Luna and the Tide

How Luna Does the Morning Beach

Morning & Evenings

This is how the mornings would start out.



And this is how the evenings would end.

Redwoods to Beaches

More of our journey towards Gold Beach, Oregon.



Be a gentle friend to trees and they will give you back beauty, cool and fragrant shade, and many birds, singing.

Summer Road Trip 2008

Luna and I hit the road again recently. Most all of my trips out of town start out looking like this:

Since Las Vegas is surrounded by mountains, we usually have to drive through cooled lava beds at some point on the trip.


Our first evenings destination is at altitude by way of the lowlands.


A drive by Mono Lake....in very windy weather.


And then the first alpine lake gathers up in a big hello for us.


The recent far away looking mountains are now under our wheels.


Sunscreen for all and climbing gear for some are in order.


Streams flow past.


Tenaya Lake shimmers in the sun.


Half Dome is but a glimpse away.


Lovely streams abound and trickle.


Tall pines gaze at their reflections.


The Camping Boss makes her presence felt by all walking by.


The BEAR Box is as far away from my tent as I can get it.

Tent FAR AWAY from BEAR Box.


And later in the evening at said BEAR Box, it's tightness of closure is tested by a BEAR jumping up and down on it. "WOOMPAAA WOOMPAA WOOMMMPPAAA," it howled.

And Luna. Well, Luna is NOT a BEAR dog. She didn't wake up......at all. Even when I shook her to "WAKE UP THERE IS A BEAR!" "ahhahhhahhha, but I'm sleeping MOM," she said. She'll tell me if there is a chipmunk on a tree stump, but....BEAR(S)......HA! NOT a PEEP out of her.

Luna NOT looking for BEARS.


And again, Luna NOT looking for BEARS.


This NOT looking for BEARS is tiring.


Especially the next morning, after being shaken awake a dozen times the previous evening concerning the BEAR(S) in the camp.

See, BEAR POO in OUR CAMP.


This is not our first experience with the BEAR(S) in Yosemite. Oh NO. See the "Bear Poop, No Knitting" post from 2005. We even had another international couple share our space this time out again. Last time they were from Germany, this time around from Italy. Very nice. And they were very close to the BEAR Box sleeping in their truck. Nice deflection, yes?

The BEAR POOP, it IS over by the BEAR Box, but WTF? Luna......NOT a BEAR detecting dog. At all. And even tired about it!!!

Yosemite was beautiful. And even with the BEAR(S), I will again go camping there...in a heart beat!! White Wolf Campground allows dogs, is always full of people everywhere, and is very nice. Next time though, I'm setting up tin cans on strings in some camp spots as an alarm. Maybe THAT noise will wake up my 'NOT a BEAR DOG' dog.

John Muir describes Yosemite's soul many time over, more eloquently than I can even think or breathe about it. Here is the link is to his "The Yosemite" book and exhibit at the Sierra Club site.

Desert to Yosemite Slideshow:


The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.
--John Muir

The Land

The Crossing


The Flowers


The Creek


The Sound of Rain


The Sleeping Arrangements


The Gathering


The Animals


The Toys


The Rider


The Fun


The Face Bath


The Ranch


The Skyline


The Gate


The View


The House


The Bug


The Skull


The Depth


The Colors


The East Route


The West Route


The Reflection


The Sunset


The Clouds


The Clouds II


The Sangre de Cristo Mountains


The Golden Glow

The Party

The Party


The Green Chile


The Line


The Whole Reunion


The Spoons


The Dance

Road Trip

The Drive


The Weather


The People


The Head Rancher with Red Head


The Running


The Running Video


The Expanse


The Shade


The Goats


The Hummingbirds


The Work of the Day


The Feeding


The Ranchers


The Duck Races


The Helen


The Jimmy


The Junior


The Bo**********


The Ears


The Enforcer

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)

Here is your smile for today!!!

Luna at the Lake

Luna and my boat neighbor, Don, enjoy a jet ski ride on Lake Mead.

Luna LOVES to boat and ride anything and everything! Whenever I bring out her life vest, she starts jumping and dancing with joy because she knows she's going to get to go somewhere on something. She is such a funny dog. So happy. All the time.

"Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace."
- Milan Kundera

A Morning Offering

A Morning Offering

I bless the night that nourished my heart
To set the ghosts of longing free
Into the flow and figure of dream
That went to harvest from the dark
Bread for the hunger no one sees.

All that is eternal in me
Welcome the wonder of this day,
The field of brightness it creates
Offering time for each thing
To arise and illuminate.

I place on the altar of dawn:
The quiet loyalty of breath,
The tent of thought where I shelter,
Wave of desire I am shore to
And all beauty drawn to the eye.

May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed.

May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.

~ John O'Donohue ~

(To Bless the Space Between Us)

The Cornucopia

THE CORNUCOPIA

Grapes grow up a difficult and
sloped terrain. A soft line of poplars
shimmer in the disappearing light.
At midnight, the poor move
into the train stations of Italy,
spread out blankets for the children,
and pretend to the police they have tickets
and are waiting for a train.

The statue of Bacchus is a contrast
with his right hand holding a shallow but
wine-brimming cup. His left hand
reaches easily into the cornucopia
where grapes ripen and burst open.
It is a vivid dream: to wake
from the statue's grace and life force
to the suffering in the streets.

But the truth is the cornucopia
is open to all who are alive,
who look and feel the world in
its pristine beauty -- as a dragonfly
hovering in the sunlight over clear
water; and who feel the world
as a luminous world -- as green plankton
drifting at night in the sea.

~ Arthur Sze ~

(The Redshifting Web)

Mind Over Matter

Wow!! Wait a few minutes for the blog music to end and then start the above video. It may change the way you think forever.

Black Clapotis III

Three summers in the making, she is finally done!! Black Clapotis III.


All cotton. For our desert heat.


She is 'flatter' than the wool Clapotis' I have made. And larger too, even though I made her to pattern specifications.


And of course, I used my Clapotis Spreadsheet.


I've very pleased with the final result.


Long rivers of black cotton.


Cool breaks of drop stitches.


A perfect cover-up for the shockingly cool 65* interior temps of city buildings...

...from the 112* desert heat here in the city.

A Physics

A Physics

When you get down to it, Earth
has our own great ranges
of feeling - Rocky, Smoky, Blue -
and a heart that can melt stones.

The still pools fill with sky,
as if aloof, and we have eyes
for all of this - and more, for Earth's
reminding moon. We too are ruled

by such attractions - spun and swaddled,
rocked and lent a light. We run
our clocks on wheels, our trains
on time. But all the while we want

to love each other endlessly - not only for
a hundred years, not only six feet up and down.
We want the suns and moons of silver
in ourselves, not only counted coins in a cup. The whole

idea of love was not to fall. And neither was
the whole idea of God. We put him well
above ourselves, because we meant,
in time, to measure up.

~ Heather McHugh ~

(Hinge and Sign: Poems, 1968-1993)