My Blog's Gone Begging...

Yes, my blog has gone begging since I discovered Facebook... No question about it, it's all the interaction --I seem to be an immediate gratification kind of woman. Meanwhile I've been over countless mountains to see what I could see, photographed some of it, gathered herbs and generally had a kick-ass summer. Now my summer apprenticeship programs are finishing up -- bonfire, potluck and ceremonies next week -- and I'm trying to grab hold of what's left of summer with both hands and all my senses...

Coming up are Tuesday night bonfires for as long as the weather holds -- and Sunday Soups start in October... I'm considering an invitation to teach T'ai Chi Chih in the Yucatan in November... I've made reservations for my trip to CostaRica to hang with Joanna in January... And the duckling trip to CR the first two weeks of March is well into the planning stage. The photo is from last year's Costa Rica trip -- the next to the last day of 2 glorious weeks.

Home Again, Home Again...

Just looked at my photos and thought, hmmm, which one shall I post that will best sum up my trip? As if one photo could do that -- but the possibilities are: Egg yolk custard, possibly the richest dessert I've ever eaten... The Alhambra at sunset... Penitentes entering a church after a procession... A memorable cheese and wine interlude... Drifts of poppies... The sparkling clear sea... The public market in Almeria... Or the mountain of red garlic inside... I think I need to set up a Flickr account and post them all -- but I have to learn how to do that...

Odd how, after returning from the Yucatan, my dreams are filled with green and flowers and smiling brown-skin people -- but now, after Spain, I'm dreaming of mountains and stone walls and steep stairways. But I went into the Mediterranean! Yes, it was literally freezing-ass cold but we flailed around in it for awhile... and it wasn't like the Aegean where you get used to the cold and can relax into it. No it wasn't.

So I went to the beach. And there were flowers everywhere we wandered -- not just at the beach but in the mountains and the towns and cities. And the light was fantastic, the clouds always changing. Why am I not dreaming of these things? Because stone dominated -- massive stone buildings, cobblestone streets, craggy stone mountains, stone stairways. I love stones. I pick them up wherever I go. I brought a backpack full of them home from Turkey 40 years ago and I still have every one of them despite the number of times I've moved. But I don't love these dreams.

I look at my photos and am awed by where I've been, what I've seen. And the photos that got away are just as vivid -- the glossy black and white magpies in the field of yellow-orange button flowers interupted with emerald green, set off by the almost cobalt blue sky... There are a number of those planted firmly in memory. It's all planted firmly in memory and I'm grateful for every moment of it.

View from a Hilltop -- or Two -- or...

To be in this part of Spain is to climb hills whether in car or on foot. Yesterday I thought: I feel like the mountain goat, compelled to scamper to the highest point -- not by my nature, though, but by my daughter. And whether in car or on foot, the nature of this sort of travel (guide book writing) involves a vast number of U-turns... or 10-point K-turns. The latter are executed in the car in streets too small for sensible vehicular traffic and involves me folding the side mirror in alot to help facilitate these K-turns.

But we turned the car in (only somewhat the worse for wear) back in Almeria on the coast and took the train to Granada where we are now either seen climbing a steep hill on foot or descending one and the cruelest words I can hear after many hours of this is Oh, sorry, we have to turn around and go back up that (particularly steep) hill... Wanna guess what I mean by "many"? One day we actually kept track and we were on our feet 10 hours... Mostly walking briskly though we do pause to press ourselves against walls so cars can get past -- and oh yes, we do pause for refreshment though usually at tapas bars where we stand also... And breakfast is usually a stand-up event too...

And, lo! A procession is proceding by at our corner as I write! Drums and brass and woodwinds, 100 strong... I'm actually going to miss this when -- or if -- it ever stops... We thought last night would be the end of it -- but, no. Our Easter is punctuated with these musical interludes -- and I'm sure one of the giant statues is being carried by, too -- but for me it's all about the music...

We had Easter Brunch with a lovely family from Alaska -- friends of a friend of Zora's... Crepes and quiche and fruit and bread, every bite perfectly delicious -- a homecooked meal Now Zora's having a rest and I've got unlimited E-mail time -- hooo hooo! But she's written about all our adventures in great detail so I refer you to her blog, linked to mine: rovinggastronome...

There are so many moments, so many impressions to share that my mind screeches to a halt when I try to choose. But the snow-covered Sierra Nevada Mtns looming behind the Alhambra, the nearer mtns turning rosy like the Sandias at sunset, the lilacs and roses and wisteria blooming even as snow is predicted. The song of the robins (which are all black here -- the bird not its song) and the little owl that evenly as a metronome sounded all night long at one of our mountain stops. The arab baths, candle lit and mysterious if a bit sketchy. The silk market's winding narrow streets with stalls of bright fabrics and moroccan goods. Hearing Moroccan Arabic being spoken and being seized by a deep nostalgia for my time in Maroc -- or is it nostalgia for my youth? Clouds of frankincense that accompany the processions. The countless cafes and the conviviality of the people.

And now I think I'll go and have a bit of a rest, too -- read a bit. I brought the perfect book with me -- Possession by A.S.Byatt... It's long and rich and poetic and complex and I never want it to end. Yesterday I expressed regret to Z that I only have 200 pages left. No matter what time we get to bed, even if it's closer to morning than midnight, I read for awhile.

So -- I brought the perfect book and also packed the perfect clothes. Nothing superfluous. I'm comfortable -- even with no heat in many of the places we stay (including this apt), even in all this cold. Even walking up hill and down the endless hills in the occasional rain squall. It's all good.

Just Thought of Something Else

One night we were in a tapas bar and the telly was on and there was Obama. We couldn´t hear what he was saying because the flamenco music was so loud but he was so earnest and serious and then he smiled and both Zora and I started to cry. Such a relief to have a President we can be proud of and care about.

The Sensory Excursion

Yikes... that was a long time to wait for internet access! Just not all that available in the places we´ve been -- which mainly consisted of small towns hanging off the sides of mountains accessed by narrow mountain roads described in one guide as ´¨slithering¨ along the sides of mountains... Tell me, would you want to drive on a road described as slithering? Yeah, me neither and I was in constant danger of swallowing my lips each time I sucked my breath in as we rounded a hairpin turn. But that´s a thing of the past. Now it´s: hey, no guardrail? eh, whatever...

The towns themselves are -- well here I am, already, lacking a good enough word to sum up, as if one good word could ever do it, comfortable rooms with down comforters (it´s cold up there) and meals including wild mushrooms and nutmeg dusted crocquets and fine wines and dozens if not hundreds of tapas -- and the village fountain, all exquisitely tiled and water the best I´ve had in a long long time...

But let me tell you about the Spring flowers! Scarlet poppies exclaiming along the roadsides, in almond orchards and meadows, in billows of wild borage and magenta and purple somethings... I decided they´re saying NOW! And then there are the bowers and cascades, the mounds and blankets, banks and billows and sprays of every shade of yellow flowers -- even a bright yellow thistle I´ve never seen before... And a wild oregano with a sky blue flower...

And I saw a bird that, if I only saw one bird in Spain this would be the one I´d want to see -- and I didn´t even know there was such a bird in all the world! Large, it is, with vividly striped black and white wings and an orange belly and chest -- a long curved bill and a crested head... I have to call it the oompa loompa bird because I can´t think of its name, though... the Spanish name is Abubilla... I have it written down in my journal... It flew up right in front of our car (on one of those above described mountain roads) -- a bit of weaving ensued...

We had really good gelato twice today in different towns... And no ham... no pork products at all... Yesterday we had pork for all three meals -- it´s a way of life here and fairly unavoidable... I remembered the ham sandwiches for breakfast from my last trip here and the comida del dia at lunch is usually pork something... and all the tapas... but then there are the fine wines... I like to think of it as balance... Oh, and with the ham sandwiches for breakfast are huge glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice and ohmygod the best coffee... Yes, balance for sure...

A couple more days here on the coast then we turn the car in and take the train to Granada for the rest of the trip... Well, train to Madrid and spend the night there and then fly home from there on Wednesday the 15... It´s all going fast -- it´s all going slow -- time has no meaning...

As I WasSaying Yesterday

We found Betony (Pedicularis Centranthera) and Verbena (gooddingii?) in bloom. Interesting, don't you think? that the very first medicinals in bloom are ones that calm us, help us sleep, give us a gentle attitude adjustment. Notice the frilly little leaves on the Betony that keep it from being confused with other non-medicinal plants that bloom early, too.

If You Go Out In the Woods Today

You might see an attack rabbit like this. We came around a bend in the trail and there it was -- crouched to spring. We barely escaped in time.

The wily wabbit tried to hide under a rock, thinking to surprise us on our way back -- but we saw it in time. Gotta be careful out there in the woods...

We also saw the first Betony -- an excellent sedative herb -- and soon after that we saw our first Verbena of the season in bloom -- yet another excellent sedative. So here on the first day of Spring we hear nature telling us to chill, relax, slow down. Okay!

I Love My New Painting!

I"ve known Jesse Wood since he was a fetus. Now he's an established Santa Fe artist and I'm blessed to have one of his paintings. He and Whitney brought "Alfredo" down to Abq on the RailRunner where I met them all for lunch and a stroll around the town.

Alfredo is the sheep on the left with the black spot -- a real sheep who was abandoned at birth but lived to tell about it -- or at least be painted. He was named for a man in a European hospital whose wife arrived daily to wring her hands at his bedside and cry "Oh Alfredo, you're not going to make it!" I'd like to tell you both Alfredos made it but I don't know the fate of the man with the doomsayer wife.

I love everything Jesse has ever painted from one of his very first -- a pointillistic Tabasco bottle. He shows at the Meyers East Gallery at 225 Canyon Road. Next time you're in Santa Fe, stop in and check out his work. Hey, wait! You can do that online by Googling Jesse Wood, Santa Fe artist! Meyer East has posted pics of a dozen or more of his paintings. I love his titles, too!

Meanwhile, Out in the Hills

Spring's a-poppin'... Well, sort of... The Bladderpod that was looking rather tentative last week, looks more assertive now. Sweet little clusters of it lining the trail -- along with Easter Daisy, Townsendia Exapa which wasn't in evidence at all last week.

G and I hiked up to Huck's Lookout where we -- well -- looked out... Great unpopulated vista to the north that makes me feel a little better about my shrinking habitat. Maybe it hasn't shrunk all that much.

Probably everyone but me has always known that if you click on a photo you can enlarge it hugely... I only recently discovered this and was blown away by the apricot blossom -- the one against the green ball. I get chills every time I look at it -- all that life beckoning in what looks like waxy waving tentacles. And then consider: a whole tree covered with that energy.

Here Comes Another One...

Just like the other one... Remember the Monty Python song? Okay so it is not just like the other one -- this glass ball in the background (hand blown by my brother back in the day when he was a glassblower) is green rather than blue and several of them adorn my apricot tree year-round. Apricots would be nice but these please me in their stead.

Chilly winds doth blow, snow showers persist and the apricot blossoms are getting decidedly ratty looking. I'm glad to have these
pictures.

Just When I'd Given Up Hope

I was beginning to think I'd never be able to post another photo again -- my internet service has been jacked for a week. Maybe whining helps. I like the way the sun is coming through the petals.

Missed photo op: The huge Mormon Tea plants in the hills outside Tucson glowing in the late afternoon amber light. Donna and I gathered some -- feeling the presence of Michael. I've always heard his voice talking about whatever plant I'm gathering -- now there's a presence, too. Thank you, Michael.

Kerfuffle

Two different news stories, one after the other on NPR a few days ago, used the word kerfuffle -- and now it's stuck in my mind, a persistent kerfuffling undercurrent. A somewhat larger kerfuffle right now is caused by my internet service, Higher Speed Internet, which I've come to understand means only slightly higher speed than dial-up. Right now it's s o o o o o slow I can't download the photo I want to post -- the always-too-early apricot blossoms in my backyard. Every year the tree is seduced into bloom by a short period of unseasonably warm temperatures in Feb. -- then is kerfuffled when winter resumes, treats the blossoms harshly and that's that -- no apricots.

Ahhhh -- kerfuffle kerfuffle kerfuffle. Perhaps this little post has exorcised that kerfuffle.

More not so unseasonable bloom observations: Bladderpod (the little mustard family yellow flower) and Perky Sue (a DYC) both seen along the trail to Valley of the Horses a few days ago when I hiked to the spot I believe will have a bloom of Pasque Flower sometime in April. I trust I'll be home from Spain in time to see it. I only have one day between that trip and the Michael Moore and American Herbalism Conference -- I've got to pack alot into that day!

Maybe I Need to Get Out More

The last couple of blogs sounded a bit testy but I was just being flip. Much as I love being flip I had to think, hmmm, perhaps all the brown and grey of winter is actually getting to me. I'm not running off to warm green places this year but just maybe I need to get out and about more. I rounded up June and Melu and off we went to the Rio Grande Nature Center where we saw Canada Geese doing somersaults in shallow water -- behavior I've never observed before at least not in geese. We also happened upon this odd crop in the xeric garden.

That was last Friday -- and yesterday I went to Santa Fe to have lunch with Lucille. Why I didn't have my camera with me to photograph her against the purple and peach walls of Harry's Roadhouse, I don't know. And then I blew it again in her wonderful shop on Galisteo -- color, color, color! I just sit there in the little "living room space" and feast on all that color (and chocolate). It's the most festive clothing store anywhere!

The Buddha, with Halo Askew...

sits sullenly in my garden waiting for Spring. Notice the neatly mounded dirt next to his companion. This would be gopher sign -- mounded dirt and dead plants. So far I've lost 2 Hollyhocks -- mmmm, those sweet roots must be irresistible. I admit to murderous thoughts involving my bb gun but this gopher is so sleek and shiny and hardworking I put those thoughts aside. For now.
And I don't need anyone to point out the contradiction between the juxtaposition of Buddha and murderous thoughts, thank you.

What's an Acequia, Ma?

This is an acequia, kid -- and shut uhhhhp!

Stalking Betony -- to no Avail

Betony was reported not only up but blooming down in the Manzanos... Hmmm, not that far south from here -- I thought perhaps I might see some up and about at the Highway 14 Open Space. Nary a hint of Betony anywhere though I searched high and low. Here's a photo of me searching high -- recognize the Gooding Willow again? And look what turned up low -- I trust you all know this one!

So -- no Betony... But I got to climb trees and hear the water rushing in the acequia, admire a Red-tailed Hawk and just generally rejoice in being outdoors on a fine day.

Searching for Signs of Spring

And this is what I found in my backyard: Filaree -- Storksbill, one of the geraniums. A tiny little flower on a rosette of frilly deep green leaves. Watch for it! I've seen it in dry places, wet places, high places and low...

Bluebirds at my water dishes today, too -- and CedarWaxwings in the elm tree...

Got to Start Somewhere Part 2

Don't even ask where Part 1 is... There was a photo with it, though -- I'll tell you that. A photo of a little cottage, a cozy little fantasy cottage that seemed appropriate to this endeavor's beginning. Oh! Here it is -- nestled cozily in my summer garden. We'll start from there and wander into the present.

Usually by this time of year I'm yearning for an environment like this: Greenery! Leaves as big as me! Warmth! Moisture! And I head south. But this winter I've stayed here in the NM mountains -- without too much whining I might add. Went walking yesterday in the blowing snow, 26 degrees, brisk wind -- and felt wildly alive. Of course I felt wildly alive atop a pyramid in Palenque last February, too.

There is much to be said for feeling wildly alive no matter where you are.