Charleston with Kylei: Treespirit shoot, amazing people, miracles and disasters, animal communion
excited Belenen takes first driving shift
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annnd it's rainin'.
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at a stoplight I notice the gorgeous light and take photos of Kylei in the back ;-)
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later Kylei takes a turn and I don't waste the pretty light -- or my glitter :D
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such a good shot of my serpent!
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Kylei makes scaredyfrown
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and then laughs at zir own silly :D
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ohhh my God/dess this light <3
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we got lost and stopped for stretching and bananas and water at a strange little place with a lovely fountain, quite in the middle of nowhere. We arrived here just after we went through a town that felt so incredibly hostile that my heart was racing and I felt sick (way more than earlier that day when someone randomly slammed on brakes in front of me and I narrowly avoided smashing into them). it was so scary -- and it felt specifically anti-queer, in a way I have never felt before. This place, especially the fountain, felt like a haven from that, restoring us.
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"Live Well" was on the trash receptacles -- which we found when we each picked up some trash as a thank-you to the place
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after a brief sleep, we went to meet up with the TreeSpirit people! this is Jack, the photographer/organizer. When ze spoke about the Angel Oak and surrounding forest, ze got choked up and I felt so connected -- I did not realize that ze felt trees like that.
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Jess is on Jack's shoulders, illustrating part of the idea for the shot
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:D Jess and I talked a lot over the day and I felt a really strong connection to zir. I want to share many trees with Jess <3
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when I first walked up to the tree, it overwhelmed me as soon as I touched the bark. I cried intensely, with an emotion I have no words for (this happened at least three times when I touched the tree). After my eyes were clear again, I saw this, right next to where my hands were.
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♥
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Kylei does yoga -- the Tree pose. Several people joined, but I had my camera put away.
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Kylei took photos of me with the Tree...
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{worshipful}
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I was weeping here
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I was only half-in-this-world... and there was a lot of pain mixed in to what I was feeling.
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this one really captures the ecstasybelongingtruth part of what I was feeling.
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while we sat around waiting for the cops to let us leave (oh yeah, during the photo the giftshop person called the cops after screaming at us. The cops were polite and mostly amused.), this little creature climbed on Tom.
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(that's Heidi in the background)
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happy Kylei!
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this was the view from a branch that touched the ground -- I so wanted to walk up that little pathway.
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At one point after the photos were taken and the cops had calmed down, I went back out to the tree, where Jess was meditating, and asked to join zir. Ze said yes so I sat with zir and felt the amazing connection of human-tree-human, and it glowed, ohmygod. Then Kylei came over and we held hands and the three of us shared with the tree. It was SO beautiful.
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the full image -- "Angels." I love the ghostly folk running to the tree.
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a detail -- that's Kylei on the right with outstretched leg, arm reaching up to hold hands with me (that line is my favorite part of the whole shot; look how it echoes the two branches that stretch over us). My other arm is reaching up the tree trunk.
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after we got back and had food and lots of talking about the experience, Heidi and Tom invited Kylei, me, Jess, and Margaret over to their place. As we walked out of the restaurant, I saw this huge flock of vultures on a tower. Vultures have great spiritual significance to me.
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After we swam (in a pool with a SLIDEEEEE), we made a little fire that spun spirals for an hour.
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fire swan
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eye of Horus
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pretty perfect crescent!
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then we found a baby king snake floating in the pool
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(Kylei took this)
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(Kylei took this)
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in Margaret's hands
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in my hand, tasting Jess
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(Kylei took this)
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(Kylei took this)
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(Kylei took this)
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(Kylei took this)
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in Heidi's hands
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on Jess' chest
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I am Renenutet's.
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I felt such a connection with this little creature -- ze seemed to enjoy my presence and was very calm in my hands.
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Next morning, we went for coffee and the first place was closed, so we found another (after calling to ask if they had comfy couches) and it was AWESOME. When I forgot my camera battery there, they wrapped it up and left it outside after closing, so I could come back and get it. YAY for coffeehouses that answer the phone after they're closed. The owner was there and talked a lot with Kylei and I -- everyone there was just so fantastic.
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Kylei played with these two musicians and it was really perfect.
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Kylei dances when ze plays ♥
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an aqua aura wire-wrapped by Jess
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I sooo loved that they had tied that ribbon to the tree.
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Kylei got an amazing staff at a gamer/spiritual/craft/etc shop that ze looked up for one of the people ze talked to at the coffeehouse.
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we plucked loquats from the tree and ate them warm with sunshine.
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Margaret and Jess
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I have no idea what Margaret was talking about but clearly Jess gets it! Margaret seemed pretty awesome but I didn't get to talk to zir as much as I wanted. Hopefully we'll stay in touch.
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I love Jess' expression.
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the seeds were so pretty and made me so happy. I brought mine home.
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Anna eats a loquat while Kylei runs off to talk to the people with the windsail.
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pretty Kylei's back ;-)
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Kylei has a waterproof camera, can you tell?
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it was almost a full moon
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my footprint
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the third spiral that called to me
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after our tire blow-out, we sat on the side of the road for quite a while.
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after the tow-truck's clutch went out -- here's the transfer from one to the other. The first two-truck driver was massively racist and the second was virulently ableist. I felt really unsafe trapped in vehicles with them, no way to escape -- I couldn't manage any words in response and felt pretty shitty about that too.
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I LOVE this one.
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next morning, after a very brief sleep, we stopped in Augusta for coffee -- and toys (because there was a toy shop across the way). I got a purple lipstick pen that LIGHTS UP VIOLET when you write with it. omfg.
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cutie!
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this was on the side of the newspaper-box containing a college magazine.
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After someone drove next to me very threateningly, I pulled off at an exit. We stayed for much talking (we were working on repairing a disconnect that happened during/after finals) and food at this gas station -- left the lights on and ran the battery out. After finding no one to help there, we pushed the Samurai down the hill to Waffle House, where Kylei simply waved jumper cables at the people inside and someone came out to help. Annnnd that was the final misadventure before we made it home.
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