The Golden Mountains, Fall 2012

Thursday I drove to Denver from Santa Fe, Hwy 285. A beautiful drive thru the forests, into the big sky, over the rivers, alongside the Elk and Deer. What a brilliant adventure wiley dog and i had. It wasn’t til my return on Saturday that the Aspens sparkled brilliant gold, lime green, yellow and orange. So magnificent i thought, how creative of you Candace to plan a workshop in Denver just at this time of Fall so you could see watercolors in the trees.

The trees were magnificent. The air was big, the clouds were dancing and as i looked around i thought and wrote (yes i write while i drive 🙂 about the 5 elements. As i looked over to the mountains, they are like the kidneys nurturing the moisture and moving the will upward. They are so yin that they draw the clouds to them, and hold them ever so precious so that eventually the clouds will give their resistance and melt down the valleys and follow the river and streams into the little creeks that meander thru the forests. Twice wiley dog got out and swam in the rivers, what a treat for him, he loves to swim.

Between the clouds that are drawn to the mountains are the open spaces where the cloud spirits dance. There were some amazing patterns of clouds where you could see the energy of the dance in the big sky. This is the sky of the southwest. The expansiveness that seems endless, that opens even the human heart and mind bigger and beyond the boundaries that cities fit them nicely into.

I drive because i feel free, even if it is driving to Denver for a day and back, the freedom of moving has always been part of my soul. I drive because i get to see how things are changing, i see the seasons differently in different parts of the world at the same time. One morning i wake in the desert, the next i am in the mountains where snow has already fallen on the summits, while down below in the valley it is still scorching. The trees tell me that we are shifting into Autumn early this year, the winds tell me that it is going to be pushing hard, and the people respond with colds already in the season. I see and feel this all in my travels. I am a time traveller, a record keeper, and explorer, because it allows me to share the world, the world to share with me. The wildness of Nature calls me always, the city slowly drains it, and so i take off on the road often, to recharge this beauty.

As the sunset to the west, i saw Red Water Spider playing with Fire Sky Dragon. (photo below)

Here are some other thoughts as well:

Colorado gators, Hwy 17 there are alligators being raised in huts. I felt sad for a moment, and fondly i remember growing up in the bayous of Louisiana and how these people that raised these gators truly missed the real beauty of all the other creatures the alligators live with including the Cypress, and herons, lightening bugs, bullfrogs, crickets, ….

Nearby i cross the ET Viewing Platform, yes there is truly a UFO sky p latform out near the Sand Dunes, oh yes there are ancient sand dunes in the mountains of Colorado, how strangely bizarre this seems, but always i see the scars of old lakes and rivers on the mountains, once there was a Sea here. And i feel the energy.

There is snow already on the caps of the mountains, rock scars lie below and soon they will be covered in white snow, it won’t be long now. I share the wildness with Elk and Deer and Hawks that cross my path.

Driving up to more than 10,000 feet elevation my body changes, it gets squeezed and expanded just like the air in the can of water i carry with me. i feel the changes in the popping of my ears, and i feel the moisture create droplets on my skin as it is evaporated away. and then down to the low elevations and i expanded, sweating profusely. how amazing it feels to have my body change just in a day.

Sometimes i drive fast, ive always driven fast on the highways, once i remember 120 in my old Galaxy 500 with a 351 Cleveland (most of you don’t know what this means, but those that do, smile!) and yet i catch myself driving and i am moving the same speed as time. The setting sun stays with me moving alongside my truck, and i pause feeling like i am floating on air.

Old buildings in ghost towns i pass by. Again the time traveller sees where once 100 years ago, a little family, a garden of veggies, all alive in this little fallen down house.

I see rain in the distance and there in the open space is a rainbow, i really see the rainbows end as it touches the ground, and there is a bright gold light that is shining there, and within this space is a little house, how magical it must feel for those nearby. Surely there are leprechauns and gnomes and faeries in the rainbow.

And then there are those that are still alive and quirky like Cano’s castle, made of everything metal recycled into towers, a castle in this little town that shines and sparkles for miles. The freedom to build whatever you want, what a pleasure to have. And i stop and talk to this man, who gives me a photo of his house and tells me the story of how he built this to tell Obama about the story of his people in 1921, to ask him to right a wrong that was created. And then he introduces me to the medicine of the Osha plant, i give him cedar in return. An exchange of magic, honesty, and human caring.

So, my excuse was a workshop I taught in Denver on Saturday, and things i picked up in my storage unit, but the REAL reason for my travels was for the freedom to experience life, like a small snipet in a time capsule to check how the world was, a barometer of life.

What an amazing adventure!