Lila explores uncharted territory on waves of music and rhythm in her own impossibly cute way. Of course, I am completely smitten, but she’s hard to resist, this one, and there’s something magical about children exploring music and the movement of their own bodies.

Camera: Jill

Rainbow Arabia from L.A. plays the music.

The uncut version is on Jill’s Dylan & Lila blog.

Here she is wearing a sweater my mom just finished knitting for her. Indeed she comes from a line of talented women.

Lila turns 2!

Click thumbnail for more photos.

Earlier, Dylan’s interest in going had waned and he wanted to stay home and play trains. I was able to change his mind by telling him that there would be a steam-roller down there and that Kate would be driving it. That did the trick.

Kate had finished her stint as driver, but we did see 3′ x 5′ letterpress posters being created 2 at a time by a crew of volunteers, big linocuts, a couple of 4′ x 8′ sheets of plywood, and the steamroller for the actual pressing. Pretty ingenious. The posters were hung from the school balconies to dry and were auctioned off as a fundraiser. My favorite was the Godzilla/sushi poster created by a crew from Starbucks.

A Wayzgoose is a tradition in the letterpress printing world that dates back to the 17th century, when master printers would serve a feast to their apprentices in recognition of the impending shorter days of fall and winter which would require the difficult work of hand-setting type by candlelight. Goose was often served, along with whisky. Now shops had adopted the past time as a way to open their doors to the public and showcase the work that has been going on.
— Kate Fernandez

It’s hard to get an idea of the vertical relief from lake to the looming summit above, but it’s nearly 4000′. What was even harder to believe is that this is a popular BASE jumping venue. On the way in we passed a group of about 6 or 7 jumpers packing out large packs and carrying helmets with cameras.

Just before dark we took the kids down to the west end of the lake to “the beach”. As we hiked the trail, we heard an alarming roar above the trees which scared the kids (or at least Dylan). Looking up, we just caught a glimpse of one parachute gliding east toward the meadows at the east end of the lake. We were pretty eager to witness this spectacle, but we had just missed it. Visions of bodies screaming, flying down that wall in a wingsuit pulling the chute 100 feet above the trees filled our heads as we gazed up the wall hoping for more jumpers. Alas, there were no more, and the evening settled down eventually as we watched a green heron land lakeside and bats consuming a feast of insects hatching from the water.

Marinate on this:

Baring Mountain BASE jump

Well today, stopping in for my occasional visit at Just Stuff I Find (see Blogroll on right), I enjoyed this short movie by David Fu, which brought pleasant memories of my youth, my home, and my uncle, and also re-inspired me to enjoy simple things and to live in the present. Ikiru.

Where do they learn this stuff? The words? The ‘tude? Eh?