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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.
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