going back

I am going to make a library run soon...browsing through notebooks to find books I may have scribbled down to read. Found some. Also came across this observation from the summer: 

I like the round smooth stones, black, Ramona has. 

I like the fact that they are lying on a book about rocks, 

lying on the corner of the book's cover photograph 

of similar round smooth stones, black, like the ones Ramona has.

* the idea of real objects being on books/photos of the objects

Directions for Reading a Flow Chart

A stop sign is a reason to cry

A rectangle is a process

An oval is an endpoint

I love how these directions are meant to explain a flow chart, but when the context is taken out, they become poetic!

Connections

"Mapping is a way of helping to understand the bigger picture" my geography teacher for Religion, Environment, and Society said today. "What makes a study geographical?" "Its the study of a phenomenon in a spatial way." The discussion centered around the relationship between religion, environment, and society in the middle east. I'm just remembering all the maps in the Travel Bug, again, and how looking at those maps helped me make better sense of relationships between things. Coincidentally, I'm on my 2nd book in a row set in the middle east, I finished 3 cups of Tea, and am nearly done The Storyteller's Daughter. The author tells of the beautiful myths and ancient fables her father and grand-father passed on to her. Many have the same allegory/moral undertone as the Afghan tale of the king I laid out/illustrated recently. The author expresses her dream for her country that, "we'd export apricots and karakul lambskin instead of war" (201)

Illusions

My aunt just forwarded a group of these street art images from the pavement artist...and these are some of my favorites. I love the illusion and the creation of another world.

Blue sun days

I noticed a lifting of spirits with the first sunny day since I've been back. And today is even better. When I walked through Pease Park this morning, I saw many little kids with parents off for MLK day. 

Yesterday I noticed a 3 legged deer limp past my grand-mother's kitchen window. I noticed a cat dart out from beneath a car. I noticed how nice it is to go into Whole Foods with some one else. To follow someone to the dessert section and not cut my own path through busy buyers.

Now I am noticing new bands. It took my aunt to tune me in, no pun intended, to the amount of free streaming music available on i-tunes radio. Now, I'm listening to the station "Whisky from a Wire" in the alternative category. And they just played Brett Dennen, who I'll see on friday! "Darling, do not fear what you don't really know"

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?