o11011: listening to the wind, my soul and the ravens...

~sometimes the message is not so clear~

~other times it is very clear~

all morning the wind was howling, she would not be ignored. her determination rattled the windows and caused the trees to speak. i pulled over to listen to her. i followed her advice and drove to the recycling center, and on the way passed Richard's house (Richard is the neighbor I met a week or so ago and exchanged stories over the loss of his wife and my father~ see the end of this post for the story of Richard & Annie click on link). I called out, "hello Richard!" to his empty house. at the recycling center i filled my trunk with discarded books. some were filled with stories of long ago, others with poetry, and others packed with glorious illustrations. the gem was an old school reader~ filled with poems, stories from wise native americans, fairy tales from turkey, short stories and beautiful illustrations. it was published in 1969, my birth year. as i left i noticed the park there, i used to go there with sadie, but fear has kept me from there- fear of running into other dogs. sadie is not a dog-lover.

~grace harbor~

quick n dirty journal entry 011011

i have arrived into the gentle arms of grace harbor.

i am:

open

to receive

to see

to hold

to give

to listen

~elkemay~

the breath is the choir of heaven

~anahata sound~

the sun

this burst of joy;

this thrust from space into the eye and heart.

this part of life so far away

that sweat and tears are never far apart.

this healing glow;

this gift to the poor and sick-

this quick star-spanning light

that rides the day

and ends the night.

~michael geelan~

~balance~

awaken the roots that connect you to the earth

after hours of journaling i followed the advice of my wise teacher simon. i tore myself from my cozy house, my pens, scissors, paper and journals. in search of balance. to feel the warm sun on my face. the dirt of this earth under my feet. to breathe in the crisp air. to feel the wind's embrace. and so i set out to the park near the recycling center with lil sadie. as we started up the hill i noticed a man walking down towards us. "does he have a dog," i wondered, "should i change my path?" i continued up the path. the man approached. i said hello, then i looked, "Richard!" i exclaimed, "it's Elke!" towards the end of our conversation he said, "i'm beginning to think we are karmically connected!" I laughed, "oh i've known that since we met!"

~i don't know where my path will lead me~

~the recycling center: filled with discarded treasures~

~the view from the top, looking into the sun~

~the traveling girls~

~and into the magical oaks and fern covered gullies we go~

~a fork in the path~

as we approached the fork the ravens over head carryed on in the most chaotic fashion. squaking and cawing, jumping from branch to branch. it seemed a warning of sorts. i don't know what about. it was spooky but i let it go. perhaps they are not speaking to me. we scurried along. we took the lower path.

~the tree of death~

i noticed some mushrooms and stopped to take photos, but the light wasn't good. then the stench hit me. rotting flesh. i looked up to see this tree. dead. in it's arm-like branches were piles of sticks with a hole- an entrance. perhaps this is what the ravens were upset about.