Directional Druthers

I'd rather this than the other.

Dizzying Beauty

In childhood, Vulcan's spiral stairs dizzied me, as did the Statue of Liberty's. I remember, or think I remember, sour-smelling cavities, narrow and shadowed, and metal stairs winding and winding, latticed steps through which I looked down, down growing ever deeper and darker. Even now, I double-fist the rail when I ascend, my guts rumbling, my brain repeating Don't fall!, as I pull myself up.

At least here, there's something beautiful to see even before I reach the top.

It's Not Always about the Bugs

even though they're out (Common Baskettail and Blue Corporal emerging today).

Sometimes it's about a new view of the familiar or known.

Like the area around Up-the-Down on the campus. New curving beds of evergreens and shrubs and beautiful flowers make the perfect complement to the Quad.

Or like my former student, who admits in front of her Sewanee undergrad children that English was not her strong suit when I taught her, but then tells us she is the person that colleagues at Entergy go to for proofreading or composing and that she reads my blog every day. (I hope she reads this post.)

This matters more than all the bugs and flowers: this is what lasts.