Once gone I may know.

 

December sunset on the Oregon Coast, Yachats Rivermouth, when my Brother and I found 16 sand dollars in less than 1 hour.

What I strive to be alone with,

and surrender all to gain,

was born without me watching

and will die, to me, in vain.

–Alex Newport-Berra

Vibrant drops of water set to a coastal sky.

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Vlad the Blad: Edition 2

Only one direction can bring this reflection, west.

Vlad and Blad stop in for a Friday visit.  Edition 1 can be seen by clicking on these words. Enjoy!

Oak tree telling me stories.

Edition 1 featured Adamo's hand and a $15 denim jacket, this edition features Adamo's feets and a $1 forest stake.

Sand, sun, water, fun.

More from the Space Odyssey files.

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me and light

 

My Brother Adam is quite a fine wide-brimmed hat model.

Where I started, others finished.

they found, me.

taking the place of I.

Night begins, the day complete.

I see Moon’s light,

is actually Sun’s light, 

reflected to me.

Yet what truly fills the sky,

always,

still,

are the stars.

–Alex Newport-Berra

As well as cunning driftwood tightrope walker.

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Intermission II: Literary Swiss Timing

 

Bandon, Oregon. Where a year ago I met an amazing group of individuals, they welcomed me like family and I am in gratitude for how they share their passion and joy.

Below is an excerpt from Tom Robbins’ novel, “Jitterbug Perfume”.  It comes at a point when an Indian daughter, Kudra, who wants nothing more than to continue following her passion and her joy working among the exotic scents, alchemy, and her father, in the family incense business, finds out her marriage has been arranged.  Meaning she will be forced to live and work with her husband’s family in the unglamorous rope business.

“Rope.  The gods have a great sense of humor, don’t they?  If you lack the iron and the fizz to take control of your own life, if you insist on leaving your fate to the gods, then the gods will repay your weakness by having a grin or two at your expense.  Should you fail to pilot your own ship, don’t be surprised at what inappropriate port you find yourself docked.  The dull and prosaic will be granted adventures that will dice their central nervous system like an onion, romantic dreamers will end up in the rope yard.  You may protest that it is too much to ask of an uneducated fifteen-year-old girl that she defy her family, her society, her weighty cultural and religious heritage in order to pursue a dream that she doesn’t really understand.  Of course it is asking too much.  The price of self-destiny is never cheap, and in certain situations it is unthinkable.  But to achieve the marvelous, it is precisely the unthinkable that must be thought.”

Reading this was an amazing combination of inspiration, affirmation, and reflection.  I thought of the words I wrote to accompany the title of this blog almost a year ago and the nautical theme and sailior’s blood is present in every human story, young and old, every country, alive or not.

Reflecting on the last 365 days of my life, the last year, there have been two books that entered my hands without my prodding or search.  The first, was given to me by a friend just over a year ago, The Alchemist, by Brazilian author Paul Coelho.  As I read The Alchemist parallels between the book and the way my life unfolded at the time were uncanny, giving me invaluable insight and reassurance.  Perfect timing to receive and read.

And last week the second book, Tom Robbins’, Jitterbug Perfume.  After returing from a very eventful two months travelling and spending time with family, old and new, I found myself drawn to the bookshelf where I have amassed a random row of books during the last year I have lived in Ashland.  And again another seemingly “random” book is in my hands and my mind, perfect timing to receive and read.

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