Wabi Sabi and dusty roads...........

One thing's for sure.........New Mexico is laced with long dusty roads........forgiving the east west I-40 sister to Route 66....and the North South I 40......and the divine I 65 that got me to Memphis this summer.....but once off those interstates.......it is wide open nothingness........tiny towns, many deserted....leave ghostly memories behind.....

This is the place where pickup trucks are left to bask in sun far beyond their usefulness...and adobe buildings are left to crumble like sand castles on the beach. This creates a beauty very similar to traditional Japanese esthetics.....influenced by the Shinto religion.....the awareness of nature and Buddhism....the belief that all things are considered to be either evolving from, or dissolving into nothingness......Wabi......transient and stark beauty......and Sabi......the beauty of natural patina and aging.

The Hermitary has a nice reflection titled Wabi and Sabi: the Aesthetics of Solitide HERE........

Counting Sheep.........

I had a dreamy time this past weekend....

 I drove back up to to visit the

 and met up with

 my delightful sisters of the cauldron...

Lori

and

Michelle

and there we ate delicious food....

  discovered this wonderful new place....

 sipped tea

stitched to our heart's content

and filled our Selves with the beautiful energy of this land and each other....

(and went back to gather more than a few bags full!...)

 I was so blessed to be in 

the high country of New Mexico 

to witness the first firey elements of autumn.

The Cottonwoods like to gather by the Rio Grande

and the pockets of trees look like firepots along the banks.

Those and the bright sunny yellow of Chamisa (Rabbitbrush or Rabbit Bush) along the roadside

lit my path home....

enjoy this sweet little video by Tookie Blue Eyes on the Rabbitbush

and I love THIS.... inspiring post by Robyn Gorden over at 'Art Propelled'

I'm yearning to get back into my studio for more silent chatter from my Spiritual Crowd...

San Diego.....

Usually when some one invites me to 'come with' my answer is a resounding 'Yes!'........and last weekend, my 'Yes' brought me to San Diego...........

Where we visited.....the amazing and beautiful

Balboa Park

The site of two world fairs on land set aside in 1868 has set the stage for an amazing grouping of museums and parkland

and at the sprawling San Diego campus of the University of California.....UCSD

we viewed example after example of monolithic architecture.... buildings made of poured concrete

and mirrored glass......

anchored in groves of eucalyptus

and enjoyed wonderful California cuisine......

and beautiful sunsets over Pacific Beach and La Jolla Cove

but my favorite was the tour we took of this place

The Salk Institute, in La Jolla

Where I learned of the ideas behind this timeless archtecture ........

a melding of the ideas of two brilliant men......Dr. Jonas Salk, famous for his polio vaccine and existential architect Louis Kahn........

Their vision and working relationship, bound together with their mutual Spiritual understanding and practice formed the breathtaking beauty we see here today........

one of the premier scientific research facilities in the world....