Hiking with SIPA

There were only a few of us today, and it was a bit chillier than expected, but it was still a lot of fun to meet up with some friends from SIPA for an afternoon hike.

This area has loads of parks and trails and state reserves - I've been down here for school for three years and I've barely scratched the surface - so both of the places we went were new to me.

Our first stop was a local arboretum.

There were a lot of pine and cypress trees.

We saw some ducks and a turtle out on the pond.

Apparently, there is also a bamboo forest, which was beautiful, but which was rather surreal because of how out-of-place it felt. There were old sandstone blocks strewn about, perhaps from a long-since gone house, and little tunnels running through the thick bamboo grove.

We also went over to a second, smaller hiking trail which featured a creek (mostly dry at the moment), lots of shelf fungus, and birds including cardinals and a red-headed woodpecker.

May 7th, 2016

I had a lovely day today! There was a free community event at Touch of Nature, and I got to go kayaking for about an hour. There were a bunch of turtles on logs, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I'm a little red on my forearms, but hopefully they're not too badly burned.

After kayaking, I hiked up the trail where we built our Woods project.

At the end of the trail, I sat for a bit and stuck my feet in the lake.

I also spotted this little blue feather.

And then a snake!

And lots of lizards! This one was sitting on the step up to the deck I worked on.

February 14th, 2016

Happy Valentine's Day, all. Sorry I haven't posted yet this month - I've been so busy with school that I haven't been able to think straight in what little free time I've had.

In spite of all that, I have managed to keep my head mostly above water, and even went hiking last weekend. Here's some pictures of the lake and trail.

My Building Tech: Woods class will be working out here, creating a learning station for participants to dip for macro-invertebrates and learn about aquatic ecosystems. It'll be really nice to go out regularly to such a lovely natural spot.

Ferns and moss growing, even in February.

A fossil of some sort of tree, just lying in the creek bed.

We sat out on this point and just meditated in the sun for a bit. It was so quiet, with only the water lapping against the rocks.

Our tour guide also demonstrated how to make red ochre paint out of local rocks containing iron ore. The thick paste has been used for thousands of years and around the world in cave paintings, dyes, and body paint. In particular, it was used by local indigenous peoples, who also used local deposits of chert for tools. The picture is me, with red ochre smeared on my cheeks. 

October 15th, 2015

I meant to post these photos on Monday, but I ended up forgetting. My fall break was lovely, but not really enough of a break. I'm hoping I can relax some this weekend, but as many projects as I have right now, that could be kind of hit-or-miss. 

Anyway, on Monday, I went for a walk with my family through one of the local forest preserves where my brother volunteers. It was absolutely delightful weather, unseasonably warm for October.

The leaves are starting to change color. Most of them were turning yellow, although we also saw a few trees going red.

The view over the prairie.

The lake, shrinking as we head towards winter.

A sulphur butterfly sipping some clover nectar.

Purplish aster flowers.

A big toad.

A woolly bear caterpillar.

We also saw a young goldfinch sitting on a flower eating the seeds. The wind was really whipping her around, and finally the plant snapped back and tossed her off. She was just fine, but the rest of us were cracking up because she just went "boing" and flew like three feet. 

All in all, it made a really nice interlude before coming back to class. 

September 20th, 2015

I went out for a walk after lunch today to collect some leaves for my Mabon ritual, and I actually ended up finding all kinds of neat things.

I saw a bunch of birds, including two large hawks or vultures, I'm not sure which, and a hawk at the top of this tree. I also went down by the creek again and spotted more frogs. 

Here's my altar after I added my findings to it. My basket of leaves is in the back. On the left is a big piece of shelf fungus, and next to my little wreath is a collection of seed pods and acorns. I also found a piece of sycamore bark, which I'm now using as a stand on my desk to hold some offerings. 

This was the other thing I discovered: a tiny bird skull. It was lying in a pile of cicada exoskeletons, and I felt drawn to keep it, so I added it to my basket. It's now in a Ziploc bag where it will stay for a week or two, to be sure there aren't any organisms living on it. 

April 4th, 2015

Last weekend, my family came down to visit, and we got to visit a couple of places I think you all might be interested in.

For starters: Castle Park! This memorial park is a bit D&D inspired, and is full of all kinds of statues of dragons, and wizards, and other mystical creatures. There's also a giant castle-playground. I'd love to go again in costume sometime, but for now, I'll just post a few pictures.

It'd be a really interesting place for a ritual, I would think, except that it is, ultimately, a Christian memorial for a teen who was killed in a car crash, and I wouldn't want to be disrespectful. In any case, a fun spot for magick workers and casual fantasy fans alike.

We also went to Garden of the Gods Wilderness Area in Shawnee. More than 300 million years ago, erosion exposed these huge sandstone bluffs, which had been left in turn from an ancient shallow sea. Check this place out:

These patterns in the rock are called liesegang bands - iron in the sandstone rusted, and so doesn't erode as quickly as the regular sandstone. This leaves the complex ridges and swirls in the rock visible here.

This formation is called the Devil's Smokestack; it occurred to me that these pillars of rock could act as focuses of energy, much like the natural version of a stone cairn. In a setting like this, there really was no way to get close to it, but even at a distance I was really struck by it.  

We also visited this place called Cave-in-Rock, but it had just rained and so the river had flooded the whole area out. 

It was a really nice day of hiking in the good weather, and a good way to reconnect to the earth element. I'm so glad it's finally getting warmer!

August 15th, 2014

I'm all moved in to college, which is kind of a crazy thought, really. I've had very little opportunity to get more than the dimmest outline of an altar set up, and I may leave it that way and just get other things from my travel altar out when I need them.

On the other side of it, this campus could not be more alive with wildlife. There is an abundance of squirrels, rabbits, deer, lizards, birds, and other critters - dad even saw a hummingbird yesterday! Moreover, there's a large wooded area in the middle of campus, lots of flowers, a lake, and access to some of the largest national forests in the region.

Today I had the chance to do some volunteer trail work at Giant City State Park, so called for its sweeping ravines that look like a giant's city streets. One group layed pipe and gravel, others fixed signs, and we cut excess brush back from the trail edges. 

August 13th, 2012

Greetings! My family and I have been rather on-the-go the last few days, beginning the night of the 11th, when we sat outside to watch the meteor shower. We saw a few dozen smaller ones, and two that were really bright against the night sky.
Then on the 12th, we drove to my grandparent's house, getting there around 2:00. Their internet was down, hence my lack of posting, but I worked on a few fairy drawings that I'm putting in my school binders. This morning my grandma went on a hike with us around a nearby lake, where we saw all kinds of beautiful wildflowers and several turkey vultures.
Later, my grandpa took us to the Reiman Gardens, which was doing an exhibition of garden-themed Lego sculptures. My favorite was, of course, the Hummingbird.

I also went into the butterfly house, and enjoyed several varieties landing on me, while stalking the gorgeous Blue Morpho butterflies, who proved to be great teases, refusing to let me get a good picture of their blue wings.

I ended up just taking video of the Morphos, and when I got home was able to pick out this shot:

July 2nd, 2012

My mom, Nick, and I took another hike through the forest preserve this morning, and boy, oh boy, it was just in the nick of time, too. It was already hot when we were out, and now it's a blistering 98 degrees. When we were finished with our walk, Nick and I discovered a water pump. Naturally, being both hot, tired, and sweaty, we wanted to cool off. Nick was convinced the pump wouldn't work, but I gave it a go anyway. After several minutes of pumping the lever fruitlessly, I began to think that Nick was right. However, I had a trick up my sleeve that Nick didn't know about - the ability to call the element water. I had called upon water before in just such a circumstance and had found it to be most effective. So, asking a bit of aid from Goddess and the water elementals, I drew the invoking pentagram of water over the pump. Giving the lever another go, I immediately felt some resistance, indicating that there was water there. A few minutes later, and the pump was merrily spewing clear, cold water, even if it did taste vaguely of copper. Once we were a bit cooler, I drew the banishing pentagram. You don't want those elementals to have to sit there all day; I'm sure they have better things to be doing than looking after a pump no-one else is using.
I spent the afternoon volunteering at my school, helping to build a parade float for our community choir, and then got home to do some reading. I've made a new deal with myself, also. I really need to get back in the habit of daily meditation and prayer. I figure that if I write it down on the internet, I may actually feel inspired to keep the promise! ;)

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And finally, about a month after I would have liked, I got a video of my Litha altar made. Check it out!

June 27th, 2012

My youngest brother, Ben, has day camp three days a week, and mom has convinced Nick and I to go for a half-hour walk with her in the mornings while he's gone. We've been going to a local forest preserve, walking the trails for several weeks now. Today we went again. Sometimes, we see a great deal of wildlife (on Monday, mom found a wee baby turtle!), but today was looking pretty quiet. On our way back, however, we spotted a bluebird, which Nick tells me is rather rare around here, as they eat fruit. Therefore, they can be hard to find around suburbia, where fruit-bearing bushes are rare. How wonderful, to see those turquoise feathers!

June 24th, 2012

I lead a busy life, even during the summer, and of course I had to immediately begin preparing for a second trip after our Niagara experience. Nick and I agreed months ago to go with some other teens from my parent's church to Indiana's Shades State Park, a trip which fell on the 21st to the 23rd. Church stuff aside, the yearly trip is actually quite nice, and includes camping and canoeing on the lovely Sugar Creek. This year, Indiana has been very dry, so the Creek was much lower than usual. Therefore, we were all very glad when it rained a bit on the 21st (the rain conveniently held off until we had all our tents set up). Once the rain stopped, we went on a hike through the forest. The trails run near or through the park's many ravines, which can make walking difficult when it is wet. This year, the stream beds were largely dry, so things were less challenging, although given the previous rain, the wooden stairs up and down the ravines were very slick. I fell twice, and would have tobogganed down the stairs if I hadn't grabbed the handrails.
The following day, we went canoeing. Because the Creek was low, we had to drag the canoe in many places, but we still got in plenty of paddling; my shoulders will be sore for several days. The shallow water did have its advantages: we could see all the fish in the Creek. There were thousands of tiny minnows, as well as bigger carp, bass, and some kind of gar or pike. Nick spotted a turtle (not to mention all the frogs and toads), and we spent probably 80% of the trip following a trio of herons, who would fly 50 feet or so, wait for us to catch up, and then fly on again. Nick laughed when I suggested that maybe they were leading us back to camp, but I don't think it was that ridiculous an idea; twice, the Creek split, and we couldn't tell which way to go. Both times, the herons flew the direction we needed to head, and we discovered later that the other fork just led to a blocked area. Perhaps it would have been passable on both sides if the water was higher, but that day, the herons definitely knew what they were doing. And according to Native American tradition, the heron is regarded as having good judgement, as well as being a source of wisdom. I think I was not as far off base as Nick may have believed. Later, we canoed past an entire flock of turkey vultures, saw some kingfishers, and discovered some cool fossils.

When we returned to camp, we roasted hot dog dinners and took another hike. It was strange - I had literally just told Nick that I'd like to see one of the park's white tailed deer when I looked up, and one was picking its way up the side of the hill.
We got back on Saturday. I'd wanted to stay longer, as the park sported a few posters advertising a party that was to be held in honor of the park's 60-year anniversary, complete with Native American music and drum circle. Unfortunately, we had a schedule to keep, so sticking around wasn't possible. Since my return, I've largely been focusing on re-reading some old favorites and doing summer homework. I couldn't be more thankful for this opportunity to see some of the goddess' finest natural beauty. Have you gone on any exciting vacations this summer?