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summer nights

8/16/2012

Summer has been nuts. In fact, I don't even feel like I have had a real summer. For me, it's just beginning now.
During the spring and early summer I was taking classes at the University of Oregon. I was so busy-I barely had time to breathe, let alone sleep, eat, or use the internet for anything other than research. Facebook and Twitter were neglected. I didn't write a blog post for two and a half months. But I enjoyed every second of thinking, questioning, learning. After school I returned to my home in Bend for less than two weeks before heading to Park City for physical testing and conditioning camp for a week. I actually just created a video of our testing...you can find it here. Then it was back to Bend for less than a week before heading to Maui. I LOVE MAUI!!!!! It was such a wonderful taste of summer, but a bit of a tease as I was only there for 5 days. But we got to do some marvelous surfing, SUPing, hiking and exploring. And then it was off to New Zealand. It certainly was not summer there, although it certainly looked like it due to the serious lack of snow. Despite that, the training was incredibly productive. After all, that's what we were there for....
Upon returning from New Zealand, I spent three short days at home before heading up to Victoria, B.C. to visit my grandma for a few days. And now I am finally in Canmore, Alberta--something I've been looking forward to for the last few months. Though I have had very little time to actually look forward.
This summer I've realized how quickly time passes. I took a hike with my mum yesterday through the Sunshine Meadows where I backpacked two years ago. It felt déjà vu. I remember being 7, hiking through those same meadows. Tomorrow I turn 24. So what happened to the time? I like to think of it as an invisible concept, but it is visible all around me: the taller trees, the wrinkles on my family's faces, the fact that I'm going to Chile for the 8th (?) time this year in a few weeks. I don't know what to think. So perhaps I won't.
For now, I'll leave you with some pictures that I've taken so far this summer. I'm going back to Bend on Saturday for 12 days before heading to Chile. The time I spend here in Canmore and in Bend will be my real summer, because when I return from Chile it will again be fall. I'll write more about Maui and New Zealand soon, so keep checking in. For now, move with the wind. Wake with the sun. Run while you can.

Tommy taught me a neat experimental method with my camera, so I've been utilizing that--flash and long exposure with two separate frames in one picture. Neat.