"ever gentle on my mind"

It's knowing that your door is always open and your path is free to walk

That makes me tend to leave my sleeping bag rolled up and stashed behind your couch

And it's knowing I'm not shackled by forgotten words and bonds

And the ink stains that have dried upon some line

That keeps you in the backroads by the rivers of my mem'ry

That keeps you ever gentle on my mind

It's not clinging to the rocks and ivy planted on their columns now that bind me

Or something that somebody said because they thought we fit together walking

It's just knowing that the world will not be cursing or forgiving

When I walk along some railroad track and find

That you're moving on the backroads by the rivers of my mem'ry

And for hours you're just gentle on my mind

Though the wheat fields and the clotheslines

And the junkyards and the highways come between us

And some other woman's crying to her mother cause she turned and I was gone

I still might run in silence, tears of joy might stain my face

And the summer sun might burn me till I'm blind

But not to where I cannot see you walking on the backroads

By the rivers flowing gentle on my mind

I dip my cup of of soup back from a gurgling, crackling cauldron in some train yard

My beard a roughened coal pile and a dirty hat pulled low across my face

Through cupped hands round a tin can I pretend to hold you to my breast and find

That you're wavin' from the backroads by the rivers of my mem'ry

Ever smiling, ever gentle on my mind

-Glen Campbell

more! more!

This image is from this photographer's site: http://www.chriscraymer.com/romance/
I want it never to end!

Weekend retreat in Edgewood

House sitting for Cari, Glenn, and Anni...

This is Jesse...

This is their awesome, relaxing back deck...
This is the front porch. Sisco posed so nicely for me...
This is the cute little path they built, complete with a fountain/watering hole for the dogs...
This morning I took a wandering drive towards those mountains, following dirt roads to their end. This is the view Cari and Glenn get to see every morning when they drive down towards Rt. 40 to go to UNM. The picture doesn't do it justice at all. I plan to bring people up this way when they come to visit me just because the drive is gorgeous, and you really can see forever, it seems.

This is the front porch, complete with my two new buddies: Riley, the yellow lab, and Sisco, the lab/husky mix...Riley is the sweetest and follows me everywhere. I feel very safe here alone with these two guys keeping watch...

This is the sunset Mel and I saw the other day. She took this shot while I drove. It was magnificent. THIS is the New Mexico I came here for. THIS is the inspiring horizon that harmonizes with my soul, that resonates and satisfies my need to feel free. Its so peaceful and quiet here, far from the highway, far from malls and shopping, far from any hustle or bustle, a place to really slow life down and enjoy it to the fullest.

where are we headed?

The way in which appreciation of foundational knowledge is rapidly declining really has me worried. As a result of technology, we no longer feel the need to know how to SPELL (there's spellcheck since no one hand writes anything anymore) or ADD (there's calculators readily available everywhere, even on cell phones), or know ANYTHING really, since the great world wide web can give as all the information we could ever need. Before a test, a student actually said to me, "I don't understand why we have to know any of this by heart; I can always go look it up." In some school districts, they no longer teach geography of the United States(!!); they no longer teach basic rules of grammar (!!) (doubtful to spawn a generation of William Faulkners when the only complete set of vocabulary these children possess is the truncated form of the English language created from text and instant messaging).

What happened to valuing knowledge? To liking to know things just for the sake of knowing? To not wanting to look stupid when you misuse "your" and "you're," "too" and "to?" To realizing that having knowledge gives you a foundation on which to think for yourself? Heading in this direction means we're soon going to entrust computers with telling us what to believe. We'll be surrounded by individuals incapable of decision making or real conversation. We'll be, well at least I'll be, dispirited, dismayed, and dejected, with plenty of time to sit and shake my head as there will be a lack of anyone worth talking to, or anything worth reading.

pointillism of perfection

pain au chocolat melts upon the tongue, 

exploding with dark chocolate 

between buttery layers

croissants flake into submission

crepes cause my own surrender

'sushi love' satisfies like no other

blackberries burst upon my tongue

their juices matching the orchids in the open window

that are keeping watch over the grounds at Cité Universitaire

Sacré-Coeur surprises every time

its white cardboard cutout stands starkly against the blue sky

matching only the clouds in both color and awe

Rues Cler and Mouffetard charm as much as Montmartre

damp cobblestone

wine stained lips

a brooding Notre-Dame somehow warming

the cool night on the Seine

glorious gardens in which we practice parisian living

baguette? check. sacripants? check. crackers belin? check. bordeaux? check.

slowing of time? check.

bats' ("Fledermaus") frenzied flights

foreshadowing the american pop music adventure

of european student's singalong and sweat laden shimmying

Trocadéro the perfect platform

from which to be mesmerized by Gustave's glory

and captivated by love's miracle

the Louvre containing masterpieces 

(and existing as its own)

the Orsay alive with Impressionists' entrapment of a moment and explosion of color

"seeking to capture a feeling or experience rather than to achieve accurate depiction"

i'm attempting this myself here...

gathering up the gazes...

collecting all the kisses...

unrelentless laughter and swirling smiles 

speckled across two weeks of canvas

pointillism of a perfect love.

Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, step aside

there's nothing you can create

that is more beautiful

than this.