i just spend the last month travelling all around the country. here are some highlights:

KENTUCKY has got to be the most beautiful state i've been to (no, i haven't been to hawaii). wow. so green, green, green. so many horses grazing on the beautiful green lawns. it was amazingly gorgeous. add a car mechanic who spoke some form of english i honestly couldn't understand (mama-bob had to translate, and i even lived in the south for four years!) and kentucky was a majestic place with endearing foreigners. i can't wait to get back there; maybe i'll ride my bike across kentucky and west virginia.

in TEXAS, i saw my first tarantulla. my family is so cool--we all were excited to see such a huge spider!

GILA NATIONAL FOREST, NEW MEXICO wow, wow, wow, a huge double rainbow after the storm that almost took down our tent (with us inside it!) camping with no one else in sight, and we could see 20-50 miles in every direction. peace. quiet.
i very much enjoyed the work we were doing while living in the the forest: collecting water, cooking, building fires, collecting firewood, babysitting my amazing 3-year-old nephew. it just felt so real and so healthy to be living like this. so spiritual. you can't help but know god when you live so close to the earth.

DEMING, NEW MEXICO GREYHOUND STATION this place was directly out of a scary movie, it was such a dump: a hole-in-the-wall station with paint peeling off the walls, surrounded by mexicans who were eyeing my every move, and to top it off, there were blood stains on the window. and my sister dropped me off there when it was closed, five hours before my bus was going to leave!

CALIFORNIA has the most friendly people in the country. one day, as i was driving my 30 mile, 2-1/2 hour trip from one part of LA to another, i decided to give the peace sign to anyone who had a bumper sticker i liked. one girl with a bob marley sticker waved and smiled like i was her long-lost best friend. yeah, everyone in california has something to say; they are so friendly!
it's too bad that california is so brown.
it was great staying with sara ((e:iriesara)) in san diego. i love you, girl! thanks for trying to fatten me up!

LAS VEGAS was fantastic (i got bumped from my plane, so i spend an evening there). i met a super nice canadian outside of the bellagio hotel who saw the irony of me coming to las vegas from spending most of my time camping in new mexico. las vegas is a place like no other: everyone is in a great mood (because of the oxygen being pumped in the casinos) and the hotels are actual museums. nice way to spend my last day of travelling, and very, very different from the rest of my trip.

i'm leaving the ashram soon. i've found a new stint.

why do they call crazy people "nuts"?

i have no idea. cannot come up with any connection there.

anyone know why?

today on my way to work, i saw a fox! i had never seen one before. i wasn't even sure that it was a fox until i looked it up. he was really beautiful, just hanging out on a moss-covered rock, doing his own thing.

i also just learned that gray foxes are monogamous and mate with the same partner for life. i wonder how they decide who they want to be with. is it just whoever happens to be around when they're ready to mate? or is there some kind of soul connection? i wonder...

i'm not sure if all these animals are coming to me because i have been in hiding. maybe that's the energy they like. now they can say hi to me because i'm not a threat, or something like that.





anyway, i feel blessed. wow.

one more thing: someone told me today that when you see your first robin of the season, you should make a wish. i did, in fact, see two robins together this morning, but i didn't know the wish rule yet. i wonder if i can make one anyway. or do i get two, since i saw them in a pair?

welcome, spring!

this morning i went for a walk. it turned out that it was a slow, meditative walk instead of the normal walks i take. you see, the trees and the grass were covered with ice. and it was just so beautiful. i just took my time staring at them and sharing and bonding with them. i believe it is the last time i will see this winter beauty this year.

i spend the last 15 minutes of work this morning within 15 feel of a deer. i was looking out the window, and she saw me, but was not afraid. in fact, i told her not to be afraid, and when i did, she went back to happily eating the grass and licking off her winter fur. then a bunny came by, the exact same color as the deer, and i watched the two of them on the small patch of grass, surrounded by all the snow that has yet to melt. the deer, unafraid, came within 5 feet of where i was at the window, even though she knew i was there.

when walking home from work, i stopped at the gazebo. in that moment, i saw that it was hailing. and i asked for it not to hail, because we're making a lot of progress on the melting snow. so i turned to the other side of the gazebo, and it was only faintly raining. then i realized: it was not hailing. it was the small chuncks of ice falling from the trees that decided to fall off the tree at that moment. the beauty i saw this morning was changing form, and the trees are becoming ready to wake up from their hibernation.

sometime i just feel so alive that i'm pretty sure i have already died. and that is an amazingly beautiful experience.