Strange Sea

Implausible fish bloom in the depths,
mercurial flowers light up the coast;
I know red and yellow, the other colors,—

but the sea, det granna granna havet, that’s most dangerous
                                                              to look at.
What name is there for the color that arouses
this thirst, which says,
the saga can happen, even to you—

-Edith Södergran

Translated from Swedish by Averill Curdy

Today, I swam in the sea.

It was freezing. I went alone. Best day I've had in months.

On the Beach at Night.

Most nights there we would walk down to the dock together,
Dipping our feet in the dark water, strewn with light
We would squint across the bay, pairs of red and green lights swimming down in the water,
Rows of gold lights dripping toward our toes

On the peninsula we saw the ferris wheel, like a dream
Turning and glittering, the boats drifting before us, one or two at a time
And the dance hall, brightest of all
The roof covered in electric bulbs,
Boats crowded around it while the moon spilled white and close
And always I asked you for the same stories,
There was the one about the lilac water,
About the dances in the hall across from us,
About the things you used to do and the people you used to know.
Huddled in a slick green jacket and cross-legged on the dock floor,
I looked up at you and then out at the water until we walked back.
Later it was gardens and shops,
Later it was restaurants and museums,
Later it was streets, hotels, French windows and New York leaves,
Later it was souvenirs and postcards,
Later it was letters,
Later I was only coming home, instead of leaving
(for a little while)
And I would hold you longest of anyone,
And love you more than all the rest,
And last summer at the dock I swear-
I swear I saw something bright and blue and wondering,
Swimming in tiny circles,
And the next night and all the nights after, it was gone.

I miss this.

Andrew Myers

I know I said I was going to write something about the Festival of Arts (19 on my bucket list), but I'm not. Instead, I'm going to tell you a little about Andrew Myers, one of my favorite sculptors and hands-down my favorite thing about the Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach.

I first saw Myers' work at this festival three years ago. I was with Madelyn and my grandma Nora. My favorite piece of his that I saw there is impossible to find, but it was of a business man with a glass window in his chest. Behind the glass hung his red heart. He held a hammer, and beneath the window were the words, "Break glass in case of emergency."

"Life's Unexpected Moments," is my mom's favorite:

(photo: Andrew Myers Art)

The majority of his work is sort of philosophical and interesting. My favorites are the metaphorical ones, because they attempt to say something genuine and universal about life. Visit his website here.

(Photo: Reefbuilders)

"Also today I experienced something which I hope to understand in a few days."
-Jørgen Leth's The Perfect Human

The other day I walked down to the dock near my grandparents' beach house and noticed some small, blue, glowing things in the water. They were about the size of a staple and moved in small circles, leaving bright blue trails and then disappearing. I had no idea what they were until I got home and discovered that they are phytoplankton, and more specifically "bioluminescent dinoflagellates."

Aren't they amazing? I just love the fact that these things exist and live right here on the same planet, and not only that, but they were here first. And thousands, or more likely, millions of years later, I get to be amazed by them as if they were brand new. It's like the world just told me a secret.

Isn't It Romantic?

I am in Newport Beach this week, and last night I was sitting on the dock of the development where my grandparents live, looking out into the bay. Across the water, you can see Balboa Island and on it, an old building, all lit up.

My grandma used to tell me stories about how that building was once a dance hall and how all the lovely Newport ladies would dress up for the dances there. I would love to have been there, slow dancing to this:

Summer Bucket List (continued)

11. Make pretty new skirts.
12. Plant and grow strawberries.
13. Learn to make a lemon meringue pie. Well. Famously.
14. Hike Fossil Creek when we visit Pine, Arizona.
15. Do something like Richard Schilling's "Land Art":

16. Visit a zoo.
17. Meet five new people and keep in touch with them.
18. Write a message in a bottle, sail out to some buoy with my dad, and leave it in the ocean.
19. Take my brothers and sisters to the Festival of the Arts.
20. Write a new song on the guitar.

Summer Bucket List

I leave in 12 days for my hometown- Rancho Mirage, California. Since I have come to terms with the realization that I will be languishing in boredom and 115 degree weather, I've also decided I need to make a list of things I want to do this summer.

So to start with, here are the first ten things on my summer bucket list:

1. Take my sisters to the beach for a week (again) this August.
2. Do one page of Wreck this Journal every day.
3. Practice tennis with my dad. Cultivate a decent serve.
4. Read House of Leaves.
5. Write a poem every day of the summer. Share some of them. Maybe.
6. Draw a sidewalk chalk mural on my driveway.
7. Learn to crack an egg with one hand.
8. Memorize "Fern Hill" again, and "Soneto de La Noche."
9. Write three This I Believe essays.
10. Read the Book of Mormon in Spanish.

Hey, Make Up Your Mind.

I want to post something, but I don't feel like writing anything. So- this:

Blogging Landmark!

I am now a member of four blogs, and this new one is the first one I did not play a main role in creating! It is a site for my This I Believe class at BYU and it is located here. We will be discussing our class and talking about statements of belief once the semester begins. I'm so excited!!!

In unrelated news, I have spent a wonderful week in Newport Beach with my little sister, Melissa! I got to take her to the beach two times and we also went to the OCMA, the Pageant of the Masters (along with their Festival of Arts), and a lot of other cool places. Melissa especially liked the Environmental Nature Center or "ENC," where they had a butterfly house. While we were in there, a butterfly flew up to me and landed on my finger and then it came back and landed on my shirt. I tried to take a picture, but I wasn't quick enough. It was really cool though.

I'm excited to get back to the desert and finish up things before I move away for the year!

What goes on in your mind?

Well... life is fun. I went to the beach last weekend, so I just thought I'd post about it here. While Madelyn and I were walking along the bay on our way home from Balboa Island, we noticed a particularly picturesque spot where the lights were shining on the water (I'm just about to post the pictures here. While I was looking at it, talking to Madelyn, I realized something: I spend so much time (and I think other people do this, too) trying to think of ways I can bring an image with me that I don't really enjoy the image when I am looking at it. I am so caught up with trying to bring the things I'm living to my future that I don't enjoy them in the present.

Capice?