Contrasts

Imagine being a beetle looking for a plant under which to burrow, or a Western Blue Bird looking for a flying bug, OR imagine drinking wine made from grapes grown in this arid, sterile environment.  Mmmmm.  Good?  Imagine Bacchus celebrating the harvest, or even the trimming of the vine, here at this corner of parched-earth.

Further up the very same road, lives this vineyard.  Old Vines thriving in a jungle of Life! Mustard blooming with Fava, peas, oats, vetch, all creating a beautiful tangle of nutrition and energy for the grape vines.  None of these vines are marked with plastic tape for destruction because of the dreaded root mite.  Nothing is sprayed, not even the roadside.  This is an organic vineyard, farmed with sustainability practices.  Even the seasonal creek on this ranch is being restored to its wildness.

Let me add, the vineyards on this ranch are beautiful.  There are Blue Birds, wood peckers, ravens, crows, sparrows, wild ducks and geese, bugs, plants, deer, and more, living and supporting one another.  And I know, from experience; the wine that comes from this verdant collaboration is sublime.

I have been "off" my computer, radio, TV, magazines, books and most-any-reading material since Monday of last week.  My Goodness!  What perils awaited me when I let go of that batch of distractions!  Yes.  Quite quickly I went slightly berserk:  wildly creative, massively emotional.  Even went to cleaning, which for me is usually last-last-last resort.

An amazing awareness is coming from this experience, namely that I read everything within 47 miles of me, and that I waste some (he he he) time with this activity.  By practicing the "word deprivation" for these days, I have noticed that when I focus on the task/person at hand, my attention is much more clear.  Much.

Which ever so gently brings one to... what we put our attention upon, flourishes.  My intention was to paint the lemons, and the painting veered to Chartres Cathedral and the Beautiful Madonna within, where I experienced an earth-affirming, feminine epiphany.  Whether or not She makes it as an image known and recognised in the painting, She informs, guides and celebrates through my creative activity.

And the rain continues to fall and to heal.  All Is Well.

xoxoLC