leaving Llano Largo and traveling back to Texas

So we had our last wonderful, vividly beautiful hike up to Indian Lake. I went to the farmers market and purchased chard ( icky, even though Sally, the farmer, said it was wonderful) , lettuce, garlic, and really WANTED to purchase some tarts. Boy did they looks luscious! I spent what felt like 24 hours getting the house ready for hibernation; serious cleaning, mopping, leak detecting, glass sweeping up, stain removing, wishing stains were being removed, unclogging drains, printing emails for my good friend and neighbor Rey.....generally reluctantly getting ready to leave. Alas. I did not want to leave, EVER. Even as I hear on talk radio( announced by the woman who built our house, Nancy Stapp) that roving gangster bandits have been holding up people in their houses in the area west of the Rio Grande bridge....I am non plussed. I don't care. I love it here. I love hearing the cows mooing as I awaken at 2 am, I love the river as a constant background to my sometimes anxious thoughts. I love the fierce possessiveness of those who grew up here without plumbing or electricity. I love the summer long landscape of daises and sunflowers and wild roses, which change ever so slightly as June turns to July to August. I love the tips of the apricot tree leaves that have an red orange waxy glow. I love the sounds of the plows baling hay, very late in the season because it's been a rainy spring. I love the magpies, the ravens, and the hawks that partake of the generous bounty of chokecherries, raspberries and currants, and the fearless rabbits that run down our driveway, growing bigger by the day, unaware of Walter and Ike's enthusiasm for rabbit on the hoof. It tears my heart to leave a place so beautiful and serene. I am happy here unlike any place I have ever lived. I ache to see the leaves turn in fall and await the first snow. In time, in time, this place will be ours to embrace throughout the seasons like the birds that take over the perennial nests of the barn swallows. We have nested in this wild and craggy nest, and it feels more like home that my actual endured time home does. It is majestic and wild and scary and untouchable. It is free and crazy and real and harsh, and I don't want to leave.

Evenings in the Stunningly Beautiful Llano Largo

Thing I accomplished on my summer vacation

1. Shooing a cow out of our field with a dish towel

2. Shooing 3 cows out of our field with a stick

3. Shooing one very stubborn cow by running toward it through the underbrush yelling"I want to eat you"

4. Swatting at a bat with a broom while encouraging it to fly outside the open window

5. Swatting at a bat with a broom while on the phone getting advice about how to remove a bat from your house

6. Swatting at a bat with a poorly constructed 'net' made from a Rayley's plastic sack and copper
wire

7. Swatting at aforementioned bat while two VERY excited orange boys help direct him toward the open window. Success!

So is it the depression or the implants that kill?

Breast implants linked with suicide in study - Yahoo! News

Seems to me that our culture has a LONG way to go for women to accept themselves as they are. Is it just me , or does the women's movement seem to have faded away ? Haven't we made any progress? Humfphh

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My PODCAST Ring, or what I made at Summer Camp

I know, it's wierd, but Penland encourages creativity! Yeah, yeah, yeah!! It's my organic 'podcast' ring made from enamel and sterling silver. The photo is rather unclear, but my camera was a hand me down. Thanks Dad! I'm not complaining. You just kind of need to see it live.

OK, I'm 50 now and it's not that different!

Turning 50 was a relief after spending the last couple of years reflecting, dreading, and reconciling my feelings. The actual day was pretty unremarkable except for my feeling pretty happy about the whole deal. Who would have thought? The body adapts to the mind and the mind adapts to the body. That evening the universe conjured up a stunning full moon and stars, reflected above La Jicarita peak. How nice to be reminded of what a great joy to be ensconced in nature.

My animals and my art continue to inspire and delight me. Archie ( Archibald Cox my maine coon boy ) has made two escapes into the wilds of the great outdoors. The kitties have learned to use the dog door for exiting, but not for re entry. Oops! Aretha was on the front porch yesterday and Archie was hiding under the porch. Good thing the coyotes were already at work ( or something) . During the time that I was slouching in my county courthouse chair listening to corrupt, lying neighborhood group leaders fight each other, my poor kitties were exposed to the outdoors! Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

On the subject of neighborhood politics, it seems that pay backs, bribes, power plays, insensitivity, name calling,and prejudice rule the system. What a disappointment. Why am I continually surprised? I guess I feel such a need for fairness, that I find it unbelievable that this sort of behavior can exist for years without some form of correction. When 'newcomers' try to get involved to straighten things out through logic and fairness, they are labeled insensitive to the 'local' way of doing things.They are called names, ostracized and despised for their education.They are feared for their ability to look up legal terms and laws, and they are pushed hard by the frozen hate of years of isolation. They are despised for their light skin and their new cars.They are sometimes threatened. Twenty years ago they would have had their house burned down. Now they are just stared at fiercely as they slowly drive down the community gravel roads, and they are talked about in Penasco foods. "That blond girl" and "that lady down the road that lives behind the Martinez's". You get the idea. Sigh. Sigh. Sigh. Not that everyone is like that. Many, many are not. In fact most of my Llano Largo neighbors are stunningly friendly and kind, welcoming and warm. Most of them are happy that we love this area as much as they do and love to share the beauty and the struggles that go along with this place. This rugged place of extreme beauty.