Monday, August 25, 2008

glories of the morning


They are thriving where they were planted.





And thriving where they planted themselves. I didn't know morning glories were self-seeding, but it turns out that they are. Popping up in the tomato patch, the zen garden, anywhere there's a bit of soil to anchor them.


Early in the cool morning, they open to greet the day. By evening, they're wilted and shriveled. New blossoms will open the next morning, to wither in their turn.

Early in the morning, when it's quiet, when the birds aren't quite awake, when the sun is barely over the horizon, when the day is fresh and cool - that's when I'm happy to be a morning person. Some mornings, the moon is still up in the western sky when the sun is rising in the east. Sometimes the sky is lit with purple and magenta, shot through with orange as the sun rises through banks of dark clouds. Other times the sky is the soft pink of cherry blossoms. Or just a brilliant hard blue with a fierce yellow sun.

Early mornings indoors are frantic, laden with to-do lists, schedules, chores. Stepping outside for a few minutes wipes all of that away. Cool air, new light, bird song and everywhere the vibrant living green.

Morning has broken like the first morning.

Blackbird has spoken like the first bird.

Praise for the morning, praise for the singing

Praise for them springing

Fresh from the world.





Friday, August 15, 2008

like a walk in the rain......


Today was one of those rare days when the Rain Goddess smiles on Colorado - the temperature has dropped from the high 90's to the upper 50's, and a wonderful slow rain has been falling steadily since dawn. It's what the folks of the British isles call a 'soft day'. It's still raining, and is expected to continue raining throughout tomorrow . Suddenly everything is lush and green, a brief oasis before the return of our regular summer weather.
So after watching rain fall while I was working, I put Puppy in her little blue raincoat, grabbed my big black doorman's umbrella and went off to the park. We had it to ourselves, walking along through a steady downpour, happy as could be.
We returned home to find that Keioko, our friend from Japan, had made a six course Japanese dinner for everyone. For dessert, homemade blueberry-banana bread, still warm from the oven. Now I have a steaming cup of tea, Laura's cleaning up the kitchen, Keioko and Bevin have fallen asleep in the living room. Sometimes, having housemates is a wonderful thing.

Monday, August 4, 2008

'Tis More Fun if Thou Dresseth Up




Truly, 'tis so. Never hath I so merry a time at the Faire than yesterday. Although, never didst I start drinking meade so earlie in the day before.....nor the hard cider.....nor the spiced rum lemonade.......
'Tis beside the point. 'Twas a merry time filled with good (and wicked) company, bawdy good fun, and fine looking men as far as eye couldst see.
Prithee, come waste thy time on the photo album gentle friends .... http://picasaweb.google.com/zenpastry/Renfaire2008

Friday, August 1, 2008

Incoherent Late Night Vacation Synopsis




I'm back - went back to the Rocky Mountain National Park this morning after breakfast, and naively thought I'd be leaving town by 2pm. Not so much. The 3 and a half mile hike that would take me a bit over an hour down in Denver took me just over 3 hours at altitude (10,000 and change at the top of the trail). So I got back to the trailhead/shuttle stop at about 3:05, to find that I had just missed the hourly shuttle to the Estes Park Visitor Center. So, I ended up getting back into Denver around 6:30.

But I had a wonderful time, the B&B was fabulous (Gilded Pine Meadows www.gildedpinemeadows.com) the three hour horseback ride up to 12,000 feet was amazing (and I'm still feeling it :) ) and I can't wait to go back. I have a new fitness goal now - to be in good enough shape for hiking and riding.


I took lots of photos, but have whittled it down to this album for right now - I have to be at work at 6am, so this is all I have time for : http://picasaweb.google.com/zenpastry/EstesParkVacation