Gypsy Dust

A New England Stroll...

2009-10-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

amidst Nature and the clouds

Big Apple

2009-10-16T19:09:00.001-07:00

I've been working here and there like a madwoman to have some cash for the upcoming roadtrip. It's been stressful, but I can't and won't complain. It is what it is and this is what I chose to do. I leave for NYC the 17th and my return is uncertain. I will play in the city with some friends and then take flight (in the figurative sense) with some awesome peeps on a roadtrip back to Bisbee.
I'm so excited to leave! The road is open and the destinations uncertain. Time is not as much an issue as budget, but there are also opportunities to work along the way. Life is damn good! What can I say?? :o)
This trip is much needed, in so many ways.....Reflection and growth are sometimes more transparent or evident in times of transition and intention. Thus, I will make an honest attempt in posting along the way. Stay tuned!

2009-10-02T21:15:00.000-07:00

holy shit. it's october! and as always, there's so much to be grateful and thankful for.

its a new season, a new month.

new beginnings, new plans.

and a trip on the horizon as well....yup! i'm gearing up to go back to nyc for the 3rd time this year.

woo woo!!
.....more soon....

Some Are Wondering...

2009-08-31T22:53:00.000-07:00

Where am I and why haven't I been posting??

To tell the truth, I have been wondering myself....

Indeed I have finally returned to my desert home,
but as I fill the void of my departure, the annals of
virtual-ness remain silent.
Needless to say, it looks as if I'm still searching for those damn words.
werd...

Sweet Home Sweet

2009-08-31T16:25:00.000-07:00

Mountains of a Different Kind

2009-08-31T16:16:00.000-07:00

...monsoon clouds pass with only so much as temptation in their shadows...

Adventures in North Carolina

2009-08-31T15:42:00.000-07:00

Beauty watchin'

The Black Mountains

wildflowers, fresh blueberries...

...and wine berries--yum!

2009-08-31T15:33:00.000-07:00

...a sinister full moon party...

through the looking-glass of mmmmoonshine!!

2009-08-31T15:28:00.001-07:00

Fourth of July!!

La Ville de Paris

2009-06-24T15:14:00.002-07:00

Bummer I was only in the city for a day, but it was enough to affirm that I am coming back!!! Our friends from NYC were also there the same day (by chance!) so we went out and literally walked around the city for nearly 7 hours!! For dinner we bought some amazing cheese (an array of cow, goat and sheep), a bottle of red wine and some fresh bread and promptly chowed down right next to the canal de St. Martin. Oh how I missed this place!!

2009-06-24T15:14:00.001-07:00

"The deeper the self-realization of man, the more he influences the whole universe by his subtle spiritual vibrations, and the less he himself is affected by the phenomenal flux."

"The land of healing lies within, radiant with the happiness that is blindly sought in a thousand outer directions."

"I have long exercised an honest introspection, the exquisitely painful approach to wisdom. Self-scrutiny, relentless observance of one's thoughts, is a stark and shattering experience. It pulverizes the stoutest ego. But true self-analysis mathematically operates to produce seers...thoughtless is the man who buries his ideals." --Autobiography of a Yogi

2009-06-19T01:09:00.000-07:00

"War and crime never pay. The billions of dollars that went up in the smoke of explosive nothingness would have been sufficient to have made a new world, one almost free from disease and completely free from poverty. Not an earth of fear, chaos, famine, pestilence...but one broad land of peace, prosperity and widening knowledge. Let nations ally themselves no longer with death, but with life; not with destruction, but with construction; not with hate, but with the creative miracles of love."

"If loss of life becomes necessary in a righteous battle, one should be prepared, like Jesus, to shed his own, not other's blood. Eventually there will be less blood spilt in the world."

--Ghandi (both)

"Though the works of the human race disappear tracelessly by time or bomb, the sun does not falter in its course; the stars keep their invariable vigil. Cosmic law cannot be stayed or changed and man would do well to put himself in harmony with it....Not cruelty but goodwill upholds the universal sinews; [and] a humanity at peace will know the endless fruits of victory, sweeter to the taste than any nurtured on the soil of blood."

--P. Yogananda

The Homestead

2009-06-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

....it sure is good to be back.....

Leaving Nimes

2009-06-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

A city of ruins and a city of beginnings...

Recently I spent almost 5 days in the south of France visiting one of my dearest friends. (15 years already!) As little and as infrequent as we get to see one another, we always pick right back up where we left off. Our interests and our experiences, despite the distance, still share a thread of commonality after all these years. It seems the ebb and flow or our separate paths continue to mimic the tides of a single moon.

Before leaving New York I had made up my mind to come to this city, all on my own, to decide if my impression 15 years ago would be the same. Meanwhile I still had no word, no way of contacting Fanny after 5 years. Then, as fate always has it, a few days before departing for Switzerland, she finds me... and what does she say?? She lives in Nimes!!! A happy coincidence? Hmmmm....

Needless to say, it was hard to leave. We had a grand ol' time and we joked often about getting an apartment together right away!!

yes...good times, good times indeed....

... this one would have been perfect-- for a fixer-uper!!

Oh the balconies and a rooftop garden!!

Anyhow, here are a couple more pictures of mine,

and three that aren't...

My sweet sista & her pups:

The iconic Roman ruins:

not bad, eh?

2009-06-07T12:33:00.000-07:00

2009-06-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

A Library Of Sorts

2009-06-05T04:18:00.000-07:00

After running out of Echinacea tincture last week, my mission for replenishment ended happily at an apothecary in Zurich. My eyes grew wide; the light shining like a heavenly bookstore. I seriously underestimated the seven hour flight to Switzerland and an airplane full of 100+ people: Peter came down with something the second night we arrived.

All is good now, Peter's off to Berlin, and the show opened without a hitch.

I'll post more pictures from the trip soon, I promise!!

A Song To Herself

2009-06-05T03:54:00.000-07:00

"i was born in east virginia

north carolina i did roam

there i met a fair pretty maiden

her name and age i do not know

her hair it was of a bright sun color

and her lips of a ruby red

on her breast she wore white lilies

there i longed to lay my head

well in my heart you are my darlin'

at my door you are welcome in

at my gate i'll meet you my darlin'

if your love i could only win

i'd rather be in some dark color

where the sun refuse to shine

than to see you be another man's darlin'

and to know that you'll never be mine

well in the night i'm dreaming about you

in the day i find no rest

just the thought of you my darlin'

sends aching pains all through my breast

well when i'm dead and in my coffin

with my feet turned toward the sun

come and sit beside me darlin'

come and think on the way you done"

....straight to my soul....

somewhere between melancholy and ennui,

grey and with no lines,

i pick up the fragments.

where they belong,

and where they came,

i do not know....

Signage

2009-05-31T00:58:00.000-07:00

Layers

2009-05-31T00:50:00.000-07:00

Inspiration & Action

2009-05-24T22:47:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in Red Hook.....

Somewhere in Brooklyn....

New Mexico

2009-05-22T21:36:00.000-07:00

What more can one say after beholding such beauty, such wonder? I am falling in love again and again with the high desert the more I explore the surrounding country-land. It has a way of creepin' up and cannot be fully appreciated until experienced first hand...that's for certain!!

And I reminisce of the time spent in the Gila Wilderness as I sit amidst a concrete jungle... Sorry, no hot springs here.

New York City hums outside my window; the closest thing to wilderness out here is perhaps a feral street cat or a squirrel who's only world exists within the confines of a man-made park.

Which makes me wonder: How did the squirrels get to NYC? Were there turf wars in the beginning? Did their ancestors stay exclusively in the same park as they themselves have? And if so, what kind of inbreeding and/or exclusive gene pool(s) are we dealing with?!?

Hmmm...

...And so my journey unfolds in every moment. I shall keep ramblin' on with longing in my heart....

Time Enough

2009-05-17T08:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time coming, it's gonna be a long time gone....

Let Life Move You

2009-05-17T08:05:00.001-07:00

it seems the people who change your life the most dramatically are the ones that don't end up staying around... in and out, a mere second, maybe two, and suddenly you see life in a whole new light. my perspective has been blessed evermore by two chance strangers...

thank you

Dwellings of my Heart

2009-05-16T18:50:00.001-07:00

The natural formation of the rock is simply breathtaking to behold.

This isn't the first time I've seen something like this, but its message is clearer than ever: Nature as God; a People One with the Land. Its beauty and ever-giving gifts were respected and honored by the communities who lived here once upon a time. This cliff dwelling was built within a natural, pre-existing structure and mostly, if not only, with materials found nearby. This is the original sustainability. This is the original truth.

Where have we gone and why? What can we learn from the past?

This is the model and the roots our souls so desperately seek. A longing for a connection with Each Other,

the Earth, the Ether,

the Life Force,

the Consciousness

of One.

A Dawn is Near.

Gimme More

2009-04-15T17:40:00.000-07:00

fanciful flames

musical melodies

nautical notes

full moon full

lets do it again

gain

Midnight Musings

2009-04-15T14:27:00.000-07:00

The desert is indeed wholesome, the stars aplenty. I am ever grateful for friends and family. These photos were from a wonderful evening full of music and love. A waning moon to guide the way, this town is a gem amidst the mountains.

Raeful light, brilliant star, you are now on your way. I shall miss you deeply, but distance will never separate the heart-song of fondness eternal.

Be well my dear,

We shall see you soon...

Seek And You Shall Find

2009-03-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

"I Got Kin" by Hafiz

Plant

So that your own heart

Will grow.

Love

So God will think,

"Ahhh,

I got kin in that body!

I should start inviting that soul over

For coffee and

Rolls."

Sing Because this is a food

Our starving world

Needs.

Laugh

Because that is the purest

Sound.

Homeward bound, beauty to behold.... A gypsy tango we shall have!! I cannot wait for your return, for the growth and warmth of your friendship: there is nothing better in this world, nothing more true... Come on in my kitchen, sweet lady, the time of awakening is ripe.

Rebirth

2009-03-24T21:16:00.000-07:00

"Whenever we awaken, we begin to feel ourselves being carried by great winds, by the Holy Spirit, by the Tao, the Dharma, the Sacred River of Life. We realize we belong on this earth. Whoever we are is the right person, wherever we are is the right place to awaken; the place we have been given to serve.

We have been given so many blessings: the food of the earth, the dark of the starry sky, the warmth of friendship, the creativity of the arts, the turning of the seasons, the capacity for compassion. In these times we are asked to recognize the gifts of life on this beautiful earth, to protect it, to cherish it, to celebrate it and offer our own gifts as our blessings."

My dear papa gave me this quote long ago during rough times to remind me of Life's greatness. Tough times or not, I am aware with each new day the endless wonders of this world. I am convinced there is something greater--an intelligence of sorts--that organizes all life, in all ways; much to same degree that the cells in our body somehow know what to do and where to go without us having to tell them so.....

I am blessed and evermore thankful to know it, to feel it and to embrace it. I shall honor this body of mine and this earth of mine for all time--for I am as much a creator as the created.

This journey has only just begun.....

A Moment At Sea

2009-03-11T21:05:00.000-07:00

"Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul.

If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas.

For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.

Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may sing;

And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes."

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

What beautiful words that speak no truer the trials of my heart and soul. My adult life has been a struggle, like most, but not without its lessons and inherent beauty. A love lost might have been the beginning of my story, but the roots of one's childhood and the subconscious conditioning of culture and society may have had as much of an impact, if not more. I have been a dreamer, a lover and a giver of all that I have to offer, but darkness for a time, consumed me. I have been tossed about and frozen solid all the same. I became lost in an abyss; cynical and broken. My steadfast reason consumed me, consoled me, and tried for too long to keep me safe. My passions became abandoned in a blink of an eye. Grief and sorrow thick like the fog of forgetfulness....

A new chapter begins in my life as not only do I embrace this precious light, but find meaning and forgiveness in the lessons of time now past. It is time now for reflection and examination and a rekindling of the things I love. Movement of the body and mind. Food for the soul.....

Passions are all we have at times and they can be our saviors, if only we beckon them to return. I have missed deeply this connection to and of myself. I have gone too long but I am ready finally. Ready to seek and to learn all that I can. I've got my ballet slippers on and I am writing away on my first post--of hopefully many to come--and it feels damn good. The greatest realization is that each day is a new day. We begin with a choice--a self-empowered choice--to begin afresh and anew. To abandon those things that have hurt us or not served us well, and to make way for the things that foster our health, inspire our creativity and bolster our happiness.

Blessed be the strength and courage that comes with the awareness to move forth.

Growth, love and light to all my loves.

Thank you for being a part of my life,

for remaining a harbor in my tempest.