Well I do suppose there will be many a moment in my future
where I will think, “Oh, but for a day in the meadows.” So wonderful does it make me feel to stroll
about in these sweet meadows surrounded by these towering granite mountains. I feel tiny and small in the most comforting
of ways, as if the meadows of the warm tawny grass are quite meant to be at
your fingertips as you gaze at the colossal stones.
There’s surely something powerful about El Capitan, that it
looks so brilliant whether you see it loftily standing from afar off or you
draw near the base of it. And I’ve no
doubt those who choose to climb it could attest to that view being full of its
dramatic nature as well.
Bridal Veil seemed to almost float down the side of its
cliff today, quietly calling my mind to beauty without soaking me with its deluge. Fall is a sleepy time for the waterfalls of
this valley, they play a slow song to calm the soul I think.
We wandered to the chapel and as leaving I spotted something
that looked familiar to the eye of my childhood. What could the rope by the door do other than
sweep a bell back and forth? And so my
mother and I hurried outside while my dad gave two pulls and the sweet peeling
sound of a merry bell rang throughout the little part of the valley we were
in. There are many things made by the
hands of man that seem vulgar in amongst all the magnificent beauties of the
wild. But, this bell added to it I’d
say. And with that we made our way out
of the valley and back to the realities outside of Yosemite.
“Nature is always lovely, invincible, glad, whatever is done
and suffered by her creatures. All scars
she heals, whether in rocks or water or sky or hearts.” – John Muir
