The Viridian Temple

Well here I am in the Redding Barnes and Noble hoping for the inspiration of the muse but feeling gripped rather with restless desire to browse books and subsequently, spend money. Yet nonetheless I will press on in the hope that inspiration may come from perseverance, I will let you be the judge of whether or not I succeed. Where to start though, lets see. Ah, with an end will I begin. An end of a pleasant and long overdue visit to my Aunt Rebecca and cousin Mike, I will not bore you with my personal feeling and thoughts on this matter, and after all they are personal. To them I say though, first how happy I was to see both of you again also many thanks for your kind hospitality. From their driveway we passed on southward again, straight through central Oregon till we reached Grants Pass at which point we veered SW towards the great redwoods. After a brief and smooth "agricultural inspection" at the CA border we pressed on, our every mile became more and more as fledgling steps into a great forbidden mystery. As with anything I had my expectations of the redwoods, but as with anything reality can be so much more. The great trees loomed on all sides, crowding the very road. I felt as a visitor in their land, a child at their feet. Ancient and majestic they are, I only can wonder at them. Trees I have always loved and here were their paragons! Just a few steps into them and I felt lost in mystery and wonder, moss and fern blanketed all surfaces they could reach, punctured through by gentle flowers that shone forth from the green as stars shine from the blue sky. And all around were the giants, rising up as though to touch the very sky. Certainly cutting it off mostly from view so that all the light was filtered through their leaves and washing all in a half-light that only deepened the sense of mysticism. I half expected to observe a troupe of nymphs pass me by or perhaps be greeted be Pan himself. All in all it felt me feeling small and incapable of truly taking it all in. We passed that night at a campground which we had had to navigate a narrow winding dirt road in the dark of night to get to, once there we went to bed with the hope that it would reveal itself to be an amazing place in the morning light. When I did awake however, the only thing that did not disappoint was the ocean which was near. The locale was less than I had hoped though and the campground showers turned out not to work. So deeming it unworthy of another thirty dollars we drove to Eureka and saw X-men: First Class which we all enjoyed. In the morning we attended St Innocent's parish for Pentecost. Our first service in two weeks as I realized half way through, as we had been on the canoe trip three sundays ago and last sunday we passed somewhere in Canada. From there we had yet another breathtaking drive through he more arid mountains of CA heading east to Redding, Rolling hills covered in pines stooping down into valleys of farm land past which snow capped mountains rose. At times I felt I had indeed passed into middle earth, as though wandering through Rhuduar and gazing at the Misty Mountains afar off. After watching some more X-men movies we rented last night I awoke and wandered over here to buy coffee and a book, and now I have wrapped things up I suppose. Ben and Hans are sitting at the table with me being rather distracting, but no news there I suppose. We are preparing to depart for St. Hermans monastery to stay for two nights, a time I am most looking forward to. So till we return from thence, keep us in your prayers.
PDTL