CLOUDS RULE THE JOURNEY

Lenny Foster and PQ Photoshoot

We are safely back in Taos. Our art is still hanging on 15.Quince’s walls and we will leave it in place for at least a  month, so if any of you are in Cottonwood, Arizona have a look.  Vladimir Costa, the owner/chef treated us fabulously.  He also proved to us that he is an artist spanning all the senses. Not only is his food outstanding but his sense of design is also acute. We will return before long to do some ceremonial work   for him and his restaurant. There is no doubt in my mind that if we could see the invisible energy connections between ourselves and other beings we would see an interweaving pattern of fractal designs that connect us with our relatives over time and space and yet it still surprises me how these connections emerge when we are least expecting them. Carl Jung called it synchronicity.

I thought we had everything ready for the show but soon discovered that there was a lot to do and some tasks that required immediate attention. It was also a Full Moon and I missed a lot of sleep, from which I’m still recovering. We had to charge a number of things to the credit card which I’d been trying to avoid. However, I have a sense that all will be well down the road if I keep the faith. 

Thunderhead over Sedona driving from Cottonwood

The trip back to Taos was uneventful except for the most fabulous cloud shows. Cottonwood and Sedona were uncharacteristically humid after several days of rain, thus the sky was free of chemtrails and the air was wonderful. Nevertheless, I dread a powerful full moon when on the road because of its effect on animals.  There are always many roadkills along the highway after a full moon.  This time was no exception. We saw dogs, cats, coyotes, skunks, raccoons and even birds.

It also rained in Taos and the lawn looked like a hayfield when we got back.  The black kitty found us right after we unpacked.  She was wet from rain but happy to see us. We let her in until she dried off. Later it rained again and I decided to let her into the house for the night. I opened the front door and said “kitty?”  but didn’t see her anywhere.  Then I heard a faint but nearby “meow,” but still couldn’t see her anywhere although the sound was close.  I called again, and then there was a thump and she was standing in front of me.  She had jumped from the top of the porch.  I guess she discovered being on the roof was a good way to avoid hostile feline intruders, a lesson well learned after being thrashed shortly before we left for Arizona.

Approaching Santa fe

The next morning, I discovered that I had no internet connection. After several hours on the phone with a tech support guy at Kit Carson Internet  trying everything, he determined that my router was worn out. He lent me an extra until I could buy one. But, during our attempts to get the old one working we changed the user ID and IP number so now PQ’s connection to NetFlix is gone until I figure out how to reset internet connection on the TV. Since my memory doesn't stretch back to the last time I did these settings, I may have to find the instructions. meanwhile, I retried the old router and this time it worked. There are definitely some weird vibes out there.  On this same day Albuquerque experienced a super storm that toppled trees, flooded neighborhoods and took down power lines. The TV weatherman said it was virtually like a hurricane without involving a sea.

Our return journey to Taos was beautiful and thankfully uneventful except for the unusually beautiful clouds all the way from Cottonwood to Tesuque after which it became too dark to see them. I kept shooting photos through the bug spattered window shield of the car. I hope there was some one around with a great camera and a good place to shoot. I wish I was one of them. I suppose these beautiful skies were a sign of the extreme weather to come.

The weather report is on TV right now and it looks like Albuquerque is not the only place experiencing super weather. Albuquerque caught up on their yearly rainfall in just one afternoon.  Perhaps this is all an aspect of global warming. Mother Earth is getting seriously rebellious about the way we are treating her.
 

This is the stunning display as we left Santa Fe. I wish I could show the true size of these clouds, they were awesome, and it just kept getting better.

It is raining again as I write this. 

LOST AND FOUND

Blackie is back.  She showed up later that afternoon after we heard her crying through the neighbor’s window and has been far more domestic, even clingy since her return. Last night we let her stay in all night because it was raining outside.  Yea Rain! The monsoon came with the Powwow.  We were afraid that even the Powwow couldn’t break this stubborn drought but tradition triumphed again. We went on Saturday and enjoyed connecting with family and friends.  PQ danced himself into a spasm but had a good time anyway. Pacing himself has never been his style. I could have danced all night. I’m walking backwards to my original love of Taos.  The sound of powwow drums, the gorgeous photogenic Mountain and those awesome storm clouds overarching our tiny scurrying human anthill is still a thrill. Frances (PQ’s mom) and Joe J. (his dad) are always there in spirit and I felt my eighteen years ago self layered over now.

Blackie Likes to Stay Inside Now

The theme of “lost and found” has been with me for several weeks.  I get up early, that means 8:00 am, which is early for me. Now I notice that I’m finding more that was lost than just Blackie.  Maybe she acted out my own process.  Long ago, I noticed that animals frequently act out something their human companions need to notice. 

Getting lost is always traumatic even when it happens gradually over years.  It’s just that the trauma is also gradual and may escape notice. Getting found can also be a gradual process. Last week, just before I woke up I had an experience of myself standing on a deeply shaded hill, looking toward a brilliant mountain that seemed very familiar although it is somewhere I’ve never actually been. The scene was so sharp that it was more present than anything I’ve experienced while awake.  

Here and there, I’ve been finding myself in the past. Perhaps I’m peeling potatoes and suddenly I’m the sixteen year old girl taking vegetables from the garden for tonight’s stew, or experiencing my current back yard as merely an extension of the half acre backyard of my childhood. Then again I will be walking to work at the Tattered Cover in Cherry Creek around the time that I first visited Taos. These are only a few of many time warp scenes that bubble up from the past.  But you see, it isn’t the past. It’s all part of the now which contains everything and everywhere.  Most of the time my memories are dim, factually correct but missing the sensory and emotional impact of the present. It all darkens slowly the way an old window gradually accumulates murk. Lately memories have been coming through like a hologram but instead of watching it, I’m the center of it.

I suspect that these strange time experiences are all about retrieving resources.  Although this has been an active intention of reading and meditating with the first cup of coffee before PQ wakes up, one never knows just how such things will manifest. I was getting very lax about who I am.  It may not be much but it’s all I have.  Getting lax is way of giving up and saying “my life is nothing really. It will soon be over so why bother. It’s the lazy way through life, but also amounts to never existing except for acquiring some negative karma in reaction to the tedious ride. 

I don’t need to go back to the past out of nostalgia, but sometimes I take a wrong turn and need to retrace my steps back to the trailhead. There are certain times in certain places that you just know were an important part of your personal story. Other pages of personal history you can just tear up and throw away. I’m just now learning that I’m the only editor that counts.