at home in the water

As a way to get ready for 2011, I wanted to get all (or most) of my photos from 2010 uploaded so I could start the year without that task hanging over my head. I still have a few to do, mostly from The Grotto. (More on that later - it was both creepy and peaceful, which is not an easy mix to achieve.)  Anyway - these photos were taken in November at Silver Falls down near the town of Silverton.



it was raining like crazy, which it seems to be every time I go there. Maybe because I keep going in the winter? I know people swim and have warm weather good times in the summer, but it's hard for me to picture. I'd never actually been on this path to the lower falls before - I LOVED how it looked in the rain. There were some people but not too many, so it was easy to imagine things. (except, apparently, warm weather swimming.) I think these ferns look very mermaid-y. I thought of the Oz books, and how this could easily be some kind of damp kingdom within the land of Oz. It would, of course, have to share a border with a desert of some kind because that's the way the atlas works in imaginary realms. (Check out the Dictionary of Imaginary Places if you haven't already - I've not seen the updated version, but the old one is a lot of fun so I bet the new one is, too.)



This is one of the shorter waterfalls - only 65 feet - a more personal waterfall sized than some of the ridiculously tall ones.

Speaking of water and mermaids and selkies (which I haven't, but you know), tonight I watched Ondine and I enjoyed it quite a bit.  It's similar in mythological theme to The Secret of Roan Inish (which I love!), but set in the modern here and now -  I thought it lost a little something with some of the modern elements, but it's a nice addition to the part time seal/ part time human oeuvre.
Ondine trailer
The Secret of Roan Inish trailer

This song below (by Lisa Hannigan), features in Ondine - it caught my ear particularly because it mentions flowers that would actually bloom at the same time by name (crocosmia and fuchsia), which is unusual in a pop song! (Feist's Mushaboom also qualifies with its lilacs and buttercups.)