Monthly Archives: July 2015

Foreign landscapes, familiar people

We’ve been living in Austin on and off for two years now, and I’ve felt a disconnect from the natural landscape largely due to the fact that it’s very foreign to me (I’m familiar with the northeast and northern California landscapes).

But even though I was biking everywhere in Austin, taking hikes, going swimming in the rivers and going camping, I still felt this painful disconnect.

“I live in an apartment complex!” I would sometimes say out loud to myself, in utter disbelief. I never knew I would live in an apartment complex!

That’s when I remembered that my connection to nature is not simply me and nature. It also involves OTHER PEOPLE.

And the best people to help me connect with nature, are… naturalists!

I’ve spent time at a few different eight shields wilderness schools (a model put in place by Jon Young), and find that the people that these schools attract are people who I feel very at home with.

I did some research and discovered that the Native Earth wilderness school is here in Bastrop, and got in contact with the owner of the school.

I went in for an interview, and will be getting involved with their different programs and be on hand to sub for their staff.

This week I went to spend time with some of the Native Earth instructors who are teaching summer camps for kids at McKinney Falls State Park.

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I discovered some really special spots at the park that I hadn’t found on my own…

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…and today I watched Chris (one of the instructors) work on a figure-4 trap with his kids and smash a lime beneath it!

(the lime represents a small mammal that you could then eat in a survival situation)

Check out the photo sequence:

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Chris propping up the figure-4 trap
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The figure-4 trap is balanced perfectly, and a lime is placed where the bait would be set up for a small mammal to discover
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Using a stick, one of the kids gently tapped the inside part of the trap, where the animal would have bumped against it, resulting in the heavy stones and board crashing down
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The aftermath. One of the kids had filled the lime with red food coloring for gory effect.

I’m glad to have found some like-minded people to spend time outside with, and look forward to learning more about the Texas landscape and survival techniques from them.

When Addison and I embark on our next bike trip—which will be across Mexico and Central America—I will feel better equipped, having some survival skills under my belt that are specific to this kind of region. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

-Jahnavi

The place of not knowing

empty-space

A cool thing happened to me the other day…

Although I am now living in Austin, I travel back to Vermont periodically to see friends and family and play shows, and this spring I found myself there, clearing out the attic where Addison and I had been storing lots of STUFF.

We brought some things back with us, and gave away the rest.

Back at our apartment here in sunny Austin, as I sorted through and organized said stuff, I discovered a withered old notebook that I had filled with scrawling more than 7 years ago.

I flipped through the pages to see if there was anything worth keeping…

And lo and behold, a gem of wisdom was revealed within!

Upon reading this passage that I must have copied down from the Wu Ji (The Empty Space of Wisdom), I find that the words resonate with me deeply, and I feel so grateful to my past self for writing it down.

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Here’s what it says:

“Do not assume that you know all.

Notice nature and abide in the infinite.

Travel openly on uncharted paths.

Be all that you are but do not make a show of it.

Be contented and remain empty.

Learn to sustain the Beginner’s Mind.”

Pretty awesome, right??

Thanks for reading this post. Feel free to leave a comment (this lets me know if anyone’s reading these blogs and I’d also just love to hear your thoughts)!

Take care,

-Jahnavi of The Love Sprockets

The story behind Dark Angel

love

Have you ever “fallen in love”?

You know, when your hormones are so jacked you can’t see straight, and just the thought of the other person sends you into state of unencumbered bliss?

I’m guessing this has probably happened to you, even if you don’t want to admit it. 😉

What I always find interesting about falling in love and about human beings in general (‘interesting’ is a nice way of saying ‘really fucking annoying’) is that when something is happening to us that we perceive to be really good, we can’t help but dread the potential end of it.

As always, we fear death.

The death of relationships, the death of the life we know now.

Even when we can recognize how healthy and normal change is, we can’t help but fear it subconsciously.

Well, at least I do, anyways. 🙂

So during the last bout of falling in love I did (which was about three years ago, thank God), the song Dark Angel was born.

This song asks alot of questions…

But does not provide any answers.

Here’s how it goes:

Dark Angel

“I’ll be your innocence if you’ll be my sex appeal

Yes, I’ll be your innocence if you’ll be my sex appeal

You’ve got everything it takes to drive this situation wild

I saw you first, I saw you first

I saw you first and now you are mine

But I’m losing control of this situation all of the time

And are you the best thing that’s ever happened to me?

Are you the one to make my blind eyes see?

Or are you my dark angel of death?

Are you my terminal breath?

I’ll be your calling if you’ll be my answering

Yes I’ll be your calling if you’ll be my answering

You’ve got everything it takes to make a murderer of me

And are you the best thing that’s ever happened to me?

Are you the one to make my blind eyes see?

Or are you my dark angel of death?

Are you my terminal breath?

Are you the end of my fears?

Or are you a hurricane of tears?

Are you a hurricane of tears?

Or are you a hurricane….

of tears?”

Listen to Dark Angel by clicking here

dark angel

Thanks for reading this blog!

I’ll be back next week… 😉

~Jahnavi