Anniversay

This landscape is so hopeful. In a desert everything blooms with optimism. Just like me!

It was one year ago yesterday that I got in my car in Pennsylvania and headed west to Arizona where I have made my new home. A couple of days ago I hiked Pinnacle Peak, one of the lovely desert mountains around here, which is where I took the above photo. I've been reflecting a lot recently on the changes in my life. It's been an incredible year.

All my postings from now on will be on my other blog: http://www.sandpaintingmylife.blogspot.com/. The one you are reading is the one I began when I left last year and wanted to write about my trip as I drove across the country. If you would like to see some of that trip, go to the left sidebar and start at the beginning -- the entry titled The First Step.

And here is the poem that has been with me for last several days. It is by one of my favorite poets.

In the Evening

The heads of the roses begin to droop.

The bee who has been hauling his gold

all day finds a hexagon in which to rest.

In the sky, traces of clouds,

the last few darting birds,

watercolors on the horizon.

The white cat sits facing a wall.

The horse in the field is asleep on its feet.

I light a candle on the wood table.

I take another sip of wine.

I pick up an onion and a knife.

And the past and the future?

Nothing but an only child with two different masks.

Billy Collins

Doors

This photo is from Taos, New Mexico

A year closes and opens and what a year it's been! From the Philly area to sunny, wide open Arizona. My life has changed in so many ways. I started my trip in April driving across the country into the unknown to start a new life with the statement that when one door closes, another one opens. Below are some photos of doors and other metaphor doorways along the way. What a trip! Fabulous -- every bit of it ... ok, most of it :-)

My newest project is a website to support my new book and the Receive courses I teach. It's titled Receive and Manifest http://www.receiveandmanifest.com/. And I created a new daily blog to help me and anybody else that wants a daily touchstone to stay grounded, in the present and centered. (OK, this is sounding way too New Age!) I'm calling it Sand Painting My Life One Day at a Time http://www.sandpaintingmylife.blogspot.com/

I still have my astrology site http://www.amandaowen.com/ where you can get your weekly astro data and I'm keeping this blog where I'll continue to post photos. I have some trips coming up and will be posting photos of them.

Listen; there's a hell of a good universe next door: let's go. e. e. cummings



This door is from the Washington Cathedral in Washington, DC
I think there are influences that you open the door to, and influences that come under the door. Harrison Birtwistle

Taos, New Mexico
I am glad that so much movement happens in this stillness. Richard Land


This door is from Flagstaff, Arizona
Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open. Alexander Graham Bell



This photo is from outside of Toronto, Canada
Don't ever slam a door; you might want to go back. Don Herold


This door is from Taos, New Mexico
All that leaves a hole in your life is a door begging you to step through to feel yourself opening.
Dawna Markalova



This photo is from Santa Fe, New Mexico
You can do anything you think you can. This knowledge is literally the gift of the gods, for through it you can solve every human problem. It should make of you an incurable optimist. It is the open door. Robert Collier


This photo is from Maryland
Every life is a work in progress. AO



This door is from the tornado shelter where I stayed with my travel buddy Carol in Oklahoma
Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas. Dorthy

This door is from Charleston, South Carolina
All beginnings require that you unlock a new door. Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav

Taos, New Mexico

As often happens in the spiritual journey . . . each time a door closes, the rest of the world opens up. All we have to do is stop pounding on the door that just closed and turn around - which puts the door behind us - and welcome the largeness of life that now lies open to our souls. The door that closed kept us from entering a room, but what now lies before us is the rest of the reality. Parker Palmer

Sedona, Arizona
When you follow your bliss... doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors, and where there wouldn't be a door for anyone else. Joseph Campbell

Cow Crazy

In October on my trip out east I went up to Canada where I presented lectures for the SOTA conference. But before I did, I spent two days with my good friend Tricia just north of Toronto. On one of those days, we drove by a field with cows and spent the next 30 minutes photographing them. Since I had never spent any time with cows, I was surprised to discover how responsive they are. Here are some of the many photos I took that day.

Pennsylvania visit

While visiting Pennsylvania I spent time at the Chanticleer Gardens. Although I lived no more than twenty minutes from this extraordinary place, I had never heard of it. Of course I am in love with nature now and back then I was in love with working. Here is the link and I have photos below.

http://www.chanticleergarden.org/

This is an amazing place that mixes nature and art. Look at this leaf made out of stone. On the right side is a frog -- a real one.

And here is a close up.




This face is also carved from stone.




The views are spectacular and chairs are placed everywhere so you can sit all day and enjoy the nature's beauty.

Look at this chair and couch carved from stone.

Fall is beautiful in Pennsylvania. After living in the Arizona desert, I had forgotten how vivid the colors are here.

This fish came up for a close-up. I think it's smiling.

Beauty.

Look at these amazing plants! (I am including them here although they are from a park close by).

Back to Chanticleer:

Color is everywhere and this is the end of the season. I'm coming back next spring!

What a beautiful way to display blossoms that have separated from their plants.

And this is me in one of the many chairs provided.

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Spectacular Carmel California

This is the view from Point Lobos, a national park with hiking trails that lead to the cliffs and ocean where there are a variety of birds, otters and sea lions. The water really is that blue.

Two pelicans. This is also from Point Lobos.

This is by the ocean at Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Everybody: if you have never been to Carmel, California you must treat yourself to the spectacular beauty of this coastal town. I have been fortunate enough to have family there. My Aunt Terre and her husband, Jimmy Lyons who was a jazz DJ in San Francisco and a cofounder and emcee of the Monterey Jazz Festival settled in Carmel in the 1950's moving from the, at that time, isolated area of Big Sur. My aunt designed the house they had built for them in Carmel Valley. They had three kids: my cousins Liz, Mark and Matt. All three stayed in Carmel to raise their own families. Lucky me!

The view from the dining patio of Mission Ranch, one of Clint Eastwood's restaurants. Whenever anyone in my family visits Carmel, we dine here. You can see why from looking at this spectacular view. Clint Eastwood was the mayor of Carmel a while back.
http://www.missionranchcarmel.com/

A church in Carmel Valley. When my grandmother died, this is where we held her memorial service. In this photo I took in the morning, the fog is in. Usually you can see the backdrop of the hills of Carmel Valley.




From the balcony of La Playa Hotel in Carmel. The view of the ocean is spectacular. So is the food! Here's the link where you can see more of this beautiful hotel. But first here is a photo I took in the lobby.
http://www.laplayahotel.com

This photo is from outside of Casanova, a restaurant like so many here that is artistic, interesting, beautiful and charming. Oh - and the food is great, too! http://www.casanovarestaurant.com/

Carmel dog sitting outside of the Carmel Art Association. A family friend, Peggy Olsen has been showing her work there for a long time. Here's the link: http://www.carmelart.org/artists_new.html

I spent seven days in Carmel where I stayed in the Valley. This is what I would see when I went out for a walk.

And finally...

Two more Carmel dogs!



And now, after eating all of that great food -- back to my yoga classes in Arizona at Crescent Moon Yoga! www.crescentmoonyogaaz.com

The Poetry of the Sky

Visual poetry. This is what I see when I step outside my front door.

The rest of the sky photos are accompanied by poetry and quotes.

I myself have been tempted for a long time by the cloud-moving wind - filled with a strong desire to wander. Matsuo Basho

The sky is the daily bread of the eyes. Ralph Waldo Emerson



The night walked down the sky with the moon in her hand. Frederick L. Knowles

Nature was streaming into us, wooingly teaching her wonderful glowing lessons… every wild lesson a love lesson. John Muir

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky. Rabindranath Tagore

Your world is as big as you make it. Georgia Douglas Johnson

Strong and content I travel the open road. Walt Whitman

This is Sky, my friend Mary's cat

I like to think that the moon is there even if I am not looking at it. Albert Einstein

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. John Lubbock

There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story. Linda Hogan

It is good to love the unknown. Charles Lamb