dance by the light of the new moon
chant songs to shallow water
watch the eyes of horses, wolf frightened
obsidian, wide, eternal
beauty
A Week of Wonder and Flowers
This past week was my birthday. The wonder started a week ago when my friends came for dinner and my friend’s father, visiting from Mexico. brought me red roses. I had not seen my friends in a long time and it was fun. Then on Sunday, Roberto, the father, and I went hiking in Palo Duro Canyon on a new trail. I never saw a name for it.
We found this trail by starting at Chinaberry (for those who go to the Canyon), taking Comanche Trail up to this new trail. When they intersect, we went north rather than south on Comanche.
If you read the previous blog in December about hiking Comanche, you saw this peak but from the center and to the south. This is a view from the north looking south.
Eventually, after hiking up and down across an arroyo, you end up above the river which looks tiny here, but when a big rain comes, it can rise many feet in a few hours. It was very sunny, I had a hard time focusing so occasionally a finger got in the way.
Roberto has a funny sense of humor. He could not resist pretending to hold up one of the many giant boulders along the trail.
This is not a difficult walk and not too long if you only have a few hours. We came across a group of wild turkeys, but they moved so much, I was unable to get a good photo so gave up.
Wednesday was my birthday. It began with my first period class–I teach senior high school English. They showered the room with confetti, brought me a giant chocolate muffin with a candle in the middle, lit the candle and sang me Happy Birthday. Then during second period, two of my students arrived with two bouquets of flowers. The room smelled wonderful for three days. I brought the flowers home yesterday in a big box.
My grandson told the florist to make me a giant bouquet with exotic flowers. This is one side of it. Orchids, roses, hydrangeas, and some really unusual flowers which I cannot identify.
This is the other side of the same bouquet.
This bouquet is from my son. He knows my favorite color is orange and that I have a lot of that color in my house so….
I am seriously nerdy and asked for an atlas for my birthday. My daughter outdid herself and bought this one full of all sorts of information I never expected and maps. I love maps. When I read a book from Latin America, Africa, etc., I look up the places on maps.
Last night I sang songs, using the poems of Octavio Paz and Pablo Neruda among others, with the Amarillo Master Chorale in a church with perfect acoustics for choral music. Tonight I will see friends at an opera party. What a wonderful week!!
A Week of Gratitude (cont.)
Although I intend to continue with gratitude thoughts and lists, this is my last post of this one week exercise.
Saturday’s list includes:
-Cooking for and enjoying the company of close friends.
-Listening to music I love–Angelique Kidjo, Rokia Traore, Cesaria Evora, Conjunto Primavera.
Sunday’s list includes:
-Enjoying springlike weather with birds singing.
-Accomplishing spring cleaning in my xeriscape flower beds.
-Trying a Japanese sauce I never tasted before–yakiniku. I used it with chicken and bok choy over Jasmine rice. This included marinating grated carrots in mirin, another Japanese sauce which I especially like.
-Watching a deer disappear through the junipers.
-Enjoying the warm weather from my patio.
A Week of Gratitude (cont.)
Each day I made a list of things for which I feel grateful, sometimes more, sometimes less. Tuesday’s list includes:
-Endless sunsets streaked with orange, vermillion, purple, lavender and colors with no name.
-An ability to sing the world’s greatest chorale music with a group of experienced singers who even occasionally sings with the symphony.
Wednesday’s list includes:
-Books I love. My favorite is “Storyteller” by Leslie Marmon Silko. I must have read her story “Yellow Woman” at least 50 times.
-The ability to write myself. I entered a flash memoir contest on Wednesday.
Today’s list includes:
-A short but fun experience with my grandson whom I picked up at school. He told me all about what he is learning in science class–he is in seventh grade. We discussed genetics and Punnett Squares. I recently explained them to some high school biology students.
-Driving my tractor, grading the steep drive down to my cliffside house. I grew up on a farm and love driving the tractor.
-Cooking dinner. Here’s the recipe:
Fillet of salmon–keta
4-5 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 poblano pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
1/2 medium beetroot, thinly sliced and then diced
Bebere to taste or other spice if you do not have this
Several bunches kale, spine removed, and coarsely chopped. I used two kinds–one green and one purple.
Saute the garlic and beetroot in olive oil until nearly cooked. Add the poblano pepper and salmon. Sprinkle a coating of bebere to cover the salmon. Saute until salmon is nearly done and pepper is cooked but still bright green. Add kale, occasionally stir, and saute until kale is slightly wilted. Serve over rice. I used basmati from Pakistan.
Note: bebere is a spice from Ethiopia. I use homemade from my Ethiopian friends who have it special made. Her blend is complex but not very hot. Some commercial blends are mostly hot.
Winter Sunset
wind stills, an unusual calm settles
geese fly so low, the whir of wings floats earthward
two hoot owls call, haunting echoes in the canyon
cerise, vermillion, amber encompass the land
a chill creeps slowly through ancient junipers
Gratitude
Thanksgiving brings so many thoughts, including thoughts about the divisive political discourse in the country now. However, it seems more productive and in keeping with the day to focus on gratitude. As I write this I think of both personal and broader things for which I am grateful, one of which is that I live in a country where divisive political discourse can actually and legally occur. Now to the more personal (even though I think the personal is political, I will not focus on that)–here is my starter list:
-my family–daugher, son, and grandson; daughter and grandson will join me shortly to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
-my mother’s pumpkin pie recipe which my grandson will help me prepare when he arrives; he says it is the only pumpkin pie he really likes.
-my job which I truly love–teaching public high school; my students frequently make my day.
-where I live in beauty truly on the Rim of Wonder.
-my health
-my friends
-my ability to travel to all sorts of fascinating places
-a life I love
Gifts–Isabella and Roses
For the last month DJ Knopick-Barrett, the Production Manager for Amarillo Opera, has stayed with me–her third time to do so. When she was last here, in early summer, she took hikes with my dog Isabella. I had no idea she had also photographed her. Isabella died not long before DJ arrived this time.
DJ said her goodbyes this morning and I left for work. She had a late morning flight. When I returned home from work today, I was touched nearly to the point of tears. DJ not only had photographed Isabella, she had enlarged the photo and framed it.
Reflections
Doors open, wind whispers
Cottonball clouds drift in pale blue
Reflections on early autumn afternoons
Beauty is Whatever Gives Joy
When negative sights overwhelm, look at the flowers–sharing this beauty from a blogging friend.
Summer Day
j
sunrise over canyon wall
shimmering heat of a summer day
sun sinking behind cedars
