Farewell to the west

I'm heading back to NY.

Wyoming, Idaho, Nebraska

Home is beneath
That big blue sky
The northern plains
And the otherwise
Open spaces,
Nowadays
There aren't as many.

end of summer

My first hike of 2013, up Mill B south fork, toward lake Blanche in Big Cottonwood canyon.  It was quiet and meditative.  Autumn comes early in the mountains.  Everything comes early, and leaves too soon.  The first signs of summer giving way to autumn are seen in the yellow and red leaves, red baneberries around aspen groves, and shriveled up wildflowers.  The autumn reminds me that things don't last forever, and that it's time to prepare for the coming winter.  The earth takes back what it so generously gave, and we will have to again be patient-- ever patient.  There is that warning in the bright colors, but also a celebration.  The year was full, and the red, yellow, and orange leaves dance and fly in the air with gratitude.

...the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. -Job 1:21

I will miss the west with its sage flats and lonely mountains.  I was a visitor here, with a visitors key.  These moments are not lost to me.

Beeswing

this song means a lot to me.

Allen's painting of Jenny, is sweet.

texas

New landscapes

old and old

"How we alone of mortals are
Hid under quiet bows apart"

Yeats

February

Aye, you are like an ocean, And though heavy-grounded ships await the tide upon your shores, yet, even like an ocean, you cannot hasten your tides. And like the seasons you are also, And though in your winter you deny your spring, Yet spring, reposing within you, smiles in her drowsiness and will welcome your arrival.

K Gibran

I read this in high school and it stuck with me.  I don't understand much of life, especially my own life.  But I believe there is more meaning, love, and order in it than we can see.  All that souls desire, souls obtain.  

Greg Brown: Lull It By