DAY 213

DAY 213
11.03.07
TREE 137

Ah, Saturdays.  With a regular job again I know what it’s like to appreciate the weekend.  Oh but wait!  I had to get up early and rush over to Indiana to help Lisa move.  Norman helped a little too but he kept leaving because he had stuff to do.  So I did that till five.  It was a long day of moving.  Then Idrove back into Louisville and stopped at Will’s.  We wanted to do something tonight.  But first I had to climb a tree.  Will went with me and we just started to walk down Market Street.  I looked above the buildings for tall trees.  I saw a few here and there but they were either too big to climb or in someone’s fenced in yard.  So we kept walking.  Through alleys to parks.  Eventually we made it to Butchertown.  It’s a nice neighborhood.  Still no trees.  I could have climbed a few but I wanted an interesting climb.  And then there it was.  A nice tree on the corner next to a three or four-story brick building.  Running right through the middle of the branches were power lines.  I was strangely drawn to this danger. 

So I jumped in the tree while Will warned me to be careful, then noted that I was climbing towards the power lines.  I said, "sometimes to get away from danger, you have to go towards it."  Which was true for this case because I had to get close to the lines to reach this one branch that would allow me to reach another major limb that was growing away from the danger and towards the building.  I really wanted to try to get on the roof.  I got to my high point, marked it, and shot some photos. 

Then I climbed back down a little then up to another limb closer to the roof. 

But it was a no go.  I could touch the edge but there was not a good grip.  It was just too dangerous.  I climbed down and Will and I continued to walk the long(!) way to MaryLiz’s for a fun night of eating and talking and belated Halloween fun. 

11-5-08:  Lisa is the former Executive Director of the Mary Anderson Center.  She was the person who interviewed me and approved my application for my work-exchange residency last year.  When we paused that day for lunch I found a Little Caesars Pizza place near her new house in southern Indiana.  I was so excited because that used to be my family’s favorite pizza place but there are not too many around anymore.  I went in and they have the BEST deal around.  $5 HOT and READY.  They pre-make large cheese, pepperoni, and sausage pizzas and keep them in warmers.  You come in, give them five bucks and immediately are handed a nice, hot, beautiful pizza.  When I found that one year ago it changed my life.  I no longer had to stick to eating the old "best deal in town," the 99 cent 1/2 lb cheesy, bean and rice burritos (now $1.29) from Taco Bell that I recently ranted about. 

Also funny, I now live in Butchertown just a block and a half from that tree.  When I reclimbed it in January of this year… well you’ll have to wait for that story, but it’s a good one.  I do, however, miss Will joining me when I climbed.  And hanging out.  He shows up in a lot of these entries and it is strange to not have him around anymore. 

Lastly, I put the flag picture at the top because I was SUPPOSED to blog this on Monday, the day before the big election but I got behind because I have been working with Norman.  I just thought it would be very appropriate for the time.  Yay Obama!  Excited election night video to come soon…

But first, my climb on Sunday.  Rickey and Ryan made a surprise visit to Louisville last weekend.  Rickey invited me to climb a tree at his mother’s house in Memphis, Indiana.  Sunday went by, night settled in, and finally Rickey came and picked me up.  We drove across the river and to the house.  There were a lot of nice trees on the property and thankfully there was a street light to help with the pictures.  I chose a maple tree to the right of the house that has a tire swing on it.

I used the tire swing to get onto the first branch.  It was a bit of a reach from the tire to the branch and could only get my finger tips in it, but it was enough to grip and get my other hand up.  After going in to the trunk I started to climb up doing my best to avoid a few dead branches.  Rickey and Ryan stood nearby on the ground and watched.  As I went up I heard Ryan saying something about how I was high enough.  I wasn’t even close to the top at that point.  No way was I stopping yet.  I got up to the top and looked around to see a few more houses, the highway through some trees, a billboard, and lots of stars.  Rickey and Ryan looked cold below and looked as if they were talking but I could no longer hear them.  I took some pictures but struggled to get any with out the flash that could stay in focus.  I was on a long branch that moved easily under the slight shifting of my weight.

So I switched to flash.

When finished I announced to my friends that I was coming down.  I went slowly and carefully and paused at the bottom branches to take a picture of Rickey and Ryan.  First silhouetted by the light, then again with flash of them dancing.

I believe they were trying to stay warm… and positive.  They are great.  It was really nice that they came to town.  I believe they should move to Louisville.  That makes more sense to me than Kansas City, don’t you think?

Thanks for watching me climb. 

One last thing, though… an observation by Rickey on the drive back to my place.  He said he never really knew how high I got in a tree until he saw it in person.  Even though he’s been a very avid viewer of my blog and seen countless pictures of my perspective high in trees, it was a completely different understanding of the experience. The reality of it made it more scary, my distance from the ground and it’s possible danger was a physical reaction rather than a rational understanding.  (He did not say that last sentence but I imagine that is true… is it Rickey?) 

If you want to join me for a climb email me:  [email protected]  I’d love to give you what Rickey had.