I wrote a screenplay about a life-altering friendship between two women, but people keep telling me the stakes are too low and the conversation scenes are a drag and nobody will ever want to make it into a movie because women talking about ideas is boring and uncommercial.
I flew home to New Jersey last week to watch my sister try on wedding dresses for the first time. (The dress pictured above is not The Dress.) I have never been a bridesmaid before so this was my first real foray into the world of wedding planning. I hadn’t expected to be so fascinated by the process, but it was surprisingly emotional and entertaining.
Now that this wedding stuff is becoming more concrete and I’m thinking in practical terms of budget and logistics rather than extravagantly whimsical flights of fancy, I suddenly understand how it can drive people crazy.
The sticking point is that I really, really, really want to get married in a redwood grove, and trees that are only a few centuries old simply will not do. I need to be surrounded by old-growth coastal redwoods when we say our vows. The idea of eloping is extremely appealing to me, but it doesn’t seem like a viable option because too many people would be upset with us. We’ll have to invite well over 100 people, and while I can’t even hazard a guess as to how many will actually come, it’s a safe assumption that it will be far too many to quietly hike into Montgomery Woods for an unpermitted ceremony, and it would be unreasonable to ask people to travel even further north to Humboldt, since nearly everyone will already have to spend several hours on an airplane just to get to California.
I want it to be late winter or early spring, when redwood forests are at their lushest and most mossy, and since my sister is getting married in the spring of 2014, we are going to have to wait until early 2015, which gives me a while to work on this increasingly daunting quest for a venue. Except I’m supposed to be writing a novel and looking for a part-time job and/or more freelance gigs, not Googling “giant redwood wedding California” all day.
Ed and I went camping in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks with our friend Jack — the first time I have ever really camped, if you don’t count Middlebury Outdoor Orientation back in 2003. We saw the most massive trees in the world in the Giant Forest, looked out over the Great Western Divide and the San Joaquin Valley from the top of Moro Rock, hiked to Mist Falls, had an exciting but peaceful encounter with a mother bear and two cubs, and roasted quite a few marshmallows. Ed and Jack made a number of references to places they would like to explore “next time,” when we would be “backpacking” through more remote areas of the parks, so…I’m not sure about that, but I guess we’ll see…
Ed and I are engaged! I was blithely oblivious that our apparently casual and spontaneous sunset cruise around the bay was, in fact, an elaborate plan culminating in a proposal, right up until the moment when Ed got down on one knee at the bow of the yacht.
I’m on a boat!
Second-growth redwoods lack the mystical enchantment of virgin groves, but the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve is a nice place to hike, anyway.
Chocolope Kush is a cross of Chocolope, popular for its euphoric sativa effect and dessertlike flavor, and Kosher Kush, a heavy indica known for its powerful medicinal qualities. The result is a perfectly balanced hybrid, offering a deeply soothing Kush stone that does not overpower the uplifting sativa high.
The aroma is complex and dankly evocative, with sweet scents of grass, earth, mint, chocolate, and pine layered over spice, musk, and fuel. The taste is mild and smooth, subtly earthy, sweet, and somewhat spicy, with chocolate undertones in the exhalation.
The effect slinks up suddenly, with a strong cerebral rush that expands and distorts perception, inspiring a blithely wandering mind inclined to forget and lose track of time. Physically, it’s fairly sedative, relieving pain, tension, stress, and anxiety with a swishy, flowing, gliding sensation.
Candy Jack is a sativa-dominant hybrid of the iconic Jack Herer, possibly crossed with Cotton Candy. The aroma is sweet and slightly skunky with strong notes of menthol and overripe fruit, and the flavor lives up to the name: sweet, smooth, floral, and a bit fruity with hints of cotton candy and pine.
The effect is uplifting, cheery, and alert, but not energetic. It’s tranquil, carefree, and hazy, and would be an ideal choice for creative activities, watching a movie, or listening to music. It’s potent and heady with a quick mental rush followed by a noticeable crash. This strain could help with anxiety or depression and may also enhance focus.
Ed and I went up to Mendocino last weekend to look at trees and stars and breathe fresh air. We did the Fern Canyon trail in Van Damme State Park, which was pretty nice, and then the next day we went to Montgomery Woods, where we accidentally hiked up a long, extremely steep path that led to fenced-off private property rather than the old-growth virgin redwoods we had come to see. But once we found the actual park, which is very accessible if you do not veer up a hill in the exact opposite direction, it was absolutely stunning. These are the tallest trees you can see without going all the way to Humboldt, plus ferns that are taller than I am, so I think we will definitely be back to this park many times. Like, I really want to move to Ukiah just to be near these trees.
Looking toward Stinson Beach and Bolinas from Mt. Tamalpais.
