The weight of no replying to all my e mails is starting to infiltrate my thoughts now every morning or evening while staring at this screen screaming for answers. Maybe not the answers themselves, but as I hit the keyboard, other words start forming having nothing to do with the set reply and on passes by into this page. I feel bad not having the time and yet, as my mother asked me the other day finally for the first time… followed by a long silence on my part “what do you do all day?”. That was a very good question as I am still trying to reply.

Many e mails come in and I have to publicly express that I enjoy every single one of them as each show me a path undiscovered so often in my thoughts. Same is the case with incoming comments. I read them all, think about them all and would never want for them to stop on their present incoming flow. I apologize if they are not all answered in due time, sometimes even up to a month late, I really wanted you to know this. These pages are an open book to our Journey and sometimes I feel all the replies are here included.

I have had a tendency maybe not to see and feel what is right here under my nose lately, passing by the “now” so precious within this time. The thoughts projects to Spring… the coming months… where will we go this year? It reminds me when living and working in Florida never going to the beach. That is what happened when we took off for Death Valley… I forgot a bit that right here is “the” Paradise given freely for our taking throughout these winter months. My Friend Ryan was here yesterday, the solar guru, he is purchasing some land near by and we took a drive to check it out. Incredible hills, scenery, a dry creek bed, the vegetation flourishing, it was nowhere and yet, without a camera in hand at the time I promised myself to return for some photos I had to this time pass up. 1400 miles of unpaved roads we have here at our disposition to explore… 1400 miles!!! I forget about it sometimes. The path is too close and my senses focus too far from this habit yet I need to loose while here.

And then we have Terlingua which every time I ride through I see something new and again, as I do not stop often enough, always make more promises to myself to pull over and smell the roses always present. My Friend Stefanie has been here these past days, from Germany, mixed in on her own with a couple days of hiking throughout the Big Bend National Park. The swimming hole has become “the space” I like to take many, it is a space that still evokes within me so much of the incessant artistic display Mother Nature is always so generous with us.

Many Europeans travel as minimalists and so does Stefanie. No need for the Lexus convertible here or even a laptop or I phone. A basic back pack with some changes of clothes, the hiking requirement gear, keep it simple is the “motto”. This is new territory for her and absorbing the company I again was the guide to my favorite spots, the cook for the evening meal and much chatting always ensuing. I always learn from others, specially when their origins are from another Continent as mine is.

I have photographed the swimming hole many times, and yet, I am always trying to find a new angle specially yesterday when the sun was setting creating the shadows giving depth to the surroundings and feels so beautifully displayed.

It has been a first for Spirit having to share his car with… another one. The truth of the matter is that Stefanie and him must be in Love! I have never seen Spirit take after anyone as much as he has for her and I think it is “vice versa”. It is a good feel. Spirit is a sweetheart and loving him is loving me. He is my extension, 24/7 we have breathed the same air and shared this Journey, comfortable and uncomfortable we have gone through the times with a bond unlike I have ever had.

I could have titled this “Your swimming pool or my swimming hole?”… You be the judge… The “space” is just breathtaking, visit after visit as I know again this will not be the last time. Where do we go from here I keep thinking. I have given myself a project to explore our immediate surroundings… We are not going anywhere too far, too soon. That old structure only a couple miles away with just a few walls standing up, the old shack we pass by a thousand times, the canyon behind that hill ahead of us we have hiked a dozen times never really feeling it’s presence. And maybe I have, but suddenly I feel as having climbed yet another step of my environment, a step that is giving me the ability to feel even deeper what I might have just skimmed it’s surface within the recent past.

And on with another day, starting another fire from the coals still hot from last night when the moon half way full was kind enough to gently throw in some light on our calm and serene surroundings. These days the weather is perfect, custom made to our liking, the spirits are high, the company is more than welcome with an added warmth as a new layered blanket missing in recent past. It will be just Spirit and I again soon, back to our endless conversations, his stares at me as questioning the incessant blabbing into his ears, maybe asking me to be quiet for a change so he could also enjoy the laughing of the coyotes near by.

Do I dare say “Life is Good”… I am thinking it this morning, again, another step toward a brighter future. It must be in the air…  Come and visit… as I always say “no fences and no gates here”! You might even get a free meal.

Twenty nine months 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.

Help us keep the site alive. Please contribute… The logistics of it have become costly. It is an open book, its pages for the taking with always the hope that you will support their presence.

Be well…

Ara & Spirit

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 5th, 2009 at 8:43 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.