Archives for June 1992

A Rainfall on K2

From the top of this outcropping rock-slab, the valley below and many more distant peaks are exposed before me. Yet despite the grandeur of my view, all my attention is drawn to a tiny trickle of water that flows beneath my feet.

A large section of the rock is wet, and 30 feet below, the water comes together to form ripples just before falling over a sharper edge where it is lost from view.

Scattered distantly across the rock face are what appears to be stream beds, except that they all point almost straight down — there merely to guide the water as it falls, rather than direct it to lower creeks and rivers.

And as I stand and watch the fleeing droplets below, the sky reveals that many more are to follow shortly in their path. It starts with a gentle mist that coats everything with a thin layer of moisture, then rapidly progresses to a major storm complete with lightning and thunder that hastens my retreat to safer ground.

Copyright (C), 1998, by Ashley Guberman

Green Cove Dip Hole

I’m sitting on the edge of the dip-hole. It’s a very comforting place for me. The loud, drowning sound of the waterfall plunges into the icy pool below; the dense rhododendrons arch over the pool to form a finger-like umbrella; lots of water in perpetual motion, yet the whole area remains basically unchanged.

Copyright (C), 1998, by Ashley Guberman

Porch Sitting

Green Cove, Tessentee, NC

Sitting on the porch, looking out at the various obstacles strewn about between me ant the woods, I begin to grasp how it is that so many folks in distant towns pass whole years by simply looking at the world in front of them.

Far from simply staring out into space, the activity is actually quite involving. It is a process of active observation of the grass, trees, and people; of the changing patterns of light, and of listening to the many songs of birds heard over the blowing wind and pattering of yet another rain. But even beyond the tangible items that can be observed is the knowledge that the observer, too, is but one of the many things to be taken in by those who care to watch.

Copyright (C), 1998, by Ashley Guberman