DAY 66

6-9-08:  One year ago it was Magic at the Mount.  I saw all sorts of people that day that I had not seen in quite a while.  Mr. McNabb came out.  Kim van Stockum was there.  The Garners came out and looked and found all of my installations in the trees.  Julio came out and did some coloring with me.  Carden had dropped by earlier in the day.  Rcikey and Will showed up for the evening festivities.  That body that is pictured above is still in that tree.  It has lasted one year now and it still freaks people out.  I remember one guy was in a boat fishing and told me he thought it was teenagers who had put it up there as a joke.  He said it was a sex doll.  I was too amused by his story to tell him I put it up there and that it was art.  I also installed my two way mirror piece. 

When you look at it from outside the cube you see reflections of yourself.  But once hidden inside you can see out those same mirrors.  It’s purpose was to share the experience of being in a tree.  Since people rarely look up as they walk by I am often hidden and can see and hear them when they don’t know it.  I wanted to give that to people who may not be able to climb, or just don’t ever think about what it is like to climb a tree. 

Soooo… I am so burned.  I have been putting aloe vera all over me many times since coming home yesterday.  My posion ivy is still crazy itchy, and I am sore from my butt hitting rock and from paddling.  It seems the last hour and a half certain members of the canoeing crew wanted to be done.  So it was non-stop paddling for over an hour.  On the bright side, it was a good work out, it was fun, and the burn seems to help the ivy spots. 

Here is my dilemma:  I didn’t climb a tree with my camera, and there is probably very little chance that I will go back to the two trees I was in yesterday to photograph them.  I had consisdered climbing another tree last night but I was in such a sorry state I could not even think about getting up.  So, the two sycamores I climbed onto to grab the rope and swing are my trees.  No pictures, no video, just me telling you about them. 

The first was the best.  Someone had hung a huge nylon rope loop from the bottom of a metal cable.  They knew what they were doing because that swing could probably support over a ton.  I scrambled up the exposed roots then climbed up some boards that had been nailed to the leaning trunk.  Gus and Norman used a tiny rope to grab the loop and swing to me.  On the first swing my butt smacked the surface of the water, then I had a little up swing, I let go, and did a little backflip.  Seconds later I realized I hit more than my butt on the water.  On the second swing it was pretty fun but I lost grip on one hand and went flying out of my control.  On the third swing I waited till the highest point of my upswing and let go.  They said I fell about 15 feet to the water and then back smacked.  Good times.

On the second tree the water was rushing pretty good below us.  The rope was tiny and had a little loop at the bottom.  Gus, Dave, and Norman did all they could think of for 5 minutes to get a hold of the rope which had wound around the trunk making it hard to reach.  All the while I was climbing up the trunk.  They finally got it to me and I corrected it’s position.  Then I looked at this tiny ass rope and the shallow water below me.  Dave said, laughing, “allright, go ahead, you’re the gineau pig.”  I grabbed with both hands above the knot of the loop and went for it.  I swooped down, swung up, held on, and then on the swing back let go and dropped into the shallow water.  My feet hit rock and then my butt.  It hurt quuite a bit.  Norman went next and did a much smarter thing.  He rode the rope back and forth till there wasn’t much swing left and then back flopped into the water preventing any deep drop.  The whole process of getting to the place to swing off was just too much to go again so we got back in out canoes and kayaks and went on.