TEXAS! Days 3 and 4 at Big Bend and then the evening at Fredricksburg
Wed. Feb 27
Tour and walk day.
We dilly dallied around the room til mid morning. Our hectic schedule caught up with us. When we finally got organized we drove to the south west corner of the park. We stopped at the visitor center at Castelon and talked with the volunteer. There wasn't much there, and it felt isolated. Four miles of desert road past the ranger station is the trailhead for Santa Elena Canyon. We walked across the wide dry bed of Terlingua creek. The trail climbed in switchbacks over a hill then gradually descended to the river in the canyon.it was perfect weather, and a beautiful trail. I was gloriously happy to be walking. But we had more places to go. Our next stop was the Dorgan-Sublett places, the ruins of the ranch houses. We ate our lunch of ham and cheese sandwich and yogurt in the ruins of the lower house, then walked up the Mesa to the upper Sublett house and the Dorgan house. The front wall of the Dorgan house remains, with windows looking out on mountains. Also remaining is a double fireplace made of petrified wood. It must have been beautiful in the house with that fireplace.
We continued on back up the Castelon Road toward home in the Chisos, stopping at different viewpoints. We walked again at Burro Mesa pour off. That was a mistake, we were walking on a dry gravel creekbed into a box canyon. The gravel was thick and gave under our feet like sand, so was hard walking. The canyon kept twisting. We would approach a corner, sure this would be the last turn and we would see the end of the canyon, but there would be yet another turn. We finally gave up and trudged back to the car. We also walked at the Sam Nail place. A windmill there creates a little oasis. We saw a cardinal in the brush. Dinner at the lodge with sunset, moon, and panoramic photography (playing with settings on the cameras). In the visitor center there was a display of a huge mountain lion. At the trailhead to the best sunset viewing spot there were signs warning of lion activity. I decided to make my photos from the sidewalk.

Thurs Feb 28
We calculated that we didn't need to leave the park until12p to arrive in Fredricksburg in time for dinner. So off we went one last time. First stop was Lost Mine trail at the highest point of the park road. The trail climbed up for a mile to a gorgeous lookout spot. We climbed on some rocks and photographed each other in silly poses. Weren't quite up to doing yogi balancing poses on the narrow ridge, though. Then we drove to the easternmost part of the park to explore Borquillos canyon. The trail climbs over a little hill before descending to the river. A young man sat on a small bluff on the Mexican side singing to the hikers, hoping for contributions in a jar on the American side. We walked into the pretty canyon until we ran out of trail, then returned.
We drove north out of the park through the rough desert, stopped to chat with the border patrol, and arrived back in civilization at Stockton, where we stopped to make silly pictures with the artwork in the visitor center. Then 300 miles of I 10 to an exit an hour west of Fredricksburg. The last hour was fun, driving in the Texas hill country. We drove along the YO game ranch, spotting exotic animals, kept for the hunters. (I know....mixed feeling there, but it was fun to see them.....like a drive through zoo).
Fredricksburg is a German tourist town, and we had the choice of many different German restaurants. By the time we got settled in and ready for dinner, it was 8pm, and the town was pretty much rolled up. We ate at Der Lindenbaum. Bobbi had schnitzel, I had goulash with noodles. (I still can't look at a schnitzel after my trip through Austria and Switzerland in 2008!)

Driving across west Texas and Big Bend NP Day 1

Monday feb 25. Driving across west Texas. Crazy windy. In and out of scattered showers. Absolutely needed two hands, because gusts would try to push you off the road. Texas hill country is just what we were looking for. Wild and rugged. East of Stockton there were MILES of windmills on ridges on both sides of the highways. Good use of all that wind. The towers for the power lines were under construction. We got to Big Bend at three pm, and stopped to add to our series of yoga poses at entrance signs. We were checked into our room at the Chisos lodge by 5pm. We provisioned ourselves at the store with a quart of milk, a loaf of bread, a package of ham, and a block of cheese. This provided us with two breakfasts and two picnic lunches, so we only had to buy suppers out. We also had one breakfast of oatmeal for me, cereal for Bobbi, from the store.We walked up to the lodge dining room at sunset to enjoy dinner and the glowing sky through the Window, a break in the mountains forming the Chisos basin.

Tues feb 26
Today was our day in the river. It was my first time steering a canoe. I've always been the brawn in the front seat. God I loved turning that boat where I wanted it to go. (also, it let Bobbi be the photographer). I loved going down the green river in the yellow brown desert., slipping through the water like I was a corpuscle in a vein of blood, part of the river, part of the earth. The Rio Grand ( Rio Brave del Norte) is a gentle stream, it just slides along quietly, with occasional little shoots. Patrick, the guide, resplendent in his rasta hat, said the rapids were category 1.37 (he made that up). Often we would sit with the paddles across our laps, just gliding, listening to the quiet. Soft water sounds, bird calls, plop of a turtle, our own breath, looking up at the river cliffs, or in open areas, out across the desert to the jagged mountains, this is harmony. Patrick also taught us two sayings to express his river philosophy...."no hurries, no worries," and " we're on our agenda of total flexibility."

The morning started cool, and we had lots of clothes. They came off piece by piece. Unfortunately we came to the first hot springs early in the trip, and the air was still cool. Bobbi and I were afraid to get all the way in, because we thought we'd freeze when we got out, so we just stood in it to our knees. Even that was wonderful. We came to the second hot springs at midday. We stayed there about an hour and a half. Unfortunately, this springs has easy road access, so there are always people there.

 It is a developed hot springs from early 1900s. There are ruins of a small hotel, store and the owner's house. He ceded the land to the future park in 1939. (it became a park in 1944). There were picto- and petroglyphs on the cliffs dated 1000 to 200 BCE. The springs are enclosed by the foundation of the now gone bathhouse. We could sit on the rim, float around in the middle, or recline in the built in concrete tubs on the edge. People kept coming and going, and talking too much, but it's their pool too. The best was three young girls from Austin on a camping adventure. They covered themselves in river mud. They were feeling the Goddess!
Patrick served an elaborate picnic on the river beach, cold cuts, cheese, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, fritos and salsa, apples oranges, and cookies. And PEANUT BUTTER. We acted like we'd never seen peanut butter before. We spread it on apples til they were gone. Then we spread it on chocolate chip cookies. We were eyeing the fritos as a peanut butter delivery medium, but finally restrained ourselves, and waddled back to the hot springs.

After taking out at Rio Grand campground, Patrick took us to an area where he knew javelinas hung out, and we had our first sighting of the piglike animals.

After a brief rest at the lodge, we took off again for Terlingua, a tiny town just west of the park. People live humbly in this ramshackle town. Patrick called it "a drinking town with a boating problem." We drove on to Terlingua Ghost Town., stopping first at the cemetery, where the graves were all mounds, covered in small flat rocks, and there were many shrines and candles and plain weathered wooden crosses stuck in the mounds. People have built new houses within the ruined walls of old houses. Our destination was the Starlight Theater, a restaurant reconstructed from an old theater, which for many years was just roofless walls. It is now an upscale restaurant. We tried out beer from Big Bend Brewery, and sausage made from wild boar and deer. On the night drive home we had three wildlife sightings: a rabbit ran across the road with a smooth, non hopping gait, a small rodent (kangaroo rat?) scurried across the road, and a large bird, great horned owl? Labored across the road, making all sorts of flappings, and just barely making the crossing in front of us. Don't know how it was for him, but we were pretty scared.

Texas! Friday through Sunday Yoga Workshop

We arrived at the La Quinta with 15 minutes to spare before Yoga with Kate Potter began. it was everything I'd hope for. Mildly physical, very spiritual. This was the sixth time in seven years she'd come to South Padre, and many of the people knew each other from attending the workshops. It was a very friendly bunch.
I loved doing yoga poses while listening to Kate's low pitched soothing voice. I especially love hearing her say "releeeeeeeeeeaaaaaassssssssss" dropping down low in shavausana. Bobbi said it was hypnotic. the workshop revolved around the five trunk chakras, and Kate had created vinyassas to explore each: Earth, secure. Water, sensuous. Fire, strength. Air..heart love, play. Throat..truth, creativity.
It was always physically engaging , energizing, but never too much, and Kate would lecture and story-tell in between. She had created a special sequence for Fire chakra that she wanted us to do blindfolded so we could feel our bodies in space without external stimulation. We practiced several times with eyes open, then put on blindfolds and did it. She was ecstatic , said we looked wonderful. She said "happy teacher, happy teacher. Let's do it again." So we did! It was great fun.
The last session was a speaking, writing workshop. We sat in a circle and told something we had learned in the workshop. Then we did a writing exercise, describing things we thought or wanted from each chakra. Then it was time to take group photos and hug goodby.

The beach part of the weekend was kind of a bust, because it was cold and windy. Bobbi and i did go for a short walk Saturday. I was barefoot and had to keep my head down because the beach was strewn with Portugese man of wars. Blue bubbles everywhere. Sunday morning the sun came out and the wind dropped. Perfect beach weather, but we could only enjoy it from 11:30 to 12:30. We used the time to do a photo shoot of ourselves doing yoga poses on the beach, and then sat on the deck and watched the ocean.

the locals told us we had to eat a Texas Whattaburger, a fast food chain, so we did on the trip back to san antonio. It was ok. we also passed through the border patrol checkpoint about 50 miles north of Harlingen. The guard looked in the car, asked "US citizens?" and waved us through. Life is easy if you are white middle aged ladies.
Bobbi thinks she saw three antelope hanging out with cows. Driving through San Antonio at night was a bit edgy, because Bobbi was on the phone making us a hotel reservation, and Harold, the gps voice was loudly telling me all the little turns to make, and giving crazy road names, when I was just as happy following the green signs. We made it through the city and continued driving to our hotel in Boerne, Arriving just before 8p. We ordered in pizza and played with our photos.

Texas! Days 1 and 2--San Antonio Riverwalk and Padre Island National Seashore

Feb 21. We drove from the airport to downtown San Antonio and felt like we teleported to a foreign country, Old ornate buildings, Spanish style. There was the Alamo compound right in the middle of the city, graced by live oaks. The air was light and cool, and the historical ghosts whispered to us. We spent some time wandering around the compound, then we walked across the street and down the Hyatt steps to an entrance to the River Walk. We were first greeted by an enterprising barman who twisted our arms to get us to buy beers to drink while walking around. (We chose a Texan beer, Ziegenbock). We walked out into the river walk and I was just floored by how much more it was than I had expected. I was reminded of Venice. (the gondolas were replaced by water taxis). There is even a Bridge of Sighs. We managed to get mildly lost for a bit.

 We shared a meal at a Mexican restaurant, then dragged ourselves away from the beautiful river walk to drive down to Corpus Christie.

After checking into a VERY nice Hyatt Place we drove over to the National Seashore as the sun set. The surf had been monstrous today. There is a sand road on the beach, and you can car camp on the beach. However, today, the road was not looking very safe. The waves were coming up to it. The National seashore looked unearthly in the twilight with it's rolling dunes. We left as the darkness descended. We tried out Doc's, a seafood restaurant on the sound side of the island. We could see it, but had trouble getting to it. We had to cross under a bridge in the darkness, and had trouble seeing where was land and where was water. (When we saw it in the light the next day, we saw all was land, but at night it looked like water. We were just scaring ourselves). After we finally found the road and got to Doc's, we were very happy with our fish and ourselves.

Feb 22
We drove back to the Padre Island national seashore to see it in daylight. We played on the entrance sign doing yoga poses. It was hard not to get blown over while balancing in the wind. At the entrance station I bought my lifetime senior pass. We asked the ranger about the battery of cameras lining the road at the station. She explained it was a live feed to homeland security. Bobbi felt concerned about the goofy face she'd made while the cameras flashed last night.
We drove to the bird island basin where there was a small campground. That's about all we saw there. We drove on the the visitor center and beach. As we walked across the deck we saw a circle of people with a ranger. We stopped to listen and learned they were about to embark on a three hour birding tour, so we joined up. The volunteer ranger gave us a Walkie talkie and told us to follow closely in our car. We went back to the same area we'd just been and got our "bird eyes" on. She had given us a check list of birds we might see. We checked off 25 species! It was wonderful to really see. She also took us back to the drive on part of the beach, which was much better today, Bobbi bravely drove on the beach. People camped on the beach and fished. We saw a bird tangled up in a garbage bag. We had to tear ourselves away to travel on, but first stopped at another fish restaurant on the lagoon for fish and chips.

La Boheme  UT opera company production.

 

OH we had such a good time at the opera. WAY exceeded my expectations. Wilma was also ENTHUSED.

The Carousel theater is a small round theater next to the big theater on the UT campus. It was a full house, but I think I heard there were 150 seats. That means it was INTIMATE theater. The actors exited and entered from the aisles as well as from back stage. And the stage was extended to a semi circle on the floor, so sometimes someone was singing 5 feet from me. (I was in the second row--there were only, I don't know, 6 rows).

The staging was minimal, and as in the play we went to, the actors came out and moved the props between scenes. The setting was supposed to be post apopaclypse Paris (the original La Boheme would have been late 19th century Paris. I think it was written 1896. The kids had a good time styling their hair and shopping the thrift shops for exotic clothes. They were quite colorful.

A vocal coach for the university sat beside us, and gave us some background on the production. It was neat to see her enthusiasm. The entire production was high energy. Funny when it could be. I think the kids carried off humor better than drama. Since we were so close, the actors could use body language effectively. And their voices filled the theater. BIG voices. I loved the lead tenor's voice. Next week I go to the big Atlanta production of Carmen, and I'm thinking, sitting up in the first balcony, I will be missing the intimacy and enthusiasm of this student production. Since I'm not an expert, the singing was great to me, the acting was delightful.

November birds

November birds dancing in the still blue sky.

Weaving patterns of air

A flock drops in from the sun, 

Another swirls in from the trees to the left.

Curling past each other

Spiraling in and out

Separating and joining

Sharing the same sky at different heights

Another group appears from the other direction

Joining the dance

Outliers fly over my head

Their wings golden, translucent in the sun.

I lift my arms and wave and dance with them, swaying.
Earth to rain motions with my arms mimic their flight.

The flocks lift above me, cycle apart like ram's horns,

Joining their kind in the November sky.

Namaste. I see you. I am with you.

Spiral Dance

There was a time when the humans on the earth were smaller in number, and made a  lighter footprint on the earth. One small band of humans had carved a home for themselves, and learned to grow food in cleared fields, and keep some animals to supplement their hunting and the gathering of wild plants.  Seasons passed into generations, and the people lived as they always had. Religion was a dance, celebrated with body, mind and soul.

************

The days were getting longer, sunrise and sunset crept northward on the horizon toward the  stones marking the furthest points the sun would reach. The fields were planted and green with new growth. Excitement stirred in the community, it was time to prepare for the midsummer's night festival for the Goddess.

The gathering ground in the middle of the village was swept clean. Sacred stones were retrieved from the pile in which they they were stored between festivals. Deirdre, the priestess, directed the young boys as they laid the stones out in a large spiral, working out from a sacred inner circle. Wood was brought for the fires,  the small Goddess fire in the center, and the two large fires to mark the sunrise and sunset points at the outer edge of the spiral.

Every man in the village, from the youngest, who had just done their manhood ceremonies at winter solstice, to the wizened, shriveled old grandfathers who still carried the hope and desire to honor the Goddess, carefully prepared their dancing masks. Feathers and fur, previously collected and stored, were brought out and carefully attached. Crushed rocks were mixed with oils to paint vivid colors. Horns and tusks saved from slaughtered animals were attached, so that when the mask was placed on his head, each man would become the Horned God.

The women gathered flowers and leaves to weave into garlands, to adorn their hair, waists, arms thighs.  Deirdre set several young girls to grind ochre to make the red paste for painting Goddess symbols on bodies.

As the heat of the day waned, a supper of bread, vegetables, fruits and beer was served. Everyone would need nourishment for the long night of singing, dancing and lovemaking, but wouldn't want to be weighed down by a heavy feast. The little children were put to bed, with some of the older children charged with watching them. Others of the older children would be allowed to stay up late, taking turns playing the drums and rattles and joining in on the songs and chants.

The solstice stone glowed orange as the setting sun passed over it, and the sunset and sunrise fires were lit, As the drums started a slow throbbing, all the people gathered at the edge of the spiral,  forming a large circle.  Each man proudly wore his horned mask, and the women were beautiful in their flowers. The youngest boys clumped together in a shy, nervous bunch, but the mature men stepped between them, dividing them. "No Goddess will step out of the spiral if she sees all you babies waiting for her," teased Broka, "she has to have some hope that a REAL man will be stepping up to worship her."

Priestess Deirdre walked first to the sunrise fire, then to the sunset fire, pulling some burning twigs from each. She approached the entrance of the spiral, and stopped. The drums silenced. All the people breathed as one, as Deirdre stood with head bowed in silent prayer, asking the Goddess' favor on the ceremony.  Deirdre raised her head, raised her arms holding the tiny fires, and stepped into the spiral, turning in slow circles. The gibbous moon cast silver on her long unbound hair woven with flowers, her  heavy breasts, belly softly rounded from childbirth, and wide womanly hips, as she circled round and round, slowly making her way deeper into the spiral.  Drums began again, softly, as Deirdre sang:

I am  Mother
Sing my praises
Worship me with body and soul

From my womb
Pours blood and water
Giving  life to all the land

Grain and fruit grow
From my blessing
New life thrives at my command

I am  Mother
Sing my praises
Worship me with body and soul

Celebrate 
the gift I give you
Light the fires of life again

As Deirdre finished the last verse, the four oldest women of the village entered the spiral and started the song again. More drums picked up the beat, and all the people in the circle joined in the song, slowly stepping  counterclockwise around the spiral edge, clapping hands in rhythym with the song. Next, five women of the village who were heany with pregnancy stepped forward and entered the spiral. These were the  blessed of the Mother.

When Deirdre,  the crones, and the pregnant women reached the inner circle, she knelt down and lit the Goddess fire. The women first attended her, rubbing the ochre over her body, painting a spiral on each breast, and painting the downward pointing triangle on her pubis. Then Deirdre and the crones painted the Goddess symbols on the pregnant women's breast and pubis, and large spirals on the mounds of their bellies.

 Again the drumming stopped, as did the singing and dancing. All was silent except for the soft crackling of the fires. Again, the whole community breathed with one breath. Deirdre lept  over the fire and became the Goddess. The celebration had begun.

The dancers continued the slow cicle around the perimeter.  As a woman would approach the entrance to the spiral, if she were ready, she would leave the circle of dancers and start to spiral inward. Slowly turning as she spiraled in, singing and clapping hands. some of the women brought with them gifts of food and drink for the women in the Goddess circle.  Deirdre stayed in the circle to welcome some of the arriving women. She helped the crones and pregnant women rub on the ochre and embraced each woman as she jumped across the fire, becoming the Goddess. Soon though, the circle was filling, and it was time to spiral back out, Deirdre leading the women, singing, dancing ,skipping and leaping, spiraling out and out.

The men and a few of the women who had not yet started to spiral in continued the slow dance around the perimeter, chanting and singing Goddess songs. As Deirdre rounded the outermost ring of the spiral, she admired all the circling masked Gods. She timed her exit from the spiral so that a beautifully crafted mask carried on a well muscled chest and abdomen with long sinewy arms and legs and  approached the exit. Deirdre was pretty sure she knew who's face was under that mask, and he was a young man who could use some expert teaching on how to best honor the Goddess.  She stepped out of the spiral and held out her hand to the young Horned God. He took her hand in both of his, knelt before her, and kissed her hand.  She signaled him to rise, and holding his hand led him out of the light into the moonswept darkness of the field.