“How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.” ~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice
She arrives at the crest of the slight hill,
where she makes the first right turn of her daily journey.
Pausing for a moment,
she allows the sky to hold her,
before traveling on.
"If there's something that you can't fix, just step over it"
~~~~~~
She travels within her small mobile world, listening to stories from the world at large...
1. I listened to this story about a: "Chittenden couple's wildflowers bring joy, connections and bees" - a couple who planted a meadow of wildflowers, taking out their lawn to do so. I imagined the beauty of this, at least until I found the story with photos online, then I could see it for myself. You can look and listen HERE. I wondered what I've done to add beauty? Small things, yes...nothing as grand and visible as a meadow!
2. A beautiful, amazing story of a teen with autism and the ability to learn and grow and create (a symphony no less!!). Listen HERE. This gave me so much to think about with many children I have known over the years.
3. A thought provoking story on NPR about how the word "endling" came about. I couldn't find the exact program I listened to, but this NEW YORKER STORY comes the closest. I've heard these stories before in regards to animals, but imagine being the very last human being in your genetic lineage! Wow. There is more on the WIKIPEDIA PAGE.
4. One of my dear friends' mother has Alzheimers and no longer remembers her own daughter. My ears always perk up when this awful disease is mentioned. Learning about it helps me understand her journey better. This story about a mother and son's MUSICAL BOND was so touching (it's that music thing). I've seen plenty of stories about the power of music and long ago posted one here about the power of song with an Alzheimers patient. It's here somewhere.
~~~~~
Usually I head out to the left at the trailhead (top photo), but today I decided to go right. What I discovered is that it felt entirely different.
For one thing, walking on the right side of the trailhead puts you on the other side of the riverbed as well. It puts you closer to the main street that this area is near. You hear all of the cars whizzing by. There is less nature between you and those cars in places, so you feel less isolated and 'out in nature' too. The power lines feel more prevalent, more on top of you. It feels more 'city' - less 'getting away from it all'. In the photo below, the road is on the right of this narrow piece of land (behind the fence).
On this day there was lots of mustard, a deep crack and a heart faced critter.
On this day...there was still water in the Santa Clara. There was a young couple who seemed to have parked their bikes, crawled through the fence and sat together on a cement outcropping, in the shade of the cottonwoods overlooking the river.
On this day, I came home with a hunk of rust, which J. kindly placed in the dye pot for me (the bundled Sunflowers are still in there). We'll see what happens!
“I haven’t a clue how my story will end, but that’s all right. When you set out on a journey and night covers the road, that’s when you discover the stars.”
This week I was a bit brain dead for any stellar new ideas for drawing. However I did add to my Life Mandala drawing...shape upon shape, round and round...
May you learn from others
Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2023
