Bones... Lovely, O'Keeffian, and in the Desert

I know, I know... I shoulda blogged yesterday... but I was too busy getting back to Tucson... It'll be nice to not have to spell Tucson for hotel/motel staff now that I'm back in the land of c before s. That's tuck -sahn. Yes, I arrived safe and sound. And much enriched by stopping in Santa Fe my last night on the road. Was at the O'Keeffe Museum within minutes of its opening Thursday a.m. to see the current rotating exhibit Georgia O'Keeffe and New Mexico: A Sense of Place -- June 11–September 12, 2004 It is the best collection of her landscapes you will ever see. The video is quite well done, informative, unless you yourself are a biographer of her life. The audio tour only made up a few non-words--horizontality--that jolted me away from the information and into critic mode.

I haven't officially ended my "on the road" time as I haven't done my summary labyrinth walk. Got back last night at about 9:30 p.m. local time so as to briefly overlap with my husband before he took off for the Phoenix airport at 4:30 this a.m. to fly back to Northern Indiana to attend a 50th birthday celebration several of his high school buddies are throwing for themselves and their buds at a go cart track. Rented it for the whole day. 50! Not really a Late Boomer although he likes to consider himself such.

So I'm back into Mom mode. I'm at a wired coffee house, It's A Grind ( check out their history of coffee) while waiting to pick up my daughter from a teen night at a Water Park. Its speedtest follows:

2004-06-19 01:30:01 EST: 1046 / 672
Your download speed : 1072064 bps, or 1046 kbps.
A 130.8 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 688909 bps, or 672 kbps.
Figured I might as well post a blog.

I hadn't read The Lovely Bones, the audio book I listened to yesterday and the day before, but I now understand why it was a best seller. It is an enchanting tale though based in tragedy and violence. I didn't realize that "Susie" the narrator and murder victim was a Late-Boomer and that much of the book was set in the 70s. Highly recommended. Sebold knows how to write.

All this talk of bones makes me think of how dangerous this time of year is to the desperate people who try to cross into the U.S. and who often end up dead, abandoned by the Coyotes without water, sometimes still locked in vehicles... Just a quick look at Border News shows how much danger these folks are in. High speed chases, horribly crowded filthy conditions... and those are the "lucky" ones who make it through the desert. Ah... yes, I'm back home in the Primeria Alta, that fragile but stunning beautiful land that I'm so lucky to know as home. This trip has juxtaposed so many unexpected and wonderful elements, the geographies of deserts and swamps will stand iconic in my memory as summing up this mid-life trip... there is wonder everywhere in this here and now that is all we ever know.

Oryx and Crake

Hey Ho. Writing from Oklahoma City… Wednesday a.m. from a Panera. No internet connection last night. Lucky I found a place to sleep... third try was a charm. I wanted to go west to Pueblo CO and walk a labyrinth there and drop down again, but I can’t risk the weather and time that could be involved… so I compromised and walked an 11-Circuit Chartres style labyrinth near Kansas City at Unity Village… and then dropped down through KS and OK… I find the more complex 11 circuit labyrinths to be conducive to far better walking meditations for me than the shorter 7 circuit classic style. I got a late start yesterday as I had to find an internet connection and determine the route I would take and which stops I could still make and which I’d have to drop. Finished listening to Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake yesterday. The language in the book is exquisite. The story is compelling. All the soul deep questions one asks in a lifetime are there. Her voices are so real.

Today I drive I40. Tomorrow I hope to stop and see the new rotation of O'Keeffe paintings at the gallery in Santa Fe. I would love to roll into Tucson tomorrow night and see my husband for a few minutes (overlap with him as I told a friend *wicked grin*) before he flies out Friday a.m. But I may not make it all that way.

Today I will listen to Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones.


I have much to report and little time to report it. My head is filled with ideas and I've been heavily thinking about cycles, friends, discoveries, omissions, endings, beginnings, connections of the heart, family, wings, labyrinths, purpose, inspiration, synchronicity... haven't yet blogged about Ray Charles and Joan Osborne's Spider Web so read the No Georgia On My Mind No Morereview on the Relish page instead.

The trip to Indiana was great... only a couple minor bumps. Great research and great connections made. More later on that.

Oh yes, haven't commented on Ronnie Raygun's passing either... perhaps that in and of itself is a comment.

Time to move on. Oh... almost forgot...

2004-06-16 12:11:21 EST: 757 / 201
Your download speed : 775365 bps, or 757 kbps.
A 94.6 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 206010 bps, or 201 kbps.

This download from the Panera on the NW Expressway in OK City.