list (Jan. 17)

Things I miss about New Mexico: Turquoise skies, unpolluted, unobstructed. Rivers that flow clean and clear, with no trash in them. Our sacred Mountain, constant presence with Her ever-changing light over Taos. Empty sidewalks. Silence. The sound of wind in trees. Coyotes' crazy laughter at night. Stars. The company of animals in general - deer, elk, rabbits, bears - which I had come to take for granted, and they are not seen here, or not here at all, so very strange. Real (dark) beer. Green chile. Hundred-mile vistas.

I'm sure that, as soon as I get back there, a list of things missed in Mexico will also appear. Blessing and curse (challenge) of the traveller, to be always and never content where we are.

Favorite quote heard on this trip: "The new traveller who spends a week in a new country, and then returns home, writes a book. The traveller who spends month and then returns, writes an article. The traveller who spends a year or more returns, and says nothing."

Obviously I'm not quite to that point yet. But I find less to say about here than a month and a half ago.  And I've mostly stopped taking pictures. Which seems like a small advancement: Or maybe it's just that my $40-a-week closet/room has no outlets, so I can't charge my phone this week. I've also accepted that the goal/wish/daily work here, like it or not, is for the most part exactly the same as it is in New Mexico.  Or anywhere, for that matter.  Learn. Listen. Heal. Help or serve, if possible. Honor Earth.  Acknowledge Mystery.  Praise Beauty. All goals quite often misunderstood by others, if not totally invisible or incomprehensible to them. And that often (except maybe for the one about Beauty) don't involve words.