I can hear the wind tossing the trees outside as I type. For some reason, today feels more like autumn, albeit a warm and humid one. It is overcast, and I heard several people say that rain was forecast. This morning, the wind spit oak leaves and brown pine needles across the park, which made the day feel much different. The wind always energizes me. Maybe it's all of the added motion - trees whipping back and forth, dust devils etching spirals in the dirt, leaves and other detritus skipping and dancing across the ground, hair and clothes being tugged this way and that...
We hiked right away. The kids seemed to have extra energy as well. Then we discovered that it is possible to make sun prints (using photosensitive paper) even when it is cloudy. Afterwards, we got out the river rocks and made art with them, laying them out in patterns on the ground, and balancing them on top of each other. One girl, inspired by the photo on the front of the Andy Goldsworthy book I had with me, made cracks down the middle of each of her rocks (with a pen, though, since it wasn't within our means to make accurate cracks of the genuine sort - I tried a couple of weeks ago and ended up with little splinters of rock).

When the sun peeked through the clouds, it painted the wind-rippled lake a sparkly gold.

cds I listened to in the night: Test Dept "Beating A Retreat", Thelema "The Vision and the Voice", and Current 93 at the Great American Music Hall, 5/10/03