Kiama's Charm - no.8 and 9

The next 2 charms where placed on a trail we walked to Mirror Lake. It's an area in Yosemite where the Mountain Lions like to roam. There was a sign giving advice of what to do when you cross their path - "If attacked, fight back!" A bit unsettling, say the least, although a part of me would have liked to tell you we had spotted one. (Un)fortunately we didn't see any.

The first bit of the walk was along a path, also used by horse riders. Very smelly! Kiama would not have liked  that. I remember her complains as a child when we were out walking in fields with cowpads or sheep dung. But she would have loved the excitement of a possible encounter with a Mountain Lion, so we hung a charm on a tree root along the rocky path.

The big rock in the middle of the lake was perfectly mirrored by the still water.

The whole place was filled with the reflection of inner beauty, space and stillness.

We had to make a choice, either walking a lot further to see if we could cross the Tenaya Creek without getting our feet wet or go for it... As we had no idea how long it would take us to find a dry crossing we decided to take our shoes off and wade the waters. Oh boy, that was cold, not surprisingly ice cold, as it is the last remnant of a large glacial lake!!

To our surprise there were some people swimming and paddling further up the creek in that ice cold water, something Kiama would have done.

High up the granite walls John saw this figure - graffiti or nature's doing??

Don't you think it looks like a person walking with a child on it's back, dropping his comfort blanket?

Kiama loved a good graffiti and was a great admirer of Banksy. See here below.

 

 
She once made her own stencil and set off for London with a bag of spray cans to add her mark in a tunnel close to Banksy's work. Several weeks later when I was visiting an exhibition with her, she took me to this tunnel to show me the amazing work people had left on the walls.

The little figure with the wings is hers.

Soon after her death a big graffiti of her name appeared overnight in the city of Norwich in memory of her.

When we walked further we saw this amazing piece of wood sculpture next to the creek. Definitely made by nature, but did nature put it there on this beauty spot or were there some creative helping hands involved?

Anyway I decided to hang Kiama's Charm no.9 on it.