creative energy

So, I find myself feeling a little bit wound up lately. I've been having trouble sleeping because my mind is full of thoughts and images that just want to explode out of me. I think I have a lot of creative energy built up inside me with no way to release it. Every day I get so see such beautiful things: dazzling lightning storms, fluttering butterflies, sunrises and sunsets, the way the sun peeks through the trees early in the morning so just little shafts of light are visible, deer that walk right up to me on the porch and say hello, gibbons that glide effortlessly through the canopy, moss covered rocks, trees with huge buttresses. All these things and more are giving me a jittery hand that wants a brush and a canvas. Since I don't really have any other creative talents, besides painting, I'm sort of at a loss. I can't write poetry. I'm not great at drawing, and find it a little boring so I always rush. I'm so desperate that I bought the back-to-school pack of Oreos at the store just because they came with free colored pencils! So, I'm stumped. I suppose taking and sharing photos will help though, so that is what I'll do.

 Early morning on NOS territory

NOS main male relaxing

 translucent mushrooms

 rainy season is slowly making its mark

 me and HUGE tree

butterfly wing

Those pretty photos are from Monday and Tuesday in the field. Monday we followed the NOS group, which is a huge group: black female+white infant, white main male, 2 black secondary males, 2 white juveniles. So that was interesting. We went to Pak Chong in the afternoon for groceries and to buy our new rope setting device. We thought we were getting a bow and arrows, but no. Julie's bird watching guide friend has a friend, whose uncle makes these weapons for shooting fish. They are basically like a sling shot and a cross bow mixed together and shaped like a rifle. Its interesting. We were skeptical at first, but after seeing it in action we decided it was perfect. There are little metal spears (we had the pointed ends cut off so they wouldn't get embedded in the tree if we missed, and so we wouldn't accidentally kill anything). The spear is locked into place at the end of the "gun" shaft, and then you pull the sling shot part around and hook it onto the little spear. The spear is tied to a bunch of fishing line which is wound around a little piece of PVC at the end of the tip of the "gun." When you pull the trigger, the spear is released with the fishing line attached, so you can pull in the fish you've gotten. So, we spent Tuesday morning setting ropes with this new device. Instead of impaling fish, we aimed for branches and slung the fishing line over them which we then replaced with rope. The only tricky thing is when the spear gets stuck in branches. We broke the line a few times yanking on it, and lost a few spears this way. Overall though, this thing works really well, and is pretty awesome. Julie has been pondering what kind of reaction she is going to get at customs when she returns to France with a knife, a machete, a (broken) crossbow, and now this thing, in her luggage. The other event of the day was that one lucky leech got to absolutely feast on my back today while we set the ropes in the first tree. I was adjusting my shirt and felt him and heard him fall off. He was VERY fat. It wasn't until we got back 3 hours later though that I realized the damage. I was still bleeding after my shower and my sports bra and shirt were nicely bloodied. 

 weaponry (AKA new device for setting ropes)

 Julie: weapons expert

post leech attack carnage

still bleeding 3.5 hours after he fell off

Well, that's about it for now. Hopefully I can sleep tonight. No coffee today, and only 6 hours of sleep last night should make that possible. Who knows though, my mind is always racing at night.