my abode and forest wanderings
I live with Mike in a three bedroom apartment (i know... isn't this situation ironic) on the 11th floor, which is the top, of a building called "Lion's Mansion". It is situated very close to the train tracks, which havent bothered anyone very much as the train is not nearly as noisy as the ones in New York. It is very small and a little bell sounds when it approaches. Directly opposite from my window is a nice view of a wide expanse of sub-tropical forest atop a small mountain braced by a thick concrete wall and fencing. From outside, the steady drone of cicadas can be heard as well as the raspy caws of the native crow. Could it be related closely to ours? Is it the same as ours? If so, it would most certainly be either a raven or fish crow from its call. I am waiting for Cynthia's input on this one. There are many beautiful dragonflies and butterflies and moths flitting about in the oppressive heat. Mike's room has a tatami-matted floor and paper walls, but mine is simple and Western looking, escept for the futon bed that spreads out across my floor, which came in a large package that greeted me when i first entered the room. It is a bit small, but I really don't plan on having any parties in there.
I took an excursion into the forest this morning, which turned out to be a terrible idea. I was enchanted by it from my window, and felt as though i needed to see it upclose. I walked in its direction and found a number of small gardens with ceremonial engraved stones and statues, in some places surrounded by wild bamboo, directly below the forest. Many stones and statues had stone offering bowls or, resting upon them, plastic cups, both full of rain water. Surrounding the gardens were the kind of traditional Japanese houses I've seen in pictures, with the pointed tubular roofs. The entire place was immensely beautiful. I was so enticed that i entered the forest interior. It was then that i discovered that nearly every gap between trees was draped with large spider webs harboring their two inch-long, yellow and blue decorated creators. I came to the conclusion that it would not be pleasurable to plunge my face into one of them by accident in my stumblings, so i had to be very deliberate and careful with my steps. The blood-hungry gnats that swarmed around my body were thankful for my choice to take it slow. It turns out, I believe, that i successfully pleased all of the arthropods in the forest this morning. I heard odd yelps that sounded like monkeys in th distance but I may have been wrong--i need to inquire about the mammals around here, not to mention the rest of the fauna. I did manage to catch a glimpse of an enormous earthworm with the width of my thumb before it plunged into the rotted leaves below me.
When I finally escaped from the forest's wrath I was both heavily scathed and worried. I was worried because I realized that I exhibited the reaction of the average human to a natural place--pestered by insects, inhibited by the terrain, fearful of spiders. But I then reasoned that I do not belong in that forest, or rather, my species did not spend most of its evolutionary history in there, and therefore I am not evolutionarily prepared for it, although in some ways, eg. fear of spiders and lack of patience with biting insects, some vestigial behavior probably helped to protect me. Perhaps in colder weather when the arthropods are less active, or by taking a better and more clear-cut path, i can enjoy this forest the way i had envisioned i would when i first entered it.
I took an excursion into the forest this morning, which turned out to be a terrible idea. I was enchanted by it from my window, and felt as though i needed to see it upclose. I walked in its direction and found a number of small gardens with ceremonial engraved stones and statues, in some places surrounded by wild bamboo, directly below the forest. Many stones and statues had stone offering bowls or, resting upon them, plastic cups, both full of rain water. Surrounding the gardens were the kind of traditional Japanese houses I've seen in pictures, with the pointed tubular roofs. The entire place was immensely beautiful. I was so enticed that i entered the forest interior. It was then that i discovered that nearly every gap between trees was draped with large spider webs harboring their two inch-long, yellow and blue decorated creators. I came to the conclusion that it would not be pleasurable to plunge my face into one of them by accident in my stumblings, so i had to be very deliberate and careful with my steps. The blood-hungry gnats that swarmed around my body were thankful for my choice to take it slow. It turns out, I believe, that i successfully pleased all of the arthropods in the forest this morning. I heard odd yelps that sounded like monkeys in th distance but I may have been wrong--i need to inquire about the mammals around here, not to mention the rest of the fauna. I did manage to catch a glimpse of an enormous earthworm with the width of my thumb before it plunged into the rotted leaves below me.
When I finally escaped from the forest's wrath I was both heavily scathed and worried. I was worried because I realized that I exhibited the reaction of the average human to a natural place--pestered by insects, inhibited by the terrain, fearful of spiders. But I then reasoned that I do not belong in that forest, or rather, my species did not spend most of its evolutionary history in there, and therefore I am not evolutionarily prepared for it, although in some ways, eg. fear of spiders and lack of patience with biting insects, some vestigial behavior probably helped to protect me. Perhaps in colder weather when the arthropods are less active, or by taking a better and more clear-cut path, i can enjoy this forest the way i had envisioned i would when i first entered it.
posted by mdove at 5:16 PM
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