plants

Today: My plants were dry and thirsty, but they survived okay and now they are overly wet.  

In Santa Fe

"Don't lose your ambition" Karen tells me. "Follow the Excitement" an article from a creative magazine tells me. "When your heart speaks, take good notes" Judith Campbell tells me. "Go to Kakawa Chocolate" house my taste buds tell me. And there my friend and I have fun choosing truffles and I enjoy making smiles out of the wrappers. White adobe walls and fire place behind us and typical santa fe chairs to sit on. 

Later, reading "Three Cups of Tea" a right book to be reading right now and Rumi tells me: 

"There is a candle in your heart,

Ready to be kindled.

There is a void in your soul,

ready to be filled.

You feel it, don't you?"

Yes, especially here.

The intense energy of the full moon on Saturday. One of the biggest of the last century. I can see the color of my skin in its light. Then, at an indie rock dance show with funky/punky/eccentric/eclectic/normal/what is normal?/alternative/dressed up/young/old/having fun types. Waiting for the show to start, some of us play keep up with a yellow balloon that eventually pops itself on the ceiling. I don't know how keep up is so fun, has been since I was a child, but it just is, esp. in this sort of atmosphere when everyone can be a kid. Some woman in a wedding dress is sitting on the floor propping her high heeled shoes on the lap of a tuxedoed man sitting on a chair beside her. A man is dancing with blue eyes painted on his cheeks. 4 eyes in his face. The Raggedy Anns play skittery, dancy, twangy music, they are great, and afterwards join in dancing with the crowd for The Pharmacy's set. 

And when we are driving, suddenly, "Wow!" one of the craziest, closest looking shooting stars I've ever seen. Greenish and near.

Another day, at the Travel Bug, surrounded by maps and books and travel ideas! And coffee and london fog tea, and mexican red chile mocha, and biscotti if we want. A shelf for central america, one for the Czech republic, one for Greece and so on alphabetically ordered, with a ladder to get to higher shelves, a ladder we gather around for a picture. Why is it so comforting and helpful somehow to make sense of the world in that way, the way of looking at maps? There is a man behind the counter who smiles when Kristin recounts to me, "that was funny last night when you whispered 'I'm really hyper' but you were acting your normal way"

"To pay attention is our endless and proper work" - Mary Oliver

I like this one, Kristin says, "All of life is an experiment" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Me too.

Picked up "The Guerilla Art Kit" by Keri Smith. "There is a wonderful feeling of elation when you go out and place an anonymous gift, attach a painting to a park bench, leave a book behind in a public restroom." (13)

Hmm. What about leaving cards for people? Turning my daily practice into cards that say "Thank you" on the inside and leaving them in public places for people to find and perhaps use to thank someone? That would be exciting!!!

What 3 things do you want to put into other people's heads? I am asked by the author.

1) peace

2) joy

3) gratitude

My last morning here. Quiet. Sunny. Mud and snow mixing and melting. No where to be and nothing in particular to do. Enjoy it while it lasts, right?

mindset

This is what I wrote then, Jan 4 as I was leaving my one night in Boston spent with a middle school friend I had not seen for 3 years, in the lucky star bus headed to NYC. 

When ever I travel, I feel the possibilities. Potential in myself and others. Vast life. Its not this small bubble of grad school or work or a rural, quiet, far from drama bubble of Maine, etc. Traveling shakes me aware even if its just a short trip. Can feel big or small depending on where I go and how I perceive where I am. Anyways, just good to be reminded how small I am and how I am not in control and that surrendering is good. 

Later. Arrived in NYC. Cousin in hospital, so I find my way over from China Town to the ER near Columbus Circle, my two back pack condensly packed to be manageable by me alone. Follow blue and purple lines on the floor to her waiting room. Kind of confusing, but those are the directions the man at the front desk gave me, no room number, just "follow the blue line on the floor until it turns into the purple line"And I stay there 3 hours with her as doctors take a long time getting back to her about the blood test she had at 10am and finally let her out at 3:30pm, thankfully with nothing wrong, but the flu. 

NYC

I have a lot to catch up on! I was in NYC for 4 days the beginning of this month. The Christmas tree was still up in Rockefeller center, first time I got to see that. And the magical window displays at Anthropologie. I stayed with one of my cousins who lives near Columbus Circle, so the first day I was there, I went to see that exhibit Beth just wrote about, the exhibit at the new Museum of Art and Design in NYC:  "Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary" one of the coolest exhibits I've seen in a while. I can relate to these pieces and the idea of creating something new out of the ordinary! Earlier in the semester, Gloria sent me an article in the New York Times "The Genius of Little Things" about one of the artists in this exhibit, Tara Donovan. And there was one of her pieces made of stacked buttons, fragile and clear, and alive looking. I particularly loved peering inside shopping bags turned miniature tree worlds by Japanese born artist Yuken Teruya. And Stuart Haygarth's chandelier reflecting beautiful light and shadow patterns and made entirely of spectacles is also fantastic. Butterflies made from records covered one wall. Several sculptures made from books and NYC telephone books made by Long Bin Chen. And that piece "After the Mona Lisa" made from spools of thread and viewed correctly through a sort of eye of a needle by Devorah Sperber. A mother taking turns holding her three children up to look through. A sofa made of high heeled shoes.