The Ice Castles

We went to be breathless for a spell, one evening …

I stumbled upon this place quite accidentally, between overhearing a conversation at work and seeing one picture from one of my Facebook friends. The picture was not very good – blurry and dark, but the words “ice castles” sounded intriguing.

Then, there is Google – and one quick search revealed the mystery.

We drove up there after work, with some friends from Armenia. The temperature was about 27F (-3C) outside the “(ice) park”. Once inside the park, the temperature felt like it dropped about 10F degrees (5C), if not more!

The “park” serves as a soccer field in the summer. It’s inside a residential neighborhood, surrounded by horse farms. I am not sure how they “do it”, and honestly, I don’t think I want to know, but it looks like an intricate system of refrigeration pipes leaking water. With the constant subzero temps this time of the year, the water freezes and huge amounts of ice build up, over time, making these incredible formations that look like intricate sand castles, only … in ice. Just as ephemeral, however.

Once you’re in the midst of it, it feels sort of like a cave, with the only difference being that … you can still see the sky peeking at you above your head. There are very, and I mean extremely tight, narrow pathways in between tall ice formations, that you can squeeze through and find your way out.

Much like a maze. Huge reflector lights are cast on some of the formations, turning the walls of the labyrinth all sorts of colors, from pure white to dark blue and purple and everything in the middle.

Because we went to The Castles right after work, as an afterthought, we didn’t bring “real” cameras, so all the pictures are taken with our phones. The reason they look so amazing is because the place speaks for itself.

It’s poetry standing still and poetry in motion, all at the same time, because in the silence of the ice mountains, you can hear the streams of running water, adding away to the sand … urrr… ice castles.

My feet were not to be felt for about an hour after the journey through the maze ended, and my neck was stiff from chasing the tippy-tops of the caves, but my heart was warm, full and happy.

I miss The South more often than not, but I am so grateful that I live in a place that does have a real winter, which allows for such beauty to form. It opens your eyes and your imagination to new horizons of beauty and to a new dimension of dreaming. 

 Just to give you some perspective of how tall these formations actually are - they are taller than some of the rock formations I have walked around in these parts. Amazing how fast water freezes when the conditions are just right!

 

  

Some of the formations looked like under water life - maybe giant jelly fish, or the giant octopus.

  

 

When you pay for your entrance fee, you see this ice globe on the ticket counter.

 

   

Details of ice formations: there are no special settings on the iPhone that took these pictures to show these as black-and-white shots. It's just the natural contrast between the night sky and the white of the ice.
Some of them look like the insides of your stomach, really. Still eerie. 

 

 Navigating the really narrow, tight pathways in between the mountains of ice ...

 

Just a glimpse at "how they do it": pipes covered in ice, "dripping" ... 

 

This mountain reminded me of the limestone mountains of Turkey, with small cabins carved inside the mountain, and tons of chimneys springing from the mountain tops. The clouds make for very realistic smoke ...On the right: details of "the chimneys".

 

On the way out - seeing the light from the ticket cottage through the narrow path. 

Click on the picture to see the whole album from this trip.  

“A Cute” Movie

I am as puzzled when people tell me a movie was “cute” as when a realtor tells me a house is “darling”. These are very vague terms, to me, to refer to things that probably don’t suck that bad, but are not quite excellent.

But I found myself saying that the movie “The Proposal” is quite “cute”. And let me define it, from my point of view, at least!

Sometimes, at the end of a busy week, during which I have had everything from pleasant meets with friends, to boss screaming at me for trifles, from dealing with stomach bugs to forgetting to put out a weekly newsletter (oops! - that’s a first), from being totally and utterly in love to coming down to earth and realizing that a big project I am putting together will only have three volunteers, me included, maybe …- so at the end of such a week all I wanted was bag of movie theater popcorn (isn’t that the best comfort food??) and a chick flick!

And I chose The Proposal, because from all the reviews, it seemed to fit the bill! I wanted something without guns, and violence. Some sob story of someone falling in love and living happily ever after: you know – the kind of stuff that’s hard to believe in anymore. And not much brain engagement, either.

And for once, the movie delivered: it was not stupid, and it was not fantastical, and it was not lame, and it didn’t have crazy, surreal and unreal dialogues, nor retarded, fall-on-your-ass-and-expect-me-to-laugh, or cat-flushes-the-dog-down-the-toilet kind of jokes … It was just … a normal chick flick!

Relaxing, funny, mildly intellectually written. Sure, the eagle does snatch the dog, and then the cell phone, and the girl who could not swim is thrown in the water and doesn’t die, but that’s just to tell you, you’re still watching fiction! Other than that, it was a very, well, “cute” movie.

Sure, it could not help but have my biggest pet peeve about it, too, overcritical as I am – but it is one pet peeve I have about all American movies and TV shows: I do not (cannot) understand why, no matter how rich the characters are in a movie (or show), they always have to drive a beat-up, clunky, some sort of washed out blue, gray or orange shade truck from the 60’s or older!

WHY does every producer/ director/ movie creator feel the need to add such fake “local color” to the movie, beats the bejesus out of me! It’s so made-up and so contrived anymore! In this particular flick, the main family is referred to as “The Kennedys of Alaska”, and yet the mother drives one such truck, bad paint and rust and all. Why?!

But this is just my own “battle” with The American Movie Industry. Not just with this one clip!

So, all in all, I recommend that you go and see The Proposal, if you want to escape.

And trust me on this one: it’s cute, and it will deliver as promised.

Girlfriends

By complete chance, I was witness to this conversation, while on my hike last weekend. It’s not in the least made up. Two strangers, I’ll call them Kathy and Cindy, about 35’ish year old, both accountants, approached me on the trail, sort of out of pity, because I was hiking alone. And after the usual politeness, of what your name is, what you do for a living, they just went off on their own rants, and I was a mere spectator of it all.

There they go:

Kathy: “That tree is totally twisted. It cannot make up its mind which way to go. See, how it grew toward the valley, and now it’s growing towards the hill? It must be a woman, not knowing what it wants!”

Cindy: “What do you mean?”

Kathy: “You know: that’s what men tell us, that we’re moody and we never can make up our minds.”

Cindy: “Well, I can tell you that men are just plain stupid. That’s what I can surely tell you. They are the ones who don’t know jack sh^t about what they want. They want us for the sex, up and down, all day and all night long, but then, when we want them for the emotions, they say that’s too complicated, and they get out. That’s what they do! They’re idiots! What is there so complicated about emotions? Is it rock science?! No, it isn’t! It’s just plain talk! I wanna tell you how I feel about you, and how I need you, and you’re going to turn the football game up and ignore me, and if I push, you walk away because that’s too complicated! That’s a bunch of bull crap!”

Kathy: “I hear ya, and that’s why we’re on this hike today: because we’re fed up with them! Both mine and hers are idiots. So, we wanted to get away and not put up with their sh^t today.”

Cindy: “You don’t even know where to meet them no more. You meet them at a bar, you meet them online, at the office, through your friends, they all suck! None of them wants the real thing anymore. Everything is too damn complicated to all of them. Now, Kathy here, she’s a true online dater perfectional. She surely is. She’s been on everything and she’s been doing this for years. And she’s still not finding anything. But one thing I know for sure: as much as my now boyfriend made me mad this week, I’m back on Plentyoffish(.com). I surely am! I’m back at it!”

Kathy: “Well, the one I have now, I met on Great Expectations. And usually I met some good people there, but this one’s a dead beat! See, I am looking for something long term, but he don’t want anything like that. He just wants something now. I just don’t know why you’d pay all that money for it, and just want sex for it. What is wrong with you?! “

Me: “How much are you paying for Great Expectations?”

Kathy: “Well, they want to sell you for years at a time, and it’s like $2000 for a year, or $3000 for two, but I talked them into a $600 for 6 months deal”.

Me, dubious: “600 DOLLARS? For a dating site?!”

Kathy: “Well, yeah, but you don’t get all the junk that’s on MySpace there. Or the goobers on PlentyOfFish. I really met some interesting folks. Although, I’ll have to say, there are some stupid folk on it, too”.

Cindy: “They’re all stupid, girl! All of them!”

Kathy: “Well, I did meet this one guy, he was from DC. And we talked online, and I was tired of all that typing, so I asked for his number, and he gave it to me, and we talked for months. Then, one day, he told me he’d come down to see me, because he was feeling like we were falling in love, bla-bla-bla (she’s rolling her eyes in disgust). And he bought a plane ticket to North Carolina to see me. I was really shocked. So, then he came to my house, and then, he told me he had bought the plane ticket for this other girl, that lived in Charlotte, but then she backed out on him at the last minute, but he still had the ticket, and had to use it, so he came to see me instead.”

(Cindy and I are about to faint laughing)

Kathy:” I am telling you, Cindy’s right: they don’t know jack sh^t of what the hell they want. One minute, you’re in love with me, and one minute I am your back up plan?! I even tried to kiss him, just for testing, but he couldn’t kiss worth a damn either, so he slept on the couch and I never saw him again. Nor talked to him”.

She shrugs. And I shrug now, too, nodding my head in disbelief, and deep thinking. And I thought I was the only one having dating nightmares.

It turned out I was not alone on that hike, after all. On that hike, or otherwise…

An A.D.D. World – or : An A.D.D. America, Revised

I have discovered that we cannot get frustrated or in the least bothered by the A.D.D. in our co-workers, partners, family folks, etc I believe we all are, to some extent, somewhat A.D.D. Think about it?! It's the society we live in that REQUIRES us to be that way: you hardly ever see a job ad in the paper that does not require us to be "multi-tasked". Well, you cannot be multi-tasked unless you're paying attention to 10 things at the same time: answer the phone, while reading a new e-mail, while opening the postal mail, while talking to your boss who's giving you yet a new task and all these have to be done efficiently and fast, so that we all can meet the deadlines! And it doesn't stop there: we drive home and the cell rings while we have to drive, and yield, and look for a jay-walker or another jackass driver who's cutting us off, and grab a snack from the purse since our blood sugar is low from spreading ourselves too thin in the first place, and we need an afternoon jumpstart, because we're driving to school, after a 10 hour work day! Then we get home, and we have to feed the pets, while opening the mail, and turning the TV on to see what else has been going on in the world, while the phone rings and it's our friend Alice who wants to go out for a drink tonight or maybe Saturday, and we're listening to the news while trying to figure out what in the world is on our calendars for Saturday anyways, while the cat decides to flip the water bowl and make a mess on the carpet, and oh, shit! we have a "sales" party tomorrow with a bunch of "fancy ladies" and the carpet is now wet and stained"Sorry Alice, let me call you right back"! It makes my head spin just to think about all this, although it's pretty much an accurate description of my (and many of the people's I know!) daily routine. And our brains get "trained" to constantly LOOK FOR the next thing to do. Never for the "what's here and now", but for "what else" I need to be doing to keep up...
The opposite of A.D.D. is focused, but you cannot be focused on ONE thing alone anymore: you would be stampeded on by the world, run over and left behind! The only way we can keep up, we think, is by rushing onto the next thing on the list while still doing the one before. I wonder sometimes where and if all this will stop one day?!
You know, Napoleon was so unique because him doing 5 things at one time was really a RARE, and indeed special talent: it's not customary for the human brain to function like that! (I am obviously not a doctor, but I don't think it is). By pushing our bodies in this manner, to make something so rare be part of our usual life, we're defying nature in the first place, and something, somewhere, is gotta snap! And therefore, we're all "diagnosed" nowadays! (man, wouldn't Freud be proud of me??!!). We should all be, anyways. Should we all be on Ritalin then?!
I go to Yoga class, and I lie in Savasana and the instructor says "let go" and you're supposed to LET THE HECK GO and just focus on breathing and just being and I am thinking: "Shit! Bills need to be paid tonight!" and "I haven't vacuumed since 2 weeks ago" and I hate myself right then and there. And yet I move on. Gotta catch up!
The only thing we don't do while doing other things that "have to" be done is relax, and breathe. We never think of that as a part of our "multi-tasking", and it's a shame. I read in one of my Yoga books one time, that "the giant turtle breathes 4 times a minute, and is calm, and lives many hundreds of years, whereas the dog and the monkey breathe 40-60 times a minute, and are restless and excitable and live 10-15 years only." It seems to me, we all have a lot to learn from the quiet and calm turtle. Don't you think?! Happy new week, everyone! And PLEASE, remember to breathe, amongst all the other things ...