the old-school guestbook archives
my amazon wish list... my favorite astrologer... my favorite artist... yerba mate revolution! erowid: a travel guide for interior journeys... no more war: MoveOn.org United for Peace and Justice True Majority seek the truth: Common Dreams Unamerican Activities The Nation people I adore, diaries I read: rev.raikes ariana cubiclegirl epiphany glitter333 laurakay wammo the music: the asylum street spankers backyard tire fire blue highway bill camplin wendy colonna freedom tribe joules graves guy forsyth band hamsa lila hanuman libby kirkpatrick leftover salmon pamela means medeski martin & wood the motet the nice outfit nickel creek open road rose polenzani railroad earth south austin jug band string cheese incident taarka tha musemeant the devil makes three tim o'brien band trolley wild sage keller williams yonder mountain string band |
gentle eyes and prairie flowers ~ September 24, 2001 - 9:38 p.m. I'm tired. of course, those of you playing along at home know that milwaukee makes me tired. we didn't stay too long, though, so it's all good. I got to spend a couple of days with my family, got to have breakfast with karina, got to reconnect with fran and jim. fran and jim are this wonderful hippie-flavor couple that I've known since I was a kid. the first interaction I remember with them was the time they busted me stealing carrots out of their garden. they took me in and taught me about gardening. I helped them with the planting and weeding. one day I was playing with scraps of wood in jim's garage workshop, so he got me some glue, a hammer and some nails so that I could actually make things from the scraps. he taught me how to use a saw. one day they heard me say something about the plants in the alley. my parents' house is on an alley, and it was my playground, my world when I was growing up. I knew all the weeds and bushes and wildflowers in the alley, when they came up each year, when they flowered. fran and jim asked me to take them for a walk in the alley and show them what I knew. they were adults who took me seriously, who took me in and nurtured my interests, my abilities. they took me to a prairie restoration project, where people gathered seeds of the native prairie plants to propagate them and keep the prairies from dying out altogether. I learned a lot about the earth with fran and jim, about native american philosophies. about love, easily and freely given. I lost touch with them when I became an angry teenager, even though they still lived right around the corner. they still do, and this afternoon I walked over there, surprising them just as they were leaving on a bike ride. we hugged and laughed and stood on the sidewalk in the crisp autumn breeze talking about all kinds of things. fran is so expressive, she loves people and when something excites her, her voice jumps a register, and she jumps up, claps her hands. jim is gentle, and his smile shines through his eyes. I can't imagine why I haven't reconnected with them before now. they are such beautiful people, and there is so much that we share. I finally got to tell them what my connection to them meant to me when I was growing up. we traded hugs and blessings when it was time to go, expressed wishes to connect again soon, either in santa cruz or milwaukee. I'm looking forward to it. ozone and I are leaving again in the morning, heading to his brother's place in iowa city. there wasn't quite enough time for everything I wanted to do before we left, but better to be in milwaukee for too short a time than too long. we're on our way home.
(((rings))) |