align:middle line:84% Along this bluff on the outer curve of the meander, 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:26.640 align:middle line:84% the water is light and golden green. 00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:28.560 align:middle line:90% The suction on the hull breaks. 00:27:28.560 --> 00:27:31.518 align:middle line:84% The bow springs up, and in the cool shadow, 00:27:31.518 --> 00:27:33.060 align:middle line:84% it could be the beginning of morning. 00:27:33.060 --> 00:27:36.680 align:middle line:90% 00:27:36.680 --> 00:27:38.115 align:middle line:84% Anyway, I think I love that river. 00:27:38.115 --> 00:27:41.370 align:middle line:90% 00:27:41.370 --> 00:27:43.410 align:middle line:84% Browns Park was a fascinating part 00:27:43.410 --> 00:27:45.210 align:middle line:84% of the river because of so much history. 00:27:45.210 --> 00:27:52.050 align:middle line:84% It was one of the places where Butch Cassidy used to hang out. 00:27:52.050 --> 00:27:54.095 align:middle line:90% And it was protected. 00:27:54.095 --> 00:27:55.470 align:middle line:84% The posses couldn't come in there 00:27:55.470 --> 00:27:58.380 align:middle line:84% because it was ringed with mountains, and if anybody came, 00:27:58.380 --> 00:28:01.320 align:middle line:90% everybody knew nobody told. 00:28:01.320 --> 00:28:02.835 align:middle line:90% It was the real Wild West. 00:28:02.835 --> 00:28:06.380 align:middle line:90% 00:28:06.380 --> 00:28:08.120 align:middle line:84% Weather is blowing in from the west, 00:28:08.120 --> 00:28:10.670 align:middle line:84% thickening clouds tarnishing the silvered river. 00:28:10.670 --> 00:28:13.580 align:middle line:84% The vertical knife edge bays of the Gates of Lodore 00:28:13.580 --> 00:28:17.120 align:middle line:84% now loom on the horizon, raw and treeless, brighter 00:28:17.120 --> 00:28:18.920 align:middle line:90% than the olive green mountains. 00:28:18.920 --> 00:28:22.580 align:middle line:84% To the north, a single building stands on a low river terrace, 00:28:22.580 --> 00:28:24.950 align:middle line:90% Lodore Schoolhouse. 00:28:24.950 --> 00:28:27.260 align:middle line:84% A rough road leads through a leggy cottonwood grove 00:28:27.260 --> 00:28:29.900 align:middle line:84% to the school and the graveyard beside it. 00:28:29.900 --> 00:28:32.120 align:middle line:84% A large marble headstone marks the grave 00:28:32.120 --> 00:28:34.310 align:middle line:90% of Harry Hoy and others. 00:28:34.310 --> 00:28:37.250 align:middle line:84% The graves are heaped with big river stones grown over 00:28:37.250 --> 00:28:40.370 align:middle line:84% with cheatgrass and evening primrose, some fenced, 00:28:40.370 --> 00:28:41.720 align:middle line:90% some not. 00:28:41.720 --> 00:28:44.090 align:middle line:84% Some are identified with simple metal markers 00:28:44.090 --> 00:28:46.580 align:middle line:84% from the mortuary in Craig, Colorado. 00:28:46.580 --> 00:28:49.430 align:middle line:84% A metal frame with a stamped metal plaque fitted in 00:28:49.430 --> 00:28:52.460 align:middle line:84% or a cracked glass over a slip of paper. 00:28:52.460 --> 00:28:54.890 align:middle line:90% Wind worries the grass. 00:28:54.890 --> 00:28:57.530 align:middle line:84% A once vivid fuchsia plastic rose 00:28:57.530 --> 00:29:01.190 align:middle line:84% now faded nearly white pitches across the ground, revolving 00:29:01.190 --> 00:29:03.350 align:middle line:90% to show its original color. 00:29:03.350 --> 00:29:06.200 align:middle line:84% There is a constant, restless whispering, 00:29:06.200 --> 00:29:08.180 align:middle line:90% a snatching sound in the wind. 00:29:08.180 --> 00:29:11.090 align:middle line:84% The soil is pale and rocky and hard, 00:29:11.090 --> 00:29:14.630 align:middle line:84% laid under a wide sky and an unquiet wind. 00:29:14.630 --> 00:29:17.150 align:middle line:84% The building is not the original schoolhouse 00:29:17.150 --> 00:29:20.300 align:middle line:84% where Speck Wellhouse presided over the bar at dances, 00:29:20.300 --> 00:29:23.270 align:middle line:84% and Herbert Bassett collected guns at the door. 00:29:23.270 --> 00:29:25.610 align:middle line:84% Browns Park children now go to a newer school 00:29:25.610 --> 00:29:27.020 align:middle line:90% on Vermillion Creek. 00:29:27.020 --> 00:29:30.290 align:middle line:84% Although this building is still used for hoedowns and meetings. 00:29:30.290 --> 00:29:32.570 align:middle line:90% Today, it stands empty. 00:29:32.570 --> 00:29:36.740 align:middle line:84% Inside, a forlorn still life of pot-bellied stove, metal card 00:29:36.740 --> 00:29:38.810 align:middle line:90% table, and plastic spoons. 00:29:38.810 --> 00:29:40.940 align:middle line:84% Outside, a white plastic cup over 00:29:40.940 --> 00:29:44.540 align:middle line:84% ends across the ground with a scrabbling sound. 00:29:44.540 --> 00:29:47.450 align:middle line:84% The hitching rack stands in front, weathered gray, 00:29:47.450 --> 00:29:49.100 align:middle line:84% where reluctant children no doubt 00:29:49.100 --> 00:29:50.870 align:middle line:90% left their transportation. 00:29:50.870 --> 00:29:54.080 align:middle line:84% I stand on the porch facing out to the southwest. 00:29:54.080 --> 00:29:56.180 align:middle line:90% The river shimmers below. 00:29:56.180 --> 00:29:58.010 align:middle line:90% The cottonwoods rustle. 00:29:58.010 --> 00:30:02.240 align:middle line:84% The Gates of Lodore stand sharp and forbidding but enticing. 00:30:02.240 --> 00:30:04.790 align:middle line:84% The river dominates the landscape 00:30:04.790 --> 00:30:07.850 align:middle line:90% fluid, evocative, animated. 00:30:07.850 --> 00:30:11.750 align:middle line:84% How any child could repeat multiplication tables 00:30:11.750 --> 00:30:14.960 align:middle line:84% with this Pied Piper view is beyond me. 00:30:14.960 --> 00:30:19.550 align:middle line:90% 00:30:19.550 --> 00:30:22.595 align:middle line:84% The lower part of the river is quiet and lazy. 00:30:22.595 --> 00:30:25.460 align:middle line:90% 00:30:25.460 --> 00:30:28.130 align:middle line:84% Lots of Fremont Indian ruins, lots of time 00:30:28.130 --> 00:30:29.090 align:middle line:90% to get off and walk. 00:30:29.090 --> 00:30:32.660 align:middle line:90% 00:30:32.660 --> 00:30:34.890 align:middle line:84% One of the delights of a river evening, 00:30:34.890 --> 00:30:38.570 align:middle line:84% especially after churning up sandstone and shale ledges 00:30:38.570 --> 00:30:40.910 align:middle line:84% and poking around dry silt terraces, 00:30:40.910 --> 00:30:43.040 align:middle line:90% is a rinse in the river. 00:30:43.040 --> 00:30:45.980 align:middle line:84% There is a place below Turks Head which at high water 00:30:45.980 --> 00:30:48.230 align:middle line:84% fulfills the requirements of privacy 00:30:48.230 --> 00:30:50.630 align:middle line:84% and a safe place out of the current. 00:30:50.630 --> 00:30:54.740 align:middle line:84% The water temperature in May is hardly tepid at 62 degrees. 00:30:54.740 --> 00:30:57.420 align:middle line:90% But the air is warm. 00:30:57.420 --> 00:31:00.230 align:middle line:84% There are two table rocks, firm sandstones 00:31:00.230 --> 00:31:04.130 align:middle line:84% upon which I can stand and safely submerge letting 00:31:04.130 --> 00:31:06.110 align:middle line:90% the water swirl around me. 00:31:06.110 --> 00:31:08.300 align:middle line:84% In water that is so opaque, it is a matter 00:31:08.300 --> 00:31:10.880 align:middle line:90% of some faith to sit down. 00:31:10.880 --> 00:31:13.640 align:middle line:84% The current nudges but little in this back eddy 00:31:13.640 --> 00:31:16.430 align:middle line:84% yet it is still easy to feel the erosive power 00:31:16.430 --> 00:31:19.310 align:middle line:90% of a big springtime river. 00:31:19.310 --> 00:31:22.460 align:middle line:84% The river sounds ear close, seated eye level 00:31:22.460 --> 00:31:25.580 align:middle line:84% with the surface, I feel like an apprentice lorelei, 00:31:25.580 --> 00:31:29.030 align:middle line:84% learning the siren sounds of the river. 00:31:29.030 --> 00:31:33.050 align:middle line:84% The silt wells and fumes, voluminous and soft, 00:31:33.050 --> 00:31:34.850 align:middle line:90% just beneath the surface. 00:31:34.850 --> 00:31:38.090 align:middle line:84% It's fascinating to discover that by moving a hand just 00:31:38.090 --> 00:31:40.550 align:middle line:84% under the water, I can evoke all kinds 00:31:40.550 --> 00:31:42.980 align:middle line:90% of kaleidoscopic patterns. 00:31:42.980 --> 00:31:45.170 align:middle line:84% This silt settles out of a container 00:31:45.170 --> 00:31:48.080 align:middle line:90% of river water within 24 hours. 00:31:48.080 --> 00:31:53.740 align:middle line:84% But the remaining water looks like clam juice colored 00:31:53.740 --> 00:31:56.350 align:middle line:84% by finer particles that do not precipitate as 00:31:56.350 --> 00:31:59.230 align:middle line:90% quickly in response to gravity. 00:31:59.230 --> 00:32:01.180 align:middle line:84% These extremely small particles are 00:32:01.180 --> 00:32:04.390 align:middle line:84% colloidal since they have more surface compared 00:32:04.390 --> 00:32:07.090 align:middle line:84% to their volume and so a specific gravity less 00:32:07.090 --> 00:32:07.990 align:middle line:90% than water. 00:32:07.990 --> 00:32:10.810 align:middle line:84% They remain in suspension almost indefinitely, 00:32:10.810 --> 00:32:13.120 align:middle line:84% settling out only if they cluster together 00:32:13.120 --> 00:32:15.490 align:middle line:90% to form larger particles. 00:32:15.490 --> 00:32:18.010 align:middle line:84% Gravels in a stream may fall out in less than a second 00:32:18.010 --> 00:32:19.810 align:middle line:90% when the velocity drops. 00:32:19.810 --> 00:32:24.520 align:middle line:84% Colloidal particles may remain for decades. 00:32:24.520 --> 00:32:27.250 align:middle line:84% The Green River at this time of moderately heavy runoff 00:32:27.250 --> 00:32:29.650 align:middle line:84% is probably carrying more than half its silt load 00:32:29.650 --> 00:32:30.760 align:middle line:90% for the year. 00:32:30.760 --> 00:32:33.310 align:middle line:84% The average load held in suspension by the river 00:32:33.310 --> 00:32:38.170 align:middle line:84% is estimated at 19 tons a year plus 2.5 million tons 00:32:38.170 --> 00:32:39.130 align:middle line:90% dissolved. 00:32:39.130 --> 00:32:41.950 align:middle line:84% The silt content near the mouth of the Green by volume 00:32:41.950 --> 00:32:45.340 align:middle line:90% was once estimated at 5%. 00:32:45.340 --> 00:32:48.130 align:middle line:84% It seems a minute amount, but evenly distributed 00:32:48.130 --> 00:32:50.890 align:middle line:84% by the current, it forms an effective screen, 00:32:50.890 --> 00:32:52.690 align:middle line:84% creating the year round turbidity 00:32:52.690 --> 00:32:56.230 align:middle line:84% in the river from the Gates of Lodore south. 00:32:56.230 --> 00:32:59.770 align:middle line:84% The sandpaper surface of the rock beneath my feet un-slicked 00:32:59.770 --> 00:33:02.500 align:middle line:84% by algae provides a sense of stability 00:33:02.500 --> 00:33:05.980 align:middle line:84% and a flowy swirling moving world. 00:33:05.980 --> 00:33:09.610 align:middle line:84% How to explain the pure delight of being here? 00:33:09.610 --> 00:33:11.770 align:middle line:84% Some of it no doubt stems from the fact 00:33:11.770 --> 00:33:14.290 align:middle line:84% that after a day of unrelenting sunshine, 00:33:14.290 --> 00:33:17.800 align:middle line:84% almost any kind of ablution feels welcome. 00:33:17.800 --> 00:33:20.920 align:middle line:84% But there is an ineffable sybaritic pleasure 00:33:20.920 --> 00:33:22.570 align:middle line:90% beyond the necessity. 00:33:22.570 --> 00:33:26.200 align:middle line:84% The cool slide of water slips down the back of my neck, 00:33:26.200 --> 00:33:30.040 align:middle line:84% down my arm, drips off my elbow, picks patterns 00:33:30.040 --> 00:33:31.840 align:middle line:90% on the river's surface. 00:33:31.840 --> 00:33:33.880 align:middle line:84% The water that tugs around my ankles 00:33:33.880 --> 00:33:36.760 align:middle line:84% is pure hedonistic enticement, issuing 00:33:36.760 --> 00:33:38.650 align:middle line:84% a reminder of down river delights 00:33:38.650 --> 00:33:43.870 align:middle line:84% in a branch that bobs by on its way to other appointments. 00:33:43.870 --> 00:33:48.250 align:middle line:84% After seeing ruins all day, I'm extremely conscious of those 00:33:48.250 --> 00:33:50.330 align:middle line:90% who came here before me. 00:33:50.330 --> 00:33:54.550 align:middle line:84% So too, on a warm spring evening 1,000 years ago, 00:33:54.550 --> 00:33:58.960 align:middle line:84% someone must have stood like this, soothing calloused feet, 00:33:58.960 --> 00:34:01.000 align:middle line:90% cactus scratched legs. 00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:03.790 align:middle line:84% I feel no time interval, no difference 00:34:03.790 --> 00:34:06.640 align:middle line:84% in flesh between those who stood here then 00:34:06.640 --> 00:34:08.500 align:middle line:90% and who stand here now. 00:34:08.500 --> 00:34:12.620 align:middle line:84% The same needs exists for the essentials of food and shelter. 00:34:12.620 --> 00:34:16.449 align:middle line:84% The same need to communicate, to put down symbols for someone 00:34:16.449 --> 00:34:20.650 align:middle line:84% else to see, and so I cannot help but believe the same 00:34:20.650 --> 00:34:24.460 align:middle line:84% response to cool water and warm sun and heated rock 00:34:24.460 --> 00:34:27.250 align:middle line:90% and sandstone on bare feet. 00:34:27.250 --> 00:34:30.489 align:middle line:84% The last rays of the sun keep it warm enough to air dry. 00:34:30.489 --> 00:34:34.120 align:middle line:84% The sun hangs for a moment above the cliff. 00:34:34.120 --> 00:34:37.420 align:middle line:84% As it disappears behind the rim, the air cools, 00:34:37.420 --> 00:34:40.360 align:middle line:90% and yet it is not cold. 00:34:40.360 --> 00:34:45.370 align:middle line:84% Maybe time to robe and leave, but not yet, not cold yet. 00:34:45.370 --> 00:34:50.290 align:middle line:84% As long as I can I stand ankle deep, without civilization, 00:34:50.290 --> 00:34:53.679 align:middle line:84% without defense, going back to self, 00:34:53.679 --> 00:34:56.739 align:middle line:84% as long as there is yet enough warmth in the air 00:34:56.739 --> 00:34:59.360 align:middle line:84% to respect needful body temperature. 00:34:59.360 --> 00:35:03.910 align:middle line:84% So long as possible, I stand here submerged, physically only 00:35:03.910 --> 00:35:07.555 align:middle line:84% to the ankles, psychologically to the base of being. 00:35:07.555 --> 00:35:12.460 align:middle line:90% 00:35:12.460 --> 00:35:20.100 align:middle line:84% Widening Circles, my next book, was 00:35:20.100 --> 00:35:24.930 align:middle line:84% a book about the canyons of southeastern Utah. 00:35:24.930 --> 00:35:26.700 align:middle line:90% When in the Rock: a funny book. 00:35:26.700 --> 00:35:29.700 align:middle line:90% Either you like it or you don't. 00:35:29.700 --> 00:35:32.550 align:middle line:84% The organization isn't what I would have preferred. 00:35:32.550 --> 00:35:36.660 align:middle line:84% There were five canyons and it's bing, bing, bing, five canyons. 00:35:36.660 --> 00:35:38.490 align:middle line:84% I would have done it east to west. 00:35:38.490 --> 00:35:42.690 align:middle line:84% My editor chose to begin with Grand Gulch, which 00:35:42.690 --> 00:35:43.830 align:middle line:90% is the Big Bang. 00:35:43.830 --> 00:35:46.680 align:middle line:90% It's a big canyon, well known. 00:35:46.680 --> 00:35:49.110 align:middle line:84% I would have preferred to have it in sequence 00:35:49.110 --> 00:35:52.830 align:middle line:84% next to the last as the climax of these canyons 00:35:52.830 --> 00:35:56.430 align:middle line:84% and to end with the personal unknown canyons, the two 00:35:56.430 --> 00:36:00.720 align:middle line:84% little ones, Whirlwind Draw and Steer Gulch. 00:36:00.720 --> 00:36:04.410 align:middle line:84% I still go yearly as a consultant on Sportyak trips 00:36:04.410 --> 00:36:06.540 align:middle line:84% with wild and scenic expeditions. 00:36:06.540 --> 00:36:08.460 align:middle line:84% Sportyaks for those of you who don't know, 00:36:08.460 --> 00:36:13.320 align:middle line:84% it's a double shell plastic bathtub. 00:36:13.320 --> 00:36:19.480 align:middle line:90% They are homely, look awkward. 00:36:19.480 --> 00:36:21.460 align:middle line:84% But once you have done a river in a Sportyak, 00:36:21.460 --> 00:36:23.950 align:middle line:90% you'll never go back to a raft. 00:36:23.950 --> 00:36:25.240 align:middle line:90% It's your own boat. 00:36:25.240 --> 00:36:26.650 align:middle line:90% You carry your own equipment. 00:36:26.650 --> 00:36:28.000 align:middle line:90% You are on your own. 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:29.140 align:middle line:90% You read the rapids. 00:36:29.140 --> 00:36:30.280 align:middle line:90% You run the rapids. 00:36:30.280 --> 00:36:31.555 align:middle line:90% If you flip, you flip. 00:36:31.555 --> 00:36:34.770 align:middle line:90% 00:36:34.770 --> 00:36:38.310 align:middle line:84% It makes you very close to what's going on with the river. 00:36:38.310 --> 00:36:42.210 align:middle line:84% And each year as we go by, and I see the mouth of the canyon 00:36:42.210 --> 00:36:47.040 align:middle line:84% up there, it is just pure nostalgia. 00:36:47.040 --> 00:36:51.360 align:middle line:84% My life's blood is back there where my being became sandstone 00:36:51.360 --> 00:36:56.970 align:middle line:84% and where the sandstone has a persona, and that's weird. 00:36:56.970 --> 00:37:02.400 align:middle line:84% I'm going to edit read from the last chapter. 00:37:02.400 --> 00:37:05.940 align:middle line:84% One thing that Lois told me was that I wasn't supposed 00:37:05.940 --> 00:37:08.250 align:middle line:84% to read longer than five hours, and I'm 00:37:08.250 --> 00:37:09.615 align:middle line:90% going to try and respect that. 00:37:09.615 --> 00:37:13.270 align:middle line:90% [LAUGH] 00:37:13.270 --> 00:37:16.290 align:middle line:84% And so I'm going to have to do some quick editing. 00:37:16.290 --> 00:37:18.690 align:middle line:84% Now that I've marked up the book. 00:37:18.690 --> 00:37:22.440 align:middle line:90% This was my first solo. 00:37:22.440 --> 00:37:25.230 align:middle line:84% I have wanted to make one last trip back to these canyons 00:37:25.230 --> 00:37:27.450 align:middle line:84% by myself, but in this drought year 00:37:27.450 --> 00:37:29.670 align:middle line:90% it is not wise to go alone. 00:37:29.670 --> 00:37:32.310 align:middle line:84% However, there's plenty of water at the foot of the hot Honaker 00:37:32.310 --> 00:37:35.550 align:middle line:90% trail, the whole San Juan River. 00:37:35.550 --> 00:37:37.770 align:middle line:84% And the trail itself is just around the corner 00:37:37.770 --> 00:37:40.590 align:middle line:84% and upstream from the mouth of John's Canyon. 00:37:40.590 --> 00:37:42.930 align:middle line:84% While I've walked the Honaker trail several times 00:37:42.930 --> 00:37:45.930 align:middle line:84% during other explorations of the canyons from plateau 00:37:45.930 --> 00:37:47.610 align:middle line:84% to river and river to plateau, this 00:37:47.610 --> 00:37:49.560 align:middle line:84% is the first time I've gone it alone 00:37:49.560 --> 00:37:51.720 align:middle line:90% to camp down by the river. 00:37:51.720 --> 00:37:53.520 align:middle line:84% I've looked forward to this time, 00:37:53.520 --> 00:37:57.090 align:middle line:84% and yet as I sit here at the top I know a tinge of apprehension. 00:37:57.090 --> 00:37:59.520 align:middle line:84% I'm not quite sure what I expect. 00:37:59.520 --> 00:38:02.670 align:middle line:84% And now that my ride is long gone and it's too late, 00:38:02.670 --> 00:38:06.390 align:middle line:84% and I'm committed, even why I wanted to do this. 00:38:06.390 --> 00:38:08.580 align:middle line:84% But here I am quite alone, and I should 00:38:08.580 --> 00:38:10.860 align:middle line:84% start before the sun bathes the whole slope, 00:38:10.860 --> 00:38:13.950 align:middle line:84% and I have to cope with heat along with everything else. 00:38:13.950 --> 00:38:16.110 align:middle line:84% Yet I sit a moment longer because the view 00:38:16.110 --> 00:38:17.220 align:middle line:90% is so glorious. 00:38:17.220 --> 00:38:21.120 align:middle line:84% It looks down the throat of Monument Valley from up there. 00:38:21.120 --> 00:38:25.230 align:middle line:90% 00:38:25.230 --> 00:38:28.110 align:middle line:84% The Honaker trail runs down the north cliff of San Juan. 00:38:28.110 --> 00:38:31.770 align:middle line:84% The two inches worth of river that I can glimpse from up here 00:38:31.770 --> 00:38:35.340 align:middle line:84% are just about the proportion of water to land in this country. 00:38:35.340 --> 00:38:38.160 align:middle line:84% Across the river are tiered cliffs, mirror images 00:38:38.160 --> 00:38:39.900 align:middle line:90% of what I shall be walking down. 00:38:39.900 --> 00:38:42.870 align:middle line:84% Passage looks absolutely impossible. 00:38:42.870 --> 00:38:45.720 align:middle line:84% In 1904, Henry Honaker bossed the building 00:38:45.720 --> 00:38:47.400 align:middle line:90% of this trail down to the river. 00:38:47.400 --> 00:38:49.620 align:middle line:84% He'd gotten a permit from San Juan County 00:38:49.620 --> 00:38:54.510 align:middle line:84% to do some 11 years-- to do so some 11 years previous in 1893. 00:38:54.510 --> 00:38:56.190 align:middle line:84% Prior to that, he and his brothers 00:38:56.190 --> 00:38:59.400 align:middle line:84% had run a daily stage between Cortez, Colorado and Bluff, 00:38:59.400 --> 00:39:00.060 align:middle line:90% Utah. 00:39:00.060 --> 00:39:02.400 align:middle line:84% And before that, he lived in the Mancos area 00:39:02.400 --> 00:39:04.800 align:middle line:84% and helped the Wetherills run their cattle. 00:39:04.800 --> 00:39:07.320 align:middle line:84% Gold fever was in full swing on the San Juan 00:39:07.320 --> 00:39:10.230 align:middle line:84% when Honaker envisioned an access road from the river 00:39:10.230 --> 00:39:12.930 align:middle line:84% to the canyon rim that would aid in transporting 00:39:12.930 --> 00:39:16.560 align:middle line:84% all that heavy placer gold he was going to find. 00:39:16.560 --> 00:39:20.280 align:middle line:84% The first horse taken down the trail fell off the narrow path. 00:39:20.280 --> 00:39:23.430 align:middle line:84% And after that, supplies were lowered over impassable cliffs 00:39:23.430 --> 00:39:24.870 align:middle line:90% by rope. 00:39:24.870 --> 00:39:27.660 align:middle line:84% The anticipated gold boom came to naught. 00:39:27.660 --> 00:39:31.650 align:middle line:84% Only some $3,000 was ever recovered, the flower gold 00:39:31.650 --> 00:39:34.320 align:middle line:84% that was more trouble to sift out than it was worth. 00:39:34.320 --> 00:39:37.140 align:middle line:84% The trail is-- the trail as a formidable piece 00:39:37.140 --> 00:39:39.870 align:middle line:84% of rough engineering and cuts through tight strata 00:39:39.870 --> 00:39:41.940 align:middle line:84% that are the type section for the Honaker trail 00:39:41.940 --> 00:39:44.760 align:middle line:84% formation surely a kind of immortality 00:39:44.760 --> 00:39:47.340 align:middle line:84% undreamed of by a hardworking businessman 00:39:47.340 --> 00:39:51.450 align:middle line:90% with his eye on the dollar. 00:39:51.450 --> 00:39:55.710 align:middle line:84% I checked my gear one last time, a useless gesture since what 00:39:55.710 --> 00:39:57.430 align:middle line:90% I don't have I don't have. 00:39:57.430 --> 00:39:59.850 align:middle line:84% And one thing I've forgotten is halazone tablets. 00:39:59.850 --> 00:40:01.800 align:middle line:84% So I'll have to boil drinking water. 00:40:01.800 --> 00:40:04.440 align:middle line:84% But at least the river will provide plenty of that. 00:40:04.440 --> 00:40:06.720 align:middle line:84% I have full water bottles for going down, 00:40:06.720 --> 00:40:09.780 align:middle line:84% and I plan to eat lunch halfway down Horn Point, 00:40:09.780 --> 00:40:13.080 align:middle line:84% a sharp promontory that juts out 30 feet or so toward the river 00:40:13.080 --> 00:40:15.540 align:middle line:84% with a precipitous drop on either side. 00:40:15.540 --> 00:40:17.880 align:middle line:84% The view there is unparalleled and the next best 00:40:17.880 --> 00:40:20.460 align:middle line:84% thing to hang gliding without the worry of landing. 00:40:20.460 --> 00:40:23.080 align:middle line:84% I have enough food to last a week if need be 00:40:23.080 --> 00:40:26.130 align:middle line:84% and the usual gear of sleeping bag mattress et cetera. 00:40:26.130 --> 00:40:28.320 align:middle line:84% And it strikes me as grossly unfair 00:40:28.320 --> 00:40:30.540 align:middle line:84% that no matter what my size, I still 00:40:30.540 --> 00:40:32.100 align:middle line:84% have the same amount of basic gear 00:40:32.100 --> 00:40:34.860 align:middle line:84% as someone a foot taller and 60 pounds heavier. 00:40:34.860 --> 00:40:37.530 align:middle line:90% 00:40:37.530 --> 00:40:40.110 align:middle line:84% I reach Horn Point, first thing I do just 00:40:40.110 --> 00:40:43.500 align:middle line:90% get lost and miss the trail. 00:40:43.500 --> 00:40:44.850 align:middle line:90% And then I build cairns. 00:40:44.850 --> 00:40:49.440 align:middle line:84% I build cairns, cairns so I can find my way back. 00:40:49.440 --> 00:40:51.750 align:middle line:84% I reach Horn Point where I intended to have lunch 00:40:51.750 --> 00:40:53.520 align:middle line:84% sitting out on the exposed promontory, 00:40:53.520 --> 00:40:55.230 align:middle line:84% but the wind is gusting so fiercely 00:40:55.230 --> 00:40:57.960 align:middle line:84% that I think perhaps wisdom is the better part of valor. 00:40:57.960 --> 00:41:02.040 align:middle line:84% I am suddenly extremely conservative about reaching 00:41:02.040 --> 00:41:03.330 align:middle line:90% the end of the promontory. 00:41:03.330 --> 00:41:05.580 align:middle line:84% To get there, I must leap over a three foot 00:41:05.580 --> 00:41:09.570 align:middle line:84% wide crevice that looks if it goes clear through to China. 00:41:09.570 --> 00:41:11.370 align:middle line:84% So instead, I moved to the dugway 00:41:11.370 --> 00:41:14.550 align:middle line:84% on the north side of Horn Point, a formidable job of road 00:41:14.550 --> 00:41:15.510 align:middle line:90% building. 00:41:15.510 --> 00:41:19.620 align:middle line:84% Honaker constructed a ramp a precipitous 100 yards long 00:41:19.620 --> 00:41:23.250 align:middle line:84% by blasting out rock above and using it as fill material 00:41:23.250 --> 00:41:24.060 align:middle line:90% below. 00:41:24.060 --> 00:41:25.800 align:middle line:84% Near the top of the dugway, I sit 00:41:25.800 --> 00:41:27.630 align:middle line:84% on the limestone steppe near the top 00:41:27.630 --> 00:41:30.420 align:middle line:84% and without taking my pack off, fish in the side pocket 00:41:30.420 --> 00:41:32.280 align:middle line:90% for a can of vegetable juice. 00:41:32.280 --> 00:41:34.320 align:middle line:84% Somehow, I'm more thirsty than hungry, 00:41:34.320 --> 00:41:36.570 align:middle line:84% but the warm juice isn't very good. 00:41:36.570 --> 00:41:38.310 align:middle line:84% Thinking to be protected here, I find 00:41:38.310 --> 00:41:39.870 align:middle line:84% it unpleasant to have the wind still 00:41:39.870 --> 00:41:43.060 align:middle line:84% swirling dust and sand which unerringly stings me 00:41:43.060 --> 00:41:43.560 align:middle line:90% in the face. 00:41:43.560 --> 00:41:47.790 align:middle line:90% 00:41:47.790 --> 00:41:50.490 align:middle line:84% The long Horn Point is a near mile long traverse 00:41:50.490 --> 00:41:54.210 align:middle line:84% going due north along a narrow, narrow ledge that drops off 00:41:54.210 --> 00:41:57.780 align:middle line:84% sharply rimmed by a sheer cliff 50 feet below 00:41:57.780 --> 00:42:01.230 align:middle line:84% and then who knows how many feet below to the river. 00:42:01.230 --> 00:42:04.830 align:middle line:84% I keep my eye on the path and ignore the drop to my left. 00:42:04.830 --> 00:42:08.130 align:middle line:84% Suddenly, a wave of nausea makes me stop jolted. 00:42:08.130 --> 00:42:11.760 align:middle line:84% I turn to press the wall, press my hands firmly on the rock 00:42:11.760 --> 00:42:15.510 align:middle line:84% and close my eyes until the nausea subsides. 00:42:15.510 --> 00:42:17.400 align:middle line:84% When I open my eyes, I get another shock. 00:42:17.400 --> 00:42:21.300 align:middle line:84% I can't believe those are my hands in front of my nose 00:42:21.300 --> 00:42:23.490 align:middle line:84% splayed out, clawed into the rock, 00:42:23.490 --> 00:42:26.310 align:middle line:84% tendons rigid, fingernails broken to the quick, 00:42:26.310 --> 00:42:30.120 align:middle line:84% scraped, a fresh scratch beaded with tiny drops of blood 00:42:30.120 --> 00:42:33.600 align:middle line:84% swollen from cut off circulation from the pack straps. 00:42:33.600 --> 00:42:37.620 align:middle line:84% I recognize the hand shape but not the dirt under the nails 00:42:37.620 --> 00:42:39.060 align:middle line:90% or packed in the cuticle. 00:42:39.060 --> 00:42:41.850 align:middle line:84% I read them --not from the palms pressed so close against 00:42:41.850 --> 00:42:45.510 align:middle line:84% the rock upon which my life seems to depend at the moment, 00:42:45.510 --> 00:42:48.420 align:middle line:84% observing heart and lifelines and stars of fate-- 00:42:48.420 --> 00:42:52.110 align:middle line:84% but from the scruffy backs, abraded, unladylike, 00:42:52.110 --> 00:42:55.200 align:middle line:84% rough as the rock they cling to, sunburned, calloused, 00:42:55.200 --> 00:42:58.110 align:middle line:84% and in them, I recognize a different reality. 00:42:58.110 --> 00:43:02.430 align:middle line:84% I can go home, clean up, buff the nails, repair the damage, 00:43:02.430 --> 00:43:04.470 align:middle line:84% put on the lotion, make them look better. 00:43:04.470 --> 00:43:08.160 align:middle line:84% But these ill used hands clutched into the abrasive wall 00:43:08.160 --> 00:43:13.110 align:middle line:84% belong to another place I live where I am also 00:43:13.110 --> 00:43:18.540 align:middle line:84% at home, another way of life whose isolation and quiet 00:43:18.540 --> 00:43:21.360 align:middle line:90% have become a necessity. 00:43:21.360 --> 00:43:24.779 align:middle line:84% That's a long way and Beyond the Aspen Grove. 00:43:24.779 --> 00:43:32.270 align:middle line:90% 00:43:32.270 --> 00:43:35.060 align:middle line:84% Become re-arranged very quickly down here. 00:43:35.060 --> 00:43:37.550 align:middle line:84% The most important thing still is setting up camp 00:43:37.550 --> 00:43:40.250 align:middle line:84% and making certain that I have drinking and cooking water, 00:43:40.250 --> 00:43:42.560 align:middle line:84% things one rarely thinks about in the city. 00:43:42.560 --> 00:43:44.780 align:middle line:84% Since I have but one pot to cook in, 00:43:44.780 --> 00:43:47.120 align:middle line:84% the logistics of boiling water and cooking 00:43:47.120 --> 00:43:49.700 align:middle line:84% have to be worked out in orderly fashion. 00:43:49.700 --> 00:43:52.160 align:middle line:84% I fill the cooking pot with water for dinner. 00:43:52.160 --> 00:43:55.670 align:middle line:84% The contents look like coffee with too much cream in it. 00:43:55.670 --> 00:43:58.490 align:middle line:84% Still, I'm no worse off than the Mormon settlers 00:43:58.490 --> 00:44:00.900 align:middle line:90% who remained in Bluff in 1885. 00:44:00.900 --> 00:44:02.540 align:middle line:84% When they carried water from the river, 00:44:02.540 --> 00:44:04.250 align:middle line:84% they had to settle the silt overnight 00:44:04.250 --> 00:44:06.290 align:middle line:90% with cottonwood ashes. 00:44:06.290 --> 00:44:09.200 align:middle line:84% While I wait for the river to settle, I begin to sketch, 00:44:09.200 --> 00:44:12.200 align:middle line:84% even though sand occasionally drifts across the page. 00:44:12.200 --> 00:44:15.230 align:middle line:84% More than anything else, drawing sets me 00:44:15.230 --> 00:44:16.770 align:middle line:90% at peace with the world. 00:44:16.770 --> 00:44:20.780 align:middle line:84% Perhaps it is the intense focusing outside oneself. 00:44:20.780 --> 00:44:23.010 align:middle line:84% There are handsome things to draw here, 00:44:23.010 --> 00:44:25.910 align:middle line:84% such as the saltbush with interesting spin patterns 00:44:25.910 --> 00:44:28.580 align:middle line:84% and wide papery bracts ruffled around the seeds 00:44:28.580 --> 00:44:31.040 align:middle line:84% and all the things I never seem to have time 00:44:31.040 --> 00:44:32.405 align:middle line:90% for on a long trip. 00:44:32.405 --> 00:44:36.680 align:middle line:90% 00:44:36.680 --> 00:44:40.700 align:middle line:84% While dinner cooks-- no, nearby is a large boulder just 00:44:40.700 --> 00:44:43.880 align:middle line:84% the right slant for a backrest against which I lean. 00:44:43.880 --> 00:44:46.250 align:middle line:84% As I take notes, a faint scribbling sound 00:44:46.250 --> 00:44:49.880 align:middle line:84% just louder than my pen makes me look around. 00:44:49.880 --> 00:44:52.370 align:middle line:84% A collared lizard about 10 inches long appears 00:44:52.370 --> 00:44:55.340 align:middle line:84% at the top of the rock, head washed with orange, black, 00:44:55.340 --> 00:44:56.600 align:middle line:90% and white-- 00:44:56.600 --> 00:45:00.050 align:middle line:84% head washed with orange comma black and white tan collar 00:45:00.050 --> 00:45:03.530 align:middle line:84% comma brownish gray back tail about one fourth 00:45:03.530 --> 00:45:05.810 align:middle line:84% of its total length, a striking creature. 00:45:05.810 --> 00:45:08.330 align:middle line:84% It perches on the rock just above my head, 00:45:08.330 --> 00:45:10.280 align:middle line:84% remaining there as long as I write, 00:45:10.280 --> 00:45:13.400 align:middle line:84% lunging and grabbing tidbits out of the air, head gleaming 00:45:13.400 --> 00:45:17.480 align:middle line:84% as if gilded, red line to mouth opening and snapping shut, 00:45:17.480 --> 00:45:19.460 align:middle line:90% showing formidable teeth. 00:45:19.460 --> 00:45:21.830 align:middle line:84% Collared lizards are pugnacious and have teeth 00:45:21.830 --> 00:45:24.620 align:middle line:84% big enough to inflict a painful bite if caught 00:45:24.620 --> 00:45:26.750 align:middle line:90% and handled uncautiously. 00:45:26.750 --> 00:45:28.430 align:middle line:84% And those teeth are generally in good 00:45:28.430 --> 00:45:29.990 align:middle line:84% fighting trim since new teeth are 00:45:29.990 --> 00:45:31.700 align:middle line:90% produced throughout its life. 00:45:31.700 --> 00:45:33.590 align:middle line:84% Old teeth are shed in sequence in 00:45:33.590 --> 00:45:35.630 align:middle line:84% a complicated but discernible order 00:45:35.630 --> 00:45:38.780 align:middle line:84% so that every other tooth is a strong new one. 00:45:38.780 --> 00:45:41.120 align:middle line:84% Because it is a relatively large lizard, 00:45:41.120 --> 00:45:45.020 align:middle line:84% it requires more time to warm up than tiny ones and risks 00:45:45.020 --> 00:45:48.890 align:middle line:84% a longer period of vulnerability before it's completely agile. 00:45:48.890 --> 00:45:51.920 align:middle line:84% It likely had a period of feeding this morning, 00:45:51.920 --> 00:45:53.960 align:middle line:84% shuttled about to keep its body temperature 00:45:53.960 --> 00:45:55.790 align:middle line:84% at the optimum in the heat of the day, 00:45:55.790 --> 00:45:58.790 align:middle line:84% and now feeds again in the warm of the evening 00:45:58.790 --> 00:46:02.245 align:middle line:90% before going down for the night. 00:46:02.245 --> 00:46:03.620 align:middle line:84% I have a whole list of things I'm 00:46:03.620 --> 00:46:08.030 align:middle line:84% going to do when I'm confined to my wheelchair, 00:46:08.030 --> 00:46:10.130 align:middle line:84% and this is one I'm not going to be able to do, 00:46:10.130 --> 00:46:14.150 align:middle line:84% but I heartily recommend it to everybody. 00:46:14.150 --> 00:46:17.150 align:middle line:84% Where the shoreline is webbed with tamarisk roots 00:46:17.150 --> 00:46:18.950 align:middle line:90% I do not enjoy the flora. 00:46:18.950 --> 00:46:21.440 align:middle line:84% When I am an old lady and have nothing else to do, 00:46:21.440 --> 00:46:24.500 align:middle line:84% I am going to walk every river in the Southwest 00:46:24.500 --> 00:46:27.050 align:middle line:84% and uproot all the upstart tamarisks 00:46:27.050 --> 00:46:29.510 align:middle line:84% and let them float down to Lake Powell. 00:46:29.510 --> 00:46:32.210 align:middle line:84% To get in practice, I pull out 72 00:46:32.210 --> 00:46:35.090 align:middle line:90% and cast them down the river. 00:46:35.090 --> 00:46:36.740 align:middle line:84% A useless gesture since they will 00:46:36.740 --> 00:46:39.650 align:middle line:90% be replaced by 20 times 72. 00:46:39.650 --> 00:46:43.040 align:middle line:84% They are weedy, grasping trees that form ugly thickets and are 00:46:43.040 --> 00:46:46.490 align:middle line:84% fire hazards and introduce pests that adds nothing 00:46:46.490 --> 00:46:48.230 align:middle line:90% to the beauty of the river. 00:46:48.230 --> 00:46:51.020 align:middle line:84% Eight species were brought in by the US Department 00:46:51.020 --> 00:46:54.800 align:middle line:84% of Agriculture between 1899 and 1915. 00:46:54.800 --> 00:46:56.930 align:middle line:84% And now they choke small watercourses 00:46:56.930 --> 00:46:58.610 align:middle line:90% in their greedy shallow roots. 00:46:58.610 --> 00:47:00.320 align:middle line:84% And the dense shade of their thickets 00:47:00.320 --> 00:47:03.380 align:middle line:84% makes it impossible for native plants to get started. 00:47:03.380 --> 00:47:06.590 align:middle line:84% They have vapid blooms that non Westerners are always 00:47:06.590 --> 00:47:09.980 align:middle line:84% oohing and ahing about, blossoms that ripen into thousands 00:47:09.980 --> 00:47:12.890 align:middle line:84% of tufted seeds with a vicious viability 00:47:12.890 --> 00:47:16.850 align:middle line:84% so that they quickly clutter up the landscape. 00:47:16.850 --> 00:47:20.030 align:middle line:84% No apologies to any tamarisk lovers, sorry about that. 00:47:20.030 --> 00:47:24.160 align:middle line:90% 00:47:24.160 --> 00:47:28.570 align:middle line:84% Sitting here in the darkening evening, 00:47:28.570 --> 00:47:31.600 align:middle line:84% I feel a sadness that perhaps the time I have walked here 00:47:31.600 --> 00:47:34.690 align:middle line:84% has been a golden time of wilderness enjoyment 00:47:34.690 --> 00:47:37.750 align:middle line:84% before there were too many people, a time 00:47:37.750 --> 00:47:40.690 align:middle line:84% of freedom, joy and living in a simpler way that 00:47:40.690 --> 00:47:42.910 align:middle line:90% gives meaning to all living. 00:47:42.910 --> 00:47:47.170 align:middle line:84% Will those who come after me know what it's like to wake 00:47:47.170 --> 00:47:50.200 align:middle line:90% up in one of these canyons? 00:47:50.200 --> 00:47:54.010 align:middle line:84% Hear the tentative murmurs and scratchings, 00:47:54.010 --> 00:47:57.790 align:middle line:84% feel the sixth singing sense of quickening heartbeat, 00:47:57.790 --> 00:48:02.410 align:middle line:84% of hunted and hunting, of life that shuttles and scuttles 00:48:02.410 --> 00:48:06.340 align:middle line:84% and plods and leaps, leaving tracks to tell who went here 00:48:06.340 --> 00:48:08.200 align:middle line:90% and sometimes why. 00:48:08.200 --> 00:48:12.460 align:middle line:84% And the wind erasing them so that it is only the cool sand 00:48:12.460 --> 00:48:16.240 align:middle line:90% that one ever remembers. 00:48:16.240 --> 00:48:18.340 align:middle line:90% Darkness comes so softly now. 00:48:18.340 --> 00:48:21.340 align:middle line:84% The cliffs seem to retain the last light of day 00:48:21.340 --> 00:48:24.850 align:middle line:84% as they retain the heat of the sun and give it back at night. 00:48:24.850 --> 00:48:28.480 align:middle line:84% The willows are in silhouette, but rose and tan and gray still 00:48:28.480 --> 00:48:29.800 align:middle line:90% glow on the cliffs. 00:48:29.800 --> 00:48:32.380 align:middle line:84% Silver still shimmers on the river. 00:48:32.380 --> 00:48:35.260 align:middle line:84% Stars appear slowly, only the bright ones, 00:48:35.260 --> 00:48:39.130 align:middle line:84% and then galaxies of lights flood this clamshell horizon 00:48:39.130 --> 00:48:41.200 align:middle line:90% sky. 00:48:41.200 --> 00:48:44.440 align:middle line:84% I don't think I've ever sat and watched 00:48:44.440 --> 00:48:49.450 align:middle line:84% for so long, hypnotized with the splendor of this time, 00:48:49.450 --> 00:48:52.400 align:middle line:90% this place, this sense of being. 00:48:52.400 --> 00:48:55.030 align:middle line:84% It is enough to know why I came here, 00:48:55.030 --> 00:48:57.820 align:middle line:84% to breathe in the solitude and the silence. 00:48:57.820 --> 00:49:01.480 align:middle line:84% I simply accept what I've been learning in these canyons, 00:49:01.480 --> 00:49:04.000 align:middle line:84% finding resources I didn't know I had, 00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:06.670 align:middle line:84% stretching, accepting that there are times 00:49:06.670 --> 00:49:08.890 align:middle line:90% when one has no options. 00:49:08.890 --> 00:49:12.070 align:middle line:84% And I sit here in peace because of that. 00:49:12.070 --> 00:49:14.140 align:middle line:84% I know that I will never be content 00:49:14.140 --> 00:49:17.590 align:middle line:84% without risk and challenge and the opportunity to fail, 00:49:17.590 --> 00:49:22.390 align:middle line:84% to know pain, the chance to test my endurance, un-warp my 00:49:22.390 --> 00:49:25.480 align:middle line:84% horizons, know physical stress and the blinding 00:49:25.480 --> 00:49:27.850 align:middle line:90% satisfaction of coming through. 00:49:27.850 --> 00:49:30.940 align:middle line:84% If the cost is great, the rewards are greater. 00:49:30.940 --> 00:49:34.880 align:middle line:84% And I sit here in peace because of that. 00:49:34.880 --> 00:49:37.450 align:middle line:84% And then in the star dark lightness, 00:49:37.450 --> 00:49:41.290 align:middle line:84% I shake open my sleeping bag and stretch out to watch the stars. 00:49:41.290 --> 00:49:44.920 align:middle line:84% A parure of 10 stars lies in precise alignment 00:49:44.920 --> 00:49:48.190 align:middle line:84% against the eggshell curve of the canyon wall. 00:49:48.190 --> 00:49:52.990 align:middle line:84% They stand time still in poised perfection before wheeling 00:49:52.990 --> 00:49:54.910 align:middle line:90% on to other appointments. 00:49:54.910 --> 00:49:56.875 align:middle line:84% In the quiet, the air is singing. 00:49:56.875 --> 00:50:03.520 align:middle line:90% 00:50:03.520 --> 00:50:07.060 align:middle line:84% Widening Circles, the name for a desert country near the sea 00:50:07.060 --> 00:50:08.470 align:middle line:90% came from Shakespeare. 00:50:08.470 --> 00:50:11.920 align:middle line:84% It's the name of the play within the play in As You Like It, 00:50:11.920 --> 00:50:15.220 align:middle line:84% and it's described as a faraway fanciful place, 00:50:15.220 --> 00:50:17.860 align:middle line:84% and it seemed to me a very appropriate title 00:50:17.860 --> 00:50:21.560 align:middle line:84% for a book about the cape region of Baja, California, 00:50:21.560 --> 00:50:24.640 align:middle line:84% which is kind of a fanciful faraway place 00:50:24.640 --> 00:50:26.590 align:middle line:90% that nobody knows. 00:50:26.590 --> 00:50:30.200 align:middle line:84% We had been going there since 1969. 00:50:30.200 --> 00:50:33.010 align:middle line:84% I'd been going there about 15 years when I wrote the book. 00:50:33.010 --> 00:50:36.560 align:middle line:84% In a sense, I suppose I was writing it for 15 years. 00:50:36.560 --> 00:50:41.260 align:middle line:84% My kids kind of grew up there in the winter at Christmas. 00:50:41.260 --> 00:50:45.330 align:middle line:84% We started going there because we got fed up 00:50:45.330 --> 00:50:46.705 align:middle line:84% with the saturnalia of Christmas, 00:50:46.705 --> 00:50:52.300 align:middle line:84% and I didn't like the commercialism, the stress. 00:50:52.300 --> 00:50:55.210 align:middle line:84% And so we just went to a place that was quiet 00:50:55.210 --> 00:51:03.760 align:middle line:84% where the kids could have a kind of family together happy time. 00:51:03.760 --> 00:51:07.000 align:middle line:84% And I didn't have to keep saying pick up your room. 00:51:07.000 --> 00:51:13.390 align:middle line:90% 00:51:13.390 --> 00:51:15.190 align:middle line:84% After dinner, I gazed at a beautiful-- 00:51:15.190 --> 00:51:18.850 align:middle line:84% this is a fishing camp, a, strictly male fishing camp-- 00:51:18.850 --> 00:51:21.430 align:middle line:84% after dinner, I gazed at a beautiful Sphinx 00:51:21.430 --> 00:51:24.820 align:middle line:84% moth splayed on the pillar in front of the dining room. 00:51:24.820 --> 00:51:27.760 align:middle line:84% Behind me, I hear the voice of one of the fishermen. 00:51:27.760 --> 00:51:30.250 align:middle line:90% "You like moths, little lady? 00:51:30.250 --> 00:51:31.840 align:middle line:90% This is no place to see them. 00:51:31.840 --> 00:51:33.580 align:middle line:84% They spray with pyrethrin down here 00:51:33.580 --> 00:51:35.650 align:middle line:84% to keep down the cockroach population. 00:51:35.650 --> 00:51:38.830 align:middle line:84% If you want moths, you go up to the second story 00:51:38.830 --> 00:51:40.540 align:middle line:90% of the next building." 00:51:40.540 --> 00:51:44.860 align:middle line:84% And there they are, composed on the wall like one 00:51:44.860 --> 00:51:47.470 align:middle line:84% of those composite pictures of all the colorful moths 00:51:47.470 --> 00:51:50.350 align:middle line:84% or butterflies or beetles in the frontispiece of books 00:51:50.350 --> 00:51:52.330 align:middle line:84% about moths or butterflies or beetles, 00:51:52.330 --> 00:51:55.300 align:middle line:84% all the most gorgeous species on one page. 00:51:55.300 --> 00:51:57.520 align:middle line:84% There are more than a dozen Sphinx moths 00:51:57.520 --> 00:51:59.410 align:middle line:84% although varied in color and marking, 00:51:59.410 --> 00:52:02.620 align:middle line:84% all are easily recognizable, medium to large moths 00:52:02.620 --> 00:52:04.780 align:middle line:84% with heavy torpedo shaped bodies. 00:52:04.780 --> 00:52:08.800 align:middle line:84% One, three inches long, is rose and gray, with barred wings. 00:52:08.800 --> 00:52:11.410 align:middle line:84% A bigger one flares its gray flannel wings 00:52:11.410 --> 00:52:15.340 align:middle line:84% to reveal under wing salmon pink of a small mammal's mouth 00:52:15.340 --> 00:52:20.020 align:middle line:84% agape, deep yellow spotlight the length of another's abdomen. 00:52:20.020 --> 00:52:23.050 align:middle line:84% And it has a tongue at least as long as its body and comb 00:52:23.050 --> 00:52:24.880 align:middle line:90% like bristles on its legs. 00:52:24.880 --> 00:52:28.090 align:middle line:84% One is a striped morning Sphinx common throughout North 00:52:28.090 --> 00:52:31.240 align:middle line:84% America, a male with extravagantly feathered 00:52:31.240 --> 00:52:34.000 align:middle line:84% antennae full of sensors which pick up 00:52:34.000 --> 00:52:36.160 align:middle line:90% the scent of the females. 00:52:36.160 --> 00:52:39.610 align:middle line:84% All are swift fliers that can reach 34 miles per hour, 00:52:39.610 --> 00:52:41.890 align:middle line:84% even faster with the help of a tailwind, 00:52:41.890 --> 00:52:45.100 align:middle line:84% in contrast to butterflies, which tilt frivolously 00:52:45.100 --> 00:52:48.130 align:middle line:84% through the air between six and nine miles per hour. 00:52:48.130 --> 00:52:50.920 align:middle line:84% Some Sphinx moths beat their wings so quickly 00:52:50.920 --> 00:52:54.910 align:middle line:84% that they blur, their fast flight and high maneuverability 00:52:54.910 --> 00:52:57.760 align:middle line:84% necessities for those that feed only in the brief half 00:52:57.760 --> 00:53:00.850 align:middle line:84% light between day and night, just when bats come out 00:53:00.850 --> 00:53:01.870 align:middle line:90% to hunt. 00:53:01.870 --> 00:53:03.760 align:middle line:84% Since they fly in the cool of the day, 00:53:03.760 --> 00:53:06.550 align:middle line:84% they cannot use sunlight to heat up their flight muscles. 00:53:06.550 --> 00:53:08.350 align:middle line:84% Instead, they vibrate their wings 00:53:08.350 --> 00:53:11.620 align:middle line:84% so rapidly that approximately the same amount 00:53:11.620 --> 00:53:18.100 align:middle line:84% of heat increase is generated as if they were in the sun. 00:53:18.100 --> 00:53:22.240 align:middle line:84% We were talking this afternoon about natural history 00:53:22.240 --> 00:53:25.960 align:middle line:84% writing and the fact that it is factual nonfiction. 00:53:25.960 --> 00:53:29.410 align:middle line:84% And somebody was saying how do you 00:53:29.410 --> 00:53:32.410 align:middle line:90% get people to follow you along? 00:53:32.410 --> 00:53:35.620 align:middle line:84% I mean, did you really want to know how many tons of silt 00:53:35.620 --> 00:53:37.300 align:middle line:90% are in the Green River? 00:53:37.300 --> 00:53:39.160 align:middle line:90% I didn't want to know. 00:53:39.160 --> 00:53:42.100 align:middle line:84% But if you're there watching it move under the surface, 00:53:42.100 --> 00:53:44.110 align:middle line:84% it becomes a matter of great interest. 00:53:44.110 --> 00:53:46.150 align:middle line:84% And seeing all these moths together, 00:53:46.150 --> 00:53:49.400 align:middle line:84% it was absolutely just blew me away. 00:53:49.400 --> 00:53:53.320 align:middle line:84% The aftermath of that story is that after I had captured 00:53:53.320 --> 00:53:57.520 align:middle line:84% and spread them, I was out camping on the beach 00:53:57.520 --> 00:54:01.810 align:middle line:84% and woke up with a heavy duty pain. 00:54:01.810 --> 00:54:05.140 align:middle line:84% Everything said heart attack, and it's ridiculous. 00:54:05.140 --> 00:54:08.870 align:middle line:84% I'm not going to have a heart attack, but it got worse. 00:54:08.870 --> 00:54:12.580 align:middle line:84% And finally, the people I was with took me the doctor, 00:54:12.580 --> 00:54:16.720 align:middle line:84% and I finally ended up in the hospital at La Paz 00:54:16.720 --> 00:54:21.160 align:middle line:84% with pericarditis which is a rather rare and peculiar thing 00:54:21.160 --> 00:54:24.020 align:middle line:84% which is all the symptoms of a heart attack. 00:54:24.020 --> 00:54:31.100 align:middle line:84% But it's an inflammation of the not lining. 00:54:31.100 --> 00:54:34.390 align:middle line:84% What's the word I want Lois, what's around your heart? 00:54:34.390 --> 00:54:36.950 align:middle line:90% Anyhow, it's an inflammation. 00:54:36.950 --> 00:54:42.140 align:middle line:84% And I had a perfectly marvelous week in a La Paz hospital. 00:54:42.140 --> 00:54:44.410 align:middle line:90% The nurses work 12 hour days. 00:54:44.410 --> 00:54:46.420 align:middle line:90% They're 14, 15 years old. 00:54:46.420 --> 00:54:51.370 align:middle line:84% They were absolutely enthralled to have an outlander 00:54:51.370 --> 00:54:53.800 align:middle line:84% because they could practice their English on me. 00:54:53.800 --> 00:54:56.080 align:middle line:84% And I was thrilled because I could practice 00:54:56.080 --> 00:54:58.330 align:middle line:90% my simple Spanish on them. 00:54:58.330 --> 00:55:04.030 align:middle line:84% And Baja Spanish is like if you were a Castilian 00:55:04.030 --> 00:55:07.780 align:middle line:84% Spaniard dropped in Louisiana, honey, 00:55:07.780 --> 00:55:09.880 align:middle line:90% and tried to speak English. 00:55:09.880 --> 00:55:13.870 align:middle line:84% It's Baja Spanish is that much of a dialect. 00:55:13.870 --> 00:55:16.510 align:middle line:90% 00:55:16.510 --> 00:55:18.790 align:middle line:84% I discovered the second day when my stomach began 00:55:18.790 --> 00:55:21.460 align:middle line:84% to growl that everybody in Mexican hospitals 00:55:21.460 --> 00:55:23.710 align:middle line:84% is supplied with food by their family 00:55:23.710 --> 00:55:27.010 align:middle line:84% and since I didn't have any family to supply me with food, 00:55:27.010 --> 00:55:28.780 align:middle line:90% they all kind of took turns. 00:55:28.780 --> 00:55:34.660 align:middle line:84% And for breakfast, I would have Jell-o, cornflakes, oatmeal, 00:55:34.660 --> 00:55:37.960 align:middle line:84% Fruit Loops, and there was something else interesting. 00:55:37.960 --> 00:55:40.090 align:middle line:84% It was all in cups, and you know how 00:55:40.090 --> 00:55:42.250 align:middle line:84% when you're in the hospital, the nurse comes 00:55:42.250 --> 00:55:44.380 align:middle line:84% in with your pill and a little white paper cup 00:55:44.380 --> 00:55:46.060 align:middle line:90% and she says hold out your hand. 00:55:46.060 --> 00:55:48.190 align:middle line:84% And you hold out your hand dutifully, 00:55:48.190 --> 00:55:50.950 align:middle line:84% and she puts the pill in, and she gives you a glass of water, 00:55:50.950 --> 00:55:55.330 align:middle line:84% and she watches while you take your pill just to be sure. 00:55:55.330 --> 00:55:57.940 align:middle line:84% The nurse would come in and she'd feel in one pocket, 00:55:57.940 --> 00:55:59.353 align:middle line:84% and then she'd feel in the other. 00:55:59.353 --> 00:56:01.270 align:middle line:84% And she'd come out with this handful of pills, 00:56:01.270 --> 00:56:03.250 align:middle line:84% and she'd put them down on the tray, 00:56:03.250 --> 00:56:05.058 align:middle line:84% and she kind sort through them, and she'd 00:56:05.058 --> 00:56:06.850 align:middle line:84% take out the brown ones and the green ones, 00:56:06.850 --> 00:56:11.175 align:middle line:84% and she'd put a couple of white ones over to the side for me, 00:56:11.175 --> 00:56:13.050 align:middle line:84% pick them all back up, put them in her pocket 00:56:13.050 --> 00:56:14.830 align:middle line:90% and walk out of the room. 00:56:14.830 --> 00:56:16.020 align:middle line:90% That made sense to me. 00:56:16.020 --> 00:56:17.520 align:middle line:84% I didn't have any trouble with that. 00:56:17.520 --> 00:56:20.880 align:middle line:90% 00:56:20.880 --> 00:56:24.660 align:middle line:90% The sea was a new place for me. 00:56:24.660 --> 00:56:29.430 align:middle line:84% I grew up in the Midwest, and I'm essentially a city girl. 00:56:29.430 --> 00:56:33.008 align:middle line:84% And a lot of time was spent in the tidal pools. 00:56:33.008 --> 00:56:34.800 align:middle line:84% And that was what my kids and I used to do, 00:56:34.800 --> 00:56:37.950 align:middle line:84% and we just must have really driven the tidal pool 00:56:37.950 --> 00:56:41.160 align:middle line:90% animals crazy. 00:56:41.160 --> 00:56:43.440 align:middle line:84% Highest up in the cracks of the periwinkles, 00:56:43.440 --> 00:56:45.990 align:middle line:84% neat little shells, pale gray crosshatch 00:56:45.990 --> 00:56:48.030 align:middle line:84% with darker gray lines, the color 00:56:48.030 --> 00:56:50.790 align:middle line:84% added in pulses of growth that give each 00:56:50.790 --> 00:56:52.380 align:middle line:90% its distinctive pattern. 00:56:52.380 --> 00:56:54.420 align:middle line:84% Many are only a couple of millimeters 00:56:54.420 --> 00:56:57.000 align:middle line:84% long, the largest not over a centimeter. 00:56:57.000 --> 00:57:01.440 align:middle line:84% Several dozen, make that several hundred very tiny ones 00:57:01.440 --> 00:57:04.590 align:middle line:84% waddle across the rock, spires ticking back and forth 00:57:04.590 --> 00:57:06.540 align:middle line:84% like miniature metronomes as they also 00:57:06.540 --> 00:57:08.790 align:middle line:90% feed upon algae in the cracks. 00:57:08.790 --> 00:57:11.850 align:middle line:84% Periwinkles inhabit intertidal zones the world over, 00:57:11.850 --> 00:57:15.510 align:middle line:84% receiving no more wetting than comes from splashing waves. 00:57:15.510 --> 00:57:19.860 align:middle line:84% Their operculum closes so quickly to minimize water loss 00:57:19.860 --> 00:57:24.720 align:middle line:84% and can be held tight for long periods of time. 00:57:24.720 --> 00:57:28.620 align:middle line:84% It is thought that periwinkles may be the ancestors of today's 00:57:28.620 --> 00:57:32.280 align:middle line:84% land snails and may be on their own tenuous trail 00:57:32.280 --> 00:57:34.890 align:middle line:90% to a fully land existence. 00:57:34.890 --> 00:57:38.760 align:middle line:84% Considering the problems a shell presents to a gastropod-- 00:57:38.760 --> 00:57:41.670 align:middle line:84% difficulties in breathing, reproduction, 00:57:41.670 --> 00:57:45.240 align:middle line:84% getting rid of wastes and hindering quick action-- 00:57:45.240 --> 00:57:47.250 align:middle line:84% the protection it provides evidently 00:57:47.250 --> 00:57:50.040 align:middle line:90% far outweighs its disadvantages. 00:57:50.040 --> 00:57:53.280 align:middle line:84% The ancestral spiral shell was formed in one plane 00:57:53.280 --> 00:57:54.750 align:middle line:90% like a cinnamon roll. 00:57:54.750 --> 00:57:58.950 align:middle line:84% It was neither very compact since each coil lay completely 00:57:58.950 --> 00:58:01.680 align:middle line:84% outside the preceding one, nor easy to carry 00:58:01.680 --> 00:58:05.340 align:middle line:84% because all the shells weight hung on one side of the body. 00:58:05.340 --> 00:58:08.280 align:middle line:84% Evolution solved this problem by coiling the shell 00:58:08.280 --> 00:58:11.910 align:middle line:84% around a central axis so that each coil was larger 00:58:11.910 --> 00:58:14.370 align:middle line:84% and lay beneath the preceding one. 00:58:14.370 --> 00:58:17.190 align:middle line:84% The spiral begins at the top, winding 00:58:17.190 --> 00:58:20.340 align:middle line:84% as it goes, producing a much stronger structure 00:58:20.340 --> 00:58:22.080 align:middle line:90% than a simple cone. 00:58:22.080 --> 00:58:25.740 align:middle line:84% The axis of the shell slants upward and somewhat back. 00:58:25.740 --> 00:58:27.540 align:middle line:84% And each of these old periwinkles 00:58:27.540 --> 00:58:32.970 align:middle line:84% cants at the same angle as it trundles across the rock. 00:58:32.970 --> 00:58:38.520 align:middle line:84% Oh, and then there's somebody said 00:58:38.520 --> 00:58:40.440 align:middle line:90% about the scientific background. 00:58:40.440 --> 00:58:42.210 align:middle line:84% I don't have a scientific background, 00:58:42.210 --> 00:58:43.770 align:middle line:84% and I remember the passage of trying 00:58:43.770 --> 00:58:47.550 align:middle line:84% to explain about internal torsion of sweating blood 00:58:47.550 --> 00:58:48.360 align:middle line:90% over that. 00:58:48.360 --> 00:58:49.440 align:middle line:90% I'll spare you that. 00:58:49.440 --> 00:58:53.320 align:middle line:90% 00:58:53.320 --> 00:58:56.650 align:middle line:84% Small hollows in the sand where the surf swirled around a rock 00:58:56.650 --> 00:58:58.870 align:middle line:84% as the tide went out are now filled 00:58:58.870 --> 00:59:02.260 align:middle line:84% with water, the most evanescent of habitats warming 00:59:02.260 --> 00:59:05.410 align:middle line:84% in the sun, subject to surf on the return of the sea, 00:59:05.410 --> 00:59:07.630 align:middle line:84% never staying the same, coming and going 00:59:07.630 --> 00:59:10.060 align:middle line:84% with the vagaries of the waves, these pools 00:59:10.060 --> 00:59:13.840 align:middle line:84% are nevertheless occupied by a dozen small sea hares, which 00:59:13.840 --> 00:59:15.820 align:middle line:90% graze and lay their eggs here. 00:59:15.820 --> 00:59:18.700 align:middle line:84% The little sea hares are tan streaked with brown, 00:59:18.700 --> 00:59:22.810 align:middle line:84% given a ragged untidy aspect by their ruffled mantle. 00:59:22.810 --> 00:59:26.170 align:middle line:84% In sea hares, shell is internal and completely covered 00:59:26.170 --> 00:59:27.130 align:middle line:90% by the mantle. 00:59:27.130 --> 00:59:30.700 align:middle line:84% And this lack of confining shell allows them to curl themselves 00:59:30.700 --> 00:59:33.190 align:middle line:84% along the sand in a graceful manner 00:59:33.190 --> 00:59:35.950 align:middle line:84% tugging systematically at each sprig of algae 00:59:35.950 --> 00:59:37.540 align:middle line:90% and then moving on. 00:59:37.540 --> 00:59:40.360 align:middle line:84% Their eggs float on the surface like frayed snippets 00:59:40.360 --> 00:59:41.560 align:middle line:90% of tan yarn. 00:59:41.560 --> 00:59:44.440 align:middle line:84% Even though they are exposed, they are little preyed upon, 00:59:44.440 --> 00:59:46.870 align:middle line:84% for they exude a chemical substance that causes 00:59:46.870 --> 00:59:48.954 align:middle line:90% other animals to avoid them. 00:59:48.954 --> 00:59:51.850 align:middle line:84% In the midst of these conservatively colored 00:59:51.850 --> 00:59:56.050 align:middle line:84% businessmen, there is one flower child nudibranch, a shell, 00:59:56.050 --> 00:59:59.410 align:middle line:84% a snail in bright dark blue with yellow and iridescent 00:59:59.410 --> 01:00:00.550 align:middle line:90% blue stripes. 01:00:00.550 --> 01:00:04.240 align:middle line:84% It grazes along the side of a pool very close to the surface 01:00:04.240 --> 01:00:05.350 align:middle line:90% of the water. 01:00:05.350 --> 01:00:07.330 align:middle line:84% On its back are two great triangles 01:00:07.330 --> 01:00:10.690 align:middle line:84% like a bow tie through which its heartbeats pulsate. 01:00:10.690 --> 01:00:13.460 align:middle line:84% Having no external shell for protection, 01:00:13.460 --> 01:00:14.830 align:middle line:90% they have developed other means. 01:00:14.830 --> 01:00:19.710 align:middle line:90% 01:00:19.710 --> 01:00:20.430 align:middle line:90% Interesting. 01:00:20.430 --> 01:00:27.670 align:middle line:90% 01:00:27.670 --> 01:00:32.020 align:middle line:84% There are so often things to be found on the beach. 01:00:32.020 --> 01:00:34.462 align:middle line:84% When they're in tidal pools, they're alive and wiggling. 01:00:34.462 --> 01:00:35.920 align:middle line:84% If you find them dead on the beach, 01:00:35.920 --> 01:00:37.580 align:middle line:84% you can really get to look at them. 01:00:37.580 --> 01:00:40.360 align:middle line:84% And one of the things that I never seen was a brittle star. 01:00:40.360 --> 01:00:44.950 align:middle line:84% And they're starfish, but instead of the familiar star 01:00:44.950 --> 01:00:49.720 align:middle line:84% it's a center with very linear arms 01:00:49.720 --> 01:00:52.100 align:middle line:84% and they drop them at an instant. 01:00:52.100 --> 01:00:57.520 align:middle line:84% So the minute you pick one up, you got an arm going. 01:00:57.520 --> 01:00:59.530 align:middle line:84% I scuff a small bit-- a dead one-- 01:00:59.530 --> 01:01:01.330 align:middle line:84% a small brittle star out of the sand. 01:01:01.330 --> 01:01:05.530 align:middle line:84% It's the first time I've ever seen one both whole and quiet. 01:01:05.530 --> 01:01:08.470 align:middle line:84% A live brittle star is so slithery that examining it 01:01:08.470 --> 01:01:09.640 align:middle line:90% is out of the question. 01:01:09.640 --> 01:01:12.730 align:middle line:84% One often ends up with a couple of detached legs 01:01:12.730 --> 01:01:14.980 align:middle line:84% since they are autotomize so easily. 01:01:14.980 --> 01:01:18.430 align:middle line:84% I take it back up to my beach towel and fish out my hand lens 01:01:18.430 --> 01:01:20.240 align:middle line:90% to enjoy it properly. 01:01:20.240 --> 01:01:22.180 align:middle line:84% They differ from the familiar sea stars 01:01:22.180 --> 01:01:24.730 align:middle line:84% by having a differentiated central disk 01:01:24.730 --> 01:01:27.430 align:middle line:84% to which long flexible arms are attached. 01:01:27.430 --> 01:01:30.820 align:middle line:84% Rather than being all of a piece as sea stars are, 01:01:30.820 --> 01:01:33.070 align:middle line:84% the mouth on the underside of the body 01:01:33.070 --> 01:01:36.590 align:middle line:84% is a little star set in a tiny granulated disk, 01:01:36.590 --> 01:01:39.490 align:middle line:84% now gray instead of pale green or brown in life. 01:01:39.490 --> 01:01:41.770 align:middle line:84% The arms are about two inches long and tapered 01:01:41.770 --> 01:01:46.210 align:middle line:84% from a quarter inch at the body to a sixteenth inch at the tip. 01:01:46.210 --> 01:01:48.700 align:middle line:84% On top, the plates of the arms alternate 01:01:48.700 --> 01:01:53.020 align:middle line:84% between dark gray and pale gray, three dark, one light three 01:01:53.020 --> 01:01:56.020 align:middle line:84% dark, three light, two dark, five light, 01:01:56.020 --> 01:01:59.800 align:middle line:84% light dominating toward the tip, dark toward the disk. 01:01:59.800 --> 01:02:03.730 align:middle line:84% The dark plates bear pale gray Chinese characters 01:02:03.730 --> 01:02:07.180 align:middle line:84% as if the creature were bearer of ancient legend. 01:02:07.180 --> 01:02:08.710 align:middle line:84% Toward the tip end, all the plates 01:02:08.710 --> 01:02:10.450 align:middle line:84% are lighter with a darker pattern. 01:02:10.450 --> 01:02:12.460 align:middle line:84% The light gray undersides of the arms 01:02:12.460 --> 01:02:15.310 align:middle line:84% bear smaller plates with darker gray stripes 01:02:15.310 --> 01:02:17.710 align:middle line:90% running the length of the arm. 01:02:17.710 --> 01:02:20.380 align:middle line:84% On either side of the arms or spines, a little longer 01:02:20.380 --> 01:02:23.140 align:middle line:84% than the plate they lie beside, groups of five 01:02:23.140 --> 01:02:26.020 align:middle line:84% toward the disk down to three at the lower edge. 01:02:26.020 --> 01:02:28.540 align:middle line:84% In death, the spines are pale gray 01:02:28.540 --> 01:02:32.800 align:middle line:84% with a white spot at the base tipped with salmon. 01:02:32.800 --> 01:02:35.350 align:middle line:84% As I hold the little brittle star in hand and take notes, 01:02:35.350 --> 01:02:38.710 align:middle line:84% it occurs to me that I can always come back to this time, 01:02:38.710 --> 01:02:41.380 align:middle line:84% these smells, these sounds on this page. 01:02:41.380 --> 01:02:44.170 align:middle line:84% I remember the reason Edwin Way Teale gave 01:02:44.170 --> 01:02:46.180 align:middle line:90% for writing natural history. 01:02:46.180 --> 01:02:50.930 align:middle line:84% And quote, "I suppose if I answer truthfully, 01:02:50.930 --> 01:02:54.010 align:middle line:84% I would have to say that the first purpose was to preserve, 01:02:54.010 --> 01:02:56.440 align:middle line:84% as insects are sometimes preserved, 01:02:56.440 --> 01:03:00.670 align:middle line:84% with every wing venation intact, in pieces of transparent amber 01:03:00.670 --> 01:03:05.380 align:middle line:84% portions of our lives that seem especially precious to us." 01:03:05.380 --> 01:03:08.380 align:middle line:90% 01:03:08.380 --> 01:03:10.810 align:middle line:84% One of the things in the tide pools 01:03:10.810 --> 01:03:17.320 align:middle line:84% are Sally Lightfoot crabs, which John Steinbeck 01:03:17.320 --> 01:03:20.770 align:middle line:84% in the Sea of Cortez, which is a wonderful book to read, 01:03:20.770 --> 01:03:23.380 align:middle line:84% said that they seem to be running any four directions, 01:03:23.380 --> 01:03:26.080 align:middle line:84% but more than this perhaps because of their rapid reaction 01:03:26.080 --> 01:03:28.450 align:middle line:84% time, they appear to read the mind of their hunter. 01:03:28.450 --> 01:03:30.640 align:middle line:84% They escape the long handled net, 01:03:30.640 --> 01:03:33.250 align:middle line:84% anticipating from what direction it is coming. 01:03:33.250 --> 01:03:36.370 align:middle line:84% If you walk slowly, they move slowly ahead of you in droves. 01:03:36.370 --> 01:03:37.780 align:middle line:90% If you hurry, they hurry. 01:03:37.780 --> 01:03:39.250 align:middle line:84% When you plunge at them, they seem 01:03:39.250 --> 01:03:41.500 align:middle line:84% to disappear in little puffs of blue smoke. 01:03:41.500 --> 01:03:43.810 align:middle line:84% It is impossible to creep up on them. 01:03:43.810 --> 01:03:47.620 align:middle line:84% Man reacts peculiarly but consistently in his relation 01:03:47.620 --> 01:03:48.730 align:middle line:90% with Sally Lightfoot. 01:03:48.730 --> 01:03:51.490 align:middle line:84% His tendency eventually is to scream curses, 01:03:51.490 --> 01:03:54.670 align:middle line:84% to hurl himself at them, and to come up foaming with rage 01:03:54.670 --> 01:03:56.920 align:middle line:90% and bruised all over his chest. 01:03:56.920 --> 01:04:00.670 align:middle line:84% Well, Sara's husband picked one up. 01:04:00.670 --> 01:04:03.790 align:middle line:84% While he held her, I had my first chance to see up close 01:04:03.790 --> 01:04:06.730 align:middle line:84% the almost square shape and vertical front of the carapace, 01:04:06.730 --> 01:04:08.860 align:middle line:84% the triangular shape of the plaster on beneath 01:04:08.860 --> 01:04:10.630 align:middle line:90% showed it to be a female. 01:04:10.630 --> 01:04:13.780 align:middle line:84% The smoky dark blue carapace was dotted with white, 01:04:13.780 --> 01:04:15.940 align:middle line:84% circled and splashed with pale blue 01:04:15.940 --> 01:04:19.840 align:middle line:84% a lovely milky blue under the head. 01:04:19.840 --> 01:04:21.850 align:middle line:84% But she was not to be held for long. 01:04:21.850 --> 01:04:24.310 align:middle line:84% One claw made a triangle cut in Kent's thumb, 01:04:24.310 --> 01:04:26.560 align:middle line:84% and he dropped her with the appropriate comment. 01:04:26.560 --> 01:04:28.683 align:middle line:84% He said that the claw itself felt dull, 01:04:28.683 --> 01:04:30.100 align:middle line:84% but when turned at the right angle 01:04:30.100 --> 01:04:34.540 align:middle line:84% and clamped with the force of the muscle, it cut sharply. 01:04:34.540 --> 01:04:37.270 align:middle line:84% That day, Sara sat on a knob of rock. 01:04:37.270 --> 01:04:40.060 align:middle line:84% My [INAUDIBLE]---- Sara's my youngest daughter. 01:04:40.060 --> 01:04:44.200 align:middle line:84% She's the one who takes a sip of cerveza, 01:04:44.200 --> 01:04:48.730 align:middle line:84% breathes deeply and says, "That's fresh squeezed." 01:04:48.730 --> 01:04:51.160 align:middle line:84% That day, Sara sat on a knob of rock, 01:04:51.160 --> 01:04:54.010 align:middle line:84% my textbook of invertebrate zoology on her knees, 01:04:54.010 --> 01:04:56.440 align:middle line:84% and read me the identification key. 01:04:56.440 --> 01:04:58.690 align:middle line:84% The night before, Sara, who played Scrabble 01:04:58.690 --> 01:05:01.660 align:middle line:84% every day at lunch hour, had snookered me 150 points 01:05:01.660 --> 01:05:03.100 align:middle line:90% and departed triumphant. 01:05:03.100 --> 01:05:08.350 align:middle line:84% As she flounced out she'd said, "All these years." 01:05:08.350 --> 01:05:11.650 align:middle line:84% How could she know it gave me vastly more satisfaction 01:05:11.650 --> 01:05:12.730 align:middle line:90% than she gave her. 01:05:12.730 --> 01:05:15.190 align:middle line:84% And somehow, that added enjoyment 01:05:15.190 --> 01:05:19.180 align:middle line:84% to my saying yes, no yes, yes as she read the key. 01:05:19.180 --> 01:05:23.680 align:middle line:84% What pleasure that minute colony of humans, the only species 01:05:23.680 --> 01:05:26.800 align:middle line:84% to give and record names sharing the accumulated 01:05:26.800 --> 01:05:30.430 align:middle line:84% knowledge of centuries, the sentience of sea and sun, 01:05:30.430 --> 01:05:32.710 align:middle line:84% water gurgling around our feet as the tide 01:05:32.710 --> 01:05:35.470 align:middle line:84% came back in, an irrevocable part 01:05:35.470 --> 01:05:39.550 align:middle line:84% of this time, this place, this affection. 01:05:39.550 --> 01:05:41.710 align:middle line:84% As I climb up from the tide pool, 01:05:41.710 --> 01:05:45.160 align:middle line:84% the slope above lies in shadow, but a shaft of sun 01:05:45.160 --> 01:05:47.530 align:middle line:84% still lights the hummingbird nest. 01:05:47.530 --> 01:05:51.520 align:middle line:84% It was a hummingbird nest in a crook of a pitaya, 01:05:51.520 --> 01:05:54.970 align:middle line:84% and it was a distorted-- the arm of the just 01:05:54.970 --> 01:05:58.990 align:middle line:84% came around like this, and she had built her nest right here 01:05:58.990 --> 01:06:01.840 align:middle line:84% about that height from the ground. 01:06:01.840 --> 01:06:03.560 align:middle line:90% She is gone when I arrive. 01:06:03.560 --> 01:06:06.430 align:middle line:84% But when she returns, there are no more feeding forays. 01:06:06.430 --> 01:06:11.260 align:middle line:84% She sits facing the ocean 60 feet below. 01:06:11.260 --> 01:06:13.360 align:middle line:84% The pools on the rock shelf below 01:06:13.360 --> 01:06:16.090 align:middle line:84% reflect like steel mirrors and the ocean filters 01:06:16.090 --> 01:06:17.860 align:middle line:90% in around the rocks between. 01:06:17.860 --> 01:06:20.030 align:middle line:90% She's nicely settled in. 01:06:20.030 --> 01:06:23.410 align:middle line:84% It's dusk, and I beam her my protective maternal thoughts 01:06:23.410 --> 01:06:26.380 align:middle line:84% and go up to dinner having been reminded of how much I 01:06:26.380 --> 01:06:27.910 align:middle line:90% miss my daughters. 01:06:27.910 --> 01:06:33.850 align:middle line:84% When I check the nest the next morning, it hangs in tatters. 01:06:33.850 --> 01:06:35.920 align:middle line:84% Something got to it in the night. 01:06:35.920 --> 01:06:41.170 align:middle line:84% The black jelly bean babies lie on the ground wizened and dead. 01:06:41.170 --> 01:06:46.690 align:middle line:84% I pick up a piece of the nest, so soft, so gossamer, fashioned 01:06:46.690 --> 01:06:51.160 align:middle line:84% of bits of leaf, feathery seed heads, fuzzy wild lavender, 01:06:51.160 --> 01:06:54.580 align:middle line:84% calluses, lichen bits, all well shredded 01:06:54.580 --> 01:06:57.040 align:middle line:90% before being woven together. 01:06:57.040 --> 01:06:59.350 align:middle line:84% I know it's foolish and sentimental, 01:06:59.350 --> 01:07:02.860 align:middle line:84% but I hold that poor scrap of a nest in my hands and tears 01:07:02.860 --> 01:07:04.420 align:middle line:90% blur my eyes. 01:07:04.420 --> 01:07:08.320 align:middle line:84% I wonder if she is still alive, still hovering somewhere, 01:07:08.320 --> 01:07:12.430 align:middle line:84% if she will nest next spring, will haunt the San Miguel vine, 01:07:12.430 --> 01:07:15.040 align:middle line:84% will lay pea sized eggs, if she will 01:07:15.040 --> 01:07:18.580 align:middle line:84% guard the air with her flight and remind me 01:07:18.580 --> 01:07:23.280 align:middle line:84% of the tenuousness of motherhood. 01:07:23.280 --> 01:07:24.750 align:middle line:84% The book begins in the mountains, 01:07:24.750 --> 01:07:27.300 align:middle line:90% and it ends in the sea. 01:07:27.300 --> 01:07:33.810 align:middle line:84% On October 25 1764, Miguel Del Barco, Jesuit missionary, 01:07:33.810 --> 01:07:36.150 align:middle line:84% wrote to his father procurator saying, 01:07:36.150 --> 01:07:40.080 align:middle line:84% "My natural inclination leads me completely away from the sea." 01:07:40.080 --> 01:07:43.740 align:middle line:90% Yes, watch my lips. 01:07:43.740 --> 01:07:46.470 align:middle line:84% Fresh water child raised on a river, summered 01:07:46.470 --> 01:07:48.210 align:middle line:84% on a lake in Michigan, I am firmly 01:07:48.210 --> 01:07:50.880 align:middle line:84% bonded to the freshwater heritage imprinted 01:07:50.880 --> 01:07:52.260 align:middle line:90% on me since birth. 01:07:52.260 --> 01:07:54.870 align:middle line:84% In addition, I inherited a predisposition 01:07:54.870 --> 01:07:56.310 align:middle line:90% towards seasickness. 01:07:56.310 --> 01:07:59.790 align:middle line:84% It is my further opinion that salt water tastes terrible 01:07:59.790 --> 01:08:03.420 align:middle line:84% and waves make swimming a lot of unnecessary effort. 01:08:03.420 --> 01:08:07.140 align:middle line:84% I know exactly what the first fish that scooped itself out 01:08:07.140 --> 01:08:10.680 align:middle line:84% of the sea and up onto dry land and decided to stay 01:08:10.680 --> 01:08:13.170 align:middle line:84% thought as it slithered from the murky shallows 01:08:13.170 --> 01:08:16.470 align:middle line:84% on its tender finny feet and felt the whispery air. 01:08:16.470 --> 01:08:18.720 align:middle line:84% Enough of this vertiginous slosh, 01:08:18.720 --> 01:08:21.390 align:middle line:84% enough of this flowing and ebbing, enough of this salt 01:08:21.390 --> 01:08:24.120 align:middle line:84% water in my eyes, give me a stable base 01:08:24.120 --> 01:08:28.200 align:middle line:84% from which to operate and a firm horizon on which to lock. 01:08:28.200 --> 01:08:30.510 align:middle line:84% Therefore, not until a few years ago 01:08:30.510 --> 01:08:32.399 align:middle line:84% could I be talked into snorkeling. 01:08:32.399 --> 01:08:35.370 align:middle line:84% Herman smeared my face mask with something 01:08:35.370 --> 01:08:39.569 align:middle line:84% he called whale spit to keep my mask from fogging. 01:08:39.569 --> 01:08:40.950 align:middle line:84% Jonah didn't like it, and neither 01:08:40.950 --> 01:08:43.380 align:middle line:84% did I. It made my eyes smart, and I 01:08:43.380 --> 01:08:46.229 align:middle line:84% had to wipe it out and find something less irritating. 01:08:46.229 --> 01:08:50.609 align:middle line:84% Finally Susan, my water child, took me firmly by the hand 01:08:50.609 --> 01:08:54.390 align:middle line:90% saying kindly, "Come on, Mom." 01:08:54.390 --> 01:08:56.220 align:middle line:84% In that tone of voice one assumes 01:08:56.220 --> 01:09:00.960 align:middle line:84% with a recalcitrant child and trapped me with her patience. 01:09:00.960 --> 01:09:03.000 align:middle line:84% Because the water was not terribly warm, 01:09:03.000 --> 01:09:04.649 align:middle line:90% I borrowed Susan's wet suit. 01:09:04.649 --> 01:09:07.319 align:middle line:84% Susan is taller than I, and her wetsuit 01:09:07.319 --> 01:09:10.170 align:middle line:84% fit me like Dolly Parton's would fit Olive Oyl. 01:09:10.170 --> 01:09:12.990 align:middle line:84% I was so buoyant, I bobbed like a cork. 01:09:12.990 --> 01:09:15.720 align:middle line:84% Once in, I had trouble keeping my flippers on. 01:09:15.720 --> 01:09:19.470 align:middle line:84% The foot extension necessary for flippers gave me foot cramps. 01:09:19.470 --> 01:09:21.569 align:middle line:84% A grain of sand lodged in one flipper. 01:09:21.569 --> 01:09:22.990 align:middle line:90% It stuck at a bony place. 01:09:22.990 --> 01:09:24.689 align:middle line:84% And as I worked it out with my fingers, 01:09:24.689 --> 01:09:27.750 align:middle line:84% I let the snorkel tube dip below the surface. 01:09:27.750 --> 01:09:31.710 align:middle line:84% Even worse, beneath me was a whole moving world vertiginous 01:09:31.710 --> 01:09:34.950 align:middle line:84% flickering light jiggling on wave rippled sands 01:09:34.950 --> 01:09:38.010 align:middle line:84% while rocks wavering uncertainly, tufts 01:09:38.010 --> 01:09:41.130 align:middle line:84% of algae wafting about without apparent direction, the water 01:09:41.130 --> 01:09:41.970 align:middle line:90% went up and down. 01:09:41.970 --> 01:09:44.430 align:middle line:84% The patterns on the bottom swayed back and forth. 01:09:44.430 --> 01:09:48.390 align:middle line:84% And the fish rotated at cross-purposes to it all. 01:09:48.390 --> 01:09:50.580 align:middle line:84% When I finally dragged myself out, 01:09:50.580 --> 01:09:53.850 align:middle line:84% my stomach and head were so seriously uncoupled, 01:09:53.850 --> 01:09:57.300 align:middle line:84% my eye and ear so disoriented, I seriously 01:09:57.300 --> 01:09:59.760 align:middle line:84% considered taking Dramamine the next time I 01:09:59.760 --> 01:10:04.260 align:middle line:84% tried this, which I trusted would not be again soon. 01:10:04.260 --> 01:10:06.810 align:middle line:84% Summer passed, time in which to forget. 01:10:06.810 --> 01:10:10.350 align:middle line:84% Once again, I set out this time with my own wetsuit. 01:10:10.350 --> 01:10:12.300 align:middle line:90% Visibility was excellent. 01:10:12.300 --> 01:10:15.720 align:middle line:84% Interlocking lozenges of light scampered up the rocks, 01:10:15.720 --> 01:10:19.560 align:middle line:84% fell off, coalesced, shredded in a scintillating display 01:10:19.560 --> 01:10:22.440 align:middle line:84% of northern lights and an aqueous sky. 01:10:22.440 --> 01:10:25.470 align:middle line:84% A thin line turned, flashed into a fish. 01:10:25.470 --> 01:10:28.620 align:middle line:84% A foreshortened view slewed into profile. 01:10:28.620 --> 01:10:32.970 align:middle line:84% Tail gleamed, flank pressed against water, head turned, 01:10:32.970 --> 01:10:37.050 align:middle line:84% gilled layered fish swam, swift play of light quick intensity 01:10:37.050 --> 01:10:40.260 align:middle line:84% of color, shine of scales and glow of iridescence, 01:10:40.260 --> 01:10:42.690 align:middle line:84% the curved flanks of silvery slivers 01:10:42.690 --> 01:10:45.480 align:middle line:84% constantly turning and tumbling re-arranging 01:10:45.480 --> 01:10:47.760 align:middle line:90% like a pastel kaleidoscope. 01:10:47.760 --> 01:10:50.280 align:middle line:84% The interface of water and air, a boundary 01:10:50.280 --> 01:10:53.850 align:middle line:84% I'd only seen from above, was a silken tent 01:10:53.850 --> 01:10:56.790 align:middle line:84% undulating in the underwater wind, gray blue 01:10:56.790 --> 01:11:01.020 align:middle line:84% with moving ovals, a scrim through which light billowed 01:11:01.020 --> 01:11:05.970 align:middle line:84% of a small fish shinning up to the surface, pop the film, 01:11:05.970 --> 01:11:09.390 align:middle line:84% and slid back down again all in silence. 01:11:09.390 --> 01:11:12.360 align:middle line:90% I was hooked. 01:11:12.360 --> 01:11:29.210 align:middle line:84% Now, one of the things I learned from teaching my students 01:11:29.210 --> 01:11:32.060 align:middle line:84% at Colorado College in natural history class 01:11:32.060 --> 01:11:35.360 align:middle line:84% was that you often bury your beginnings 01:11:35.360 --> 01:11:38.360 align:middle line:90% and ends in odd places. 01:11:38.360 --> 01:11:41.720 align:middle line:84% I have known for a long time that when I write a paragraph, 01:11:41.720 --> 01:11:45.230 align:middle line:84% I have one throwaway sentence, and I begin the paragraph 01:11:45.230 --> 01:11:46.560 align:middle line:90% with a second sentence. 01:11:46.560 --> 01:11:49.170 align:middle line:84% So it's just a matter of going through and editing. 01:11:49.170 --> 01:11:51.350 align:middle line:84% So it should not have come as a surprise 01:11:51.350 --> 01:11:55.730 align:middle line:84% that the real ending not only to Run River Run 01:11:55.730 --> 01:11:58.550 align:middle line:84% but to anything I have ever written 01:11:58.550 --> 01:12:02.930 align:middle line:84% comes not at the end of the book but at the end of a chapter 13 01:12:02.930 --> 01:12:04.280 align:middle line:90% in Run River Run. 01:12:04.280 --> 01:12:08.030 align:middle line:84% And it's a better ending than what the book ends with. 01:12:08.030 --> 01:12:10.670 align:middle line:84% Remember, you heard it here first. 01:12:10.670 --> 01:12:12.390 align:middle line:84% When I read it again this morning, 01:12:12.390 --> 01:12:17.090 align:middle line:84% I had a seldom felt sense of I wish I'd written that. 01:12:17.090 --> 01:12:19.640 align:middle line:90% 01:12:19.640 --> 01:12:23.030 align:middle line:84% I walk away from the lookout and face upriver. 01:12:23.030 --> 01:12:25.910 align:middle line:84% Even with a group, it's possible to have a great deal of time 01:12:25.910 --> 01:12:27.590 align:middle line:90% alone with the river. 01:12:27.590 --> 01:12:30.020 align:middle line:84% I sit on the edge of the Chinle parapet 01:12:30.020 --> 01:12:33.380 align:middle line:84% and dangle my feet over the side. 01:12:33.380 --> 01:12:36.920 align:middle line:84% It occurs to me somewhat vaguely that I who am normally 01:12:36.920 --> 01:12:39.920 align:middle line:84% afraid of heights am sitting comfortably 01:12:39.920 --> 01:12:43.670 align:middle line:84% above a large segment of empty space. 01:12:43.670 --> 01:12:46.400 align:middle line:84% The cottonwoods below follow the river's curve 01:12:46.400 --> 01:12:48.440 align:middle line:90% in an esker of green. 01:12:48.440 --> 01:12:51.290 align:middle line:84% The river is brown, and the clanking hot shale 01:12:51.290 --> 01:12:53.810 align:middle line:90% beneath my hand is gray-green. 01:12:53.810 --> 01:12:58.070 align:middle line:84% I should be writing or drawing, recording. 01:12:58.070 --> 01:13:01.220 align:middle line:84% But I can only ponder, feeling immobilized by the weight 01:13:01.220 --> 01:13:06.050 align:middle line:84% of the sunlight on my back, rock, tree, sky, 01:13:06.050 --> 01:13:10.460 align:middle line:84% a hand shadow on the page, a morning breeze, a sunlight 01:13:10.460 --> 01:13:13.340 align:middle line:90% webbed river. 01:13:13.340 --> 01:13:17.600 align:middle line:84% I suppose it is the proportions that count, how much is stone, 01:13:17.600 --> 01:13:21.590 align:middle line:84% strong, how much is green, yielding, 01:13:21.590 --> 01:13:27.890 align:middle line:84% and how much is river going on and never coming back. 01:13:27.890 --> 01:13:28.820 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 01:13:28.820 --> 01:13:30.670 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 01:13:30.670 --> 01:13:35.138 align:middle line:90%