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Wet days bring luminescent foliage, a green not yet deepened by summer sun. Pungent mud at the pond edge. Siri splashes, mosquitos feast!
tweeted 5 days ago -
Saw my first bear of spring, and turtles sunning on a rock. Discovered Siri will ride with me squeezed in a kayak. All in all, a good day.
tweeted 14 days ago -
Cold. Sun hiding behind white and grey clouds. A bit of blue above; a little blue, myself. Faded forest and field: early spring sepia.
tweeted 43 days ago -
Yesterday I woke to a rooster, doves, a toucan and wind caressing the canopy. Today I ready myself for a neotropical migration, my own.
tweeted 53 days ago -
Last night's sunset a tangerine consumed by a northwest ridge. Birds greet the rising sun. Goodbye, Amapala -- not forever, but for a while.
tweeted 55 days ago -
Wind like a river pours through the valley. Crickets sing while dark descends and Lily of the Valley scent (coffee blossoms) lingers.
tweeted 60 days ago
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Wet days bring luminescent foliage, a green not yet deepened by summer sun. Pungent mud at the pond edge. Siri splashes, mosquitos feast!
Author Archives: Nat Scrimshaw
river walking recollected
May 14, 2012 A grey New England spring morning that anticipates afternoon rain. Wildflowers bud and flower, pastures green. My thoughts return to a Costa Rican cloud forest bushwhack. March 12, 2012 It’s been fifteen years since I last walked … Continue reading
Posted in Monteverde, reflections, Uncategorized
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walking meditation
A curious imagining as I walked today and looked up at trees just beginning to leaf this early spring. I pictured my life as one of these trees, with each moment dividing into branching possible futures. The growth of this … Continue reading
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The Trail to Green Mountain: Sendero Pacifico
To explain where I am now. I’m writing from Finca Amapala, located south of Monteverde, and south of the San Luis valley. (A finca is a farm). Finca Amapala is the location of an albergue, a hut for hikers, that … Continue reading
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Amapala
It’s been a while since I updated. My project of reflecting on “Green Mountain” has entered a second year of blogging, and led me back to a source: Monteverde, Costa Rica. I am dividing my time between staying at Eugenio’s … Continue reading
Mapping interlude: the brain in the tail
Leadership does not have to come from established organizations — leadership can emerge from communities and without an institutional relationship. In other words, people can organize without organizations. The recent examples of social uprisings in the middle east are examples of emergent, non-organizational organization, as are the recent riots in London (it’s not all positive). Closer to home, the recent community response in the Mad River Valley to Tropical Storm Irene shows it is possible for a decentralized yet “organized” response to a natural disaster in parallel to the usual institutional responses from government, nonprofit and for-profit businesses. All of these recent examples are possible because of modern social media. Continue reading
Mapping Interlude: Thresholds
Morning mist rises from within the rim of Buel’s Gore, finding a hidden way to slip between the ridges. This gathered release of last night’s cold rain gives way to a mixed clarity: the air seems to have a transparency … Continue reading
Mapping Monteverde: unfolding > 1951
I offer yet another stretched analogy. Previously I suggested the possibility that the campesino/patrón pattern was nested in this map, like a fractal. Now I am suggesting that the Tico/Gringo difference or contrast created a tension that produced changes that are similar to the unfolding of an embedded contradiction. This has a flavor of Hegel and Marx, I know, but there is a difference. More on that some other time. Continue reading
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Mapping Interlude: Fractal Dimensions
My previous two posts — exercises in using the Whole Communities quadrant map as a flexible tool — have led me to a few of new thoughts on the Whole Measures approach. I have been creating a series of maps reflecting changing perceived contrasts in social and ecological landscape of Monteverde, Costa Rica. As I did this I noticed that the second map I drafted, the Quaker’s Arrive, 1950′s-60′s, seemed to contain the previous map, Before 1951 — it appeared to be nested in one of the new quadrants. This reminded of the exercise in the yurt with the illustrations from Zoom by Istvan Banyai. I am offering this interlude between my mapping posts to reflect on this. Continue reading
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Mapping Monteverde: the Quakers Arrive, 1950′s-60′s
Monteverde became “Monteverde” in 1951 after the first North American Quaker settlers arrived. Twelve young men from Fairhope Alabama, members of the Society of Friends, were imprisoned for refusing to register for the draft at the start of the Korean conflict. This decision was based on the Quaker peace testimony. After serving six months of a year-long jail sentence, these young men and members of their families decided to leave the United States, which they saw as increasingly militarized. In 1948 Costa Rica abolished its army, setting the stage for a long period of peace and investments in education, health and its national park system. For the Quaker families, this made Costa Rica appear to be a place that might be compatible with their peace testimony. Continue reading
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Mapping Monteverde over Time: Before 1951
Here in Vermont we’ve returned to hot and steamy after a few days of dryness and blue skies. Yesterday moisture moved in, dulling the blue and gradually adding weight and wet to the air. Last night the sky released starting … Continue reading
Posted in Monteverde, reflections
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