Parked in traffic coming back from Vegas a couple of years ago and looked off to the south to behold this spectacular vista. I might have missed this had we been flying along at 80mph. Sometimes we need to force ourselves to slow down in order to see the world as it truly is.
A tribute to one of my favorite American artists, Maynard Dixon. http://maynarddixon.org/ Although pegged as a “Western” painter, Maynard understood better than any other artist of his generation the overwhelming emotional power of standing before a “big sky”.
I stitch together memories and regrets of the past and anticipation and anxiety about the future into an intricate thought tapestry that I call myself. Awakening is the simple realization that I am in reality just this moment and that there is no time but the present.
My Uncle, Southern Calvin Courtney passed on this morning. Southern was born in 1927 and lived 87 full and energetic years. He was an avid hiker and was familiar with every trail in the Sierra Nevada and Angeles Crest. Now he has moved on to his last adventure, into high country, whereabouts unknown. Happy trails my friend.
I shot this sunset, looking west from the hacienda this evening, November 1st, 2014.
A moment of magic photographed from my front yard, looking west across the
Santa Clarita Valley. Late October, 2013
Considering how rapidly mankind has been eliminating all other life on our garden planet, I have been toying with the fantasy that other, more advanced and enlightened space travelers have been quietly visiting earth and spiriting away “samples” of other life forms before we wipe them off the planet forever. Just a fantasy I know, but it makes me feel a little better.
In reality, when it’s gone, it’s gone forever. Any other notion is just fantasy.
A little creative expression for myself many years ago in celebration of my 59th trip around the sun.
Jeff's Zen Garden 