Sacred Grove

So I'm back in Ithaca visiting Rob for a couple weeks before heading off to Austria for the AIMS Festival, and today (after I got a good warm up in at Ithaca College) we visited Buttermilk Falls State Park for some fresh air and a good stretch of the legs.

The hike (though pretty steep for the first 1/2 mile or so) was truly spectacular. It was easy to be swept away by the grande staircase of waterfalls as we ascended the narrow gorge...

...and peered into the crystal depths of little pools cut from the otherwise flat slabs of shale for no other purpose than to entice passers by into their cool (well...probably more like freeeezing) embrace...

There were a few waders along the trail, but all the signs said "no swimming or wading," so of course I (being the rule-following-stick-in-the-mud that I am) never once considered even just removing my shoes and socks to dip in a toe...well maybe I thought about it...briefly...how could I not? I mean just look at this place!

My eyes were also drawn to the miniature communities of mosses, liverworts, and mushrooms that carpeted the dripping shale walls edging the trail. The closer I'd observe the more details would appear and I felt I could've spent hours exploring these near-microscopic worlds...

I'm guessing these coral-esque plant-thingies are some kind of fungus, but I wasn't able to find anything that even sort of resembled them when I searched online at home later...

Rob has this app on his phone called "google goggles" that compares images you take with your own mobile device to images on the web and tries to help you identify whatever's in your picture. It's most typically used to identify famous landmarks, commercial products, and to translate signs in another language, but wikipedia notes that "google is currently working to make the system able to recognize different plants and leaves, which can aid curious persons, those wishing to avoid toxic plants, and botanists and environmentalists searching for rare plants." So Rob took a picture of my picture, sent it in to google goggles and came back with...

Hmmm...looks like there's still a good bit of work to be done.

The second half of the trail continued beyond the gorge and wandered underneath a lush forest canopy. Here and there spotlights of golden sunshine beamed down through the shadows to illuminate patches of ground and I was reminded of paintings I'd seen in my younger years of Joseph Smith's first vision...

Coincidentally, I'd heard on the radio just this morning that today is the anniversary of Smith's brutal martyrdom and later I remembered that one of Rob's ancestors, A. C. Smythe, was the composer of the music to the popular mormon hymn "Joseph Smith's First Prayer." Wandering through these woods it is easy to imagine how one might experience such a place as holy. We certainly didn't see any angels along our way (which Rob says is probably just because we're heathens), but I'm contented enough to gaze at the patterns of illuminated green against the shadows, listen to the echoing calls of songbirds, and wonder at the comical dancing of daddy long legs basking upon broad leaves and call it all good...

The Heavenly Banquet

This week in my American Art Song class we've been looking at the "Hermit Songs" of Samuel Barber. It is a beautiful and compelling cycle based around texts written by monks and scholars in early Christian Ireland that Barber had translated into English by a few of his poet friends--including W.H. Auden. Within this cycle is a song text attributed to St. Brigid (10th century), one of the patron saints of Ireland, and portrays an incredible scene of heavenly revelry, the likes of which I have never encountered...especially in my sober LDS upbringing! This particular text was so "outstanding" to me, I felt I had to share it with y'all...

The Heavenly Banquet

I would like to have the men of heaven in my own house;

with vats of good cheer laid out for them.

I would like to have the three Marys, their fame is so great.

I would like people from every corner of heaven.

I would like them to be cheerful in their drinking.

I would like to have Jesus sitting here among them.

I would like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings.

I would like to be watching Heaven's family

Drinking it through all eternity.

WOW! What an interesting way to worship. Talk about inviting the spirit(s) into your home.