I was just reading back last night's blog to check for typos, and I see that I neglected to add my Nightly Signature at the end, so I will now add it retroactively if that's okay. Here it is :
That's all for tonight. See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Use your Time Machine to apply it. Thanks.
I don't know why I forgot to add it. I mean, I've written close to a trillion blogs and I don't think I've ever before left it out. Well, at any rate it's there now, not on last night's blog where it belongs, but we've already discussed a way to remedy that, so all is well. And it won't happen again. :)
Today was my last day off for this month, so I went out to Corriganville to continue the hiking trend I've been on for the past few days. Corriganville is one of my favorite places, as you know, because it exudes such a good feeling of peacefulness. All of my parks and trails are peaceful places, naturally, but each one has it's special vibe as I've mentioned. At Corriganville, I think it has something to do with all the oak trees on site, and the Interpretive Trail that was set up by a local Scout Troop ten years ago, that has signs pointing out things like a Wood Rat's Nest, or an area where Indian Artifacts were once found, or a place where lichens have always grown on the sandstone boulders, which are huge at Corriganville. The signs point out all sorts of natural phenomena, and admonish you not to mess with the Wood Rat's Nest, or eat the bark of the Willow as the Chumash did to relieve tooth pain.
Hey, the Chumash knew what they were doing. For you - just use an ibuprofen or go see your dentist. But stay away from the Willow Tree.
So yeah, I love all the signs on the Interpretive Trail, and reading them as you walk along is just one of those things that gives you a good feeling. I think, though, that it goes deeper than that, and I think that it's really the spirit of a place that welcomes you and makes you feel good, and that good feeling has a quality to it that varies from place to place.
The good feeling at Corriganville also comes from the fact that it was once a famous movie set for Westerns and even some other classics like "Creature From The Black Lagoon". In the middle of the park is an empty concrete lake, where underwater shots were taken for "Lagoon", and the lake also doubled as a river for a few shots from "The African Queen" with Bogart. Mostly though, Corriganville was used as a set for a lot of Westerns, many of the "B" variety, starring Ken Maynard and Bob Steele.
There are also signs throughout the park denoting the former locations of various movie sets, and specific rock formations that were used again and again as backdrops.
One sign named a movie that I know I will have to see : "Billy The Kid vs. Dracula".
I looked it up on IMDB and it had a 3.2 rating, so to call it a B-Movie might be generous, but still....
You just know it has to be a classic.
Why? Because it was shot at Corriganville. That would be the main reason I would have to see it.
The other reason is because it has Billy The Kid going up against Dracula. You know that's gotta be a good match up (though to be honest, my money is on The Count).
But yeah, the thing about Corriganville is that it speaks to you as A Place. A Special Place because of it's entirety as a peaceful nature paark and it's past history as a movie set.
The great thing about nature is that it never changes. I mean, yeah trees grow and fall, mountains rise and erode, lakes fill and dry up, but all of those processes take a lot of time, and then they come around again. Nature is a cycle, and the cycle never changes or maybe it changes very slowly over millions of years, but to us humans it seems very stable. And that is beautiful because this planet is our home.
The other special thing about Corriganville is that is has all the memories of it's many years as a movie set. Those memories are soaked into the place, and you can feel them as you hike around. Memories of good times are like nature; both nature and memories have a past, and both are unchanging.
And so a spiritual enrichment takes place in certain environments. You could call it an enchantment. It requires that the place be empty much of the time, so that the natural and memorial vibrations can settle in, and then resonate and come to the forefront without a lot of human interference. Such places need for the birds to take over, and the Wood Rats, because they understand. So do the Boy Scouts, who put up all those signs.
Certain places just want to talk to you in their own way. That's why I love Corriganville.
I didn't watch a movie tonight cause I was a little tired and got caught up reading Those Books again, and I was also watching the local news about a bear that had wandered down out of the mountains and was found hanging out in Bee Canyon, just off Balboa and Sesnon Boulevards, which is about half a mile from where I was yesterday at the De Campos Trail. He was a pretty good sized black bear; the animal control guys eventually tranquilized him and took him back to the mountains.
Maybe he read my blog last night and heard about the two coyotes looking for food on Neon Street, and figured he'd give it a try himself. :)
That's all for tonight. See you in the morn. Tomorrow I am back at work. xoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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