Oct14-16th~finding my bearings again

Oct 14; Takin' Care of Business & Sedona visit

1. 1. Oil Can Henry's; for a thorough oil change and once over service check -all looks good on my 'Trusty Steed'-sweet fellows with bow ties and caps, striped shirts working on my car & polite as all heck! They suggest that if I look at a new used car in town to drive by first & they'll check it out for me if its a sound bet.

• 2. Walmart for a new Camera; I go in hesitantly because its against my religion to support them...and lo and behold I check it out ONE more time: out pops my lens~HALLELUJAH!! My camera is working again!! I go check out their camera section and the attendant is very nice & gives my camera lens a thorough spray of pressurized air... oh, and found canvas in the fabric dept!
• 3. Red Rock State Park ~ "No Maam...we don't sell National Park Passes", and he sends me up to to the
• 4. Chamber of Commerce in Sedonna...LOTs of maps etc for this area...no passes sold here, except 'day' passes....cool...they direct me to a cool spot for WiFi where I hunker down for the rest of the day
• find a great place to sit and work on my Blog till dinner- first by the fireside and then on the patio facing the redrocks.

5. Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, author of Women Who Run With the Wolves; I joined the 1st session of "Mother Night", a 6 session On-line Seminar in which she invites us to tap the generative power of the goodness of the core self—that is, all creativity and understanding that lies out of sight in darkness—often called the unconscious. It was a very inspiring 2 hour session..and very timely for me!

• late drive home that night.. WIDE AWAKE and lifted by the inspiring words I heard tonight: "THROW OPEN THE DRAWERS (all the creative ideas put aside for years) - SEE WHAT IT IS!! THE CONCEPT OF THE SOPHIA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_(wisdom))-THE WIND OF CREATIVITY- THE CHINOOK WINDS = STAND IN THE WIND & BE SUPPORTED BY IT...ECSTATIC!!"

Oct 15: Tuzigoot;

• Cottonwood Safeway: early 7am arrival so I can make calls on Skype to folks at home- rising sun on the hill above Jerome is ....'gorgeous!'
• Tuzigoot is my next stop; heard its gonna be a scorcher today...still cool enough to wear shirt over my work-out clothes. I finally purchase my Yearly U.S. National Park Pass and buy a book on local desert shrubs and trees! Great plaques everywhere! Yes you can cook the prickly pear and I can cook the beans from the tree in my backyard ready right now--time to harvest! The age old hilltop pueblo dwelling rises 120 feet above the Verde Valley...a village populated by the Sinagua farmers between 1125-1400 ...and in the midst of these open room sit ancient grinding rocks in which they prepared their grains...see the photo from the top with Jerome labelled on the hill ( Tip: double click and the photos enlarge!)
• Old Cottonwood Village; take time touring Larry's large Antique store: room after room of historical artifacts from locals that pull me right in...old dishes, toys, cowboy & mining gear- love this place! I buy a hand embroidered satin hanky, a plate with 2 Southern gals in the middle, a handpainted tea cup and on the way out ..a WISK!
• next door a cool diner entices me...for a cheeseburger( freshly made patty and freshcut fries)
• ACE Hardware for sandpaper and staples for my staple gun...
• GYM for 1.5 hours to work off the lunch calories!

Oct 16; Creativity ~ elusive...

1. Safeway pkg lot for Skype calls; have a video chat w Simon; hear about his cross Canada photography gig & the cool red rocks out west;shared about being stuck or limbo about my creativity- how it 'should' look by now..and pressures(self-inflicted!) to create that 'perfect' suite of work - A FRICKEN HUGE IN ORDER TO!! Simon says: "Mama just do what you love!" Yes.....sounds like a plan!..why I am here after all? ..there's that jump from the inspiring thoughts and ideas in the brain & heart to putting it into the physical on paper, canvas or whatever!
2. Rogers customer service; I checked in to make sure that new plan I had was kosher. Good thing I checked ~The last person who dealt with me didn't set things up correctly; after ironing out the issues $180 were taken off of my bill and a new plan put in place!
3. Montezuma's castle- busloads of people already there so I keep drive around the loop and leave for ...
4. Montezuma's Well; a living desert oasis further north and not as busy with tourists...a sacred place that the Sinagua Indians settled from AD900~AD1400 http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/moca/montezuma_well/index.htm I walked up a hill on the concrete path-HOT-91 degrees again! ....past desert Cactus's and shrubs...and then over the edge of a rock outcrop; a large deep well..a delicious blue-green body of water way down....down...below. I take the winding rock staircase down through huge boulders that have fallen from the walls of the well...down to another living space at the bottom corner of the well cavity, shaded by trees. A hawk is flying over me as I sit down on a bench and breath in this new -old space. A photographer who is on travelling cross country capturing 'old ' spaces and buildings comes into this corner of the well...cool person to meet. He loves his new Sony camera and I tell him about the Verde Train ride ...Suddenly there is the busy chirping excitement of a school trip( the 3 busloads have arrived!) -- LIKE A FLOCK OF BIRDS...running loose..excited by the dwelling spaces below. I walk out and then down the side of the hill to the stream outlet from this well and the ancient irrigation canal built by the Sinaguans...an even more rare lush space of peace in the cool gurgling stream coming out of the mountainside. Dip my feet in the water...all dis-empowering thoughts... washed away. Then a delighted giggle of a girl beside me who joined me in the creek's delight! And as I stepped out to put pastel to paper; I enjoyed being in the presence of others drinking in the peace, inspiration and tranquility of this place; a grandmother of a young child in diapers who undressed him and waded with him in the water; just as she did with her son at that age~a meaningful family tradition! She was here with her daughter, who brought her date from college- another tradition: the serious dates are brought to this sacred place; and the lovely company of an elderly gentleman who told his party to go on without him, "this is my favourite spot in all of Arizona..I'm staying for a while!"
5. Starbucks @ HWY 260 & I-17; a well deserved nap in the car when tiredness hit from the heat this afternoon ~ 91 DEGREES TODAY IN THE VERDE VALLEY!..and then inside for an iced espresso updating my blog till closing time and work on the pastel from the tranquil outlet of the well...and yes, I loved recreating the space on paper with my Conté charcoals!
6. Spirit Room bar in Jerome: after a quick shower I drive up to meet Karen to take in the performance of Dave Rentz, artist and musician. We were entertained and moved by the passionate drumming and percussion playing! A beautiful creative dancer also added to the space and inspired the rest of us to join in. I found out more about her and have a new connection to play with my own joy of dancing. I'm lucky to have Karen as my neighbor upstairs! She is giving me such a cool access to the locals here...cause I also met another cool couple tonight, Stephanie and JW. They want to meet Rae when he gets here and have dinner with us.