#9 Dream

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

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

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

 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

Yippie - ki -yi -yay!  

Cloud Lessons

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

And the Pursuit of Happiness

Happy Birthday, America.

Introducing

(click on curtain)

GYPSY  CARAVAN  TREASURES

The Gypsy

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?

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?