"You don't need a weatherman to know..."

I came across this and thought it was a preview for a new horror movie...with over 1,000 tornadoes in the US, record flooding in the northwest and drought in the southwest--all I can think is fasten our seat belts...




an explanation...

Magpie Pie Tales-Points of Life



Wheat Field with Rising Sun, Vincent Van Gogh, 1889

Resting on a mountain top
A cool wind moves across
The valley
Revealing a field of color
Alive and moving
A patchwork of light
Memories
Float through my mind
Max jumping over a fence
My nephews laughing 
A first glance from the man I love 
Red hot

Canyonlands

Zion

Bryce

Blue Sky

New Mexico

Dust and grit

Of the trails and life

White cool 

Smooth genius of

Bernini's Apollo and Daphne

Rustling of olive leaves in Tuscany

A gondolier's oar as it moves

Through the Grand Canal

Like a wildfire

Moments of time

Speed through my mind

So many

Points of light

Life

Eagles cry

As I descend

The future before me.

 

C.M. Jackson 2011

 

 

 

 

This is a Magpie Tale----paint your way here for more color!

 

 



These Poles are made for Walking

Tales from the Trail-Back to New Mexico 2010

After finishing our first hike, a 1200 foot descent on rocky trails and let's be honest, tired, wobbly knees and ankles --Mr. Jackson remembered the hiking poles we admired but did not purchase in Flagstaff last year. So the next day, we walked over to Alpine Sports and picked up a pair of Leki's for each of us. 

What a difference they made on our next hikes in Bandelier--Tyuonyi Overlook, a 2.2 mile trip and Burnt Mesa Trail, a 5 mile trip. He kicked my &^&:-)!!!

Life lessons learned-1)if it makes you better-use it! 2) our frailties can be overcome and 3)fifty something is just a number.....oohrah!

Here's some views from the trail...

 Given what I read, we wouldn't be able to hike here today as the area is contiguous to Los Alamos where fires are burning--feel blessed to have walked there and not certain what I will find find the next time ....prayers for rain and blessings to the firefighters who are battling the flames...

Let it Rain



View from Santa Fe Ski during a cool rain

Wildfires are burning near Los Alamos and Santa Fe. I am thinking of my friends there, hoping that the monsoon rains come early and that the winds stay calm.

Rain dance Indian Market

Flowers in the Desert

I spent the last two days of 2010 reading. For me,  reading is the best way to slow down and begin a period of introspection.

Recommended by my dear friend, Mercedes, I chose "The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir" because I longed for the warm sun of the desert and I was looking for a way to quiet my mind after the holiday rush and focus on my goals for the coming new year.

Sometimes the best way to find clarity or a solution is to literally walk away. I walked with Silko as she spoke about her thirty years in the Tucson desert, feeling blessed to be there and how she made friends with the rattlesnakes, pack rats and bees understanding the tenuous balance that existed between the wild and not so wild. I listened as she worried about the approaching development and destruction of the desert by bulldozers, painting small white crosses on boulders to ward off Machine Man like she had seen in the petroglyphs left on the boulders by the ancient people centuries earlier. I cried when the owls raided her aviary and killed her beloved macaws.

Silko explores the sacred and mystical quality of turquoise.

"When I was a child, people at Laguna and people in Spanish-speaking villages nearby used to paint the doors and window frames bright turquoise blue to keep away witches. The Spanish-speaking people used to save the bright blue stamps that sealed the Bull Durham tobacco bags, and whenever they had headaches they wore the bright blue stamps on their foreheads to stop the pain."

Thrilled whenever a piece of turquoise appeared on the trail, she returns home and places the new found treasure on her desk among the other treasures, writing or painting about that particular piece of turquoise and where she had found it.

With the recent shootings in Tucson, I am recalling the peace I felt as 'walked' with Leslie and the strength I get whenever I am in this part of the country, envisioning bits of turquoise being left by the ancient people for those harmed and lost as well as their families in the hopes that their pain will be eased and the healing will begin.

Flash 55-Snapshots

I hum
An unknown song
Lights of the big city
In my rearview mirror
Fading
I wind my way
Home
Through traffic
Horns blaring
New Mexico vistas
Still flashing like
A slide show
On the windshield
Of my mind
Smell of pinon
Wafts alongside
Falafel and pretzels
I exist between
Two worlds
For now

Smiling

C.M. Jackson 2010


If you can say it in 55 words --Well, what are you waiting for? Go tell the G-Man! It's Friday Flash 55!!

Monday Morning Wake Up Call--Santa Fe

My home away from home--Santa Fe ...Mr Jackson and I will be having breakfast at Cafe Pasqual's or perhaps, the Plaza Cafe and then we are off to find new adventures or perhaps, new treasures...who knows...

Enjoy the week! I promise to bring you more tales from the trails when I return.

"There's no place like home..."

...ever feel like a place is home? That's the way New Mexico makes me feel every time I step foot on its soil and breathe its air. Mr. Jackson agrees and we have been walking the Plaza in heaven!!! The smell of sage, pinon and yes, roasted chiles fill the air which has a hint of fall in it.  more later..off to meet friends..

Earth Day

 

 

A Cliff Dwelling

There sandy seems the golden sky

And golden seems the sandy plain.

No habitation meets the eye

Unless in the horizon rim,

Some halfway up the limestone wall,

That spot of black is not a stain

Or shadow, but a cavern hole,

Where someone used to climb and crawl

To rest from his besetting fears.

I see the callus on his soul

The disappearing last of him

And of his race starvation slim,

Oh years ago - ten thousand years.

Robert Frost

Magpie Tales-Treasure

moments ticking by
click click
like clouds in a spring sky
tick tick tock
we run from day to day
click click click clock
not much to say
tick tick
or feel until
click click
something or someone
tick tick tick
wakes us up
click click click
to what is possible
tick tick tick tock
to what matters
click click click clock
and why we are here
tick click tick clock
tock.

This is a Magpie Tale. For more moments, go visit Willow and her magpies, click, clock,tick, tock here.

Theme Thursday-Sign

Cowgirl Cafe Santa Fe New Mexico

Life ain't about how fast you run, or how high you climb, but how well you bounce.

I took this Theme Thursday prompt "Sign" as a sign that I need to get back to Santa Fe soon, not just for the amazing frozen margueritas and ribs at the Cowgirl Cafe but also for a reunion with good friends, the air, the mountains and the feel of red dust on my skin. Time to pull out the hiking boots--
For more signs of the times--Check out Theme Thursday

Happy St. Patrick's Day

A few blessings to you and yours..

May you always have work for your hands to do.

May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

 
May you never forget what is worth remembering, nor ever remember what is best forgotten.
 
 
May God give you for every storm a rainbow, for every tear a smile, for every care a promise and a blessing in each trial. For every problem life sends, a faithful friend to share, for every sigh a sweet song and an answer for each prayer.

Magpie Tales-Ganesha

She sat at the entrance of the Agra Cantt station waiting for the passengers to enter into the sun, her carvings surrounding her on a piece of silk. Birds, leopards, tigers and one elephant resting on a stone; they spoke reminding her to smile with her eyes.

The sound of the train whistle and feet made her heart beat faster as she heard the travelers walking her way.

"Oh look, they are so beautiful," one woman said as her husband continued walking the Taj Mahal in the distance and the reason for their journey. He looked over his shoulder, tired and wanting a shower, he walked back to where his wife was standing. Dropping his pack on the silk, he scattered the carvings and asked his wife, "What one do you want?" She looked at him and at his wife, eyes blazing, picking up the elephant and said in perfect english, "1,000 rupees each."  His wife chose two, a leopard and a tiger and  handed her the money before he could speak. She smiled and smoothed the silk as they walked away, knowing that her children would eat and hearing the words of Ganesha as she placed the elephant back on his stone, the sun setting against the spires of the Taj Mahal.

Just another Magpie Tale---read and create more stories here!


Given my love of the Southwest, I must say I was troubled by that fact that I could not identify this little guy. As a collector of fetishes and kachinas, I make it a point to understand the essence of the creation and firmly believe this knowledge is an homage to the hands that create the work and the culture in which it exists. Looking through my books, all I could think of was that he was waiting to be held and understood. Namaste.

Flash 55-Photograph

Snowflakes fall quickly making the limbs of evergreens bow. Wind moves and stops, branches swaying. A burst of snow and sound, blackbirds take flight, caw, caw, leaving their hiding place to continue their daily migration. Carried by the wind, wings flapping against a cold sky, they fly; a black and white photo in broad daylight.


Can you say it in 55 words?--give it try and tell the g-man!

What is Sacred?

Sweat Lodge Leader Is Indicted in Deaths

Having travelled throughout the Southwest for the last 17 years, visiting Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, I have come to love and respect the wisdom and strength of the Native American People.

I feel honored to have walked through such sacred places as Canyon de Chelly, the Hopi Reservation, Chaco Canyon, Canyonlands National Park, Mesa Verde and 3 of the 19 pueblos of New Mexico -Acoma,Nambe and Taos. With each visit and in each place it is possible to see and experience the distinct culture and the spirit of the people who walked the land centuries before us. So it was heartbreaking for me to hear of the tragedy that occurred in Arizona regarding the loss of life during a so-called sweat lodge ceremony in October 2009.

I had just returned from Arizona in September. It had been ten years since my last visit and it was Mr. Jackson's first. As we travelled north from Phoenix to Sedona and on to the Grand Canyon, what struck me was the expanse of the land and the wildness that still existed despite all of the development that had gone on in the last ten years. The struggle to maintain a balance between modern world and to retain the culture of the native peoples of the land is evident and is a common story throughout the Southwest. The agrarian way of life has been all but lost, the language and the culture is for the most part unwritten and left to the telling of stories, handed down from one generation to the next. For this reason, I find the native lands of Arizona, Utah and Colorado while beautiful  also sad because the voice, the culture of so many people has been lost or forgotten. New Mexico perhaps because of its 19 pueblos and the co-existence of  Spanish, Hispanic and Anglo cultures has a special place for me because the cultures all exist, not necessarily without conflict, so I can hear and feel the heart beat of the people.

I was sent the following statement from Chief Arvol Looking Horse by my friend Mercedes in October and it has sat in my inbox since until I could find the right words:

"As Keeper of our Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle, I am concerned for the 2 deaths and illnesses of the many people that participated in a sweat lodge in Sedona, Arizona that brought our sacred rite under fire in the news. I would like to clarify that this lodge and many others, are not our ceremonial way of life, because of the way they are being conducted. My prayers go out for their families and loved ones for their loss.

Our ceremonies are about life and healing, from the time this ancient ceremonial rite was given to our people, never has death been a part of our inikag’a (life within) when conducted properly. Today the rite is interpreted as a sweat lodge, it is much more then that. So the term does not fit our real meaning of purification.

Inikag’a is the oldest ceremony brought to us by Wakan Tanka (Great Spirit).

19 generations ago, the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota Oyate (people), were given seven sacred rites of healing by a Spirit Woman ­ Pte San Win (White Buffalo Calf Woman). She brought these rites along with our sacred C’anupa (pipe) to our People, when our ancestors were suffering from a difficult time. It was also brought for the future to help us for much more difficult times to come. They were brought to help us stay connected to who we are as a traditional cultural People. The values of conduct are very strict in any of these ceremonies, because we work with spirit. The way the Creator, Wakan Tanka told us; that if we stay humble and sincere, we will keep that connection with the inyan oyate (the stone people), who we call the Grandfathers, to be able to heal our selves and loved ones. We have a gift of prayer and healing and have to stay humble with our Unc’i Maka (Grandmother Earth) and with one another. The inikag¹a is used in all of the seven sacred rites to prepare and finish the ceremonies, along with the sacred eagle feather. The feather represents the sacred knowledge of our ancestors..." The entire statement continues here.

The following video speaks of the need to retain and protect that which is sacred to each Native American culture.



"Namah’u yo (hear my words)"
Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle.

Bad Attitude? Change your Altitude

Work! What can I say? This is what I felt like during the day ---a silent roar rumbling behind my smile as I nodded my head--"Sure I can do that!" Then it occurred to me, I needed to take a hike albeit mentally and I was in Chaco, the man in the mountain roaring with me--the blue,blue sky and hot sun melting away the stress. Attitude, Altitude---ah yes, all is possible.

Monday Morning Wake Up Call

My good friend sent this to me to remind me that work and all that we work for will happen..small steps...hope and positive thoughts --chill out.

A Raven's Call

Mr Jackson and I traveled to New Mexico last year for Indian Market and were very lucky to stay at Casa De Las Cuervas.



Located in the historic Guadalupe/Railyard District of Santa Fe, this amazing adobe was close to the Plaza so we could walk to and fro but not be in the midst of the madness that consumes Santa Fe during the market.



What made our stay extraordinary was not only the presence of Mercede Velarde's art and the collection of American Indian antiques but the presence of Mercedes and her partner, Mary Leonard checking in on us to make certain we were enjoying our visit. We spent many mornings and afternoons talking about Santa Fe, life, politics and the hope we had for the future.



Since then we have continued our garden talks via email keeping tabs on the happenings in Santa Fe.

Mr. Jackson and I hear the call of the raven and are working our way back, looking forward to experiencing the enchantment and wisdom we felt during our stay.