The Girl and the Gear

5/28/2020

So, it's a weird time, but today I want to tell you about the gear. It is a bike gear, but this isn't a post about bicycling.  In the summer of 2017, I went on a bike ride from Cumberland, Maryland to Pittsburgh, PA.  I know, not a post about bicycling, but on that ride, I met Rachel Sager, the forager mosaicist.  To hear more about that adventure, check it out here: Riding the Rails.

A year later I found myself in Rachel's studio for a mosaic class.  I knew nothing, it was raining and there was a crazy student named Sheri that I would completely adore by the end of it.  Again, this is all background on how I got involved with this gear!  For the story of dancing, rain, coal mines and foraging, head to this spot: Mosaics Adventure.

I fell in love with micro-mosaics that weekend.  The big installations are fun, but I love working tiny.  When the opportunity came up for me to complete a gear to send back to the Ruins (seriously check out the links to get the full picture) I was all in!  Then I stared at it for months.  I prepped it for work.  I moved it around on my desk.  I flipped it over so it wouldn't stare at me.  So, we've been avoiding each other.  Finally, I finished a set of very satisfying commissions and it was me and the gear.  My challenge was what to put in it.  Do I do a classic river scene?  Do I just do a color study?  Do I panic and return it?  Well, it hit me.  I'm missing the world, missing adventures overseas.  There is just a different taste in your mouth when you are wandering the world.  So this is what happened, but it needs the paragraphs of explanations that will follow.

This gear isn't just my vision of Africa, but a combination of so many deep experiences and moments.  First, the exterior circles feature geometric representations of the Big 5.  These are the animals that every tourist wants to check off their safari list.  Starting clockwise from the bottom there is a rhino, elephant, leopard, water buffalo and lion.  Then it was time to work in the gear.  

Several caving trips in Africa have made me love the underground world even more.  There are multiple reasons I love it. First, most caves are fairly similar around the world.  This is miraculous!  I know there is a lot of diversity, but in my experiences they all share similar formations, water, mud, tight squeezes and laughter.  Second, in Africa, above ground is dusty, hot, brown.  Underground is muddy, brown, wet and cold.  This contrast makes me incredibly happy.  But last year we visited Koelenhof Cave.  Everything was normal until we crawled in for 3 hours, swam across a freezing pool, wiggled through a vertical spiral rock fall and then my mind blew up.  I've never seen anything so beautiful.  It was like coming in from a chaos to a pristine ball room full of clean, white, crystals that shone with every movement of a lamp.  I am forever thankful for my companion Johan as he will always be that human I can call and say, "You remember that crazy cave man?"  We were stunned to silence and awe.  This is genuinely one of my top 5 spiritual experiences  So when you look at the lower half of the gear, see the mud, muck, roots, rocks, creatures, but see the white crystals waiting at the end of the cave.  

When we emerged from the cave, we peeled out of jump suits and I naturally turned to the ground.  I love bugs, grasses, plants, rocks and crystals.  The ground was littered with them.  We started collecting them until our pockets were full.  This area is known as The Cradle of Humanity.  It definitely has a feeling of significance, but that could be the exhaustion from caving, bat encounters and the high of crawling in new worlds. I used one of the crystals to represent the cave entrance.  Hard to let them go, but The Ruins is the best place to send part of a place I love. 

Lastly the above ground scene.  I finally went on safari last year.  While I haven't posted about it, know that it is only because I can't find words for it.  It was so very, very good.  I miss my fast friends, seeing like a child and eating strange things.  I miss the sounds Kruger.  I miss seeing mongoose like we see squirrels in North America.  So it seemed best to marry the idea of a color study, with a stunning African sunrise.  Sunrise is where it is at.  The dirty deeds of night have settled down. Everyone is fed (at least the fast ones!) And it is time to snooze as the safari trucks roll into the park.  The grasses are wet, the birds are about, it is GLORIOUS.  As for the tree, it is the iconic thing I was expecting to see on the African plain.  The silhouette of a gnarled tree with the glory of morning behind it.  They weren't shaped like they were in my imagination, but they were shaped like this and lush.  Spring in the savanna is no joke!

I know this is a lot of commentary about a piece of work that barely spans 4 inches, but I accidentally packed a little bit of my heart in there too, so it seemed fair to explain.  All this makes me remember that I've left little parts of myself all over the world.  It has made me a better human and expanded my capacity to love and experience.  Someday we will get back to it, but until, the memories are mine to dip into any moment.  That is the best gift of all.

Be kind to yourself and find the little adventures where you can.  Cheers!