143;Uncle Albert's Mountain, Chapter XIII; David and Tom; The Lure of the Mountain KIng

   David Randall was sitting in the Lodge having his third cup of coffee. He was watching a few skiers that were on the mountain this early and enjoying the sun. It was fascinating a wonderful way to live, he thought, but it was not the way for him. Having time to think over the last couple of days, he realized his life was back with his family. How he could even think of throwing it away, made him lonely, and long for them all the more.

     Tom was actually his best friend. They didn’t see each other very much any more. He had a few friends at work, but they were only business associates. The only things they ever talked about were insurance matters. It was extremely boring, even for an insurance man. He turned around to catch the two boys sneaking up behind him.

     “How was Denver?” Toby asked. “They can’t run the company without you?”

     “I wish that was the case. They just need someone to spout orders.”

     “You mean you’re not the radical S.O.B. I’ve grown to love?” Tom questioned.

     “I’m merely a shadow of my former self, caught forever in the red tape of life.”

     “And quite the philosopher also,” Toby added.

     “He was always good at throwing the bull,” Tom interjected.

     “I hope you don’t mind Toby, but I would like to talk to Tom for a few minutes alone.”

     “No problem. I have to talk to Joe anyway. See you later.”

     “I’m afraid not. I am leaving today. It was great to meet you. Good Luck at the Olympics.”

     “Thanks.”

 

     “What’s up D.R.?”

     “I’d like you to come back with me Tom. If not today, then very soon.”

     “What do you mean?”

     “Well for one, we need someone at the office. The pay is excellent. You can stay at my place until you are on your feet, financially. You can get to know your godson. I’ll even spring for the plane fare home. What do you say?”

     Tom looked perplexed, like he didn’t understand a word he had said.

     “You’re kidding me right?”

     “No not at all. Look around you. What do you have? Not a damn thing! I’m giving you a free chance to make whatever you want out of your life. All you have to do is go for it.”

     Tom stood there and just stared at his friend. He couldn’t believe what he had heard. Slowly, he shook his head, and then glanced off into the distance, deep in thought. Tom was always good at covering up his emotions. It was several long minutes before he turned his attention back to his friend.

     “Look Dave, I appreciate the offer, I honestly do. It’s just I can’t go back now. Not yet, I’m not ready. Whenever there was a fight or something that I had to stand for I was the leaver. Left everything that ever meant anything to me. My gaze was always on the open road. A free spirit in the wind if you know what I mean.”

     He didn’t know where the decision had come from. He had grown so much through his relationship with Sara. It was uncharted territory for him. It was in his blood, his being. It was an instinctual part of his being. He cared for little people, places and things. Whenever a decision had to be made, he would think about it for a while and let his heart make the final decision. He would always listen to his heart. When it came to the mountains, especially this mountain, it told him to stay.

     “I think your making a big mistake, Tom,” Dave lectured. “You have got to take a stand somewhere in life. Can’t you see the waste? Don’t you know the monetary value of the days your throwing away?”

     “I can’t believe you’re preaching to me about the value of time. I take every day as it comes. I relish every moment up here like it was my very last. We are only visitor’s here. When I’m an old man D.R. I’ll remember the days on this mountain with a great fondness. Not just for the experience, but also that it was my youth and I didn’t give it away. We didn’t have to go to war. We went to ski, Dave. I climb the Professor on full moon evenings and with my friends we ski the old mine dumps in fresh powder. I don’t want the weight of your financial empire on my shoulders. You seem to be carrying it just fine, pal”

     David knew when it was pointless to argue. Tom made up his mind and nothing, and no one would be able to change it. Tom’s determination was unwavering once he had a goal in sight. If a mountain was involved, he would conquer it, no amount of pain, would alter his course. It was his strong weakness.

     “I guess there is nothing more to say.”

     “It was good to see you again,” Tom hugged his friend.

     Tom watched as David made his way across the parking lot He had the urge to jump up and start it again with him. It wasn’t strong enough to change his mind. The internal fight raged on. The logical side wanting to build all the things he never had. The emotional side needing to drift freely through life, experience every second of everyday.

     “Damn you Snowshoe Thompson why did you have to be my Uncle and fill my head with mountain dreams?” he cursed.

By Your Grace/Jai Gurudev, Krishna Das, Heart As Wide As The World

142;Uncle Albert's Mountain, Chapter XII; The Lure of the Mountain King; The Plan

    ‘’Look, Look at this from the bottom line,” Tom got off the couch and began prancing up and down in front of Joe’s desk.

    “In the simplest and basic terms, we’ve have to make this place worthless to them. If its no good to them, they won’t want it.”

     “I could sell it to the army,” Joe wondered if General Dowe had come up with anything solid he could do.

     “Better yet,” Tom brightened. “You can lease it to the Army. Give them a ninety-nine year unbreakable lease. They can use the facility as they see fit. If they choose to run it as a ski area, so be it. It would be a shame to see it fall in the hands of the Senator. I would rather see the army hold alpine exercises on the slopes with Sherman Tanks.”

     “That’s not such a bad idea. If we can kill the profit, maybe they would think twice about taking us over. We should think of ways to make the ski area and operation loose money.”

     Tom was beginning to understand the merits of operating in the red. They would have to accomplish a tremendous amount negative press and loosen the service up. The Basin was highly successful and the reality that the mountain delivered the real experience of its fame would be very hard to overcome.

     “But seriously, that’s a good idea Tom, I’ll bring that up with the General tomorrow."

   Joe was becoming desperate, his lawyer was right. Everyone wanted him to sell, the Senator had hit them where it counted, in their wallet. Once greed and expansion become the controlling factor, money and power are the only thing that feeds the monster.

141- Creating Miracles for your Success

 Thought is the matrix of all creation; thought created everything. If you hold on to that truth with indomitable will, you can materialize any thought. Nothing may truly be said to be a "miracle" except in the profound sense that everything is a miracle. That each of us is encased in an intricately organized body, and is set upon an earth whirling through space among the stars — is anything more commonplace? or more miraculous? (aoy) -- Read more: http://yogananda.com.au/gurus/yoganandaquotes12.html

Miracles do appear in the strangest of places. Just when you are convinced all hope is lost the day is saved. When you realize that you are the creator of the miracle in conjunction of the will of your father for you than you can truly know self-realization. Anything that you can dream is possible for you to achieve. Do not settle for the mundane in your life. Reach for the distant stars with a will and mind that is unwavering. You will not be denied, all things are possible once you align your will with Divine Will. How can I do this you ask? Prepare your self through daily exercise and meditation. The Energization exercises of Self-Realization Fellowship and Lessons will prepare your mind, body and spirit. Remember the absolute Law of Success. It is when proper preparation meets opportunity. You will not be denied the miracle you desire if you fix your gaze on your father and envision with all your being the success you desire.  

140;Uncle Albert's Mountain, (The Lure of the Mountain King; )The Mountain Picnic; Chapter XI

     The perspiration formed a small line of beads across Tom’s forehead. The mid-day sun burned brightly through the azure blue sky as it rose to its zenith. Tom and Sara kicked off their skis. Sara carefully placed a large silver space blanket across a flat spot in the snow and spread out a thick grey woolen blanket for the picnic. Tom removed his backpack set it down and began laying out the lunch he had carefully prepared. Removing a bottle of Mountain Chablis from her pack, she placed it in the snow to chill.

They had chosen a small stand of pines along the side of Lover’s Leap to have their feast. Looking out at the Western slope of the Continental Divide and sitting on “the top of the world” was Tom’s first best destiny.

     “I’ve seen these sights a thousand times, the smell of the pines, the cool breeze, the endless vista’s, and their still awesome.

     “I’m glad you’re here with me Tom,” Sara slipped her arm around his waist. She stood on her toes and gently kissed his neck. The touch of his warm skin sent a shiver of excitement down her spine. She felt young again, her years slipping away, a school-girl in love for the first time. Her heart filling with a warmth and joy that she hadn’t known for several years, he gave her confidence in herself, in her future again. She had become unsure of herself, unsure of her destiny. Tom had his faults, he also had a rare wonderful qualities not found in many men today. He cared about the little people and the little things of life, the things that many overlook on their climb to the top.

     “Oh1 My camera won’t work,” she frowned

She kept playing with it, raising it repeatedly in an attempt to take a picture.

     “Tom! What am I going to do?” she slid her long red hair behind her ear and stamped her boot in the snow in little girl fashion.

He smiled at her issue, it was the little things that endeared her to him. Tom was in trouble as far as Sara was concerned. He had always gotten away before, the mountains came first. This time he sensed it wouldn’t be that easy.

     “It’s O.K. We will remember this day forever.”

Tom pulled Sara close to him and hugged her tightly. He adored everything about her. They sat down and poured the wine.

     “Cheers.”

     “Tom, what are you going to do with the rest of your life?”

     “That’s a hell lot of ground to cover.”

     “No, I mean don’t you want to settle down, raise a family. You can’t drift from mountain to mountain forever. What happened to your generation? You all became dropouts in one-way or another.  Its almost the eighties Tom, the roaring eighties! It is about time you seriously thought about a career! Don’t you want to accomplish something, sales maybe?

     Tom tilted his head back and let go a deep throaty laugh. Her attempt at humor amused him, it was quite charming, especially in the middle of an obviously serious question.

     “Listen! All I’ve ever wanted to do is ski the Rockies. While everyone else was watching movies and dreaming about beaches and Malibu surf, I was dreaming of deep powder chutes and open snowfields. I was never like all, “The Others.” I’ve always been different. I guess we all got messed up with the Vietnam War thing.”

     “Tom, the war has been over for years.”

     “I know it’s just that I’ve given up every job, left my engineering education, sold or traded away everything I have ever owned to go higher and higher into the mountains. Look closely at all of this. The whiteness, the vastness, the warm alpine sunshine, the crisp clean air, the smell of the pines, all the wealth in the world can’t buy this grandeur. If you climbed to the summit you can see Mount Evans the highest peak in Colorado. I will climb it. Then there is Mount Mc Kinnely in Washington State. I will stand on top of it. These are only in the mid-teens and twenties. What about the Alps? The Himalaya’s?”

     “I love you, but you have got to get your head out of the clouds. Get your head out Tom or you’ll never have anything. Not even me!”

     “How can I give all of this up?” he gestured at the jutting peaks. “And what should I give all of this up for? The security of surrounding myself with material possessions, there isn’t any security in those things. There pretty to look at, wonderful to touch and show people. Impress people with your worldly possessions. The winner is the one who dies with the most toys. We live in a society obsessed with symbols, status symbols. I mean even this mountain is a symbol. The highest lift serviced mountain in North America. Joe was a Patrolman here when he was our age. He went back to work in the sweat shops and car factories of Detroit, worked and built a fortune and sold his soul until he could buy it. He is the greatest symbol to the America’s.” Tom clenched his fist. “Now the multi-nationals are going to take this all away from him. They always get everything they want. When they don’t they change the rules, buy the politicians until they do. They control everybody and everything. Everyone conforms, like little lambs. They bow and prey to the great neon God’s run by men in suits and ties. I’ll never turn in to a “Corporate Whore”. I can’t sell out. I’ll find a way. I won’t be a good little silent automaton. You can’t come down on me.”

     He reached around to embrace her in case she took it the wrong way. They fell back in the blanket laughing and giggling as he kept the embrace, their bodies entwined passionately filled with expectations of love. Tom pulled the second blanket over them. He softly caressed Sara, holding her tightly. Unbuttoning her shirt, she reached up and held his head in her hands and kissed him. Gently, she laid his head across her breasts. Slowly, tenderly, ever more passionately they fulfilled their desires. Their hearts pulsing pounding, as the mountain sunshine bathed them. They gave to each other completely.

     They both lay facing the billowy cumulus clouds, watching then form kaleidoscope patterns. The thermals blowing lightly nudged them along. Tom held Sara’s hands tightly in his. They were two small beings, dots on a nature painting, dwarfed by he vastness of the spiraling peaks, their lives like the clouds passing bye. What lay ahead would soon form and become. Everything that had taken place, had already disappeared. Time the elusive commodity, stood still. There was only the here and the now.

     “I love you Tom.”

     “I love you also, Sara,” Tom surprised himself with his response. It was the last thing he thought he would have said and he was terrified of it. Having spent most of his life, alone, on the circuit, drifting from mountain to mountain, he had become his own best friend. He was ready to spend his life with this girl.

     “Taking a nap,” Lance Berry yelled. He was leaning on his poles by a large evergreen.

     Tom and Sara both sat up startled by the intrusion.

     Lance skied over kicking a large rooster tail of snow on the blanket wrapped around them.

      “What would your mother say, young lady?”

     Sara was scared and embarrassed at the same time.

     “Buzz off Lance,” Tom yelled. “Don’t you have anything better to do than to stick your nose where it doesn’t belong/”

     “Better than what you two where up to,” he gave them both a disgusted look.

     “Anytime you want Lance! You just say the word. I’ll be there.” Tom was generally a peaceful man.

     “You wouldn’t stand a chance little man,” Lance mocked as he skied off down the trail.

     Tom watched as he skied away. He realized Lance was probably right.

     “Nice going babe,” Sara slapped him on the back. “He could have killed you.”

     “He’s a clown. Let’s eat.”

     They spent the rest of the day enjoying the sun and the mountain. Sara was glad that Tom had professed his love. He had never been that vulnerable before. There was nothing more she could do. She had fallen deeply. Her experience had taught her to let nature take its course. 

The Hanuman Chalisa (Tutorial); Krishna Das

139- Living Life To The Fullest

This life is a master novel, written by God, and man would go crazy if he tried to understand it by reason alone. That is why I tell you to meditate more. Enlarge the magic cup of your intuition and then you will be able to hold the ocean of infinite wisdom----                                 Paramahansa Yogananda, "Sayings of Paramahansa Yogananda." 

Your life is a novel with the remaining chapters and ending yet to be written by the greatest Master Author. Why would you worry about the future? Do you think your Father would allow you to not succeed in his own house? You remember the times that in darkness you raised your fists to the Heavens and proclaimed anger toward what you perceived as the perpetrator of your sorrows. You knew then that your wrong actions and thinking were the cause of your pain. You knew that proper preparedness coupled with proper thinking and proper action was the key to Ultimate Success in Life. Think of the times that you felt a short cut here or a little cheating there would not harm you. The solution has always been within you all the time. Stop getting in the way and Let Go and Let God work the Miracles in your life that you Deserve as a child of his. Always Remember;  "I And My Father Are One, All Things My Father Hath Are Mine!" What more is there to know. If you Believe it, so it will be. Live and Love Life to it's Fullest.

Baba Hanuman, Krishna Das

My girl Pete says if Life gets too Hard, "Go take a Tan."

(We have a Tan Box to sit in, I have a jump box to get on the bed, a zip box for my FUD, I don't like when my parents are on their talk boxes and watching the U-Tubes, or on their think boxes writing, especially the Big Watch Box in the Living Room that shows Mr. Strump) (See Lesson Six, or  Lesson Three, Ask Mrs. Peach,)( my arch nemesis!)

138- Where Do You Go, When You Have Had Too Much To Dream Last Night?

 Attachment is blinding; it lends an imaginary halo of attractiveness to the object of desire-----Swami Sri Yukteswar, in "Autobiography of a Yogi"

Photo Credit from: Of Mountains and Men, Albert Bianchine.
 Attachment can be motivating, crippling and debilitating. Have you ever been attached to something or someone? It differs from Obsession which can be a compulsion, infatuation or delusion. There have been several people places and things in my life that have had this affect upon me. Nothing has been greater than my attachment to and obsession for the sale of Arapahoe Basin Ski Area to Ralston Purina Corporation in Dillon, Colorado in 1978.

I read somewhere that is was not so much about the actual event in history as it was the reaction to that event by the artist. My belief is the need of the artist to explain what they have witnessed. The most prominent examples that I can think of are All Quiet on the Western Front or Cry the Beloved Country. The authors of both witnessed something that so affected them that they had the need to explain it. My mentor once told me that most people begin writing out of anger. It was enlightening to me on many levels. I turned twenty five years old the year that A-Basin was sold. To all of us that wintered there that year it was the death of a dream. Not Just Joe Jankovsky's dream, it was the American Dream. I had watched corporations come in every where that I had lived as a young man and buy up businesses, housing, farms and start wars in foreign countries over oil. To say that we loved a mountain is to put it mildly. The motto of The Basin at the time was Nothing In Moderation and it was billed as the Highest lift serviced mountain in North America at 13,050 ft. All mountains had their claims to fame but A Basin had the real thing. (Ski Above All)

My attachment for the Mountain and my obsession to in some way write about it has possessed my soul every day since my first writing workshop at SUNY Albany in the spring of 1979. I have written poems, short stories, and now am working on my novel (co-authored with my musician friend in the 1980's, Gordon Grey) The book along with the music score for the film ( yes film! thanks to my film and screen writing mentor Ira Wood and his Aspen Film and Screen Writing Intensive, that I now am pulling out my first Act complet to the plot point.) Finally ever so slowly over the years has come together. Never in my wildest imagination or dreams would I have considered to find myself at the age of Seventy Years Old pulling out pieces of manually typed pages and stacks of manilla folders with reams of notes and drafts. But I am and the feeling is like nothing I have ever known. Sometimes I feel as if I am being guided and coaxed not only by all of the wonderful teachers, writers, poets, musicians and mentors I have been blessed to have been associated with, but by a Divine Will or Source that has kept me motivated all the minutes, hours and years to pursue my dream through all the trials and tribulations that life is.

The very final song on the Music Score now that the Ballad of Tom Dillon is written is to be a rousing remake of the Song, I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night, The Electric Prunes.

137- When a Miracle Appears, Believe It

The law of miracles is operable by any man who has realized that the essence of creation is light. A master is able to employ his divine knowledge of light phenomena to project instantly into perceptible manifestation ubiquitous atoms. The actual form of the projection whatever it be:( a tree, a medicine, a human body) is determined by the yogi's wish and by the power of will and visualization. Paramahansa Yogananda, Best Quotes

 Ever since the conclusion of the XXIV Winter Olympic Games in China my thoughts have turned to Cortina, Italy for the next Olympic Games. Officially the XXV Milan-Cortina d' Ampezzo Winter Olympics. If you read my blogs leading up to the XXIV Winter Olympics I challenged children, students and adults to create works of art, musical, written or drawn to explain what Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness means to them and submit them to the Olympic Organizing Committee. My choice was a collection of short stories titled the Mountain Pearl which was published on my blog (Post 76-91).  I wish to double my efforts to pursue publishing for the Olympics in 2026. The Olympic Logo can be applied for and you can distribute the work to the Olympic and Para-Olympic Athletes from all the countries that are participating. It is a staggering number of Countries that you can reach in one effort. There will be close to 3900 athletes in the Winter Olympics in 2026.

Enter the Miracle, all of my energy and efforts have been directed toward Europe and Cortina d'Ampezzo. My writing was revolving around Chamonix, France and European Mountains. The truth is they have always been a beacon beckoning me to Europe anyway. My youth had exhausted American Mountains. The only exception was that of Arapahoe Basin in Colorado. This year, after my retirement in 2019, my manuscript about my youth spent wintering at A-Basin was dragged out and I have begun a second draft. It has lain idle since leaving the writing workshops of my mentor in Niskayuna, New York. My life, work, our Equine Rescue Ranch all came before my book. Then came Covid and the world just about ended, and I rediscovered my desire to tell the tale of the Lure of the Mountain King. My subsequent posts of recent will give you a small preview of the work. Back to the Miracle before me, due to the lack of snow in the mountains of Italy the Olympics in Cortina have been cancelled and the Olympic Organizing Committee has awarded the 2026 Winter Olympics to Park City, Utah, who had bid for the 2030 Olympics. Can you hear the trumpets as the walls of Jehrico are falling? No really! The timing for the culmination of the completion of The Lure and the publication of the Mountain Pearl are impeccable. 

Believe the Miracle if you see it! Do not doubt that your Lord has worked Wonders and Magic right before your very heart and soul to prove to you that you are supposed to be doing exactly what you are doing here and now. Do not delay a second or minute longer in the completion and submission of your work for publication. The dream of publishing for the Olympics has been in my being since the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. My book of Poetry was published with the 2010 Olympics in Calgary, Alberta Cananda in my sights. The Lord truly works in mysterious ways. Look for the completion of the Lure of the Mountain King and possibly Dancing with Rhada (my time spent with my mentor).

I would like to issue a Call to Arms for the Children. Let's call it what it is. It is a call for The Children's Crusade. The banning of books and defunding of Libraries is beyond my comprehension as a author and sentient human being. Never before have I been more motivated to use my writing and marketing abilities to educate against the assault on our Children's and Our minds. Hope to be hearing from the silent majority.