blog

80

I don’t know how you are so familiar to me—or why it feels less like I am getting to know you and more as though I am remembering who you are. How every smile, every whisper brings me closer to the impossible conclusion that I have known you before, I have loved you before—in another time, a different place, some other existence.
— Lang Leav

"Rain-fed wildflowers have been sprouting from California's desert sands after lying dormant for years — producing a spectacular display that has drawn record crowds and traffic jams to tiny towns like Borrego Springs.

An estimated 150,000 people in the past month have converged on this town of about 3,500, roughly 85 miles northeast of San Diego, for the so-called super bloom.

Wildflowers are springing up in different landscapes across the state and the western United States thanks to a wet winter. In the Antelope Valley, an arid plateau northeast of Los Angeles, blazing orange poppies are lighting up the ground.

But a "super bloom" is a term for when a mass amount of desert plants bloom at one time. In California, that happens about once in a decade in a given area. It has been occurring less frequently with the drought. Last year, the right amount of rainfall and warm temperatures produced carpets of flowers in Death Valley." 

"Each spring, the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve comes alive with the seasonal surprises of the Mojave Desert Grassland habitat.  The duration and intensity of colors and scents vary from year to year.  The wildflower season generally lasts from as early as mid-February through May, with a variety of wildflowers creating a mosaic of color that changes daily."

78

be easy.
take your time.
you are coming
home.
to yourself.
— Nayyirah Waheed, “The Becoming | Wing”

 

All photos are mine. The full original content of this post got deleted somehow, so I attempted to recreate it as best I could.

XO

71

You do not need saving.
Only reminding of who you are.
— Tapiwa Mugabe

At age 7, I traveled to Ireland by myself for the first time. The emerald isle quickly become a second home to me, and each summer I would return to live with my extended family for weeks on end. It was a tradition started by my father, a first generation American who left the rush of New York to work on his uncle's farm in the quiet fishing village of Courtmacsherry, Eire until school started again. Like my Dad, some of my favorite memories are from those summers.

This trip was the first time I had been back in the summertime in 5 years. I was an emotional wreck who was constantly crying of happiness and confessing my love to everyone. Being there again, I realized how much Ireland means to me, how significantly my time and the people there have shaped who I am.

Thank you to my Dad for enabling Rob and I to go, we had an unforgettable trip with you. Thank you to Rose and my cousin Neil for inviting us to your beautiful wedding, it was absolutely incredible. Thank you to Aunt Kathleen and Aunt Margaret for the advice and wisdom you shared with me on the trip, I am so grateful we bonded the way we did. Thank you to Robby for coming with me, meeting (literally) 100s of my family members and making them fall just as deeply in love with you as I am. Thank you to Deirdre and Siob for being future bridesmaids and forever my sisters from another mama. Thank you to Marie for always making me feel so welcome and being down to stay out way after we should be in bed. I could give a million thank yous. This trip was truly the time of my life, I could not have had a better time, and I could not feel more blessed than I do coming away from it. This trip solidified that my wedding (far in the future) will be happening in Ireland. 

We were in County Kerry at the Park Hotel/Samas Spa and then in County Cork in Courtmacsherry, Kinsale, Clonakilty, and Cork City. 

Trip highlights include:

  • Brunch with 25 of my Dad's cousins the moment we stepped off the plane.
  • Park Hotel desserts outside at 10:30 pm before the sunset.
  • The 7 mile hike through Killarney National Park.
  • Taking a horse and carriage through the Gap of Dunlop.
  • Treatments and spending time at the pool at the Samas Spa.
  • A boat tour of the Lakes of Killarney.
  • Aunt Margaret dropping her phone in the river and our guide retrieving it.
  • 5 hour dinners with my parents, Grandma, and Aunt Kathleen and Margaret in Kenmare.
  • Dad and Neilus singing at the pub the night before the wedding.
  • Grandma eating 3 ice cream cones after the reception at Rose and Neil’s wedding.
  • Watching my Dad's face as Nelius spoke at the wedding (he looked like a kid on Christmas).
  • Everyone and their mom stealing Robby away from me on the wedding dance floor.
  • Having a 99 at the Clon Street Fair.
  • The madness at the Courtmac Hotel the night after the wedding.
  • Robby and I staying out til 4 am on our last night, forcing us to go directly to the airport for a 18 hour travel day.

And so much more. Here are some photos taken in the 10 days. All iPhone.

52

One of the mixed blessings of being twenty and twenty-one and even twenty-three is the conviction that nothing like this, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding, has ever happened before.
— Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Jalama Beach Camping Trip, Mid-March

XLVI

‘Live each day as if it’s your last’, that was the conventional advice, but really, who had the energy for that? What if it rained or you felt a bit glandy? It just wasn’t practical. Better by far to simply try and be good and courageous and bold and to make a difference. Not change the world exactly, but the bit around you. Go out there with your passion and your electric typewriter and work hard at…something. Change lives through art maybe. Cherish your friends, stay true to your principles, live passionately and fully and well. Experience new things. Love and be loved, if you ever get the chance.
— David Nicholls, One Day

Joshua Tree Camping, February



Desert Sestina by Susan Sink

I feel at home in Joshua Tree’s desert.
There’s peace in the vast emptiness,
the illusion that you could never get lost
because you can see so far, and sounds carry
over desert like they carry over water,
alerting others to your presence on or off the trail.

Have you ever noticed how two women on a trail
will talk and talk, never running empty,
but couples are more quiet? In the desert
they stop briefly to share a bottle of water
as if time together allows them to be at a loss
for words, or many ways to show they care.

I pay attention to these things now; I care
what brought these people to the desert,
and wonder if it makes them feel full or empty,
the barren rock beneath a sky the color of water.
I know it’s hard for anyone to stay on the trail
and in the world, as in the desert, easy to get lost.

Read more

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JOSHUA TREE REVISITED by Dawn Huntley Spitz

Ageless rocks stand like desert monuments,
Trees with spiky arms reach toward the sky.
Roads snake into endless wilderness
Distant views bemuse the eye.

Sandy trails slice through unyielding brush
Where shy inhabitants slither, crawl and run,
Bold wildflowers in radiant colors
Lift their heads to the relentless sun.

Vast and wild, the park calls to adventurers
Who roar along its roads in fearless quest.
While those who come to look for sanctuary
Soon discover gifts of beauty, peace and rest.

Some say this place is where the spirits dwell
And who’s to know who has not felt its spell?