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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
February 21, 2019     Shelton Mason County Journal
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February 21, 2019
 
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Page B-2 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, Feb. 2-1, 2019 spenstn ortgtna ----m J I l -t he devil is in the details," is-. phrase I'm hearing a lot lately, mostly in regard to the U.S. Congress. As a writer, it's a phrase I vehe- mently disagree with; details are the ve--: life of a ood essa-: without details writing tends to be flat, too broad, not specifically memorable. So here we are, the first weekend after the big snow, searching for de- ,tails in dowritown Shelton. There isn't a gutter or roof line without a steady drip-drip-drip of melting white, nor a driveway without a By MARK high, dirty berm of plowed snow parked WOYTOWICI-I at the bottom like a Climbing rings hang at the playground in Kneeland Park. At the far corner of the park, where Turner Avenue climbstoward East Angleside Road, we saw the bare patch on the slope where kids had been sledding. Journal photo by Mark Woytowich permanent wave. snowbound for nearly a week, andlove, or sex, or getting rich but I We drive through the slush on we want to be around other humanbelieve those are just subsets of awe, West Cota Street to find a clearbeings and not looking and listening for awe is what we seek when pursu- parking spot in front of Garage Sale only to each other, ing sex and love. And much of our Maniacs, where the deals are in the Lately, I can't tell you how many wealth is spent chasing awe. details, as long as you don't mind times the phrase, "Like 'The Shining,'" In the summer of 2017, millions of rooting around to fred them. has come up between us. people drove hundreds of miles and I went in looking for a plastic ice Garage Sale Maniacs is crowded spent hundreds of dollars each to cube tray, and ended up buying a big with snowstorm refugees. Entire stand in the path of a solar eclipse enamel roasting pan with a lid, the families are coming through the door, just to look skyward and say, "Ah." kind of thing you throw a turkey in. picking through the aisles and piles of Pursuit of the ultimate awe My wife spent 50 cents on a paint items, guarantees passengers on future scraper, flights into near-earth orbit will pay Linda and I are part of a very WIZARD OF AWES $150,000 or more. interesting project and todays trip I don't know how many of you Awe isthe call of every cruise line. to Shelton is an authentic, IRS-will agree with me, but I believe the Awe is selling tickets this summer to deductible research mission. We number one human motivator is the The Who and Rolling Stones. Every- should be researching outdoors, but pursuit of awe. one wants to be awed. this is the first day we haven't been You'll make a good argument for ALLYN ]Case Inlet DATE H{GH :FEEl) LOW (FEED SUN MOON AM A~ P~ 9:10 114.8!10:00 11.7 12:37 13.5 7:40 i 8.1 8:02 1=45 i 13.5 i i '9~7~89i01::1:2-!~6i-5i SHELTON I Oakland Bay 14.0 LOW (FEET) SUN MOON HIGH f ~ 21iThu i 7;51 i16.1 7:22 14.21 1:39 -1.4 2:26 3.4~ 7:03 15:47i ~!!~ i%.2:o2 115 ; 26 ~ Tue i I 11"10 ~ " " 5"56 5 6 6"52 1 0 6"54 5"55 i : i 13.8: " 12.0 12: 7:25 1 6.6 ,:58, 6:52 / i ~"i 3:23 i 12.7~i ~ 1:08 12.2 9:15 "~ "~ "f k:---- :----l :~i UNION J Hood Canal ~ HIGH (FEET). LOW (FEED SUN MOON iiiii!ii! 1.6 8=41 11.7~: 10:35 ' 2:38 ! S.0 ~ 3:41 l ~6-i'5":S":3 9,8 t' 73 5:41 1,3 6:53 5:56, ~:~ 11 6: 1 i :5 i Tide tables have been transcribed and may contain errors. Not intended for navigntional use. Weekly Tide Tables Sponsored by Your ONE STOP Complete Outdoor Recreation Store SINCE 1948 Tidal Information Courtesy US Harbors.corn I (360) 426-0 33 NATURE PRESCRIPTION So why are we getting back in.the car and driving to lonely, cold Knee- land Park, where footprints have trampled the snow below the dark wood playground, but a few railings still hold a line of Snowy white, like toothpaste on a brush? We're scouting for details, for things to point out to people who may not come to the park very often, or maybe not leave their house much at all. The project we're working on is part of an effort between the Timber- land Regional Library System and the Mason County Public Health Depart- ment. The effort, a "Nature Remedy" calendar, is intended to address those recovering from substance abuse, as well as folks with depression, obesity, video game addictions, and others who find themselves as "shut-ins" from the outside world. That's a lot of people in Mason County. The idea was spawned by a parody commercial that went viral on You- Tube. It mocked those cheesy pre- scription commercials we all know too well, the ones with the names like Allegra and Cholestra, and are so full of fast-talking side effects that you'd think an auctioneer was raffling off tickets to a skin rash and heart palpi- tation festival. The parody commercial is funny and bright. Instead of a drug, a sooth- ing woman's voice recommends pa- tients take "Nature." The message of the parody really caught on. In Scotland someone cre- ated a "Prescription Nature" calendar, full of inspirational notations, sug- gesting folks take a walk on a certain path, or look for sl ells on a specific beach. Hey, went the thinking at the library and Public Health, we can do a calendar of things right here in Mason County supplement doctor's orders with a dose of awe. ON SMALLER SCALE While awe draws pilgrims by the millions to Yosemite, the Grand Can- yon, the pyramids of Egypt, to Stone- henge and the Mona Lisa, we need to find cool things for people to do right I see blue shiny remnants of a helium balloon flicking in the wind, high up in a tree. I take a photograph of the steel triangular rings kids hold onto as they cross, one hand over the other, from wooden station to station. I note a streetlight in the back- ground of the photo. It's ironic that while the playground promotes fit- ness, the incandescent light, as an invention, is probably the one true herald of the Obesity Age. After the wheel, the incandescent light was the nextgreat invention followed by the computer, of course: All three are big labor savers. But with 24-hour light and 24/7 screens, we've gone and hot-wired our circa- dian rhythms. We've made a stranger of the dark. And to some degree, we've made greater strangers of each other. MALL WORLD AFTER ALL Congratulations, we've shrunk moon landings and Niagra Falls to fit in our palms. For some of us, the price we'll pay is being afraid of the outdoors at night, afraid of the forest, and in- sects, and strangers, and we'll never know the feeling of lying on a grassy hill, watching storm clouds come, and letting raindrops dance on our bare, shivering skin. For kicks, we'll shop. The other day I picked upan entire magazine devoted to mindful- ness, a term that is now getting a boatload of press. The magazine, by the way, is called Mindful. Mindfulness, as a practice, is clearly a helpful tool for reducing stress, building your immune system, and introducing new ways of facing fear, depression and even some ad- dictions. There exists serious science to support these claims, mainly in the field of neur0plasticity, the science of how the brain changes in response to repeated experience. Concerning a specitic fear, such as fear of meeting new people, for instance, mindful observation allows you to witness yourself in the act of meeting new people, but without judgment or adding a "personal story or narrative." Without the judgment or narra- tive of "Oh, oh, here I go again," you can confront the unpleasantness and go through the experience without your habitual, negative emotional soundtrack. Applied to daily living, in essence, " over time, you can observe your way to a happier, far healthier state of be- ing. Instead of fleeing from whatever frightens you, you retrain y0urself to accept, then expand. Our calendar, available next year, is a travel guide for "mindful" places to go in Mason County. Mindfulness is a wonderful' way to get to the land of awes. The details of daily life are anything BUT the devil. Indeed, they are the original wonder drug. (257 pounds) Mark Woytowich is a writer, pho- tographer and video producer who lives in Potlatch. His "On the Trail" column appears every other week in the Shelton-Mason County Journal. Reach him at eyefive@hctc.com. +