Life Imitates Art

This is "my" mountain. This is Mt. Pilchuck - taken from Mountain Loop Hwy on the way to my house. It's the view I get to see every day on my way home from work. The Stillaguamish ("my" river) winds its way around front of that mountain, and Chez Black sits on this side of the river with that imposing beauty rising from the granite on the other side. No great wonder that I love it out there.

Saturday was stormy weather day as a bona fide Nor'wester moved through the area. We had some kinda wild rain, boy howdy, and it lasted a good 24 hours plus some. So, I spent the day puttering around, unpacked a few things, arranged and rearranged a few things. Then I decided to plug in my Northern Exposure DVDs while I folded some laundry and tried to figure out which cold weather stuff wouldn't look too ridiculously baggy on me (*oh happy day*).

Now, anyone who's known me for any length of time or who's paid attention to my blather here, knows what a huge fan I am of Northern Exposure - the quirky characters, the witty and intelligent writing, the fine acting, and dear gods, the scenery. Oy, the scenery. That's what yanked my chain in the early 90's and got me looking to the Northwest as home. That's what made me cry back then as I watched every episode with the thought, "that's where I belong!" When I mentioned in a post a few days back that my new place is exactly the Northern Exposure / Pacific NW I came looking for, I didn't realize just how dead on I was. Not until Saturday.

I sat, barely paying attention to the socks I was folding and sorting, totally focused on the residents of Cicely, Alaska. Suddenly, there came a scene depicting Maurice driving down a two lane highway and I dropped both my jaw and socks alike. There it was... MY mountain! Mt. Pilchuck. They had filmed him driving down the very road you see in the picture above. My eyes immediately welled with tears and I exclaimed to the indifferent cat, "Holy shit. I really have found it!"

Funny the meandering path that's lead me to this... the dreams, the places, the people. Here I am, right where I wanted to be. And, like all of the good things that have happened in my life, it just fell right into my lap. The Universe gave a great gift to me (again) just a couple of weeks ago, and I promise that I will cherish it for all it merits. I am humbled by the majestic mountain, by the stoic stance of the trees against the wind, by the indomitable rush of the river, by the shadow and light as it dances on the rocks. How dare I... me, Barb Black, the girl from Grand Rapids, Michigan... how dare I stand in the midst of all that and think myself worthy? I'm just a gypsy after all... dreaming by warmth of the fire.

How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land?
~Chief Seattle