A blessed All Hallow’s Eve to you
A time to steep in spirit
Sit in woods beneath the moon
In silence and wait
Candlelight flicker
Perchance a glimpse beyond the veil
A Crow Portrait
I think I could take photos of birds and flowers for the rest of my life and never become bored with them. They are the most uplifting and vibrant of subjects!
Yesterday I set my yoga mat maybe 20 feet from where the birds all hang out. Since I was in one place for awhile and not moving in any way threatening, so many birds came! There were no less than thirty birds—robins, woodpeckers, blue jays, towhees, a couple of grosbeaks, and a multitude of other little songbirds I’ve yet to learn the names of.
Then when I looked overhead into the blue sky, I saw three ravens circling, each one higher than the last. The third was so high up it was a mere speck of black in all of the blue. I felt like my field of vision could zoom into the circles they were making, like one of my favorite verses of all time from Rilke, whose writing I love very much:
I am circling around God, around the ancient tower,
and I have been circling for a thousand years,
and I still don’t know if I am a falcon, or a storm,
or a great song.
—Rainer Maria Rilke
What amazing moments we can have simply by sitting for a spell in the dirt.
Landscape Stories
When my eyes scan a landscape, I see stories. Stories unread, like a stack of the most enticing books that your fingers ache to open. Worlds to absorb. They call my legs to move so I can walk into these places, an urge that is consuming and if followed, delivers me to uncontained inspiration.
I can walk into the scene in this photo and be moved to create an expression of what was seen and felt in that place—photographs of the golden sunlight, recordings of the wind moving through grasses, gliding around a tree, perhaps later a painting that preserves the memory of that moment.
The earth is my ultimate muse. I cannot imagine a time when she does not enable me to articulate her beauty that I witness—a source unending. My chest fills with gratitude.
Into the Cosmos
The garden has some late bloomers while our days are still warm.
Here is a little photo series called Into the Cosmos
Cold Weather Fare
Autumn continues to waver in and out of the air here in the high desert, the place where summer loves to linger. In October it is as if the two are dancing and if you had not experienced seasons before, you really would not know who is to take the lead. You are swept away in their movement.
But the nights speak of what is to come. In the dark is where the answers to the future await. Laying beneath the blanket of stars in the indigo sky, your exposed skin touches the beginnings of the ice season. I sleep under an open window to feel the cold air when I awake, and I do not know if I crave this or a lover’s touch more. They are both divine.
All of this brings me to dust off the fall and winter cookbooks! I always imagine, if there is a time when we must rely solely on old ways to sustain ourselves, I shall be the one that cooks for my people. There is magic in a meal made with care and love. Beyond the muscles and cells, it keeps the spirit fed. Oh and I will knit warm sweaters, too!
The most beautiful kitchen I have ever seen. It was the first page I opened to when I got this book from the library and yes, it made me cry like a weirdo.
This is just as exciting as my jewelry workbench or a palette and canvas awaiting a brush.
A delicious pumpkin muffin with no sugar, only some delightful honey to sweeten it a bit. Yum.