A bit more inside out… Texas

Sunday, November 16th, 2008

marfa sign a

marfa a marfa b

The Photos today are from a visit to Marfa… very quiet.

It is amazing how I have found more of myself lately, it was not lost, it just was not totally coming up to surface. 60 years old, reading much metaphysical and spiritual contexts these past few decades, many more than interesting and Life sustaining conversations with Friends, (you know who your are!), locations that would uplift I would think just about anyone even if insensitive as one could be, and yet, I find myself with only one excuse to my emotions, the ones I do not care for: being Human. I accept the complete array of them when thinking about Lance, I have learned to deal with the pain as some learn to deal with constant back pains, it is of the emotions resulting from others, intentional or unintentional, that I just cannot at times put a lid on.

sidecar d  
sidecar c  

This is why I am addicted to the road… you got to love it!!! It was my turn to stop, make a U turn and ask permission to take pictures!

And yet I think the biggest lesson this School of Life has taught me these past two years is to let it be and trust my Karma. I am writing this because maybe I am not alone through these chapters, actually I know I am not, as there is no uniqueness within us. Not considering the millions of Humans living on Earth today. I am also writing this because of an incident happening between yesterday and today and I am trying to learn from it. Today is Saturday, Keri, the owner of  Kiowa Gallery, wanted my photos this morning to hang them up. A bit short on time, everyone at the Photo Lab that I use worked so hard to get them out on time and delivered yesterday by UPS. The day went by, tracking late only showed it was on schedule. Dark skies fell, finally at around 9pm the tracking said “exception”! Rescheduled delivery for Monday.

sidecar a  
  sidecar b

Daniel and Charlotte from Marfa… Owner of the local Laundromat with WI FI and soon Coffee Shop. They will see us again!

So this is my big chance to have some photos hanging on the wall of this great Gallery… but no photos for Saturday morning. It bothered me tremendously to the point of barely sleeping all night. I had send an e mail to Keri late at night and by 10am I was at the Gallery with a mind filled with apologies as not only I would not have the photos till Monday, but could not come in till Tuesday since I was going to the Cardiologist that day. A big smile greeted me… as I heard “no worries… I am also going to the Dr on Monday… I will not be in all day… and will see you Tuesday morning…” as she takes me just a few feet from the front door to this empty space on the wall telling me “this is your space… it will wait for you…”. She is a wonderful Human Being I must say.

marfa c  
palace  

The “big weight” dropped off and melted away as I gave her a big hug when I left. How did I waste a complete night worrying about the outcome of the Show and not trust Karma as I should have. Again: hard not to be Human! I feel as I have not dealt with too much urban reality these past months, my true reality has been Mother Nature’s surroundings and how ironic that “my” reality is now going to be shown to others as they are here on this screen and maybe intertwine within their own senses. From the outdoor to the walls there is this transition. It does not matter if any photos sell or not, it will matter for me to stand a few feet away these couple nights coming on next weekend as I watch the expressions of hundreds that will experience my vision through the camera. As they will stay up for months, maybe longer who knows, the feedbacks should be a real value toward the senses of our Journey.

spirit a  
  scale

Having fun with the camera at the Hotel “Paisano”

So perhaps, as my mother tells me, when she makes me feel about 12 again, that I am getting a bit too deep into Life’s facets. That is just me, I prefer to feel versus not feel. I am not a fan of “pain” but I am a fan of “reality” even if my own at times might be a bit on a different path. The entree lately, this plate of mine has been a bit full, it has just about rotated 180 degrees from just a while back. Health, land, Holidays coming up, winter, the cold, loosing that “no destination” route other months had offered us. So I am digging at it. Trying to rotate it a bit more every day keeping that chipped edge away from us. It is working, as one might say, it is happening. The depth of these obstacles are still so minor compared to so many that endure true hardship. Hard times always make think of Lance’s own true obstacles that never set aside and it is when my own pain is only of the mind missing him so much that the rest of it in the “big picture” is truly nothing.

paisano a  
paisano c paisano b

Again today I just wanted to ride. There has been riding and there has been using “Old Faithful” as a tool for my Photography. The mood was just on going and going, maybe day dreaming a bit that the road we were on was the one to some exotic and unseen before destinations, till I realized that all is always unseen as a new day is always different from the previous one as we are ourselves. We end up in Marfa, the wind was colder than usual, the heated gear was on full force and with this time no heated gloves my fingers almost froze as the miles went on. But it felt good! It felt good to be alive and content that this morning Karma had taking care of my worries as again harmony was present throughout it all, giving me a rhythm, a beat filled only with the sinuous curves of a fine day. 

thunderbird

holiday inn  

Marfa is a fun place to walk around, it has not changed much from last year and seemingly so many projects have not yet been finished. We are up at 5am Monday… Odessa is our destination and I am sure that we will be back with some good news. This front page, again, “thanks” to Brian has gone through some new construction, a bit more elegant I find it and if you take the time a rotation of photos which I will be working on adding more as time goes by.

thunderbird restaurant  

spirit b

Friends is what we have left in Life. Friends have been the common interest over these past two years. Don’t forget your Friends today, call them, write them, hug them as your own Family, your pets, are also and should be your Friends. This is what I have learned…

Help us keep the site alive. Please contribute… I use to ask if reading this site was worth 1$ a month, loose change truly. I do again. This site has been far from being a free Journal as it was at one time!

Two years of Photography is finally in order on SmugMug… In “Your Favorites”, in “States”, some labeled “first year” and second year”, now also “Texas the third year”. Feel free to browse, you can even use the slide show mode and have fun.

Merchandise is also available through SmugMug. If you like to order a print all sizes are available as I store the originals myself considering the huge bandwidth needed to upload on the Gallery.

Be well, always.   Ara & Spirit

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3 Responses to “A bit more inside out… Texas”

  1. James NomadRip Says:

    Ara, this is too funny. I was going to tell you that if you ever go into Marfa, I know exactly one person there. His name is Daniel, and he owns the laundromat in that town that I’d never heard of until he moved there and told me about it. Here is him in a picture I took at dinner in Indianapolis in 2006(?) in the green shirt on the far left side.

    If you’re reading this Daniel, I’ll get down there to see you soon enough, too!

  2. Phil Says:

    Ara, Thanks for the Marfa pics. My lovely wife Jenny, grew up in Marfa back during the 50s and 60s. She had one sister and two brothers, and they were fatherless during that time. Their Mom worked for, and retired with, the US Border Patrol. They all have some great tales to tell. We have taken several trips out there just to get “back” to her roots a little bit. I think when the artists, like Donald Judd, came to town it changed the place forever. But I DID enjoy the art also. The main thing about Marfa is its peacefulness and wide openess. One can see for miles…and breathe! I’ve ridden those roads with my bike on two of those trips, and your photos reminded me of those wonderful visits. Have you seen the “Lights” yet?

  3. Tony the Tiger Says:

    YaY, Ara & Spirit!
    very nice pic of the bike sidecar… fortune is with you!
    TT

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