Buffalo Flow

Check out this short piece of creative non fiction I published on Medium. Let me know what you think and share your favorite National Park Service moments in honor of  #nps100 today!

https://medium.com/@DesiraFu/buffalo-flow-in-honor-of-our-national-parks-6f75a6dbb65f#.gnj9uy7sx

Oh the Places I've Gone

This year, in celebration of the National Parks 100th anniversary, I've been digging through photos from the past decade, and sharing some of my favorite shots of National Parks, and other National Park Services properties that I've visited on  my Instagram. My goal is to share 100 photos, one per day. This week, I will hit the halfway point, and I'm feeling a bit blown away. I didn't realize how many of these places I've been to. I thought I would be revisiting some of my favorites, from which I have lots of photos, and in the end I will, but at the moment, I still have perhaps a dozen sites to go through. Here's hoping I can find pictures for them all.

A few years ago I also did a 100 happy days challenge, where I shared daily pictures of all the random things that made me happy. I mostly tried to stick to the small stuff, and the results were similarly surprising and satisfying. Rather than being a challenge, the more I looked, the more I saw. I had to restrain myself to one thing each day. It's pretty high on the feel good scale just to focus attention on the good, because there can be so much of it. And the more you look for these types of things, the more you see.

So, that's my current warm and fuzzy. So whether you've got a favorite National Park property or this really cool mug that always makes you smile, I invite you to share some of your favorite things in the comments below. Really, it's for your own good.

I miss #Zion. Of all the desert parks spread across Utah and Arizona, this one spoke to me and said stay. The red rock, the tunnel entrance, the riparian habitat, it feels like a secret oasis. Day 43 #100daysfor100years #findyourpark. #usa #traipse #travel. #Wanderlust #photography #photooftheday #america #getoutside #NationalPark #nps #nps100 #adventure #neverstopexploring #glorious #wonderful #outdoors #nature #zionnationalpark #oasis #shangrila #homeofmyheart #nofilter

A photo posted by Desira Fuqua (@desirafu) on Aug 12, 2016 at 5:59am PDT

Experiences over Things: Film

photo by Roman Bonnefoy

 I was just perusing my calendar for next week, and I noticed that our town’s weekly summer "Movies Under the Stars" selection is Wall-e, and I got excited. I loved Wall-e when it came out. I think we originally watched it at the drive in, and I really enjoy Disney’s classic ability to blend lighthearted humor with sweet sentimentality. But I haven’t seen it since, and a quick internet search tells me that was 2008. No wonder I am excited.

I haven’t intentionally avoided it. Although I don’t really see the need to own movies any more, I know I could have rented it again. My library is sure to have it. I could have streamed it online. But there are lots of movies out there on my list that I haven’t seen, and I will probably never catch up. Which is why I love summer, and its outdoor movie screenings.

There is something great about serendipity, that turns something fairly simple into a lifelong memory. This is why it can be so fun to get lost on vacation, or run into someone you know in an unexpected place. I love seeing what films my hometown, and the cities around me are showing. They lean towards kids films, which is fine by me. And with some spare time on a road trip, I’ve been known to follow the signs for “free movie tonight”

It takes a movie and turns it into a greater experience, with the added touch of serendipity in the offerings. The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking, Jurassic Park and the Apple Dumpling Gang benefit immensely from a setting with June bugs hovering over the grass, fireflies flashing in the dark, the smell of popcorn and cotton candy floating in the cool night air.

Film can always be an event, but the nostalgia of those little home grown outdoor screenings, which, like a visit to the drive in theatre, and our time honored tradition of birthday cake ice cream to go with it, makes it all the more memorable and valuable. As for next week, I can’t wait.

Present Tense

I am pleased to announce I've had my first piece published at Entropy. I saw a call for Variations on a Theme: Music, and I knew I had a great little story to tell about one such connection between myself and Eddie Vedder. Read it here.

The Italian Art of Steel and Glass

The 1955 Chrysler Ghia Gilda

There's a new exhibit at the Frist in Nashville: Bellissima! The Italian Automotive Renaissance, 1945–1975. It features a lot of fantastic vehicles, some with notable names like Ducati, Ferrari and Maserati attached, but even people who aren't into automotive pedigrees will love this exhibit. Simply put, these cars are cool. They're colorful; they're weird. From the sleek burnt orange of the bat mobile turned Hot Wheels 1970 Lancia Stratos HF Zero, to the curling blue sting ray fins of the 1954 Alfa Romeo BAT 7 the cars are just fascinating to look at. The BATs in particular struck my fancy, concept cars with a zeal for aerodynamics that makes them look like they belong to some still distant future, rather than over 60 years in the past. I can guarantee you will find a car in this exhibit to make you grin. The show runs until October 9, so don't miss out.

P.S. Even fast and fancy Italian sports cars have their push, pull, or drag it in moments. Check out how they got these sleek rides into the exhibit here 

Cruising

One of my favorite things to do, and, as a not quite lunatic fringe environmentalist, one of my guilty pleasures, is taking a long drive. It's a part of why I love the American West, where there is so much road and great wide vistas. I also adore my home state, the rolling hills of Tennessee. Here's a little video of some things we saw one day last fall, on the hunt for some truly red leaves on a blue sky day. And they were beautiful.

Healthy Little Fires

Let's begin a fresh blog! Here I will write things I am thinking and doing as I head out on my journey of Travel, Dog Sitting, Voice Acting and Audio Book Producing, and Writing, while in general trying to be better, do more, and use well the time that I have.

More to come, including updated, revised, and re-imagined posts from my good old blog at theworldupclose.blogspot.com