riffing - spring poem/ rant

two months of what seems like
solid rain - yesterday sunshine, good moods, and smiles all around -
How lucky can I possibly get? - sunshine and a gorgeous Eileen Fisher sweater find at the Goodwill, for $5 - thank you universe, and whoever donated it - trying to play the glad game - I can be thankful that the weeds are easier to pull out with all this rain - thankful that we built a greenhouse - thankful that it didn't ruin the marriage, when certain said person accidentally let a wheelbarrow of heavy dirt go careening into the side of the aluminum frame,denting it - and other certain said person bit their tongue and refrained from letting loose the torrent of words, that seemed rather in order - thankful that some power watching over us, may have been dad's departed gardening spirit, saw to it that the damage was repaired and it now stands finished, as if nothing ever happened -
glad for my friends, classical music, and a new assortment of birds
that have come to feed and entertain, on the feeders we put up this year -
so I live with the rain, knowing that there is winter reading still, to catch up on,
wool to be spun and knit, and hot food to enjoy along with the fresh garden greens
until the sun and warm weather return

favorite places in the West

Pioche Nevada

Butte Montana

Tuscarora Nevada

Mountain City Nevada

Rock Springs Wyoming

Helper Utah

Eureka Nevada

Silver City New Mexico

Bisbee Arizona

Terlingua Texas

Silver City Idaho

Atlanta Idaho

Spokane Washington

I don't quite know why I love these raw, nitty gritty places so much. They are real, with rough edges, not bourgeois fantasy lands or tourist traps. The truck photo was taken in Mountain City Nevada next to the Duck Valley Indian Reservation near the Idaho state line. I met an Indian there at the gas station. He had two scurfy cute cow dogs in the back of his old pick up truck. I said" those are some cute dogs you got there" He starts chatting with me and explains that their names are; Kimo and Sabe," too funny" I said. I really like this tiny little, rough spot in the road with a twisty, climbing, road out and hard scrabble landscape , old buildings made from local rocks,and people with a fun sense of humor. I could live in this place, at least for a little while. My soul feels content there.

life at the 45th parallel- psychological survival of the fittest

I love this truck, it says-weathered by the elements- prepared for anything-

I am currently living on double espressos with cod liver oil chasers (for the vitamin D, silly)
someone once told me" winter is a time to go inwards, for self reflection"
You mean like how a bear goes inwards, sleeping all the time?
this person no longer lives here