A bad border crossing back, very slow,
And the SUV in front of us held up
As an obviously Muslim family was evicted
Until finally being allowed through.
We were grilled–
Why are you so far from home?
Are you just declaring TWO SCONES?!
And you, usually the most honest of men,
Were bent on smuggling several pounds of slightly sour cherries
Back into the U.S.A.
To read the whole poem in Awaken Consciousness Magazine: http://readacm.com/2013/04/20/niagara-falls-10000-buddhas/
I feel I should sing
“De Colores” as I stroll
Nicaragua’s streets
smiling faces greet
around Granada’s corners
horses faces too
cathedral hush
votive candles flicker bright
cool stones underfoot
geckos behind glass
tropical decoration
better look quickly
A recent visit to Fairsted, home and workshop of Frederick Law Olmsted, in Brookline, MA.
Walls of a solarium.
Olmsted designed Central Park and Boston’s Emerald Necklace of parks.
He is the father of landscape architecture and I see a direct line between him and land artists–different intentions but a similar desire to engage with landscape.
Plus I like being in workspaces.
We were driving along a shunpike, an activity much enjoyed by my spouse. A turn of the wheel, and the Toyota was sunk in the sand, miles from nowhere. In this case, I will
A. Dig
B. Check cell phone reception
C. Call Triple A
D. Wait to be rescued
E. Walk out
F. Leave my bones for the vultures
In this instance, went for A-D. Actually, as my spouse was calling AAA, a vehicle showed up. In it were
A. Quail hunters with guns, knives, and dogs
B. Sociopathic survivalists
C. Good Samaritans
D. A & C
D. is correct. Polite young men easily towed us out. We decided to turn around and take the highway. What we learned from this was
A. I was right that shunpikes are scary (me)
B. The human spirit of exploration such as that which drove Columbus sometimes displays errors of judgment (spouse)
C. People who are different than you can rescue you
D. Gratitude is a great feeling
E. It is better to be drinking sangria with blueberry liquor in a nice Italian restaurant than stuck on a back road
F. Time to give some charitable donations as a thanks to divine providence and the county of Socorro
G. Luck–sometimes good, sometimes bad, often both
H. AAA is still a great thing as they called just as we were rescued
I. Be more cautious on sand
J. All of the Above
J. is correct.
The Baba Yaga House
Isabel Winson-Sagan is a resident of Santa Fe, NM, and has a degree from the University of New Mexico in religious studies and evolutionary anthropology. She will soon be attending the University of Aberdeen in Scotland for further work in religious studies. She just bought the trailer for her Tiny House, and will be starting her build in the next couple of months.
***
If I were forced to provide a single, unqualified answer to the question, “Why are you building a tiny house?” I would have to say: instantaneous love. I was 8 years old when I first saw the inside of an RV trailer, while on a road trip with my parents. Afterwards I demanded of my mother, “Why don’t we live in one of these?” On some level I was wounded. My parents had always known about these perfect, tiny, ship-like houses on wheels, and had chosen to abide in our irritatingly stationary home instead.
To read the whole essay:
http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/blogs/tumbleweed/7115460-the-baba-yaga-house
