love and friendships and travel and staying put!

it matters not where or how far you travel -
the further commonly the worse -
but how much alive you are.
                          ~ henry david thoreau

much of my life has been a traveling life -
driving up and down the coastline from
the san juan islands of washington
to the city of angels - california..
through or to monterey..
further, across the great waters to mother india
many times to bombay, delhi, chennai, dharmsala ..
further, spending months aplenty in the greek islands,
off to afghanistan, turkey, yugoslavia (when indeed it was)
italy, through and through -
europe traipsing all around spain, france..oui!
further, an abundance of england, ireland and amsterdam..
the eastern euro places..poland, the czech republic et al
there was egypt and syria..
tahiti!
o and south america by bus and truck..
costa rica, panamá, equador, columbia, peru
and further on and on south and south some more..

i have missed much of africa,
never made it to japan, russia,
mongolia or tibet ..
nor the scandawhovians..

this past may i was almost on a plane
to sweden for my 70th birthday..
of course, the blight..the pandemic..
put a stop to that..
further conjured a sojourn to ireland
with a friend in september ..
we'd be there by now..
but no, no..
not happening..
well then, how about a wee road trip
down to ashland for a get-away?
no way ~

further no more
i find myself
being still
staying put
nada
none
no peregrinating....

walking in the woods and forests galore..
early morning meditative strolls along the bay..
one foot in front of the other
hikes up and down the heights of hither and yon
pedaling across the trestle
 all nearby
much alive

for the moveable feast that i have been,
it is a shape shift
molecules remaining stationary
mind, too, resting
a wee bit shushed from bustle and hustle
no where to go
simply in ~
slow going
no going

the deeper you listen,
the more you will hear 
only one thing.
you will hear love 
everywhere.
              ~ gene key 13  / discernment

discernment
patience
ah! those elusive virtues
i have been chasing
all my lifelong.. ha!
perhaps,
with some stillness..
and much unmoving
patience
might bestow upon
my quiet countenance,
deep listening
love

i hear it!
the murmurations
of oodles of starlings
jammin' in the nearby trees
sound and flight
light and shadow

thwap, thwap raven wings
cawing and craaacking
sharing their revelations -
in threes..
caw, caw, caw...
have you noticed?

highway traffic, trains, the sound of freedom
tapping and grinding and building projects
always the buzzz and hummm of hummingbirds
wasps, too, that stick themselves to the feeders
loco with sugar and thick nectar of sweet
robins trilling their musical scales with flickers
practicing duets of suets..
the smoke..
do you hear it?


writing letters these daze
notes, cards, love missives..
offerings, poems, quotes
bits of trivia, enclosures..
connecting the dots
of past to present..
i have no social media accounts
with the exception of this blog..
is this social media?
my method of friending
is ink, paper, stamps..
petals, feathers ~
dribs and drabs
to carry on love relations ..
traveling epistles
dispatches of endearments


when you are enlightened, 
there is one relationship  
that you no longer have: 
the relationship with yourself.
once you have given that up, 
all your other relationships 
will be love relationships.
                            ~ eckhart tolle   

'tis a long road ahead, for me,
to the enlightenment portal -
i confess to a gluey, tacky,
gummy relationship with my self of selves..
yet i do spy the horizon..that vast expanse..
and if there is a voyage worthy of embarquation,
it is the way to the way which is the way ~

the best way to know god is to love many things
                    ~ vincent van gogh