Yosemite.......respite continues

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike."

~John Muir, The Yosemite (1912)

and if Point Reyes were not enough of a blast of Nature

after 4 days there

we headed inland

to 

Yosemite National Park

This is the third time I've visited the park in less than two years 

and the first time in the spring.

California is in a drought like many of the western states

and there was not the normal abundance of snow that feeds these magnificent waterfalls

however, if there is a time to see them flow, it's in the Spring

and last week we were blessed with an abundant show of water cascading off the ridges of cliffs

Bridal Veil

Yosemite Falls

All spilling into the Merced River

(a wash of water so refreshing to see as I sit here now in central New Mexico's 

90 degree heat imagining a rain dance)

But I think the highlight for me was walking and meditating among the ancient

Giant Sequoia

and experiencing the ephemeral blooms of the Pacific Dogwood 

after 6 days in the park we sat for the last sunset of our journey......

 rested, healed and energized

"Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods.  Wash your spirit clean."

~Muir quoted by Samuel Hall Young in Alaska Days with John Muir

A rolling stone....

gathers no moss...

Along with travels to Portales and Pittsburgh, while moving and renovating my new studio space....

I was also fortunate to have made previous travel plans to distract me from all of this.

So off we went to an area just north of San Francisco......

coincidentally near where this one was heating her cauldrons just days before

(which you can read about here)

Our path took us a bit to the west of where she was in Inverness to

Point Reyes National Seashore

where we hiked for great misty vistas

and more intimate ones

watched the fog settle in....

and roll out again...

over fields of wildflowers

and down to 

the 

sea

calm on one side of the peninsula

and 

wild

on the other,

tossing up creatures...

like this one

then we hiked some more

anticipating a lagoon

 where on the way....we saw this guy lurking

as we proceeded with caution....

to find this beautiful place.

On the day we journeyed to the historic 

Point Reyes Lighthouse

it was foggy and windy and cold in contrast

we hiked down 

over 300 steps

to view the magnificent light box that was the 'LIGHT' 

and while everyone was ooooo-ing and ahhhhh-ing over the hundreds of 'made in Paris' prisms that reflected the 

tiny light bulb......

I was eyeing the mends in the curtains that protect the lens

grateful for MY lens that drew them closer 

Pittsburgh...............

Just as my dearest was explaining that the good thing about my move was that I had 

"time on my side".......

we were called to Pittsburgh

for a funeral.

So off we went....packing excellerated

And although the occasion was a sad one,

 it was also very

beautiful and filled with light.

With family and friends we celebrated and honored a 

well lived life.

And the days brought us sunshine and warmth to a frequently gray city. 

The opportunity to see one portion of the

Fiberart International at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts

(which Jennifer writes about here in part 1 of 3 beautifully presented blogposts)

and to melt into the beauty of a sunny and moist

spring

was very much appreciated

by this desert dweller...

Thank you

Dear 

Roz

and your family for including me in such a poignant and loving celebration of your life

and my final thoughts for today...

and

BE

(now off to pack for my next adventure)