Mindful, Day 27, Typewriters in the Desert

We went for a drive up to Pioneertown, outside of Yucca, CA to see what there was to see. We have been there before and one of the things I love is a "garden" that someone has created with cast off stuff. And in the garden there is an arrangment of old school desks and typewriters.  They make me smile.

Mindful Day 14, Love in the Desert

I got out for a good long hike up on the trails in the mountains nearby, reversing the hike I took last week. When you reverse things look very different. Something I did not see going one direction jumped right out at me this time. Thirty or forty feet off the trail I got to see love in the desert. As ever, I can picture different scenarios for this photo. Was it done by a couple? Was it done in honor of someone, was it a way to leave a message for someone coming by later, was it to express happiness just about being out in the warm air and beautiful space? You could write a lot of stories!

Mindful - Day 4 Salvation Mountain

Today's response to the Mary Oliver poem, Mindful, came during a road trip we took today to see Salvation Mountain, out east of the Salton Sea in the desert of southern California. Salvation MOuntain was created by one man, Leonard Knight. Salvation Mountain is Leonard's tribute to God and his gift to the world with its simple yet powerful message: "God Is Love." I was taken by many of the sweet details in his artwork - when someone creates, over 30 years, a monumental 50 foot tall, 200 foot wide mountain of painted adobe art you don't expect to see such small details as well. I was taken by his focus, determination and sense of purpose. One of my favorite details are the blue birds of happiness (as I think of them) that cover many of the surfaces of the truck (and tires!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am going to try and respond each day to this moving poem by Mary Oliver as my daily practice for 2017.

Mindful –

Every Day I see and hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light. It is what I was born for – to look, to listen, to lose myself inside this soft world – to instruct myself over and over in joy, and acclamation. Nor am I talking about the exceptional, the fearful, the dreadful, the very extravagant- but of the ordinary, the common, the very drab, the daily presentations. Oh good scholar, I day to myself, how can you help but grow wise with such teachings as these- the untrimmable light of the world, the oceans shine, the prayers that are made out of grass?

2017, A New Year, A New Attempt at Keeping My Blog Going!

Mindful 2017

I am going to try and respond each day to this moving poem by Mary Oliver as my daily practice for 2017.

Mindful –

Every Day I see and hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light. It is what I was born for – to look, to listen, to lose myself inside this soft world – to instruct myself over and over in joy, and acclamation. Nor am I talking about the exceptional, the fearful, the dreadful, the very extravagant- but of the ordinary, the common, the very drab, the daily presentations. Oh good scholar, I day to myself, how can you help but grow wise with such teachings as these- the untrimmable light of the world, the oceans shine, the prayers that are made out of grass?

January 1

Sitting in the flickering sunshine under the oleander tree here in Palm Desert,  I hear the hummingbird buzzing mightily directly over my head – such a big sound from such a small bird. To believe that the year could start with the sight/sound of a hummingbird is not something I would ever have thought possible.

January 2

One of the things I most like to do while we are in Palm Desert is to hike and there is a trail that goes up to about 500 feet through the desert scrub to a lighted cross that overlooks the city. Because there has been so much drought here even the desert vegetation is suffering. But on my way up the trail today I see what looks like an extremely dead bush… Until I get very close and I see small red flowers beginning to emerge. Happy New Year. Happy new life for this bush.

Driving and stitching

We have been in the car most of the day traveling up to Death Valley from Palm Desert. Desert and more desert on the way but the colors and shapes and textures are wonderful. Along the way I have been stitching with black and gray thread on linen. It is meditative to stich and look out the window.
Tomorrow we are going to explore the park. I want to get up early to catch the light on the mountains and valleys.