what the street says to the wheels or the path to the feet that tread it

[asakiyume]

I was saying to malorys_camera that a switch has flipped in my brain and now I'm tired of thinking about COVID 19. The other day I went several tens of minutes without thinking about it at all, and that was great! (Don't mistake me; I'm not saying that it's not serious--not saying that at all--I'm just saying that having my thoughts chained to it feels like being Alex in Clockwork Orange when he's got his eyes stuck open and is being force-fed Beethoven's Ninth. You could be exhausted by something as lovely as Beethoven's Ninth if the circumstances were right, and let's be real: COVID 19 is not that lovely.)

So for a change of scene, let me show you the Hardware of the Street which I discovered. I mean! Programming for a whole street! Admittedly a street in a housing development in western Massachusetts, so like, not the most crucial of streets. But just imagine what directives and protocols it might hold. What if roads communicated up to the things that pass along them?



And speaking of, you'll enjoy a year's worth of animals passing over this natural bridge (condensed into five minutes--try watching just one! You'll be hooked), if you haven't already encountered it on your social media feeds. You'll be surprised at the variety of animals using it--fun to see the river in different states, as well.

Comments

[osprey_archer]

I *love* the moment when the bear nearly slips off the log. It's nice to see that even bears can be clumsy.

I found a secret stream yesterday! Sadly this happened after I had written your letter (although possibly the entire letter would have been SECRET STREAM SECRET STREAM otherwise), so you're hearing about it here instead.

[asakiyume]

SECRET STREAM would be hard to resist devoting a letter to, for sure! I look forward to hearing more either here or in our next paper round.

[cmcmck]

There are logs like that on woodland streams here.

Oh for a timelapse camera!

[asakiyume]

So delightful to see just how many different types of wildlife enjoy it!

[queenoftheskies]

Thank you for the link. I loved seeing all the foot traffic across the bridge!

[asakiyume]

You're very welcome! I loved it too.

[mallorys_camera]

I know, right? Just STFU! I don't care how many times you wash your hands!

Love the animals!

[asakiyume]

The animals are great. Love the soles of the bears' feet.

[kore]

having my thoughts chained to it feels like being Alex in Clockwork Orange when he's got his eyes stuck open and is being force-fed Beethoven's Ninth. You could be exhausted by something as lovely as Beethoven's Ninth if the circumstances were right, and let's be real: COVID 19 is not that lovely

IT SURE ISN'T. But the animals crossing the river, that's lovely.

[asakiyume]

Glad to purvey some real-life animal crossing ;-)

[kore]

I immediately sent it to three different people! Healing transmission, heh.

[asakiyume]

Immune boosting!

[sovay]

What if roads communicated up to the things that pass along them?

I misread this sentence as "communicated through," which I also like: a language of litter and jetsam. But I love the street hardware.

[asakiyume]

Yes, communication through road flotsam would be excellent, and would entail, I suspect, road-flotsam interpreters--road sybils--which is a wonderful notion.

[kore]

Ooh, that's great. Sybils of the Crossroads?

[asakiyume]

And of the T-junctions!

[kore]

....OMG, suddenly much about the 11'8" bridge is explained. 'YOU SHALL NOT PASS MY SACRED BARRIER'

[sovay]

and would entail, I suspect, road-flotsam interpreters--road sybils--which is a wonderful notion.

Before you travel anywhere, you ask one of them to read the road for you.

[asakiyume]

Yes, and maybe like East Asian geomancers of old, they could tell you if the direction you intended to travel in was safe/lucky/unlucky.

[sovay]

Yes, and maybe like East Asian geomancers of old, they could tell you if the direction you intended to travel in was safe/lucky/unlucky.

I like that.

(The foxes are the best at it.)

[sartorias]

Covid-19 as spectator sport slightly beats Trump all day all night, but only slightly.

Thank you for adding loveliness to my day!

Had to add I especially loved the frog jumping up after the bear passed, and how the cougar or mountain lion (?) scratched his claws on the wood, feeling-fashion. Cats being cats.

[asakiyume]

Cats being cats! I loved that too. It's actually a bobcat, as you can tell by its abbreviated tail when you see it from the rear (and also because it's Pennsylvania, and there aren't--or theoretically aren't--any mountain lions in the east... but yeah, the bobcat looked bigger than I imagine bobcats looking!)

(And I agree with you wholeheartedly about the slightly-but-only-slightly)

[kore]

Was that a baby? It had ENORMOUS paws. Do they just have enormous paws? I loved the "This is my log, this is the log that is mine" casual stropping that is just the same as the tiny tiger's.

[asakiyume]

I think they have enormous paws to deal with snow? But I don't know!

It reminds me of paths in the woods I've walked, always sort of feeling, this is my secret special path that is mine, but knowing in some other part of my brain that other people walk them too--and sometimes I even like that idea, like we're a fellowship that shares the secret ways but never meet. And that's what these animals are like on the log.

[kore]

Oh yes, that is lovely and a perfect way of putting it. Even in that short video it was clear how that was an ecosphere, all the living things connected even if they weren't all interacting.

[pameladean]

I'd like to get where you are with corona virus. I think we are reasonably well prepared and I'm tired of running what-if scenarios with insufficient information.

The Log videos are sensational. I was particularly taken with the bears, the adults having to exercise a bit of thought towards staying on the log and the cubs just scampering across. Also the subset of birds that use the log as a vantage point rather than needing it to cross the water. The herons! Wow!

P.

[asakiyume]

Yes1 The babies were so sure footed! And I had never seen how a heron's foot worked before--it looked very alien indeed.

[minoanmiss]

As ever I love your thoughts. :)

[asakiyume]

Well I have to say, it's great to be among people who do ♥ Thank you.

[amaebi]

When I read that COVID-19 had been occupying that place in your mind, I was surprised-- it hadn't been obvious to me. I hope it remains let-up.

I'm having that issue with the primaries, even having a related strange bad dream last night.

[asakiyume]

I'm glad it hadn't been obvious! And maybe my own degree of mind-binded-ness wasn't as much as other peoples'; it just felt like a lot to me. I feel less mentally trapped now, for whatever reason.

I can understand how you could get that way with the primaries, too. I was thinking of making a covid-19 cake... maybe you could make a primary cake? (Forgive me if this suggestion sounds too flippant or frivolous or other negative f word--fatuous, maybe?--it's my evil nature to cake-ify things.)

[amaebi]

A theme cake seems to me like extremely sound ritual.