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| The author/publisher, Dane F. Baylis |
LISTEN, LOOK, FEEL.
OR
SHUT UP AND IT HAPPENS.
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What happens? The world. Today was like that. As we were deciding what we were going to do for breakfast a woodpecker started tapping at the side of the cabin. It was as if the day was calling to us, saying, "Don't waste a moment, I've so much to show you."
It was only about 15 degrees Fahrenheit when we set out for the south side of Big Bear Lake, brisk by anybody's estimation. But the sky was that beautiful crystalline blue that only higher altitudes and lower temperatures can produce. There is still snow on the north facing slopes and the whole thing was great to behold.
We tried a new place for breakfast. Nothing to write home about, but, like most of the places we've tried so far, the portions made up for culinary artistry. That, and the company was terrific. So far, the majority of the people up here have been outgoing and a wealth of hospitality and information.
Right after breakfast, we set off on the "Rim of the World Drive" along Route 38 between Big Bear and Yucaipa. The visibility was incomparable. From the pull-outs along the way, we could look out across the San Bernardino Mountains clear to the Mojave Desert. Driving over the crest of Onyx Summit at 8443 feet we took the Jenks Lake cut off and were soon deep in fragrant pine and cedar stands with hardly another soul around. The views of the meadows and lake were fabulous.
Soon after that, we came out to a vista across the San Gabriel Valley. Ahead and behind were just the most glorious panoramas. I will date myself when I say that it is very understandable how such terrain could humble and frighten the likes of Jack Kerouac and inspire the Zen soul of Gary Snyder.
A quick visit to Oak Glen for a present for the Editor-in-Wife's eldest sister and a couple of jars of terrific local preserves and we were on our way back to our temporary mountain fastness. A quick late lunch and a wonderful dusk hike along the lakeshore topped everything off. No vast epiphanies, a minimum of conversation, all that needed to be said being covered by, "What's that?" or "Look!" or "Did you hear that?" Everything of importance was said by the things we saw, heard, felt, and smelled. That was enough.
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Meanwhile...live, love, write like you mean it.
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