Indian Summer turned into cold nights with high winds

The nice Indian Summer is coming to an end. The weather is getting cold. People bundle up. Scarfs come out of the closet. Yet a long walk walk in the beautiful desert  still enchants. Doggy Dog could even be loose since there were no Coyotes nor snakes around.

Sadly my dear friends Cooper and Irene are leaving tomorrow morning and we probably wont see each other again  before more than a year is over. I hope all their plans come together that they find the people they need to be around and enjoy art and creativity. So maybe I can then go to New Mexico and stay for while in their new surroundings...

It is cold now: four blankets and a small dog kind of keeps me warm...

Living in two places makes the loss of people double. Some are really sick, others are really old. Some go on not withstanding. Others not so much. I guess I am a forever city girl longing for the desert beauty around here. Arrivals and leavings all is part of life and the excitement of living.

Autumn rain in Chloride

The smell of rain in the desert
The sound of rain on a tin roof
The gentle rumbling of giant's conversations
The grey a grace and gratitude

And then lightning -
        the higher light light of
      comprehension and compassion -

The sand is thirsty and clears the air breath by breath -

Smell the roses
        smell the rain on sand

The highest mountain claims the cloud.

October 24 - 2016

Mojave dessert

 










Sunday morning breakfast

window rattling wind

clang banging doors

clattering tin roof in rain

sand-drifting crevasses

all dust my home

desert lilies’ white stain

a jittery fix for cows and deer

as for folks meth & beer

war stories on Sunday mornings

of fallen heroes

at the VFW breakfast boasting

of classified unmarked secret

warfare & all alive to tell it

to the stranger that I am

and in this desert storm

I hear the sand grain wail

 From the glamor of Hollywood to the Old Historic Route 66. At first still maintained but then fallen to the wayside.


Present Past and Future is the slogan of Route 66...

 The Best Western in Bartsow with a view of the trucks going by on the I 40. Imagine the joy of a road all to oneself... In Ludlow there is a new coffee shop, its fate uncertain.

House -garage - gas station -
Ludlow café -
all derelict
publictés fanées
faded billboards
fallen by the wayside

a good life
with a real house across
at the east direction
nobody took
all went west

and needed shelter
repairs
gas
sustenance
courage for the crossing
but NO CHECKS CASHED


neither is anybody responsible
for fire or theft
of ones dreams
on Route 66.
How long before new Ludlow resembles the old
before the desert has taken back its space
before a new generation builds
a fresh watering hole for the thirsty and weary

From art deco to Hollywood nature

The art deco in Hollywood is incredible, many buildings are worthwhile closer inspection. It speaks of lighthearted fun and quality of life for those who could and can afford it and who exit theaters with security screening the surroundings. Yes men in black, but no Johnny Cash.

The street musician, unperturbed was great blowing his trumpet and singing. Some passers by putting something in his trumpet case. With the lights of the Hard Rock Café on the shiny sidewalk we leave the boulevard to go look for the Hollywood sign.

 We tried Mulholland drive and ended up in narrow private streets with lots of security and signs stating "armed response". Quite the opulent serie noire athmosphere.

We never got to the sign but found a nice spot with a tree tunnel cave.

Wild tobacco grows there and a band of crows circle and call to you.
Peaceful in the warm California spring sunshine. A two and a half hour hike would have been too much under this sun on exposed hills.
Maybe one day in other season...

April snow

The winter had been rather dry, so nobody complained when a pouring rain came down after the Friday evening local fish fry.  The rain danced and played on the tin roof in gentle and hard rhythms.

 Usually spring is nice and friendly. I have picnicked at Lake Mead at Christmas day and at the top of Hualapai mountain the next, with just a shirt and a sweater. Now I try to stop the wind from entering by putting pillows in front of the door
and the words a carpet of snow have become rather literal. Yard art is enhanced by nature. Here a sculpting by Bob Stördahl, putting old rust from the mines to good use.

Frienship's crossing

The water, the bay, wind in your hair, a shawl is advisable, is a quiet time on the way to see an old friend in Sausolito. Friendship requires crossings, letters, phone calls but always a hug, a touch will erase the time of distance.

The rewards are manifold, the Golden Gate Bridge in a quiet fog, lifting above the tide.

Alcatraz, where a few students stay for a couple of months to repair the salt eroded steps,where tourists flock to to see the place of the movie or the occupation by AIM in 1969.

Here the Sausolito Bay where my friend grew up, and the hills with her father's house. She grew up a wild child without mother and became a strong and independent spirit. Friends try to let one grow and become the best one can be.

Goodbyes are hard, the distance to bridge is vast and friendship is priceless.

Like beauty friendship is its own reward.

More Grand Canyon

Take your time give it to the Grand Canyon, avoid the over populated places. The first time I visited the canyon I went to the visitors center, saw the movie, read the warning signs and was totally bewildered at what it meant: take two gallons of water per person , wear sturdy shoes - while I saw people on flip-flops without water venturing down the trail. Understanding the desert so many years later, I get what the dangers of the canyon are. Extreme temperatures, high winds, steep ravines, slippery paths. Yet the beauty of survival and death, weathered trees is breathtaking.

Who or what is responsible for all this: Father Time, Sister River, Rains and droughts and winds, frost and snow, heat and dust... and the pitter patter of feet en hoofs and pats, the elk, mountain lions and chipmunk all contribute to the slow splendorous decay of a high plateau which used to be an ocean.

The Mojave Desert in Bloom

 The winter was long and harsh in the Mojave Desert. Late frost squashed many blooms and the flowering is late.

From prickly pear cactus to hierba buena was flowering today

 Here half  of the plant dried up during winter yet the other half is alive and kicking. That to me is the lesson of the desert: life is precious and worth caring for.

 Walking through the foothills of the Cerbats, I am at once grounded in the here and now and enjoying and seeing the beauty and frailty of it all.

Old rusted plates from the old mining days have their function here. A quail thought it was the perfect protection for her covey of chicks.

 My eyes feasted on all the colors, from gentle to vibrant. Yet i thread carefully, since Arizona is known for its poisonous creatures: the most poisonous snake: the Mojave green rattlesnake, Gila monsters, scorpions... And also majestic birds of prey: Ravens, falcons, Hawks and  the sanitary service of the desert: the Turkey buzzards.

Hierba Buena is a powerful plant with healing properties for body and soul. If something is wrong with you, take a slow walk through the desert and you'll feel your strength return.

If you click on the pictures they open up for you.

Colmar and Christmas atmosphere

 Colmar in Weinachtsmarkt festive mood and unseasonably cold. The pretty and quiet town sports the typical Alsatian Fachwerk Houses and with the Christmas lights on in town it is quaint and sweet.  Good food and even a bookfair.

 

The first snow prettified  and made it all look even more romantic.

The book fair showed useless mechanical objects. Quiet pretty. A whole section was dedicated to children, where they could actually do something. And at some stands the authors sat next to one another waiting for recognition.

A lot of cook books and the chefs were there all dressed up...
France will be France.

And yes, we had  e few nice meals with the local fare.

Friends and family and those who are for freedom of expression.

Some friends and family try to keep 'posted' on my whereabouts and what I am up to. For the time being I am in the low countries where it has been raining old wives, cats and dogs and all the other expressions you can come up with. Parts of Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany are flooded. Meadows, forests,gardens are waterlogged. Saturated. Canals and streams overflow or break dams. And still at least one more day of rain has been predicted for Western Europe.
For the rest I have been following my passion:poetry and the translation thereof. Being a member of PEN's Writers in Prison committee,  we keep an empty chair for the colleagues who are in jail at all activities we organize. I must say that we live in interesting times. A writer we have defended Chinese Liu Xiaobo has received the Nobel prize for peace. The other great news is that Aung San Suu Kyi from Myanmar after 15 years of house arrest and imprisonment has been freed. Her first speech dealt with the most important right a person has and which according to her is Freedom of Speech. Both facts are good news, now another writer in prison should be freed. Monday evening from 7 to 8 PM, November 15, Bart Stouten will - on the classical radio Klara in Belgium - also deal with the subject of freedom of expression and speak about an story written by Uighur author Nurmuhemmet Yasin, Wild Pigeon. This short story was published in a literary magazine and let to the imprisonment of the author in 2004. May he and others opposing dictatorial regimes be free at last.

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Saint Martin in Orsoy: Rabimmel rabammel rabumbumbum

When dark and stormy November shows the darkness of the days to come what better to do than have a parade with children carrying lighted lampoons and lanterns. Happy music and Saint Marin(a) in red coat on a horse will give you happy feelings even in pouring rain and a cold dark evening along the Rhine in Orsoy.  Of course you will be held warm also by a nice grog or Glühwein spiced up with some Cointreau. After the parade sweets are passed out to the local children or those young at heart. The Weckmann is it, some fruit and a selection of sweets and chocolate. Of Course kids make their own lanterns and the town is decorated. It is all about being together and sharing. A nice feeling.

At the end there is a fire to warm all the marchers and onlookers up and of course it is professionally doused by the local fire brigade.
So we warmed our hands and heart at the fire, thought about the good days children can still experience, we all smile notwithstanding rain and wind.

Tradition can be stifling but in this case tradition makes sense, brings joy and brings a community and families together.  And the next 11.11 at 11 minutes past 11 The fifth season begins.

All pictures by:

© sms:foto duisburg/rhein 2010

East and west

Two sunsets one sunrise...

Summerstorm

I have learned and felt today that hailstones on your head hurt. Raindrops on your nose however are gentle greetings from a faraway brook where poets are born... or so it seems after the ice.

Quatorze Juillet

The 14th of July is the national holiday in France. Military parades, parachutists over Paris, landing just in front of the president and fireworks it is all part and parcel of the festivities. In the European "capital" Strasbourg the fireworks were quiet nice and drew a large international crowd, while people are sleeping rough to the beat of military bands... Heavy rainstorms and hail are expected tonight. The contrasts of life and how to reconcile and solve them.