Amber L. Carter's Blog, page 86

The Friends Lens

Little known fact: A couple of years ago, I had this huuuge crush on Nate. Huge. Ridiculous. As in, was a total dork loser idiot whenever I found myself in the same room with him. But I got over it. Not like it was a disease or anything...but it kind of became similar to my friendship with Dave and Jeff, in that what started out as a major crush somehow morphed and flowed into this easy, fun friendship. The fun part of that is, even though I mostly see them through the Friends Lens, every once in a while they'll do something that'll make me think, "Oh yeah, that's why I used to be so crazy about you."

This is one of those things.

[photo via LOL/OMG]

The Friends Lens

Little known fact: A couple of years ago, I had this huuuge crush on Nate. Huge. Ridiculous. As in, was a total dork loser idiot whenever I found myself in the same room with him. But I got over it. Not like it was a disease or anything...but it kind of became similar to my friendship with Dave and Jeff, in that what started out as a major crush somehow morphed and flowed into this easy, fun friendship. The fun part of that is, even though I mostly see them through the Friends Lens, every once in a while they'll do something that'll make me think, "Oh yeah, that's why I used to be so crazy about you."

This is one of those things.

[photo via LOL/OMG]

Randy and I have decided that this is The Summer of Hummers.

Another gem, courtesy of my friend Randy.

Gifts

In the afternoon I went for a long bike ride, the wind blowing the thoughts out of my head like so many sticky cobwebs. My skin still warm and brown and my hair dried into wavy ringlets by the sun, I tried my hand at making a smudging stick from the sage and lavender I planted a few weeks ago. "You will be good at this," I could hear Marian, a Native healer and activist I used to know, tell me as I tied string around the bundle to keep the leaves together. She always tried to prompt me to do more with the gifts. While I hated being nagged, I trusted her no-nonsense, this-is-the-most-obvious-thing-in-the-world reaction to my careful questions about them. "You use the inner eye more than the two I'm looking at right now. It's part of the old spirit that wanders inside you."

The old spirit. Pooks follows me as I float through the cabin, my iPod tucked into my back pocket and piping Joni Mitchell into my ears as I pick up the remnants of the day. Stirring peppermint leaves into the heating water, I tilt my head back and let it ring out, my voice feeling like a bird taking flight as I sing along to the chorus. Sometimes I forget about this.

Later that evening, I lay my head back against the stack of pillows and let the phone slip from my fingers, the words turning over in my mind. Like a small rock floating down through the lake and coming to rest at the bottom of my heart, it culls a small solidness, a calm. For a couple of weeks now, I've felt opened up. Cleaned out. Everything and everyone that was pulling on me, vying for my attention, has slowly fallen away, like water dripping from your skin after a long swim. And then suddenly there it was, like a pair of eyes that catch and hold over a bright fire on a dark night. I know who you are.

In the morning I'll go down to the dock with a thermos of coffee and watch the sunrise, like I used to do every day, years ago. When it's fully above the horizon, I'll close my eyes and open my palms and try to see the spirit brothers on my right. I know the two on my left, and can see them clearly, but when I look for the other two, it's as if I'm blinded. I know they are there, and Megan can see blue light snaking out from that side when I talk about them to her, but I often wonder why it is that I can't see them. Maybe I'm not supposed to. Maybe I'm not looking long enough. Or maybe they'll simply show themselves when I'm ready, like everything else in my life.

Later in the afternoon, I'll dip under the cold surface for a swim, stretching my arms and legs out further, further, my face cast up at the sky, eyes blinded by the sun's heat and light. And in the night I'll sit down at the table with my homemade mint tea and write, as I've done and will do every night, until this is finished. And then I'll be ready, and then you'll be here.

Hummers.

My pal Randy sent me this photo, after telling me about his new favorite column.

Something tells me that this lady knows exactly what she's doing when she writes her column headlines.

Hummers.

My pal Randy sent me this photo, after telling me about his new favorite column.

Something tells me that this lady knows exactly what she's doing when she writes her column headlines.

Amber Carter: Writer, blogger, entrepreneur ...and a friend to hummingbirds.

So...I know that you guys probably won't believe me, but...there's this hummingbird that won't leave me alone.
Every morning I take Dutch (the family dog) out to the deck with me for my meditation/study hour. There's a hummingbird feeder on the table that I sit next to, which wasn't a big deal - I love hummingbirds.
But then I started to notice that this one hummingbird kept hovering right in front of me. He'd just stop about a half-arms length away, hovering, and watch me. Then one day, he kept doing this thing where he'd hover in front of me, move closer, hover, fly away, come back, hover, move even closer, hover, fly away, etc. And the whole time he'd just be staring at me, like, "WUT. What're you gonna do?"
So I thought that was really cool, and every time I would sit out there, he'd do it again and again. Yesterday, however, it got a little out of control.
I understand that not everyone wants you to meditate around them. You're sitting there with your eyes closed, in a concentrated state, and that can make those around you uncomfortable. They don't want to disturb you, but you're also not paying attention to them.
This hummingbird, apparently, does not like that.
I heard him hover in front of me during the first part of my meditation, and could sense that he would hover for about a minute, then fly around me, then hover again. Then he started getting more bold - soon he was hovering right in front of my face. Then he flew so close to me that I literally felt a rush of air from his wings. Then he flew so close that I felt his wings move my hair.
I finished meditating and started my study, and that's when all his friends started to join in. Five hummingbirds literally had a dance-off right in front of my face. It was seriously ridiculous. I'd look up at them, they'd hover and look at me, then they'd fly around and clip each other and then hover and look at me again, and if I dared to look back down at the book I was reading, they'd pick it up a notch and start flying and dancing so close in front of my eyes that I couldn't even keep track of the words on the page of my book.
So finally I gave up, and just started taking a bunch of pictures. Which they loved. I swear to god, they even tried to pose with each other for a couple of them. Which I wasn't able to capture, because...hummingbirds move pretty fast, especially when they're break-dance fighting.

Amber Carter: Writer, blogger, entrepreneur ...and a friend to hummingbirds.

So...I know that you guys probably won't believe me, but...there's this hummingbird that won't leave me alone.
Every morning I take Dutch (the family dog) out to the deck with me for my meditation/study hour. There's a hummingbird feeder on the table that I sit next to, which wasn't a big deal - I love hummingbirds.
But then I started to notice that this one hummingbird kept hovering right in front of me. He'd just stop about a half-arms length away, hovering, and watch me. Then one day, he kept doing this thing where he'd hover in front of me, move closer, hover, fly away, come back, hover, move even closer, hover, fly away, etc. And the whole time he'd just be staring at me, like, "WUT. What're you gonna do?"
So I thought that was really cool, and every time I would sit out there, he'd do it again and again. Yesterday, however, it got a little out of control.
I understand that not everyone wants you to meditate around them. You're sitting there with your eyes closed, in a concentrated state, and that can make those around you uncomfortable. They don't want to disturb you, but you're also not paying attention to them.
This hummingbird, apparently, does not like that.
I heard him hover in front of me during the first part of my meditation, and could sense that he would hover for about a minute, then fly around me, then hover again. Then he started getting more bold - soon he was hovering right in front of my face. Then he flew so close to me that I literally felt a rush of air from his wings. Then he flew so close that I felt his wings move my hair.
I finished meditating and started my study, and that's when all his friends started to join in. Five hummingbirds literally had a dance-off right in front of my face. It was seriously ridiculous. I'd look up at them, they'd hover and look at me, then they'd fly around and clip each other and then hover and look at me again, and if I dared to look back down at the book I was reading, they'd pick it up a notch and start flying and dancing so close in front of my eyes that I couldn't even keep track of the words on the page of my book.
So finally I gave up, and just started taking a bunch of pictures. Which they loved. I swear to god, they even tried to pose with each other for a couple of them. Which I wasn't able to capture, because...hummingbirds move pretty fast, especially when they're break-dance fighting.

Do you guys think this tree might be evil?

Me, too.

I saw it during my hike yesterday, and it made me stop dead in my tracks. Not only does it look freaky, but...there's no vegetation around it. Just grass. And it's in the middle of the forest. Instead, there's a perfectly smooth clearing from it to the trail, and then the surrounding area around it is also perfectly clear and smooth with grass. Again, this is in the middle of the forest.

Since I plan on hiking by it on a semi-regular basis, I'm going to just tell myself that a delightful little elf village lives inside the tree, instead of a bunch of demons and stuff.

But if I disappear during my hike one of these days, one of you better come up here and a run a sword through that tree to see if it bleeds.

Cause if it does, then that means it got me.

Do you guys think this tree might be evil?

Me, too.

I saw it during my hike yesterday, and it made me stop dead in my tracks. Not only does it look freaky, but...there's no vegetation around it. Just grass. And it's in the middle of the forest. Instead, there's a perfectly smooth clearing from it to the trail, and then the surrounding area around it is also perfectly clear and smooth with grass. Again, this is in the middle of the forest.

Since I plan on hiking by it on a semi-regular basis, I'm going to just tell myself that a delightful little elf village lives inside the tree, instead of a bunch of demons and stuff.

But if I disappear during my hike one of these days, one of you better come up here and a run a sword through that tree to see if it bleeds.

Cause if it does, then that means it got me.