Magic Places: Essence vs. Utter Reality

All our stories come from the earth. We nourish ourselves with the fantastic, find gods in a volcano's wrath and the turning of the seasons in pomegranate seeds. American poet Muriel Rukeyser said, "The universe is made of stories, not of atoms." An ancient prophet proclaimed, "In the beginning was the Word." Yet there is another truth, too; human imagination must first germinate in the mundane and wondrous materiality of existence before transcending the limits of the physical world.

This May, I was lucky enough to visit both Yellowstone and Iceland with family. Out of all the places that I visited in Yellowstone, my favorite was most certainly the Dragon's Mouth Spring, even though it wasn't as grand as Old Faithful in its towering glory . . .

Old Faithful

vs. 

The Dragon's Mouth Spring

And yet, this humble spring, a mere grumbling hole in a hill, filled me with awe because someone, sometime, had imagined a dragon lived there, snuffling spiraling puffs of smoke, its growling roar sending scalding hot splashes of water from the cave.

And the dragon does live there. I heard, I saw, I, too, felt the dragon's breath the second I read the sign and adjusted the lens of my imagination to catch the spectacular truth. The story makes the atoms true, in essence if not utter reality.

Iceland also proved rich loam for my imagination, or in the following case, mineral-rich waters. This is a picture of the stunning opaline waste waters of the Blue Lagoon near Reykjavik. You heard me right, these luminous blue waters are a by-product of a geothermal plant. The accidental lagoon was later converted into a spa that attracts tourists from all over the world.

The day my sister and I visited the Blue Lagoon was blustery and cold, but even so I felt I could gaze at the milky moon waters all day and never grow tired of the lapping brilliance.

The Dragon's Mouth Spring and the Blue Lagoon retaught me something: our world is filled with both big and little wonders waiting for someone to find their story. To read beauty into something as simply perfected as the fine serration of a rose leaf, or a dandelion's stubborn roots.

I just hope I pay attention!

Prairie Dog Days

I thought about writing something erudite for the month of May, but I'm exhausted from way too many projects and, you know what? Prairie dogs! Because everyone needs more cute critters in their news feed. The cutest colony of squeakers ever live at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Go ahead and bask.

Eenie, Meenie, Miny and Moe!

Most Adorable Flopling Award

Cuteling Couple

Eagle!

Lilliput by Sam Gayton

Sam Gayton’s novel Lilliput, inspired by Jonathan Swift's Gulliver’s Travels, tells the story of Lily: a three inch girl fighting to escape from a birdcage in the human world of 18^th century London and return to her own faraway home of Lilliput. All her misfortunes begin with Gulliver, who is now an embittered old man tired of being ridiculed for his outlandish stories. Desperate to prove he is not a crazy liar, Gulliver kidnaps Lily with the intent to show her to the world once he has finished his grand manuscript about his journeys. Despite her tiny height, Lily constantly tries to escape as she knows her time is running out as Lilliputians count their lives by moons, not years. She is soon aided in her escape by the orphan Finn, an apprentice of the cruel clockmaker Mr. Plinker. Lily frees Finn from a perfidious wrist watch that counts wasted seconds instead of time and constricts ever tighter if he is not continuously working. But even free they must find a way to outwit Gulliver and Mr. Plinker together, or fall captive again forever. I loved the ending of the story because it was true to the price and bravery of growing up; sometimes, even best friends must say goodbye and trust their hearts are shared across the miles.