I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought

there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels

bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that

she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and 

read this and know that, yes, it's true I'm here, and I'm just as strange as you.

-Frida Kahlo

 "Las dos Fridas" (The Two Fridas) from today's visit to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  

twilight:

I wade with snowy egrets

and impersonate 

the rustle of wonder.

* As long as this exists... by Anne Frank

On Tuesday I had five wisdom teeth extracted and I've been reveling in recuperation ever since. I really don't think the procedure could have gone any better, such a relief! Here are a few things I've been enjoying in my down time...

A thoughtful friend sent me both seasons of Downton Abbey (which I'd never seen) and I am hooked!

New issues of Anthology and Kinfolk magazines. There is an article entitled A Quiet Life in Kinfolk by Julie Pointer that is especially wonderful.

A surprise of fresh blooms in tangerine and deep pink on my bedside table.

Listening to Natalie Merchant's Leave Your Sleep. An album of songs adapted from 19th and 20th century poetry.

Revisiting the world of Jane Austen. Do you have a favorite?

A dog who is an excellent nap companion until he takes over the bed entirely and, well, even then.

Gazing out an open window to the garden where a pleasing rain drizzles as I type and sunlight begins to come into view.

Carrying this poem in my pocket. 

xo

I find myself waiting 

for the slow gait of anger

to fall dormant.

As I write these lines

it resembles something quieter,

less urgent,

less devout.

Not quite receding altogether,

more like a tamed beast

dozing in the corner.

He wakes to watch me,

turns his head

and closes his everyday eyes.

We can suppress anger and aggression or act it out, either way making things worse for ourselves and others. Or we can practice patience: wait, experience the anger and investigate its nature. - Pema Chodron   (more here)

I am here to seduce you into a love of life;

to help you to become a little more poetic;

to help you die to the mundane and to the ordinary 

so that the extraordinary explodes in your life.

- Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

It also welcomes me with a chipped tooth (photo not included).

In January I spent four weeks in a hotel at the base of the Santa Catalina mountains in Tucson where my mother had back surgery, and each day those mountains lifted me up. Bud and Rave came to get me when it was time to come home and we took a short side trip to the red rocks of Sedona. I made an early morning pilgrimage to the cathedral where I have been many times since I was a girl, each time moved by the depth of nature's beauty around me. We drove home in strange snowdrops on Valentine's day and picnicked on scrumptious "I can't believe this is really gluten free" carrot cake along the way. 

Since then I have been moon camping in Malibu in a green VW bus, the ultramarine night aglow and my loved ones by my side. Bud read This Side of Paradise aloud and my thoughts drifted like firedust. I fell asleep to the rush of waves and rustle of sycamore leaves. I awoke to morning coffee and the combined nudge of sunshine and a dog ready to look for squirrels.

Recently I spent a few rainy days in the Pacific Northwest gathering with a small group of creative women I adore. Each morning I sat in the wicker rocker at the edge of my bed and peered out the window incredulously at the bald eagle nesting in the branches of a nearby fir. Poetry, painting, the flicker of candlelight, and laughter long into the night...

How are things in your corner of the world? I'd love it if you'd leave a link letting me know what you've been up to.

i may have to fly over arid hesitation

in parched and shadowed silence.

in such a half spent moment

vocabularies of more than a hundred miles

will not save me.

i come back to this:

the prowling moon of prayers ignited

on the incantation of acceptance,

the sea-stars of midnight

clasped in your sun-browned hands.

* Map of What Is Effortless

 Alba

 Skin