Aurilion's 2nd visit - ORM park; new path, unexpected beauty
There is a park near my flat which my partner and I have been going to lately, just for the sake of being in (semi-) nature. I'd always thought of it as dull and not-really-a-park because all I'd seen was a tidy little open area with picnic tables and swings. I knew there was a trail along the river, but it was eternally muddy and stinky (thanks to nearby sewers) so I never walked it despite my partner saying it was worth it.
But it does have a peaceful air for all that, so we decided to visit it on my partner's one off day the week of Aurilion's visit. The city had freshly paved the path I'd never walked, so we decided to brave the smell and see where it led, and I am SO GLAD we did. After a little ways the smell faded and oh, the woods around were beautiful! I was delighted, especially when the path ended and we walked a little ways along the riverbank, into truly wild wood.
My partner pointed things out to us (ze is amazingly observant when in natural places) -- giant spiders, a waterfall (the path was a little ways from the river), and an American Sycamore which ze said was zir favorite tree to climb. When we got to the end of the path, my partner decided to explore further and leapt up the hill with the grace of a puma -- amazingly fast! Ze told us to head back and ze would meet us, so we walked slowly back, swinging linked hands, pausing for melted kisses and photos. A good while later ze finally emerged from the woods and told us of the animal paths ze had followed, mostly in a crawl. (!!!) I loooove zir wildness, and zir openness around Aurilion, and I love love LOVE being in woods with these green-hearted people ♥ The three of us share a tree-kinship and something quietly grows and blossoms in us when we are in the woods together.
The only thing that marred the experience was the copious amount of litter, mostly plastic WATER BOTTLES. I kinda expect mess-making with beer drinkers because after all they may be drunk, but water drinkers? I'd think that people with enough connection to the natural to come to this place and drink water would be respectful enough not to fling trash everywhere. It just seems such a contradiction to me. and there were SO MANY, over two dozen for sure. It made me so angry! Aurilion and I each picked up one bottle, which barely made a dent but we didn't happen to have giant trash bags along with us.
Anyway, I didn't allow the anger to stay long and spoil the experience. I let it flare hot and then quenched it and enjoyed the rest of it. ;-)
summer rides in the back of my car with the windows down and my lovers with me = BLISS!
sunkissed violet swirls!
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delightedly wind-tossed
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I looooove this one -- it's now my 'vivacious' icon :D
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beautiful Aurilion grins as a curvy woman walks by -- spinning poi??
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I'm so enchanted by these eyes!
*idea! I want to do a collage of left-eye-closeups of people I love... but I want to make it from photos I have taken, which makes the idea a little unrealistic. hm.
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dreamy violet
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my partner and Aurilion walk ahead of me along the new path
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this photo is such magic! it really captures the quiet forest fae aspect of Aurilion
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and in this one it looks like those firework-shaped plants are laughing along with zir!
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I used to dislike pines because they seemed stand-offish and selfish to me, but as I've opened up further in my connection with trees I feel like I understand them more now. The reason I didn't like them is because they are out of place, but not through their own nature -- through lazy selfish humans destroying everything and then planting them because they are cheap and grow fast. Now I feel them as guardians, proud but still welcoming. They make me feel safe ♥
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Aurilion touching a wounded pine -- I don't know what had happened but ze was cracked and bleeding sap everywhere. Some kind of bug infestation? People came up behind us right after this so I didn't spend time with zir or send zir loving energy like I wanted to. :-/ But I plan to go visit zir again.
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my partner and Aurilion next to the imaginatively-named Little River -- which at least has water now! Two summers ago it was mud with a tiny trickle. Could the drought finally be reversing? it may just be the recent storms... I would happily endure rain every day for long enough that the drought ended. I feel it as a constant worry in the back of my mind. (plus, I like warm rain)
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aglow with sunlit curls!
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aglow with zir own radiance :D
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walking hand in hand ♥
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I loooove my hair on the background of rich greens!
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sweaty and disheveled and happy!
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I love kudzu! it has such a gleeful, stubborn quality. Here it is taking back the path! When it gets cut back, it waits until you aren't looking and then races growth back over the spot you cleared. hee hee! Also it's pretty much indestructible -- I've seen photos of it after being sprayed with plant-killing stuff, and all the surrounding plants are dead but it's just a little yellow, swiftly recovering.
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Night was falling and this unearthly mist filled the area... so lovely
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the sky began turning pink as we left
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Aurilion wrote of this day in zir lilting prose-poetry ♥