This will, I promise, NOT be just another generic New Years Resolution posts. Not that I don't HAVE New Years Resolutions but.... those are boring, and you've probably heard it all before anyway.
I was out in California for New Years, visiting family. New Year's Eve routine: Drink Champagne, watch the proceedings on TV to see how drunk Anderson Cooper gets (and place bets on whether he is actually still able to stand by midnight. This year he was, so I won.) Listen to boring washed up pop stars try to re-kindle their careers. And so on. Meanwhile it was pouring rain in California, much like it had been every day for the whole week I was there.
So the next day, New Years Day, I decided to take a walk in the redwoods. If you've never taken a walk in a redwood forest after days and days of rain and fog, it's a surreal experience. As I walked, the sky was dark and it alternated between fog and drizzle. The forest, which even in the summer is generally fairly dark under impossibly tall trees, began to resemble how I picture Tolkien's Mirkwood. It was almost eerie; you really could imagine Bigfoogs (or Bigfeet if you prefer), giant spiders, and all sorts of mythical and somewhat hostile monsters running around. There were a few squirrels and presumably deer, though I didn't see the deer this time. Nor did I see very many people. Maybe they were either as hung over as Anderson Cooper, or maybe the prospect of hiking through a dark, gloomy forest wasn't their favorite idea of how to spend New Years Day, but it was mine.
Even without bigfeet and other such creatures, the forest seemed to have a mystic power that was indescribable. I felt more alive, more aroused somehow, hiking through it. Streams flowed fast and full at nearly every bend in the trail. Mushrooms of all descriptions (with the exception of "Edible") popped up everywhere, bracketing the trees, popping up through the leaf-covered forest floor. The fog created an almost spectral gloom, and water dripped off the tree branches and leaves. Here and there, downed trees across the trail provided new obstacles to overcome. It was primal, eternal, life giving and beautifully compelling. I've been in that forest in the summer, when it's cool and refreshing but it's not even close to the same. It just feels so much more alive in the rainy, damp winters.
Anyway, now I'm out of the woods and back to reality. Happy New Year to all you kinksters!