DAY 139

DAY 139
08.21.07
TREE 56

As I walked past the St. Francis statue with the wolf heading towards my tree I was feeling whomewhat ambivalent about the climb. From my memory I thought I had gotten to the top and I was wondering how I could improve on that climb. But I just put it out of my mind and walked up to the tree with no expectations. The rain had moistened the green moss on the trunk of the tree making it slippery and impossible to grip. Last time I got on top of the barbed wire fence then hugged the trunk, shimmied just enough to reach that first branch. Well, as I stood on that fence I knew there was no chance of repeating that but that first branch was just out of reach. Then I thought, “maybe I could jump for it…” and thanks to two beers I had just finished while building cabinets for Pat in the provincial office, I was brave enough to commit. I readied myself, bend slightly at the knees then with a quick jolt, launched myself towards the branch. My left hand grasped the limb while my right touched the trunk to stop my momentum and I held. I did it! Thrilled and empowered I began to pull myself up from limb to limb with bursts of speed. A pause to judge the limb, then another bolt upwards, reaching limbs I probably couldn’t. Trusting my hands to connect. At one point pretty high I had my foot on a steep limb. I figured it might slip as I shifted my weight so I had a good grip with my hands. Sure enough, it did… my body fell an inch but my hands held strong. Though it was a little scary I expected it, prepared for it and was fine. At my blue ribbon I realized I had not reached the very top. There was plenty left to climb and I went up greedily. Still not at the highest point, it was as high as I could trust these tiny limbs. I had a good strong stance and was able to free both hands to take some pictures and collect a leaf. As I placed the leaf in my wallet my Kroger Plus Card fell out and began its long fall to the forest floor. I put it out of my mind, enjoyed my view then began my own descent, quicker this time moving from branch to branch with a learned sureness of their strength and allowing gravity to help. I was quickly on that lowest branch. I hung from it and dropped. It took about 10 minutes but Ifinally found my Kroger Plus Card. That made everything about this climb such a sweet accomplishment. Another great one.

8-22-08:  I worked all day yesterday installing artwork for Zephyr Gallery in five Commonwealth Bank locations around Louisville.  We started at 8:45 am and finished a little before 6 pm.  After standing all day I was pretty tired and got a head ache and didn’t feel to up for anything.  I did bike down to Drew’s office to blog but I forgot the adapter for my SD card and was unable to get my pictures from the climb the day before.  I gave up, went home and just crashed.  Hence, I’ll be blogging twice today.

As for the entry from last year, I would like to clarify the image in your head of the falling Kroger Plus Card.  I had a small key chain card but it got so beat up from being in my pocket that the hole busted.  So I started to carry in my wallet.  Also, when I collect leaves I usually place them in my wallet so they stay flat.  That is why the card fell when I collected the leaf.  The card also did just fall straight.  Like when you drop a thin slip of paper, the card flipped and tumbled in the air, changing directions and traveling out far from directly under the tree.  Finding the card also proved difficult since I was in dense woods and undergrowth rarely traveled by foot.  I was pretty thankful I found it because every penny saved is a penny earned.  Right?

Wednesday evening I had a member meeting at Zephyr.  Once it finished I biked to meet MaryLIz at the corner of Jefferson and 3rd on our way to U of L for parkour.  On my way I spotted a tree at the off ramp of I-65 at Brook Street.  I kept that in the back of my mind for my climb later.  Then after a really good meet-up with lots of regulars and one new guy, I biked back to that tree.

At this point it was late, around 11 pm, but there was still the occasional car getting off the highway.  I waited for a pause to cross over to the group of trees and then locked up my bike.  I walked to the tree closest to the road and then sized it up.  It was not a big tree but had a couple low limbs.  I boosted myself up and began to climb.  I headed up the side of the tree towards the view of the hospitals, but I soon realized the tree foliage was not going to provide any kind of a view out. 

The leaves were thick and there weren’t any breaks in between big enough to get a decent shot.  I was starting to get discouraged because the shots were already going to be such long exposures that I would need both hands to steady the camera.  I wouldn’t have another free hand to push a limb away to open up the view.  But I just continued to climb further up and out on the limbs.  I hot my high point with no where else to go and with no view.  Then I looked down and saw a limb I could easily drop down to.  Then I saw the solution to my problem.  I dropped to the limb, walked out and as I did the limb bent down creating a nicebig opening out to the off ramp and one of the hospital buildings. 


I realized I was still having trouble stabilizing my camera for clear shots so I used the flash and got the above shot which I think is pretty neat.  The Jewish Hospital circular symbol has a strange glow.  I then tried to get some shots of other things in other directions but there wasn’t much to see.  So I took some looking down.


I like the one just above because you can see my feet and you can tell (kind of) how I was standing on the horizontal limb.  And for one last final shot I waited for a car to exit off the ramp to get the streaking lights.

So, all in all, I guess the climb turned out better than I first thought.  At least in terms of the photography.  The climb itself was not too challenging, but the bending out on the small branch was a little scary and fun at the same time.  And no problem with authority, always a good thing.