Stillness
Golden light
Birdsong
Sunset
Peace
beauty
Hazy, Lazy Days
The words and tune to this old song float through my brain. Summer. Early morning yoga, coffee, horses fed, flowers watered, a lazy lunch: salad with feta, black beans with caramelized onions. Slouched, reading a book (The Return, Hasham Matar) on the sofa, feet crossed on edge of coffee table, patio doors open, I hear birdsong, the whir of black fans in the ceiling sea of white. Summer. Nap time. Awaken slowly, eyes watching cotton candy clouds barely move across an azure sky. Summer.
Unconditional Love
All the beautiful flowers I see today, Mother’s Day 2017, make me think of my mother. She loved flowers, especially roses, horses, music, beauty. When I think of her, I also think of unconditional love. Even when young and I sometimes thought she expected too much of me, I still knew she loved me no matter what the circumstances and always would. For this I feel unending gratitude. As a teacher, it has become very clear to me that many children do not experience the kind of love my mother gave me. She died suddenly many years ago. Her love will never leave me. Thank you, Mom, wherever you are!!
Spring
I love:
sunrise
mockingbirds
wildflowers
iris
breezes
mowing
sunsets
night hawks
Sunday Poem–A Life
I wrote the first blog post about this in February, a second a few weeks later. The following poem I wrote a week ago but never posted: too upset, too sad, too filled with regrets I could have no way fixed because I did not even know all the story. He remained unconscious for two months from late January until March 22. It seems strange that the memories of a life I lived so long ago, mostly forgotten, could surge into so many waking moments now years later. Life: always filled with wonder, surprises.
yesterday we put his body in the ground
the wind blew through the trees
whispering green spring, beauty
yesterday we put his body in the ground
the man I loved, beautiful mahogany velvet
dazzled the world with his smile
yesterday we put his body in the ground
my daughter’s father, standing with family
some we had never seen before, worldwide
yesterday we put his body in the ground
watched a life flash by, slides from baby
to our life long ago, other lives and children
yesterday we put his body in the ground
family, friends, two of his children
a life struck down, too suddenly, too soon
In honor of the life of Kenneth A. Mowoe
You will not be forgotten, your memory lives on with me, your family, your children and grandchildren, your friends. Peace. Love.
Sunday Poem: Shallow Water
dance by the light of the new moon
chant songs to shallow water
watch the eyes of horses, wolf frightened
obsidian, wide, eternal
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
writingontherim 