'stripped...'

"Stripped..."

Tired... spent... worn out... exposed... bare... those are words that can express how I am feeling today.  The events of the past few weeks have worn on me. I promise that I am not being ingratiating when I say that your words of support have been very helpful...

 Stripped is another word that describes how I feel...  and when I thought of this word, it reminded me of a great album of the same name by the Rolling Stones...

Somewhere in  '94 or '95, the Stones toured behind their 'VooDoo Lounge' CD... and while on the road, they recorded and filmed some performances which later appeared in their 'Stripped' CD... talk about Rock and Roll at it's finest!!!


The performances were scaled back... cleaner, I think, in sound... and one of my favorites from the 'Stripped' cd is...





I want that big Gibson jumbo acoustic that Ron Wood is playing... and I want that... hmmm... looks like it could be a Gibson  ES-125, but I don't know if they came with dog eared P-90s or not. I would have loved getting to be a fly on the wall when they recorded this... augh...

Things are better... the sister is doing MUCH better considering we were all getting ready for a funeral... she is even showing parts of her mean streak again... when she hugs me, they are different though... and once, she whispered in my ear that she could never ever pay me back... I'm much too kind to ask her just to be nicer to others.


The colleague at work who tried to take his life was back on Friday... we were told to not make a scene, but when he walked in, I have to admit that I did hug him and told him I was glad to see him... he seems changed... better, I think.


I want to add another video of a performance from the 'VooDoo Lounge' tour... it is one of the mostest awesomest songs ever by the Stones...



The intro to this song is one of the greatest ever!!!  At the same time, this song is one of the most fun to perform, and most frustrating, because in order to do it justice you need a female singer with a really great pair of lungs...  I could listen to Lisa Fisher do her vocals over and over and over and over...


Things for all concerned seem to be getting better... improving, but I feel down... spent... energy flowing out.  

I heard someone talking on tv this morning... and he was asking... 'who am I?'  'Where am I going?'  And I thought... I am not sure I know those answers at this time... 


I tend to want to go to music when things aren't  'right'...  but, I think I know what I wish I could do... I think I know where I wish I could go right now... and it will be at least October before that can happen...

I love this place...

namaste...

~shoes~

"Traveling Shoes... October, 2010"

In July, I wrote of the death of my friend, Robert... and when that session of summer school was over, how I wanted to head Westward to Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon, and maybe Sedona, AZ just to heal.  I'm not sure why I have this need, or urge, or awareness that I can be better when I am somewhere like this.


Some would argue that maybe in a previous Life, I had lived in this part of the country... and may have residual affinity for an area that was so important to the people who inhabited this area...


The Navajo have such a strong belief in the Land, and they require that one have the deepest respect for Mother Earth.  There is a belief system that the Navajo have that describes existence as beginning with the 'First World' and extending to the 'Fourth World'... which is the existence/Life we experience.  The Navajo say that they were taught to live in Harmony with the physical world.   They believe that the Physical World and the Spiritual World blend into one.


Navajo Spiritual practice is about restoring Health, Balance, and Harmony to one's Life.


I like this idea.  This makes SO much sense to me, and being in certain places, I find this healing... this relief... a sense that things are going to be OK...

One of My Photos...

The part of Arizona where Monument Valley is located is what I would call "High Plains"...  the land is fairly level, but with these great structures just looming out of the Earth.  They are so breath-taking... I wish I could explain the feeling that I experience when I see these great structures... I am so awed by them.  The altitude here is about 7,000 Ft above sea level... and the tops of these structures are another 1,000 Ft above the floor of the Valley.  So in reality, these clouds really aren't that low at all... we were fairly high.

Another One of my photos...

These are probably the three most photographed mesas at Monument Valley... Left to Right, the two Mittens and then Merrick's Butte... The butte is named after a prospector who was trying to escape from Indians.  He didn't make it, but he did get something named after him.  It is amazing how quickly the skies became over-cast.  Driving into  this area, the sun had been shining, but as we neared this area, it became cloudy...

Another one of my photos...

There is a hiking path that takes one around one of the Mittens and circles back through between that Mitten and Merrick's Butte. It's about 3 1/2 miles and is just unbelievable... we found fresh deer tracks... and they were trailing along the path, and we were excited until we found something that appeared to be LARGE cat tracks that just seemed to appear.  We weren't nervous about deer, but possibly a mountain lion? YIKES!!!

The Mittens and Merrick's Butte at Sunrise...

So... this is one of the stops on the Fall Break Spur-Of-The-Moment Road Trip I took... It is amazing that I could feel the contentment returning to my Body... to my Soul.  It was almost the feeling of 'Being Home'... if that makes any sense.

I didn't see Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote there...

I had recently purchased a new camera and it arrived a few weeks before the trip.  These are my unaltered images... the camera is phenomenal... it's an Olympus SP-800UZ.

I will post photos from other parts of the trip soon...

Namaste...

~shoes~

Monument Valley

A few years ago on a return trip from San Francisco, my flight went over this beautiful grouping of rock formations... when I fly, I am like a kid in that I want window seats and my face is pressed to the glass looking to see what all can be seen.

I'm not sure why this area "spoke" to me, but it did... and I've been drawn to it ever since. Even as a kid, when I would watch the old John Wayne westerns... and see these rock formations, I wanted to go... I just hadn't connected to them yet...


These are sand stone shapes that have been eroded away over millions of years.. according to much of what I've read about them... but after having seen them, they look more as if they were shoved up from the ground... they have this appearance of being extruded...



The formations above are called "The Mittens"... they appear to be hands reaching upward from the floor of the valley... These are probably the most recognized shapes from Monument Valley, although I was quite taken with all of them... I'n not sure I had a favorite site within the valley...


I am on some kind of a spiritual journey... there is something I am trying to learn... or need to learn... about myself... I believe the answers to what I am looking for could be anywhere...


Possibly at the Grand Canyon... or in the throes of passion while in the arms of a fantastic lover...


I've been journalling ever since the day my Dad had his stroke... My Dad's Death Journal turned into my Divorce Journal and then morphed into my Spiritual Journey Journal... I'm not sure where I am heading... but its much like that definition that one has heard of pornography or what is deemed to be obscene...


In 1964, Judge Potter Stewart, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, said... "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced . . . but I know it when I see it . . . "


So maybe that's how I will know when I've finished this journey... maybe we never finish them... maybe we just get tired and pull over when we get tired... and find a comfortable spot... and spend the rest of our time there...


I've told the kids... that when I die... I want to be cremated... and taken into Monument Valley... and have my ashes scattered at the base of one of the Mittens... or maybe even at the base of "Merrick's Butte." This formation is the one often seen in photos that is between the two Mittens... its named for a prospector who was caught by Indians and killed... at least he had a beautiful place to die... as frightful as it must have been!


Or... maybe my ashes can be incorporated into some kind of vulcanized process... and can end up in a dildo... that could be an interesting way to spend Eternity... No??



If you've seen "Forrest Gump," you've seen the above location... this is in Utah looking south into Arizona... This is all located on Navajo Land... I'm about to have a great deal of time off... one of the perks that comes with teaching in a university system... I am feeling this urge to head Westward... so if the weather cooperates, maybe I will see Monument Valley again in a few weeks... or maybe Sedona... I hear its something to see...
I wish I knew where I was going... spiritually, that is... but if we knew, maybe we wouldn't take such wonderful journeys...