If you’ve been following this blog, you know I’ve kind of disappeared.

Like   –POOF– Read More…

I’m one of those folks who wake up every morning in a comfortable mental fog.  That first cup of coffee is my best friend, and I take it outdoors and sit with it.  I wait for the sun to come up over the mountains in front of me.  I curl my hands around the cup to warm them, because it’s cold out here. Read More…

Here it is, October 21st, and I haven’t posted since October 15th.  Hmmm.  That’s six days, six whole days!  A record for this newbie who started out determined to post daily because — well, because that’s what’s recommended! Read More…

Here’s our overnight campsite in Raton, New Mexico.  We feel like we’re at the top of the world, in many ways .  The mountain views are strange and wonderful to us flatlanders.

We’re told by the management that we’re in bear and mountain lion country, and we should definitely Read More…

I started out quite small, you know.  Infinitesimally small.  A tiny seed, dropped by my parent tree, set free by a gentle breeze.  Drifted to earth.  I lay there, still as could be.  Fallen leaves began to cover me.  The world got cold, and in a few months I was blanketed in snow, in a deafening silence.

I just lay there, blanketed, quiet, inert.  But something was stirring, I remember that.  Soon I began to feel a bit of warmth.  I felt something within me reaching down into the earth, and it felt good.  It felt so good, that something else within me began reaching upward.

There I was, this tiny little creature, reaching downward and upward at the same time.  Was something wrong with me?  Was I confused and didn’t know which way to go?  It kept happening; as I reached farther down, I also reached farther up.  Continued warmth increased my activity.  I noticed other creatures like me — doing the same thing.

For a while I stopped wondering what was going on in me, because I was so curious about what was going on outside of me.  Strange, wonderful, curious events all around!  Seeds sprouting.  Crawling creatures on the ground, and in the ground.  Hopping things.  Winged creatures in the air.  Strange sounds, all different, yet making some kind of music,  and I sensed a harmony unfolding.  Four-legged creatures of all sizes and shapes appeared, and their own unique sounds enriched the music of the forest.

I realized that I was making no sound.  I must be a silent creature.  And I don’t move, either; I seem to be — oh, what’s the word — rooted in one place.  This is MY place to be.  Silent is MY way to be.

The warmth grows stronger, the light is more intense, and it moves me to open all these tiny buds on my limbs — I dress myself in layers of green.  Each day my dress expands and enlarges, and my limbs continue reaching upward, and now even outward.  Creatures find their way up my limbs, onto my leaves, and they do curious things.  I see nests being built, webs being spun; I see beehives developing right here on me!   I think I’m a habitat.

This feels right.  I accept the creatures, and I grow in my understanding of relationship.  I have friends.  I don’t stand alone.  I am the silent, still being that allows and accepts it all.  I stand strong but in willing surrender.  I am tree.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PS the Hot Air Balloon Mass Ascension scheduled for this morning was cancelled due to stormy weather.  We enjoyed the vendors’ wares and the other spectators wandering around with us at the launch site; we smiled and acknowledged that we were embracing the disappointment as a gift of some mysterious kind.  Besides, there’s always tomorrow!

That’s what it feels like here.  We’re in Santa Rosa, New Mexico (population 2744), which is a hop, skip and jump east of Albuquerque.  This campground appears to be the back yard of a Mexican family.  There are a few RV sites, but the rest are rental house trailers.  We’re the only “travelers” here.

We’re only here for one day of R&R, and we’re so enjoying this!  Our site — as you can see above — is a “corner site” and we have lots of room for our dog fence and our chairs.  Our patio faces east /sunrise, and the morning sun warms us up quickly.  By the time the sun is high, our patio is in the shade of the motorhome.  There’s a wonderful breeze that occasionally kicks up into a howling wind.  I’m not accustomed to a treeless landscape, and I can’t figure out what the wind is howling through to make its music.  Maybe nothing.  Maybe it can sing all on its own, but it’s a new experience for me.

I lounge on the patio; there’s perfect silence except for a sporadic dog bark in the distance.  I watch small tufts of clouds wander through the perfect blue sky, and I really do feel like I’m in the middle of nowhere, and it’s a beautiful place to be.  Nothing needs doing; thoughts can wander aimlessly or be still; who knows what time it is, and what’s more, who cares?  This adventure into where I’ve never been before just gets better and better!

Tomorrow (Oct 5th): ALBUQUERQUE!