A spare moment, one not accounted for or otherwise claimed. A moment to carve out warmth on the sofa, from sitting here long enough that the heat transfers from me to the cushion, envelops me just so. Just so much that I know when I stand to pick up the pizza crust box and read how to make the dough, the warmth will evaporate, from me and from the couch.
What makes me happy is having no one accountable, me to them, them to me. Hearing the girls talk in their room, no voices raised, no agitation at all except for arguing birds out the half-cracked kitchen window.
Happy for health in all its forms. Strong, vibrant body. Shimmering skin. Em was sick with the stomach bug this weekend. She stayed with Mom, and I have to say I was happy to let my mom deal with my vomiting feverish child, happy it wasn’t me doing the soothing and cleaning, nor the puking. (Yet sad to know how easily I relinquish those duties, still not a mother yet, not the mother I knew and loved.)
Happy to have spent time this morning painting, although with the Open House looming today my quiet patience turned to impatience, especially when I realized I couldn’t scan my drawings without my laptop. Unhappy with technology, the whims of CD-ROMs, how they must be cataloged and saved and pulled out just in case. Yet, the CD with my printer driver is long gone and the blue moon at last arrived.
I can’t say I’m happy this Sunday evening. I’m not sad. I’m content, overwhelmed by owning more than one house, wish the other would find its buyer. Wouldn’t mind a fast forward to June or July, or even September, the start of my favorite, most happy time in New Mexico.
RECALL:
spare moment, one not accounted for
warmth on the sofa
heat transfers from me to the cushion, envelops me
pizza crust box
dough, the warmth will evaporate
no one accountable
me to them, them to me
no voices raised
no agitation
arguing birds out the half-cracked kitchen window
***Strong, vibrant body. Shimmering skin***
stomach bug
let my mom deal with my vomiting feverish child
wasn’t me doing the soothing and cleaning
the puking
***sad to know how easily I relinquish those duties
still not a mother yet
not the mother I knew and loved***
time this morning painting**glad you are painting!
quiet patience turned to impatience
***Unhappy with technology, the whims of CD-ROMs***
printer driver is long gone
***blue moon at last arrived***
can’t say I’m happy
not sad
content
overwhelmed
owning more than one house
wish the other would find its buyer
***fast forward to June or July
even September
my favorite, most happy time in New Mexico***
LikeLike
Yesterday Tania and I went to a supermarket we rarely go to…mainly because of the long lines at the check out. Anyway, I found some good looking green chiles.
Venezuelan green chiles look like big New Mexico Anaheims, but they don’t have the bite or picante. These Vennie green chiles do smell great though!
Ooooo…one of my favorite smells; the mix of green chile roasting plus the smell of an asphalt parking lot (New Mexicans will understand this comment)…makes me homesick.
LikeLike
Yes, the smell of roasting green chile makes me happy. It must be the chile chemical that makes you feel good when you eat chile–and smell it??
LikeLike
The smell of roasting green chile in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart, Albertson’s, etc.
LikeLike
Oh-oh, I sense a real melancholy wave over there in Venezuela! Who would have thought that the smell of roasting green chile in the parking lot of Wal-Mart and Albertson’s could have brought it on?? (And most people probably have no idea what that sensation is, nor why it exists.)
LikeLike
Ybonesy,
Its just certain things I have always missed. That smell, New Mexico during chile harvest, something I really miss, and have always missed. Smelling those chiles yesterday just brought it rushing back.
See my latest post on TIMM. I got a big kick out of what I was experiencing yesterday morning. It was surreal. Its not often where I find Venezuela is quiet with only natural sounds. This is a noisy country.
LikeLike
Hey, mm, I checked out your video on insect noises. Just the hum of the bugs and the birds and your heavy breathing ;). Are the insect noises always like that? Kind of like the Taos Hum.
LikeLike
The cool thing about digital photography is that it gives a new dimension to photography. I wasn’t so interested in the scenery but in the sound. That video is more an experiment on sound than sight.
BTW, I was trying not to breath so loud, but hard to do when riding uphill on a bike.
It is the end of the dry season so things are really dry and crunchy. During the rainy season, that same scenery will be extremely green and almost jungley.
It seems this is the time of year for these cicada-like insects. I haven’t noticed them being so intense on previous rides up that valley.
I’ve noticed a similiar intensity of insect noise in June and July when riding in New Mexico and Oklahoma. In Oklahoma it was even more intense…the loudest I’ve ever experienced.
LikeLike
The last few days, Liz and I have noticed a clear blast of fresh insect noises by our home. Especially the FROGS! It’s amazing. I used to think they were crickets. Well, frogs aren’t insects, are they? But they sound like insects to me.
There’s a pond right near our house on some land owned by General Mills. During the last blizzard, it was a sea of white. Now it’s abuzz with millions of frogs. When you walk in the park in spring and summer, the noise can be deafening.
I’ll have to check out your video, MM.
The Taos Hum, yes, ybonesy. I remember referencing it briefly in a post, Taos Mornings (December). I can definitely feel the vibration in Taos. It’s part of the reason the Harmonic Convergence was in New Mexico. They say there is similar energy over by Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis. Ley lines under the earth. Buried beams of cross-hair energy.
Take what you like, and leave the rest. 8)
LikeLike
QM,
Have you experienced the emergence of the spadefoot toad in the New Mexico desert? Eerie! After a monsoon rain they seem to all come out of their statis bubbles all at once. Croaking fills the night while they frantically find a mate and breed, so to give time for the rapid developing tadpoles to mature before their waterhole dries up again for another 330 days.
MM
LikeLike
MM,
Wow, no, I haven’t experienced the spadefoot toad in New Mexico. Sounds like a rabid mating ritual. I’d love to see them sometime. Is it a spring thing? And where in New Mexico? Is it all over the state?
I do watch the frogs closely in our yard. I posted a photo by Skywire on this week’s Greening topic – Green Is As Green Does. They are pretty small here, a lot of tree frogs. Once in a while I see a bullfrog or “toad” as we used to call them Down South. I’ve never seen frogs as big as they grow them in the South!
Remember that myth that if frogs pee on your hands you will get warts? Or is that just something *I* learned growing up? Did I make that up?
LikeLike
QM,
I experienced the spadefoot phenomenon out on the Navajo Indian Reservation, but they are pretty much everywhere in rural NM. They come out after the monsoons in July.
The most interesting frogs I’ve come across in Venezuela are these tiny black frogs that live on top of Roraima, a flat topped mtn in southeastern Venezuela. http://www.pbase.com/mr2c280/sa_venezuela9 (see page 2 for a photo of the frogs)
Roraima is a tepui , and is composed of some of the oldest rock on the planet…something like a billion years old or so.
Anyway, the plant life on these tepuis is endemic, found nowhere else on the planet and no two tepuis are alike. The frogs on Roraima are unique and because of millions of years of isolation, they have de-evolved. They have no need for hopping, so they have lost their ability to do so. They get around by crawling Spiderman-style, and when they have the chance, they curl up into a ball and roll down a slope. No kidding! I’ve seen them do it.
This kind of stuff makes me happy.
LikeLike
MM,
I just had a chance to check out your link to the PBase slide show by Peter and Jackie. Do you know them? Or just linked to their photos of Roraima? The photos are incredible. I had not heard about the isolated ecosystems in the tepuis. What incredible geography.
I saw the photos of the little black frogs. There was one with a frog curled up in a ball as you mentioned. You are living in a beautiful country. Some days I can’t believe how wonderfully diverse this planet is.
Thanks for sharing. Simple things like this make me happy, too.
LikeLike
QM,
I just found that website. I did a similiar trip in December 2003. My photos are in limbo in my other laptop that is crashed. I need to bring it back to the USA to try and retreive the data.
Anyway, I camped in that same spot shown. They are called “hotels”. The crystals there are AMAZING! The place is covered with them! Really trippy!
The Gran Sabana region of Venezuela should be a UNESCO site. It is truely unique.
MM
LikeLike