Maybe this is funny, maybe it is not. How could you bake a loaf of bread if the temperature of the oven would only go up to 100F. degrees? How can a person that takes “beta-blockers” get their heart rate up to 136 per minute… when such medicine is designed to keep the heart rate way down! Specially a person such as me that has for the time being an unknown coronary problem situation! So that was the scenario this morning at the Odessa Medical Hospital. I was not for sure going to fall flat on my face or burst these old tubes of mine, specially when I found out about the “beta-blocker” dilemma. The order was changed to a “chemically induced” stress test, as I wondered who invented that one… not the most pleasant 4 minutes, but able to put up with it for that short of time… Results? December 2nd… Till then, the folder is locked and put away and we are on our way to “The Oasis”, our own space. I am exhausted, inside out.

Days spend in such urban magnification unveils such a slide show calling me back to Nature as fast as I can. We probably should have stayed in Odessa one more night, but… it just was not going to happen. We made it back to Alpine, again, where we will run some errands tomorrow, check out the empty spaces at the Gallery and finally go on to embrace that soil waiting for us. We arrived back in the dark, “Gallery Nights” banner across the road was still up, but the streets are now empty, the sparkles of the nights are dimmed and all is left are some great memories.

Kiowa Gallery, Alpine

There is no more smells of food, no more smoke from the portable grills, one can cross the street without being the center of the glare of hundreds of vehicles and I cannot help being a bit nostalgic about it all. The smiles where everywhere, the air was electric and I am already looking forward to next year. I know the medical news will be good and I know the Journey will again take us throughout those unique and special spaces, maybe some we have already seen and felt and still to this day feeling.

“The Derailers” arrived in their “jazzy” tour bus and entertained us on Saturday night with their incredible music which was a treat to listen to.

A new Friend, the very talented Artist “Barbell”. I love her shoes, her socks, her Blue Cross bag, necklace and her not seen here “liquid ring”. She is a “statement” and can afford it.

From rugs to guitars, it was all there for these two memorable nights.

The main attraction was the newly renovated Granada Theatre, circa 1928. I have not been able yet to find much information on it, but I do know that it has been a dream come through. It will be used for local events, soon even with an outside patio and for those two nights was the location for the “silent auction” benefiting the new “public library”. I myself donated a packet of Art Cards and all this being so new to me, was such a thrill to stop by a couple times and find out that there had been some bids on them.

A beautiful space, a space the town of Alpine can be so proud of as I am sure it will used for so many functions, shows and a multitude of Artistic events. Upstairs is the “Yoga” center, another beautiful room filed with the warmth of wood, and a unique wall filled with lights and ropes ready for the stretching.

Even the restrooms had a special touch to their entrances!

My mind this morning, the “morning after” as they call it, is on photos, the Journey, winter still ahead of us, local adventures, new experiences and wondering when the next “wow” photo is going to happen. Not being the only one as this has been a conversation subject with many Photographers, I have discovered 3 categories of Photos. The ones I call “documentary”, being sometimes not even good photos but enabling me to show where we have been even if the sun has turned our sky green… The “good” photos, nice ones and finally the “wow” photo… the ones lucky enough if it happens a couple times a year! My standards of their vision is so high toward those particular photos that I feel one has to be lucky to be there at the right place, at the right time more than anything else.

I remember each of those! A Sunset at the California Lost Coast, a Sunrise at the Chisos, the Beehive south of Moab, Sotol Look Out on one magical evening filled with distant storms, and there are just a few more. They are the ones that will grab all the senses and as defined I will go “WOW”! And yet, it is all so subjective… So that is the fun part of it all, Mother Nature’s Art Work in correlation with the Human senses all laid out in pixels on a piece of paper!!! It is not anymore the stream amongst the mountains, the ocotillo branch pointing to the skies, even the beautiful Texas sunsets that make up the “wow” pictures anymore. I will not know till it happens, could be the next minute or next year! But we will be out there ready… as we always are.

I has to stop last night on our way back from Odessa… the skies so often offer this gift I just cannot pass up!

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

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 at 6:59 am and is filed under travel, spirituality, pit bull, sidecar, motorcycle, cooking, photography, riding, homeless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.