gypsy sky

Visiting

2012-01-29T17:42:00.000-08:00

(Lucia & Pedro)

with friends in Alpine, Utah.

The Blessed Pomegranate

2012-01-27T09:56:00.000-08:00

Uncle Theo's Orchard

Memories of childhood visits to my uncle's house

in San Diego, and tasting my first pomegranate

from his small orchard. An introduction to

a whole new world of delicious!

The Owl Bar

2012-01-22T11:23:00.000-08:00

a piece of heaven

Sundance Resort, Utah

Nostrovia!

(always an open window...for the owls.)

Elizabethan Gardens

2012-01-21T10:27:00.000-08:00

Queen Elizabeth

Camelias!

Virginia Dare

Our shadows

Luminous Little

Nameless Gnome

A garden on an island off the North Carolina coast, commemorating

the first English settlement in the new world.

The settlement was established by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1585.

It disappeared a few years later, no one knows why.

Wolf Moon

2012-01-09T20:01:00.000-08:00

"Don't be fooled, I was raised by wolves.

Now the moon hangs in full,

so you know I won't play by the rules."

-Falling in Reverse,"Raised by Wolves"

First full moon of 2012!

Also known as the Snow Moon,

perfectly timed with an actual snowstorm-

the first we have received this winter,

or so it seems...

I'm not complaining,

and I may or may not

be howling...

Wayback Machine

2011-12-30T18:41:00.000-08:00

My favorite Christmas present.

I've been revisiting some of my old albums,

and came across this song I used to love and had completely

forgotten about....

this too...

to be continued...

Pretty Boy

2011-12-15T18:59:00.000-08:00

escaped from his cage, and has been wandering about the neighborhood

for a couple of months now. Nightly, he perches on my roof....

My charms?

Or the apples and kale?

I may never (want to) know.

2011-12-03T16:56:00.000-08:00

A DREAM OF TREES

There is a thing in me that dreamed of trees,

A quiet house, some green and modest acres

A little way from every troubling town,

A little way from factories, schools, laments.

I would have time, I thought, and time to spare,

With only streams and birds for company,

To build out of my life a few wild stanzas.

And then it came to me, that so was death,

A little way away from everywhere.

There is a thing in me still dreams of trees.

But let it go. Homesick for moderation,

Half the world's artists shrink or fall away.

If any find solution, let him tell it.

Meanwhile I bend my heart toward lamentation

Where, as the times implore our true involvement,

The blades of every crisis point the way.

I would it were not so, but so it is.

Who ever made music of a mild day?

––Mary Oliver

2011-11-27T11:27:00.000-08:00

(featuring my amazing sister & great nieces)

Creativity is not a mystery

It is simply

the doing without

a blueprint

the living between

episodes

of doubt.

- Samantha

2011-11-11T23:11:00.000-08:00

Happy

11.11.11 @ 11:11 !!

Whoa...

(See you in another 100 years)

magic apple

2011-11-05T19:14:00.000-07:00

from a hidden tree on the property

of my grandmother's old house.

(anything this delicious could only be magic)

11/1/11

2011-11-01T18:41:00.000-07:00

All Saint's Day

My mother Esther's

birthday

11/1/11

Love

Gratitude

Blessings

Magic

Peace

2011-10-24T23:38:00.000-07:00

A recent trip to D.C.

my nephew's wedding (Georgetown),

(epic in loveliness)

an afternoon at the Smithsonian

(enrapt,

in the presence

of)

Calder mobiles,

Rothko, Matisse, Alice Neel,
Nam June Paik,

Andy Warhol...

(entrance to Warhol exhibit)

Andy Warhol

(I was too distracted by the scolding guard for taking

this photo to notice the title... it was

my favorite one of the exhibit.)

" I love butter!" - museum patron

(This made me smile, floor to ceiling.)

Nam June Paik

I really liked this, too.

Loneliness, Alice Neel

I would really like this hanging in my living room.

little birdie

2011-05-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

outside my window

Rumer

2011-05-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

"I got the blues in Springtime,
cause I know that I'll never have the right shoes."

Completely loving this debut album by Rumer-

the 70's Karen Carpenter vibe is a cure

for any kind of blues.

duck season

2011-05-10T19:49:00.000-07:00

The ducks have been waddling about since February.

The mama has been sitting mostly, and lately nesting down by the stream. Two days ago- on Mother's Day - the ducklings hatched!

Pray they stay safe and enjoy their ducklinghood while they can...

2011-03-23T20:26:00.000-07:00

Looming Moon

2011-03-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

In the Kabbalah it says

that unmarried women are forbidden

to spin under the moonlight,

as it is seen as a brazen display

of one's sexual

potential...

A good night to bring out the old spinning wheel,

ladies - tonight's full moon is closer to the earth

than it's been in 18 years!

via

Swell Weekend

2011-02-17T20:26:00.000-08:00

Explored the San Rafael Swell, in Central Utah, last weekend.

Nice to get outta dodge. The stunning silence and restorative sunshine, did us a world of good.

mooooo!

nice coat rack

I love these ancient drawings,

created before Jesus times, and still intact.

The winged rain angels had some magic in them.

bridge crossing the San Rafael River,

built by the C.C.C. in the 30's

(then)

(now)

desert treasures

I would love to make a perfume from

the fragrant white sage.

Ghost Rock

cowscape

taken from the highway, winding our way back home.

Port Hope

2011-02-14T15:22:00.000-08:00

Our love is the first day of snowing

Our love is a car in the ditch

Our love means I'll never be knowing

which way is which

Our love is a dusty old window

Our love is a tin roof with rain

Our love means we'll always

be heading to Port Hope again

Our love is a small disagreement

Our love is a huge surprise

Our love means I'll never get over

that look in your eyes

Our love is some super 8 footage

Young kids on their bikes in the grass

Our love is an awkward old feeling

that just won't pass

LOVE

this song. And you.

I love you, too.

Happy Day of Love!

Stumbled upon....

2011-01-30T19:37:00.000-08:00

the remains of a sweet old sheep wagon

off State Road 68 in Northern Utah.

Perhaps once belonging to this guy.

Still

2011-01-20T19:20:00.000-08:00

On the Road

Beaver, Utah

forebearance

2011-01-13T16:09:00.000-08:00

of the forest

11°

2011-01-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

a chilling coincidence, on this 1/11/11 morning!

2011-01-01T12:41:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year from North Carolina!

happy holidays!

2010-12-25T12:00:00.000-08:00

merry baby jesus day

2010-12-25T11:56:00.000-08:00

Solstice Snow

2010-12-21T08:55:00.000-08:00

How about that moon? I was up at 1 a.m. to see the rare and glorious sight, but all I saw was snow falling gently from the sky. But I felt her stillness and beauty. She tucked me into bed, and crept into my dreams...

Loved seeing all the photos from across the land.

Happy Return of the Light, people!

2010-12-14T06:50:00.000-08:00

"We are all just walking each other home." - Baba Ram Dass

Happy Birthday,

dear sister traveler,

Mary Jane.

Sharon Van Etten

2010-12-03T11:19:00.000-08:00

mournful angel. bird, uncaged.

Her story

2010-11-29T18:15:00.000-08:00

one snowflake at a time...

thanksgiving then and now

2010-11-26T11:19:00.000-08:00

Happy Day of Thankfulness

2010-11-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

Happy

2010-11-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

All Saints Day

2010-11-01T17:13:00.000-07:00

offerings to the spirits

and the ancestors,

and one must not forget

the fairies...

Cats in Costume

2010-10-31T10:50:00.000-07:00

There is something about a cat

that begs a costume.

I've never been able to resist dressing up the cats I've had in my life.

They never gave much protest, really. Some secretly liked it, I think.

As if they were able to express sides of their personalities,

inaccessible to their furry selves alone.

(Although, some of these cats look as though

they may have needed

some coaxing...)

Happy Halloween

Everyone!

(including cats)

2010-10-18T10:19:00.000-07:00

Burning the Old Year(s)

Letters swallow themselves in seconds.

Notes friends tied to the doorknob,

transparent scarlet paper,

sizzle like moth wings,

marry the air.

So much of any year is flammable,

lists of vegetables, partial poems.

Orange swirling flame of days,

so little is a stone.

Where there was something and suddenly isn't,

an absence shouts, celebrates, leaves a space.

I begin again with the smallest numbers.

Quick dance, shuffle of losses and leaves,

only the things I didn't do

crackle after the blazing dies.

-Naomi Shihab Nye

2010-10-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

You're all geniuses, and you're all beautiful.

You don't need anyone to tell you who you are.

You are what you are.

Get out there and get peace,

think peace, and live peace and breathe peace,

and you'll get it as soon as you like.

- John Lennon

IMAGINE PEACE

Shedding

2010-10-03T19:33:00.000-07:00

along with the trees...

letting go of the old to create

space for the new

sweeping into the dustpan: perfectionism, opinions of others, self-judgement, old wounds of grief and woe, french blue maryjanes because they never really fit anyway, 48 other pairs that my feet seldom travel in, 50 linen napkins because i prefer paper and small gatherings, the belief that my noisy neighbor is an asshole, that any one of us is less than innocent, vulnerable wonders of nature, that whatever is occurring shouldn't be, that miracles and magic are not common daily occurrences.....

golden grove unleaving

2010-09-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

I finally made it!

It took me awhile to get here.

Happy Blessed Day.

Autumn Equinox

2010-09-22T19:32:00.000-07:00

Jupiter is also closer to the earth than at any other time since 1963.

Cosmic coincidences all happening simultaneously, on

this Harvest Moon!

Magic.

Joni & Johnny

2010-09-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

Went for a ride in my Wayback machine this weekend.

Landed at a live performance of Joni Mitchell & Johnny Cash,

covering this fine Bob Dylan tune...

junk cars, a pet llama, & a runaway horse...

2010-08-25T08:25:00.000-07:00

...are just a few of the interesting sights we saw last weekend,

while on a drive through the Utah outback. Over a high mountain pass behind the Wasatch mountains, we went - on through Indian Canyon to Duchesne, then down route 35 through the lush Tabby Valley.

We hadn't originally intended to make what became a 200 mile trek.

But each little town beckoned, and our curiosity led us further on...

Happy Birthday

2010-08-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

Sir Thomas!

One becomes a knight at 40.

Hail to the day!

Libbie Linton

2010-08-21T10:09:00.000-07:00

Saw Libbie Linton, a local Utah treasure, perform at a free concert in a little

hollow, not far from where I live, last night.

I am a big fan of her music.

Her debut album

(2009),

"Bird Wings in the Bleak",

has definitely been a music staple.

I particularly like

Dressing Up for Death

End Times

2010-08-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

My family had an estate sale midsummer,

and with summer coming to an end, it seems a good time to post these photos...

Saying goodbye, not only to a season, but to possessions, family property, an entire era -and sorting through the memories and emotions that get tangled up in the tangible.

Wish I had captured a photo of the old Story & Clark upright piano that I played (but mostly tortured) as a child, along with the rest of my siblings. I told a guy he could have it for a song. He said he really wanted to learn to play, so we ended up giving it to him for the mere promise of one. It was either that or catapulting it off a local mountain top.

Somewhere

2010-08-05T23:11:00.000-07:00

Over Hollywood-

a dear friend left this world,

unexpectedly.

Hugh B. Crum

December 4, 1951 - July 28, 2010

Your soul was/is as big as the sky.

photo credit: HBC 2/11/10

Pioneer Day

2010-07-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

The 24th of July is a Utah holiday, to honor the Mormon pioneers.

We went on a trek to a local mountaintop, that's accessible by road,

to escape the valley heat. Learned that it was named after a Mormon pioneer

woman, Esther Francis- who knew?

After enjoying the cool mountain air, we visited the old family farm

to harvest some apricots, in the tradition of the pioneers.

2010-05-30T08:59:00.000-07:00

Everything is blooming most recklessly;

if it were voices instead of colors,

there would be an unbelievable shrieking

into the heart of the night.

~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke

Jumpology

2010-05-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

"When you ask someone to jump,

their attention is mostly directed toward

the act of jumping, and the mask falls,

so that the real person appears.”

Photographer Phillipe Halsman

On Exhibit

Laurence Miller Gallery,

Manhattan.

A Pretty Poppy

2010-05-10T08:48:00.000-07:00

just popped out today.

(more to follow)

Spring Sightings

2010-05-08T19:31:00.000-07:00

What I spied prancing in the yard,

while airing out my rugs on this fine Spring day...

2010-05-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

An eccentric Russian artist frequents my workplace.

She is known to randomly [according to one co-worker]

hand out flyers of her portraits, soliciting subjects.

I watched her scribble the above note on the back of one,

before she walked up and handed it to me and said,

"I would like to paint you!".

I've been flattered over less.

15 Ways to Describe the Rain

2010-04-23T18:48:00.000-07:00

runde 1 Die 15. Art, den Regen zu beschreiben

Green Fever

2010-04-09T17:22:00.000-07:00

When I came down from the attic yesterday,

I found that Rose and Topaz had dyed everything

they could lay hands on, including the dishtowel and the roller towel.

Once I had dipped my handkerchief into the big tin bath of green dye,

I got fascinated too--

it really makes one feel rather Godlike to turn things into a different colour.

I did both my nightgowns and then we all did Topaz's sheets

which was such an undertaking that it exhausted our lust.

I Capture the Castle

-Dodie Smith

I've been on a dyeing streak, breathing new life

into my tired white t-shirts and blouses.

I don't think I've exhausted my lust, just yet.

Soon I fear my entire wardrobe may succumb

to the tantalizing color of moss green...

Antelope Island

2010-03-20T11:29:00.000-07:00

Almost every Spring I come here. The salt air and bird song,

clear away the winter webs.

My mother loved this island, it's otherworldliness.

The Native Americans believed

it to be the spirit world.

So do I.

mini road trip

2010-02-17T10:53:00.000-08:00

Hit the road last weekend, in search of sunshine.

Since the weather reports showed that the only sunny part of the

country was going to be southern Nevada and California,

it made the decision easy. We chose to head to the Valley

of Fire, a beautiful state park in southern Nevada, and then

on to other parts...

from the valley of snow

(salt lake city)

to the valley of fire

hiking on the rocks

joshua trees,

high desert, Nevada

Cathedral Gorge State Park, Nevada

crazy chipmunk

Cathedral Gorge

Polka with Lawrence Welk

The first night, everyone else seemed to have the same idea -

campsites in Valley of Fire were full. So, we camped out in a motel room.

go Apolo!

camping in Caliente,

Nevada

night sky

Paintings

2010-02-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

Mormor On Her Eighteenth Birthday

The shape of a grape

Let Me Take Your Coat

Cadmium Orange Kerchief

Sun Tan Lotion

Nude In A Yellow Canoe At Midnight

A friend of a friend's paintings.

Johnny Lane

There is a joy in them,

similar to Matisse.

(I would love to be

the nude in a yellow canoe

at midnight...)

my shadow

2010-02-02T09:51:00.001-08:00

no more winter, says me

Tree Woman

2010-01-29T12:12:00.000-08:00

This carved wooden beauty stands on my aunt's porch.

She was created by an artist who had a studio in

an old shack on my aunt's property.

In the artist's words,

"this woman came out of the tree."

If a woman can come out of a tree,

anything's possible.

Once upon a blue moon

2010-01-01T11:10:00.000-08:00

a new year is born!

baby jesus menagerie

2009-12-25T20:20:00.000-08:00

Celebrating the Return of the Sun

2009-12-21T20:01:00.000-08:00

photo taken in Italy, of a friend's wine cellar.

I want her in my living room.

Happy Winter Solstice!

outside my window

2009-12-07T10:15:00.000-08:00

snow frosts my apples.

Have your turkey and eat it too

2009-11-25T14:44:00.000-08:00

In 1947, designer Barbara Orr Ehrhart (pictured) demonstrated her love of turkey not just by having it for dinner at her Oregon wedding, but also by making wedding dresses out of turkey feathers for herself and her bridesmaids. LIFE captured the oddball ceremony, feathers and all, in these photographs.

For several months, Ehrhart collected 34,000 white plumes from 300 turkeys. The bridal gown was made of 500 yards of white plume feathers from a truckload of White Holland turkeys. The bridesmaids' dresses came in feathers dyed yellow, pale green, and black. One gown was valued at $18,000 -- the equivalent of nearly $175,000 in today's dollars. - Life Magazine

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Ha.

2009-11-09T18:15:00.000-08:00

Silhouette Masterpiece Theatre

Wilhelm Staehle

ancestral apples

2009-11-07T15:06:00.000-08:00

I picked bushels of apples from the trees my grandfather planted

on our family farm forever ago. I unearthed the old harvest ladder,

and climbed as high as it took me.

I looked down and saw the ghost of my mother, lamenting the rotting apples,

that she would have made into applesauce and pies.

The Yellow Transparents were her favorite. Mine too.

I can taste the tartness of her applesauce, the crisp sweetness of her pies,

in every delicious bite...

Mother Moon

2009-11-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

2009-11-01T08:17:00.000-08:00

All Saints Day

My Mother's Birthday

Six years gone from this world but still keeping in touch.

Waiting.

2009-10-26T18:32:00.001-07:00

I Am Waiting

I am waiting for my case to come up

and I am waiting

for a rebirth of wonder

and I am waiting for someone

to really discover America

and wail

and I am waiting

for the discovery

of a new symbolic western frontier

and I am waiting

for the American Eagle

to really spread its wings

and straighten up and fly right

and I am waiting for the Age of Anxiety

to drop dead

and I am waiting

for the war to be fought

which will make the world safe

for anarchy

and I am waiting for the final withering away

of all governments

and I am perpetually awaiting

a rebirth of wonder

I am waiting for the second coming

and I am waiting

for a religious revival

to sweep thru the state of Arizona

and I am waiting

for the grapes of wrath to be restored

and I am waiting

for them to prove

that God is really American

and I am waiting

to see God on television

piped into church altars

if they can find

the right channel

to tune in on

And I am waiting

for the last supper to be served again

and a strange new appetizer

and I am perpetually awaiting

a rebirth of wonder

I am waiting for my number to be called

and I am waiting

for the Salvation Army to take over

and I am waiting

for the meek to be blessed

and inherit the earth

without taxes

and I am waiting

for forests and animals

to reclaim the earth as theirs

and I am waiting

for a way to be devised

to destroy all nationalisms

without killing anybody

and I am waiting

for linnets and planets to fall like rain

and I am waiting for lovers and weepers

to like down together again

in a new rebirth of wonder

I am waiting for the great divide to be crossed

and I am anxiously awaiting

for the secret of eternal life to be discovered

by an obscure practitioner

and I am waiting

for the storms of life

to be over

and I am waiting to set sail for happiness

and I am waiting

for a reconstructed Mayflower

to reach America

with its picture story and TV rights

sold in advance to the natives

and I am waiting

for the lost music to sound again

in the Lost Continent

in a new rebirth of wonder

I am waiting for the day

that maketh all things clear

and I am waiting for retribution

for what America did to Tom Sawyer

and I am waiting

for the American Boy

to take off Beauty's clothes

and get on top of her

and I am waiting

for Alice in Wonderland

to retransmit to me

her total dream of innocence

and I am waiting

for Childe Roland to come

to the final darkest tower

and I am waiting for Aphrodite

to grow live arms

at a final disarmament conference

in a new rebirth of wonder

I am waiting

to get some intimations

of immortality

by recollecting my early childhood

and I am waiting

for the green mornings to come again

for some strains of unpremeditated art

to shake my typewriter

and I am waiting to write

the great indelible poem

and I am waiting

for the last long rapture

and I am perpetually waiting

for the fleeting lovers on the Grecian Urn

to catch each other at last

and embrace

and I am awaiting

perpetually and forever

a renaissance of wonder

-Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Off visiting the Hobbit Folk

2009-10-24T19:42:00.000-07:00

miniature scenes of Penny Tomson.

Tellluride 2

2009-09-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

Telluride Power House, built in 1904 on the edge of a 1,000 ft cliff

( operational up until 1953.) People actually live in it, at least

during the summer months.

pretty turquoise tailings pond, and me

The first thing you see as you drive into town.

This old shack is a revered artifact, which sits across the street

from a piece of land the townspeople purchased to prevent

condos from being built on it-- open space, forevermore.

Free Box.

Telluride

2009-09-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

Dog days of summer are long gone.

It was sweater weather in Telluride this weekend.

Telluride, Colorado is a little ski town that sits between huge, in-your-face mountains. It is a highly relaxed community of bike riders, mountain athletes, a well-known celebrity here and there, and most noticeably, more happy dogs than you can shake a stick at.

We went to soak in more Colorado mountain magic before the winter comes. We ended up soaking in a little more than that, however-- on Sunday we experienced a stupendous thunderstorm, which drove us into the local bookstore and coffee shops, where we listened to the thunderclaps echoing off the cliff walls of the valley....

#9 Dream

2009-09-09T21:09:00.000-07:00

A tribute to the affinity I have with #9

I am the 9th child,

born in the 9th month

and I have had 9 lives (at least).

Happy 09/09/09!

The Ol' Lone Ranger

2009-09-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

Old sign posts outside Rifle Colorado, on route 13

on our way home from Land's End.

Rifle is an old western town, full of tumbleweeds, cowboy hats, and whiskey bars. I imagined I saw the Lone Ranger hitchhiking at the freeway on-ramp heading out of town-- Silver and Tonto, nowhere in sight.

Owls at Land's End

2009-08-25T16:34:00.002-07:00

We drove up a washboard road to the top of a 10,000 ft. high mesa, at Land's End, Colorado this week-end. It was my boyfriend's birthday and he was hoping to fly off it (in his paraglider--not a cape) the next morning, but unfortunately we woke up to light rain and strong winds (not good for flying). Land's End is the western edge of Grand Mesa, which is the largest mesa in the world-- over 500 sq. miles of forest and pastures at an elevation of 10 to 11,000 ft.

We were awakened by a chorus of owls in the trees surrounding our tent. Varying in pitch and tone, it sounded like an urgent meeting between several members of the owl hierarchy- one sounding very stern, a younger one complaining, and other interested parties chiming in with random hoots. I had never heard more than one owl call at a time in my life. It was both comical and magical, at once-- I wish I had a recording of it to wake up to every morning. I tried to get my camera from the car, but my stealth was no match for their attention and they flew away. I did spy one of them that landed in a nearby tree. It was a magnificent creature about 2 feet tall. As omens go, it seemed like a good one.

Earn It

2009-08-08T18:02:00.000-07:00

I never was a girl scout. I was done with it after being a Brownie. But, I really love the badges. Unfortunately, you can't just buy them, they have to be earned. I think I could handle this-- as long as I was able to earn them in my own way...

1. hop a train like a hobo 2. pitch a tent in the snow 3. make friends with Bigfoot

4. paint designs on the shells of snails and turtles 5. hog tie your big sister

6. toss around a beach ball in shark infested waters.....

Sweethearts of the Rodeo

2009-07-21T13:45:00.000-07:00

Yippie - ki -yi -yay!

Cloud Lessons

2009-07-07T20:04:00.000-07:00

I couldn't get enough of these clouds that appeared after a rainstorm we had last week. My mother taught me the names of clouds as a child, traveling across the desert from California to Utah, in the sweltering summer heat. Cumulus, the cumulus family, nimbus, stratus, cirrus (to this day, cumulus clouds remind me of this song...) These particular clouds are called mammatus, although my boyfriend, not my mother, taught me this (he knows his clouds). As in mammary glands. Usually appearing after, but sometimes before, a storm. I thought they looked like balls of cotton, and I floated with them until they disappeared into the night sky.

4th of July

2009-07-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

And the Pursuit of Happiness

Happy Birthday, America.

Introducing

2009-06-28T08:28:00.000-07:00

(click on curtain)

GYPSY CARAVAN TREASURES

The Gypsy

2009-06-27T08:39:00.000-07:00

2009-06-22T18:35:00.000-07:00

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Dieterle and Reinhardt, 1935

The iron tongue of midnight

hath told twelve; lovers to bed;

'tis almost fairy time.

-William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Summer Solstice?

2009-06-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

Look all around there's nothin but blue skies

Look straight ahead nothin but blue skies

After weeks of rain, I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to have a summer.Yesterday the sun showed up, surrounded by nothing but blue sky. I rode my bike up the canyon listening to this song by Johnny Nash on my iPod. I was feeling it. A perfect theme song for the day-- and hopefully, season...

Today, we are back to more rain. I can only hope the sun will show up to its own party

on the Solstice; it just wouldn't be the same without it...

P.S.

Not that I don't appreciate you rain, I do, very much.

My little flowers are singing in it and secretly, I am, too.

But maybe you could show up after we have a few weeks

of glorious desert sun, okay?

Sheepherder Wagons

2009-05-30T09:51:00.000-07:00

Driving deep into the Sawtooth Mountains,

we happened upon an old sheep ranch.

I've been enamored with the sheepherder wagon for years.

So it was quite a treat to stumble across a field of them in various stages of disrepair.Wild horses (or my boyfriend) could not restrain me from inquiring...

The ranch owner is a man who comes from a long line of sheepherders.

He fixes up these beauties as a hobby.

The guy is also a cowboy trader. I asked if he knew where I could find some old Navajo rugs. He opened up his barn of treasures, and revealed some of the most achingly beautiful Indian blankets and rugs I have ever seen-- as well as other treasures and relics of a great American West long gone.

He invited us inside his home, which was practically a museum. More beautiful rugs, embroidered & beaded garter bands once belonging to saloon girls- encased in glass. Nez Perce beaded fringe gloves, walls of trophy animals and birds. My eyeballs didn't even know where to look. I managed a few photos, but could not begin to capture the magnitude and layers of it all. He was very generous in sharing his collections with us (and allowing me to take a few photos).

Hot Springs!

2009-05-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

We were driving through a remote area, in the Sawtooth mountains (northeast of Boise), passing full campsite after full campsite (in the rain...). Just before dark we found this amazing little motel that had a private natural hot springs in the backyard of each room. Dreamy! Couldn't have planned it any better than that. We got the last available room, and spent most of the night soaking. There was also a swimming pool, naturally heated by the local hot springs. In the morning we ate an amazing breakfast cooked by the owners of the place.

We were fortunate to have clear skies and an empty campsite the following night.

The campground host tipped us off to another local attraction: a hot tub, fed by a natural spring, built in the shallows of the Salmon River a mile down the road.

Idaho

2009-05-27T21:53:00.000-07:00

Went up north to Idaho over the Memorial Weekend. First off, the people there are so nice and friendly! We met these guys at a little cafe in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boise. They were sitting at the next table over and one of them thought I looked just like an Australian friend of his, and the conversation continued on from there. Normally, it might have been too much "stranger" interaction, but as I said, they were nice. And funny. Even if margaritas weren't involved, I am convinced, it wouldn't have been any different. (Well, maybe I wouldn't have been so nice...)

re: ph

they aren't even gay

they're just nice.

(more tomorrow...)