The Sky is a Painful Blue

So I was out biking along the Willamette River yesterday, a stiff breeze behind my back and a beautiful panorama of water, trees and blue sky flashing past, and I thought: "I like Portland. It's a good place to be."

Today being a perfect example of the why. Seeger, "K"risty and I drove the 1.5 hours out to Mount Hood and spent five hours hiking the "Heather Canyon" portion of the "Timberline Trail."

The views were stunning and the air was so fresh it made you feel high! I was also elated to have an encounter with the creatures of the wild that far eclipses my squirrel rendevous of the other week.

As we rounded a switchback on our return hike, a group of five deer stepped out of the woods above the trail to the right - two does and three fawns, if appearance did not betray.

Over the next twenty minutes or so we were blessed with these beautiful creatures as hiking companions of a sort - as we wound our way along the meandering trail, our friends moved in and out of the foliage above, tracking our progress until at last they came prancing down a ravine as if to come and share a moment.

And then they vanished back into their forest home, leaving me wondering at the peaceful bliss that must make up their entire understanding of the world.

All told, my only lament is that I have finally gotten onto the mountain maybe one or two weeks before the rumoured rains of winter decend.

For now all I can do is marvel at the rugged beauty of it all.

"Where the earth shows its bones
Of wind broken stones
And the sea and the sky are one
I'm caught out of time
My blood sings of wine
And i'm running naked in the sun
There's God in the trees
I'm weak in the knees
And the sky is a painful blue."

:)