Winter 2016

3/15/17

This is a website photo of Mondardella Villosa –  a native CA plant and endemic to the chaparral of the Sierra Foothills.  I have seen its seed pod as documented in my fall/winter notes, but it has not flowered yet until the Summer when I can fully Id this plant.  It smells minty and skunky as described in many sites.  I have been wanting to id this plant for a while, and it is also commonly  named COYOTE MINT.  Natives used it for sore throats and upset stomachs.  It tastes very minty too.

Looks like it will rain again soon and for several days.  The blossoms are starting to appear in many trees and shrubs, attracting many insects, birds, and pollinators.  This is a very exciting time, full of up growth energy and lots of beautiful colors in the sky with the golden rays of the Sun.  The energy for me is of hope and dreaming for the seeds of creation and the later harvests this year of abundance and joy.

Many birds sing their calls and love songs to attract their mates and protect their territory for the nesting season.  I have seen many birds migrate too like the distinct sounds of the Cranes flying above in their pyramid patterns, taking turns directing and flying in front where a lot of energy is required, so the elders it is said fly in the back.

An oak shrub in the chaparral is showing burgundy new growth, very pretty.  As soon as my camera is updated, I will post more pictures to document this new season.  The manzanita blossoms were some of the early starts and are so pretty in pink with their mint colored leaves.  Humming birds eat from them.

The Phainopepla showed up in my sit spot a couple days ago, still feasting from the mistletoe seemingly.  It is so quiet and blends well in the foliage, doesn’t ask for a lot of attention.  When in flight, I could see its white wing bars, and it flew similar to a Mocking Bird and Black Phoebe.  It got startled by Pixie so it flew across the greenbelt and to the oak trees on the neighbor houses East side.  Not a super close distance but not so far either, about a quarter mile I think.

The California Thrashes, Dark Eyed Junco, and many sparrows sing their pretty songs.  Some songs I can not recognize still.  One of my favorites is the Junco’s because it reminds me of the time when I started to bird years ago and I could not identify it next to a stream in Shasta county.  It reminds me of Spring and Summer and of a time in my life when I was curious and very adventurous.

Birds are acting differently and hawks pair up in the sky.  The smell of blossoms freshens the air and beautifies the landscape.  The temperatures are warmer and the days are longer especially now with daylight savings.  Many Canada Geese fly over the greenbelt, some stop there to feast on the abundant grasses.  The hares are sometimes visible too in pairs.  I also see deer prints that are smaller from the new lives that were born in the fall.  The grass is still so green and the mud puddles dried up a bit more, making the passage to the chaparral a little easier to tread.  The Western Bluebirds’ song is so audible and most everywhere.  It is a very sweet song that gives so much life and fullness to the landscape.

It is a wonderful time to be alive with so much hope.  I am enjoying so much the seasons here, so marked, so alive, so kind, so gentle, and full of signals so that we may live in tune with Nature.  The Anna’s humming bird is such a great guardian and mentor.  It really shows up a lot when I am in prayer and to signal the course for me to continue deeper on my path of healing and service.  I am excited to see some flowers soon to be able to identify better the plants here.  Many Scrub Jays bicker with each other, and they transfer food from one tree to another.

The last new moon in Pisces was very profound and shook us up.  The full moon in Virgo on Sunday gave me a gentler calming sensation to cool off from the shake up that was a wake up.  I still need to transfer a lot of my notes from the last 2 months here to document the changes, but I will get to it as soon as I can, at least they are in hand written form in my journal.

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3/7/17

It has been a while since I wrote in my sit spot notes, but soon I will fill in with an appropriate report.  I wanted to post in the meantime these beautiful photos that were sent to me expressing the greenery after the rains in our county of El Dorado.  These Placerville pictures express the lichen, moss, miner’s lettuce, and subtle fog with joy and beauty.  When I moved to this county in the summer, I was under the impression that it never got to be green because the dryness was so intense and made everything so brown and brittle.  This year’s winter has been so, so strong, that we are all happy, from the little spaces under rocks to the fog in the air!  We have had snow, hail, rain, huge clouds, and storms.  It has definitely been a great atmosphere at home for reflecting, writing, and staying warm and cozy.

More to come!

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1/23/17

“There is no way out, the only way is In and Through”

~Briana, my dear friend

Nature was my medicine again Today.  It helps me to unwind with her, speak to her, open my heart knowing that there is no retribution from her part about any of my fears and doubts.  All the birdies were out and hunting- the western bluebirds, the spotted towhees, the jays, and the red tail hawk.  None were revengeful towards us, and in fact, I think many are starting to get to know us and acknowledge us.  I felt I was home again after 2 days of hibernation during the storm, watching movies and listening to lectures that were all educational and entertaining.  Each time I take time away from my Sit Spots, I miss them, and I see how Pixie does too.  She goes off leash and gets to sniff with her own body radar and inner compass.  There were intermittent rains as the clouds thick and gray, others fluffy and white, sailed through the sky.  Baby blue sky pockets of light also played with the day.  And I got a real good close up at my Mystery bird!  Its name is Phainopepla!!  It is part of the Flycatchers as I originally intuited, but this one is of the silky-flycatcher family, Ptilogonatidae, in specific.  This family includes the Cedar and Bohemian Waxwings, both of which I am not familiar with, yet I have wondered about them.  These birds are all year round but Scarce, mostly living in the more Southern part of CA and Northern Mexico and Baja California.

I heard this bird months ago, as outlined in my previous SS notes.  Then I got confused thinking it was the Thrasher, then I got to see it but it was so rainy and cloudy that I could not see its details, plus I had forgotten my binocs.  But today was the day.  Often times they are in sparse flocks, on the top of trees, and they have their communal soft whistle going in the forest.  Today I saw them eating off the Misteltoe, funny because several weeks ago I brought home Mistletoe to identify its species, but I never got around to it with the holiday frenzy.  These birds specifically love berries and Mistletoe berries specifically.  When I finally got the super detailed look at it today, it reminded me of the Trogons that I often watched and was awe of in Mexico.  Their squared tail, finesse in body detail and elegance, and soft sound reminded me of them.  The males are darker, whereas the females more brown and with very distinct wing bars, which are many.  They have a crest, which was hard to see its definition last time with the rain, it had mopped it down.  The field guide says that they are numerous at some times of the year and scarce at others.  It will be so fun to continue to track them in the landscape.  They are also not shy, they seem to be social enough to let me stare at them from feet below, without moving so fast upon approach, like the Kite.

All the while, the Yellow Coral mushies keep growing, the rain was a sweet treat, and the temperature waivered between warm and colder as the clouds dispersed in the baby blue sky pockets.  It is impossible to know it all, and one must surrender to this hard fact.  Hard because as a tracker and nature lover, I wish I could have lifetimes to know it all.  But round and round we go in our lifetimes, and my wish would be to return back to Nature again and again.  Nature is the healer from the matrix mind.  Nature teaches us humility and grace, we are not the only ones walking on this planet, and clearly the only ones that do not know our place.  In my recent research of eye-opening lectures, which soon I shall post in my Research page, many ancient, millennia-old, pre-deluvian cultures lived on the Earth and the Moon.  Structures and tools have been left behind, and science and governments have strongly denied the artifacts and refused to give them to scientists for further studies.  From Turkey, to Peru, China, Antartica, to almost all places on Earth, pyramids have been discovered, along with many artifacts that pre-date all known so far by history texts, like the balls from South Africa that contain elements not even found on Earth!  What do we know?  Who controls the past, controls the present and the direction of the future.  As must be remembered, to keep an open mind is key to health and living a beautiful life.  And for me today I took another heart lesson- to surrender and accept to that which I can not change.  Although I can not change the way others perceive my way of living, I still love them so much.  It does at time make it so hard to bear, wanting to receive their tenderness as well, but one can not change what for others is fixed.  Not only does having fixed ideals can hurt one self, but also impact others because they get affected too by the stubborn thinking and denial mindset.  I see that so much in my family.  Again and again, I must honor my feelings, but at a certain point, I have to let them go too because I can not change their point of view, not even consider a point of view that is a nanometer outside their perimeters.  In order to lessen the pain, I must surrender and accept that is the way they are and will see things, forever seemingly.  I grow, I let go, and it will take me as long as it will, but each clash we have ever had leads me to another milestone in the healing process.    The more I live my life in honesty, I see that this is not the way for others, the key is how to handle that energy and how gracefully we walk the fire.  In many ways, it creates boundaries as to how much connection we can build anyways, and that is perhaps the part that hurts the most, because I could only wish we could tear down the walls and acknowledge one another for who we truly are and perhaps celebrate non-traditional ways of being and thinking.  This is how grotesque and insidious the thinking and consciousness war on our society is- it destroys families and communities.  This I wish to do, to live in freedom, but others can’t meet me there.  What to do?  I shall always love them and meet them where they are at, but I can not expect to meet eye to eye or heart to heart because having that little light of hope ends up hurting in the long run, that light of hope is thinking they will change or perhaps it is a part of control in wishing they were different.  Perhaps with time, but I am not holding my breath, still all I can do is pray for their well-being and health.  I give a little, and pull away, I give a little more truth, and then pull back.  But now the cat is out of the bag, and knowing the truth, even when it hurts, can be so medicinal so that I can work with that and do my part in letting go.  Now that I know where they stand in the bigger picture, I can love them for who they are and what they are not and never will be, and be grateful that I have spoken my truth, and actually find it a compliment when the majority can not accept my thoughts as logical but think they are madness.  Now I can be relaxed in knowing that I have said what I did, and as it did come out, but it is out, and just know where they stand so that I can move on and validate and celebrate myself without the need or hope they will do the same, and keep praying for their good being and loving them as they are.  Rubber-banding is what I can do to give space to grow, and bite sizes so that it does not become too much information.  Now a day later, I feel more heard by my own intuition and those I love the most.   My family is here, in this Nature, in this nest we have embraced and constructed.  My attention shall came back to this present moment.  Sometimes teaching others can be very rough terrain, and we must prepare for how we walk the fire and how we use our power, as my dear friend said to me today.  She continued to explain: “Turn our gaze in, accept, honor our feelings, in order to shed the skin and let go in honest ways.”  It is a process they say, and in fact that is the truth.  A little seed here, a little seed there, all with honesty and grace.  Patience even during the sleepless nights, knowing the light again shall return, as we know the Sun will rise, and with it new hopes and new beginnings, fresh starts in the letting go.

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1/19/17

The storm arrived yesterday with its intensely strong winds.  Today it continues to rain but on and off.  When we went on our wanders, the huge, white, heavy, fluffy clouds would break apart, and yellow rays of Light would burst from them.  It was a very beautiful scenery this morning when we walked through the chaparral.  I FINALLY SAW THE MYSTERY BIRD THAT WHISTLES!!  It is Not the California Thrasher, and just like my initial intuition told me, it is I think in the Flycatcher family, but I do not know the species yet because it was very gray and the light very poor to see the colors.  In addition, it had rained so much that the bird was wet and looked very dark.  I also did not bring my binoculars.  But this I know- it perches on the top of trees, it was not afraid of me getting super close to it, I was pretty much right underneath it while it perched on the top of an Oak tree.  It was also not in a flock, and there are other birds of the same species around because I could hear nearby whistle calls.  Finally I got to connect with it, and it was a treat to be so close to it and thank him or her.  TBD its species, more to come, and I will post here more information about that bird.  It reminds of the Least Flycatchers.

Many California Quails drifted from their hunting spot when Pixie and I showed up at the scene.  Our neighbor Red Tail Hawk that perches nearby was also staring at the ground for an unaware rodent to be snatched.  The Kite was also perched and whistling from the Oak chaparrals, and as usual, it flies away when we get too close.  The rain has been so inviting for me to work on my website with ease, feeling cozy and enjoying its company.  The Yellow Coral mushrooms keep growing and more little ones appear.  Many gifts from the rain, including Canada Geese, a flock of 8, that flew West towards the park’s big lake nearby.  They are so organized in their flight pattern and incredibly vocal.  Every time I witness Geese, I feel that it is an invitation to Retreat inside since they clearly know the times to migrate towards where food and rest are available.

We managed to sneak in 2 nice wanders in between the rains.  It is now evening, and the rain has begun again.  Wonderful.  The more it rains, the more abundant our harvests will be this year.

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*Nepal, Merche’s photo

1/17/17

Really feeling Life moving towards the Sun and Sky.  I feel the slow turns in the season with optimism, motivation, excitement, adventure.  As time seasons me with experience, I trust more and see the bigger picture so I enjoy the journey and savor all her precious gifts and the obstacles’ teachings.  Very grateful to Life, my family, our home, our nature spots, and our dreams.  I have never been here before and in a place of serenity, groundedness, and contentment, especially nurtured by my own self knowing, my supportive partner, and our home.  I can celebrate others’ successes in a pure and genuine way.  Walking the path of Beauty and Awareness is a spiral dance.  One balances the other.  While the Awareness can really daunt and challenge us, the Beauty dance reminds us of the Natural Creations from the Earth that glisten with dew, bird song, tracks of animals’ wanders, and blossoms of Manzanita heralding the approaching spring.

A storm is about to arrive tomorrow.  The last couple of days have been cloudy, with some hours of warmth from clear skies, and then very foggy at night from the moments of warmth, while the temperatures dropped further at night, and so much that in the early morning there is ice and hardened soil.  It is very fun to walk on the hardened soils, I love the crunching sounds.  Small song birds can literally freeze and die if something startles them so fiercely that they lose their body temperature.  In the mornings I see them flying, and I find so much respect for their strength and courage.  Although it is still Winter, I can see little announcements that we are changing.  For example, the Manzanita bushes are starting to create very tiny, pink buds and new growth.  Many starts are pushing through the soil with their leafy greens.  The Yellow Coral Mushrooms usually remind me of Spring in the Cascades.  And the movement and songs of the birds are starting to become more pronounced as we approach the mating and nesting season.

More approaching rain is good for the aquifers, the soils, the snow pack in the mountains that will later provide consistent streams of water as the snow melts, and the mushroom season should be very, very abundant!  We are thrilled as we continue to pay attention to Knowledge of Place since each specific eco-tone has its own language.  There are so many fungi growing now and that have been flushing since the Fall.  So many species we do not recognize, but have been a bit lazy about id’ing them.  We recognize we want to spend more time with our field guides and identifying the fungi of our extensive green belt, back yard. 

There are so many stories in the landscape each time we go in our wanders and sit spots.  I wonder how many more are going on right now as I sit and write indoors from my cozy and warm abode.  It is always like that- I wish I could just have a cabin smack in the middle of the woods so that all I have to do is go to my deck and record the songs of nature.  Today I got to identify what I think are Fox, Bob Cat, and Coyote tracks and scats.  The Fox had imprints of its fur on the paw track.  The Cat had a wider print and the toe pads are closer to each other than the canine ones.  Coyote tracks were larger than my pooche’s tracks and had nail marks on the substrate.  The scats of Coyote resemble that of a dog, but they are  more tapered, have a lot of fur, and remains of its prey.  I am excited to show these to my husband so that he can help me feel more confident about my identifications and we can both learn together.

The California Thrasher keeps appearing at my spot.  I think this bird is my newest mystery song maker but more confirmation is yet to come.  There is a whistle sound I often here in nature that is subtle and sweet, but not as piercing as the Kite’s whistle.  The bird is hardly ever visible when I hear that call.  Yesterday I saw the Thrasher perched in the area of where I thought the call was coming from.  Could it be?  Two days ago, the Trasher got me when I heard its Song for the first time.  I thought it was a Mockingbird with its continuous, melodic, rhythmic songs, but as I was searching for confirmation, I can see now that it was not a Mockingbird but the Thrasher himself!  Check it out for yourself if you are familiar with the Mockingbird and want to compare it to the Thrasher.  They are very similar in that they change their verses a lot.

As I sat in marvel of Nature and the excitement of my dreams, a Red Tail Hawk appeared as she hunted and circled the Sky.  She was heading North, the place of the wise and ancestors.  It was as if my ancestral women were propelling me to move towards those ideas.  My great-grandmother, Eloisa, who I was named after, used to have a food stand by the rail road tracks in what was then a small port town.  She sold food to the laborers.  I often feel her guiding me, as also my grandmother in the crafting and cooking which she did so wisely.  I felt the calling to have a Farmers’ Market stand again, to certify my kitchen, to serve healthy food for others, to farm my produce, and start my business from my home.  That is truly my wish, and we are working towards it because we both share this dream.  To live more closely with the Earth, to compost, and love her up!  But in this moment, I am placing one foot in front of the other to get there with beauty, enjoyment, peace, serenity, and excitement.  I truly feel content where I am anyways, but the thrill of creating out of our own land is a dream that matches no other.  As is having a little trailer and rejoicing of the mysterious deserts of Nevada and ruins of Chaco Canyon.  We love our dreams, and they help us to elevate our journey into a Conscious dance.  Having the backbone and strength of a trusting partner is a new experience for me.  The stability of home and knowledge of place are also key ingredients for allowing me to imagine in health, safety, and consistency.  I was marveling at this yesterday in our dinner conversation, celebrating that we can together now dream even Higher!  Already the creation of this site and the sharings from my Heart are a kind offering to the world, stemming from a place of innocence, purity, love, and gratitude.  This is all made from a labor of Love.  In fact, it is best said as simply as it is all made from Love- period.  The labor does not even feel like labor or work, it is a natural waterfall that pours out of my heart effortlessly and with candidness.

Today I am very tired as I rose very early at 5 am.  The quiet hours of the morning have allowed me to have so much more freedom in writing.  Although I am sleepy, I love being awake, I love the daylight, and I am falling in love with the mornings, something I also could not do before when I was afraid of each rising sun, during the years I was heavily depressed and addicted.  The path of healing is one that is long and windy, as is the path of Living.  Being patient is so important so that the changes we take are genuine, deep, and leave strong imprints and new memories in our baby brains.  Slow and steady wins the game.  Today I foraged for wild Sage in order to make my prayer bundles for gifting my family and friends.  Nature has so many gifts for us, including gifts that we can gift to those we love and cherish.  Such is the love of the Mother- it is unconditional, generous, and knows no limits.  It is our duty to respect her, thank her, and take only what we need for our walk.  The sun is piercing through my sliding door windows.  It is my favorite part of this house- the wide view into the sky, maple tree, and the movements of humans outside.  It faces South so that I can feel the full extent of the day through the Sun’s song and reach.  Today is a wonderful day full of hopes and dreams!

Here is one realization I want to share too, some thoughts and ruminations about how the human body and bodies of mass in general reflect the outer cosmos.  What holds lungs, hearts, colons, and organs in place?  Tissue, connective tissue, skeletal system, and so on.  What holds planets and moons and Suns in their movement and place?  Gravity, energy, light, magnetism, dark matter, the centers of galaxies, and so on.  Our inner bodies reflect the outer bodies.  And galaxies hold other galaxies together in huge family clusters so that nothing sinks.  So, what is at the edge of the universe, above, below, sideways, and in all radial dimensions?  What is at the edge of our bodies after the skin and the hair?  Light, our aura, our energy spirit, our thoughts are like frizzy antennae connecting to the frequencies of other thoughts and energies.  Could it be the same at the edge of the universes?  Light, Aura, Rainbow Spectrum, and Glow?

Evening stroll:  Fog rolling in looked as if the green belt and hills were smoked out by fire!  It was beautiful to witness it rolling in just as it was in the Bay Area.  The main bird singers were the towhees and the sparrow.  Remember to photograph all the new coyote scats, especially the one that exposes the little bones and paws of the prey!

*Nepal, Merche’s photo

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1/14/17

Today and yesterday have been full of sunshine, clear skies, and gentle temperatures.  I took one big thick layer off.  I can feel the approach of early Spring!  I am sure the temperatures will still be cold at night and more rains are to come, but I can feel something in the air, perhaps it is my anticipation, but even the songs of birds are more audible.  January is the month of the Great Horned Owl mating and nesting.  So some species are starting to mate for the year’s family!  It all happens so fast.

The Anna’s hummingbirds are so active with their protection of territory.  There is one that sits on this branch just a few feet from my sit spot rock.  I know it is the usual one because of their persistence in protecting their spots.  In a time when the blossoms are so few, the territories are clearly protected for their own survival.  3 Red Tail Hawks hunted the sky with their well known call.  Many Turkey Vultures swirled the sky in their beautiful flight that makes anyone envious.  The Scrub Jays also hunting and protecting their spaces.  They too are very loud, they remind me of security guards patrolling and communicating with each other through walky talkies.

The Sun feels so good on my face and body, warming me up for the walks ahead after the sit spot.  It is higher in the sky, and I can start to remember more what summer was like last year.  Oh it will get hot.  These days of gentle temperatures are a sweet gift, so enjoy as much as possible!  I love how cusps or timespaces between really marked turns in season are very sweet and gentle to the psyche, perhaps to give us the time to adapt.

Yellow Coral Mushrooms have just started to sprout.  The field guide says it is in the Spring time so this feels like quite early, but then again, we are at lower altitudes than where we were in the Cascades.   Coral mushrooms remind me of my hunting times, and they clue me in as to what is come next around here, yum!  I have yet to photograph these fungi myself, but here is what they look like:

The Kite has been around hunting, it is so sensitive to our appearance in the landscape, flying off to its next perch.  The whistle call is so distinct that we can hear it a quarter of a mile away before I see him.

It is a full moon time, and we have had sunshine with some drizzle days of rain and full rain.  It has been a full week indeed along with the moon.  It was hard to see her rise because of the cloud cover, but I can feel her illumination.  I am feeling more in the Up with energy, dreams, hopes, and visions for this year.  I am motivated to be more active again and to get back on track with my jogging and other health core routines.  I can feel the Light and its stimulation to grow as everything does in the Spring.

Today in our sit spot I heard the female and male Wrentit, and along with that were my deep gratitude and reverence for this place.  Knowledge of place is very admirable and often times rare because of the high mobility of people these days on the planet.  I am one of them.  Knowing that I love it here, want to root here, and enjoy with deep pleasure the gentle Nature here makes me very happy, and the Wrentit is a master at that.  If we are to stay here longer as a stepping stone to our farm, that is quite fine with me.  Having these 13 acres of solitude to ourselves is quite remarkable and unique.  It will be hard to beat if we are to move into Placerville town, even though it is more touristy and hopefully has more work for me.  This, however, IS my work, and I truly swim in it with absolute joy.  I just need to get more clients to work with from home, and then I can truly tend to my family and others along the way.  My prayers have been sent with my calling.  To have clarity of this calling in itself of truth and self-honesty is good enough.  For years I was not this clear, but now I truly know this is what I want- this place, this family, this home, and these offerings into the world.  Practicing the Light Meditation of Bruno at sit spot and home before bed has been very helpful, bringing in peace, joy, presence, and serenity in my life.

As we continued to walk further, Pixie spotted the leftovers of a hunt!  I believe it was a kidney and some pieces of intestines.  Gross!  And the stench was noticeable.  However, it just brings me so much joy to be in a place where so much wildness takes place.  It gets messy, and it is beautiful to be in the midst of many wild animals.  We saw an Opossum cross the road two weeks ago!  It was so pudgy and cute.  We were so grateful that the car in front of us stopped for it to cross!  Other animal lovers.  There are many of them here and that is another big reason I love nesting here.  This is a good place for us, peaceful, clean, friendly, and a lot of nature.

I want to remember to research pine cones in Botany in a Day book and to find out that whistle singing bird that sounds like a kingbird.

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1/11/17

The storms and rains of the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017 have been spectacular, with a bit of thunder and lightning, to my surprise.  The down pours have been so strong that rivers have risen so high and many parts flooded around here.  Writing, resting, eating, hibernating, sleeping long hours, cooking, watching movies, enjoying the fireplace, studying, and nesting have been the main activities during this time.  We have definitely enjoyed of some very mind opening and controversial  movies and interviews.  Check out my Treasures page to learn more about some interviews and movies that will shift your paradigm.

Today was our first day in several days of hibernation that Pixie and I went to our Secret Spot or Sit Spot.  The fields were flooded with water and my boots got muddy almost instantly.  The greenery is so alive and many birds were active.  Going back into Nature and noticing the beautiful birds, our neighbors, was like seeing an old friend again.  Ahhhh- the Spotted Towhee!  Awww, there it is, going about in its foraging through the bushes.  A Scrub Jay doing its wobble of up and down movement and scoring a seed or acorn that it took to its home.  The Anna’s Hummingbird with its hot pink neck scarf and kissing sounds.  I sing back to them.  Arriving was like going back home and a sense of relief and peace away from the frequencies of modems and electricity.  Pixie was also ecstatic to run again and go wild off leash.  The trails were more clean after the rains, wiping out the history of previous tracks and scats.

As we turned into our Sit Spot, I was elated with big breaths, expansive and peaceful.  I sat on my favorite rock and next to it were many pebbles of Deer Scat, as if it was a welcome home gift from Nature or I miss you not being here from the many absent days due to the Rain.  I see these little objects as gifts and treasures.  As soon as we entered our zone, I spotted the California Thrasher, an incredible bird, endangered, local and of the Chaparral landscape.  I have written about it before, so if you are interested in knowing more you can scroll to below to my older notes.  I was just about to sit when I noticed him without my binoculars, its body form and long sickle-shaped bill is unmistakable.  So I sat comfortably, knowing that he would still be around for a few more minutes.  I felt so welcomed by the birds, a sweet ease in my body energy, the general feeling in the air was of warmth, and my nostalgia for this Nature medicine was immense.

I took out my binoculars to zoom into this magical creature that is a rare appearance.  His chest or breast zone had a circle spot that really identified him.  I wonder if other thrashers there have that bib spot too.  Its head and neck feathers were very fluffy.  He moved from a lower zone to a higher branch zone and a bit farther from us after a few minutes.  Before I knew it, he was gone into the brush.  Seeing this bird off the bat upon arriving was a very, very good Omen of welcoming.  I am part of that circle of rock, lichen, soil, and brush.  Some of the other birds were not even reacting to Pixie’s presence.  It is as if we all know each other, and we were all happy to be reunited again.

I had seen recently the movie Resonance, which taught me about the 7.83 Hz resonance our bodies have with that of the Earth, as do all other animal forms.  I decided to sit during this time to practice letting my body energy to match that of Mother Earth’s, opening my arms wide and inviting her healing energy.  I also envisioned the light meditation as guided by Bruno Groening.

I still have to learn a lot about this meditational, healing practice, but my mother-in-law shared with me some pieces that inspired me to do it outdoors.  I felt a huge sense of peace, and I prayed that my body pain would heal, my organs would heal, and the earth would heal.

I am excited to return to my sit spot soon enough and to continue listening, healing, quieting, practicing the light, and noticing all the changes that will come as the wheels of time turn and the seasons do too.  I can feel Spring in the distance already.  The temperature was not so cold.  And it is why I took 4 ticks off Pixie!  Yikes!!  Moving my body and breathing the fresh after-rain Air was a nutrient I needed after a long slumber.  I think about the Nordic people and how long their winters are!  I praise them for their inner meditation work to thrive in such harsh conditions.  I am grateful to be in a “Mediterranean” like zone here.  I feel very content, very at peace, very fulfilled with all the studying and now the invitation to study in Nature.

Happy B-Earth-Day, Dr. Albert Hofmann, you who loved and revered nature so much!  Thank you for all the gifts you bestowed us with your incredible, conscious mind!

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12/23/16

Today is Friday, the 23rd of December.  It started raining very early this morning, around 4 am.  The clouds are heavy and gray, and I am loving the time of rest and hibernation.  Few birds, but the Northern Flicker and the Red Tail Hawk were present.  The winds were strong, and the Turkey Vulture loved it, I could tell.  He or she was gliding with the strong wings, gracefully circling and moving up and down with playfulness.  I saluted him with admiration, I wish I could do that!

Yesterday was warm.  Yesterday, today, and for the last several days actually, the chemtrails have been non-stop!  Psycopaths, if only they knew how much damage this is causing to our bodies and all of the living things that have taken millennia to exist!  I wish they could stop, stop, stop!  This is one of the biggest wars and deaths on humanity and all life.

I finally photographed the Sage Brush below.  This is a native plant of the chaparral.  I will write more about this plant in the coming days.

The Coyote Brush is dispersing its seeds, and the wind helps to spread them on the landscape.  Whereas before the flowers were more intact, now they are more fuzzy like Dandelions.  Little filaments of white fluff scatter with the wind.  Enjoying to witness the progression of nature with the seasons.  The winds of winter help to disperse its DNA.

Lately I have been speaking to my Sit Spot about the new year’s intentions and visions, my dreams, and revelations from my studies that relate to my prayers for the healing of humanity and the Earth.  We direly need to wake up if we want to leave this Earth better than we found it.  Each day there is more Fukoshima nuclear leaks, every day there is more gift wrapping paper on our landfills, and more pollution.  What has the Earth done to us that we, as a human race, treat her as disposable resources?  She has done everything to give us Life, and we step on her flowers and spit on her wombs.  I really pray that each human heart, all of us, awaken more deeply to the power within, and that we must not look outside for any distraction to fill the holes we feel.  It is so important that we envision our destination with clear intention so that we guide our dreams and bodies towards that place of peace and groundedness.  What we have now on our journey is truly what we need.  Yes, it would be nice to have that cabin with that deck or a car that can help me mobilize and serve others or have a job.  But I must always know that these ingredients are not my happiness.  My happiness is my courage to write from my heart and from what I am learning in life.  My happiness is spreading the message and contributing to the awakening of humanity in every possible way with strength and love.  My happiness is being as present as I can with my ridiculously beautiful family and my current reality, my goals, my aspirations, my hope, and healing myself and others along the way with my service and devotion.  My happiness is inhabiting my heart and loving the Earth and cooing reminders to her that I love her.  My happiness is knowing that I am at peace within myself and that if I shall die the next hour, then I am ready because I have been living my Dream and my Calling, which is why I came to this Earth for.  It matters little how many people read these words.  It  matters that they have been unearthed from my chest.  It matters that if I touched one person’s heart, then I have lived.  Life has nothing to do with what we experience as reality.  Life is abundance, birth, color, wild dimensions, light, joy, beauty, creation, playfulness, transitions, change, movement, death, trust, art, multi-sensory experiences, and so on…  If we could relate to life differently through a paradigm shift, we would not be fighting, not even with our own selves or scared of death.  Our current reality is very skewed from the oppressions of the establishment and elite, who are slaves to their own dominator realities of greed and evil, demons, and masters.  So there is Life and then there is the sad reality that seems to be continuously imposed on humans without them even knowing it.  “Our ignorance is their bliss,” like David Icke says.  What is happening around the world of mass starvation, animal abuse, planet abuse, ocean destruction, human wars, drones, mass surveillance and fear mind control on humans, radiation, nuclear tests, vaccines, and so on is nothing but their petty attempts to destroy life.  We must realize now and NOW that we are stronger and more beautiful than this reality that has been prescribed and dictated on humans.  No wonder the depression, anxiety, addiction, and killings that humans are experiencing are driving some of the most beautiful angels to mass extinction.  I just received a message about one of my friends sinking in deeper into alcoholism mixed with hard core drugs because he is depressed!  Depressed?  This human angel who is one of the most eloquent and alive human beings I know?!  If he is depressed, imagine the amount of deep depression the zombies are living?!  I have been depressed, and at times very angry too, and at times those shadows still revisit me.  It is to the gratitude of my teachers, their teachings, my mentors, my willingness to live, sacred plants, divine intervention that I am by miracle still here.  We live in a “first” world, where there is so much waste, while others starve to death.  We have “first world” problems, while others are just struggling to survive.  But in truth, WE ARE ALL told to struggle and thus swim up the river at all cost.  It is impossible to compare one person’s pain over another.  The time is now to awaken into our infinite beauty and power, and then to understand with humility and grace and strength how to use that power for the truth and change that must come.  The establishment is falling apart, and then what?!  We must practice how to access our power and to use it for the goodness of Life and the Earth.  I have been using my Sit Spot to reflect on such matters, and accessing my inner thoughts and realms as a form of wave prayer into the collective conscious wave that also is bringing on the positive change.  I envision a world of peace, abundance, ease, joy, laughter, playfulness, creation, collaboration with the Earth.  I envision my family fulfilled by being and the mad consumerism to transform into mass meditation.  I can only wish and pray that the evil that has been running the show disappears.  But if it is not this planet, they will find another one.  It seems that when there is an oasis, many parasites will want a piece of it, it almost seems like that is just the natural way that life moves or some forms of life.  Something wants to leech out of something else.  Maybe they exterminated other planets, and thus have come here.  So perhaps this is just the nature of things?  But I am not okay with that, it is out of balance, and it is destroying everything that we find beautiful and that the Earth crafted with love and play.  I do not have the answers, but I am seeking and listening, paying attention, connecting dots, and proposing that we dialogue about what we are discovering, instead of being alieniated or isolated from each other and our seeking hearts.  Divide and conquer is a tactic to keep us apart and from discussing our truths.  We inspire one another along the way, and that is one of the biggest reasons this portal must live on.  I pray for mass Awakening. And I thank my Sit Spot for holding my anger at the system, for helping me heal further, and to reveal that peace and beauty that still exists in that tiny circle of rock, lichen, soil, chaparral, and birds.  Nature – what would I do without you?  I would not be here.  None of us would, and we seem to be doing a darn good job at getting there, to nowhere…  May peace, love, high vibration light of Truth prevail on Earth and in our hearts, now and always.  May the evil and greedy transform or leave.

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12/21/16  WINTER SOLSTICE

“There are two great days in a person’s life – the day we are born and the day we discover why.”

~William Barclay

It is Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year, and one that invites us to reflect on Life, our place in it, our Dreams, and our missions on Earth.  It is a great night to slow down and tune In.  In our Nature school, there is a practice called The Renewal Of Creative Path, which allows the people involved in it to have structure, ask deep questions, and reflect very intimately about their Sacred Walk on the Earth, and how it relates to the bigger cycles of Life, Ancestors, and Future Generations.  We want to dive more deeply into this practice in the coming days.  Today I reflected on the inter-connectedness of my steps, which is one of the questions on the practice, and how one leads to the next into the Present Moment, which is one I am truly enjoying because I am finally where I need to be with Gratitude- writing, sharing, healing, and spreading my message as a seed in Coyote’s Brush, dancing with the Winter Winds.  It has been a long, long walk to get here, and I hope there is more to come! Feeling very grateful for my collaborator, partner, us doing our part and dance to keep our family sane, thriving, calm, happy, and coping with our challenges and questions.  Part of me feels a slight, familiar sadness for the culmination of these darker nights, slower movements, and what are regarded as yin energies on the planet.  I love the Winter with all its challenges and darkness, mostly because I move slow through time and space, and because I love to sleep and rest.  Once the cycles turn towards the Summer Solstice, I know that the rhythms will change towards moving Up to the Sky, just as many bulbs and plants naturally do.  Thankfully, however, I no longer live in a city, where the hustle and bustle is so strong and tightly woven with the powers that shouldn’t be! Ha, ha!  It is so true, that caused a lot of anxiety and distress on me before, so thankfully I live in the country, where I write my own rules about the speed of my movements, creating my own Slow Office Movement.  I feel a lot less distress now about this turn in the seasons.  I always loved the Summer Solstice because it was the time when the nights would start to grow long, and I could have the reasons to move slower and more intimately.  Now it is really up to Us, even though it has always been that way, truly.  And, I am actually very excited about our dreams and visions for the coming year, as we both step more solidly into our calling and Path.  With this clarity and knowing of who we are and our place, it all feels quite Divine and most importantly, more Relaxed.

The last couple of days, Pixie and I have wandered our neighborhood streets.  We found the nuthatches and had great conversations with our beautiful neighbors.  Many of them garden and grow their own food.  One o them had a Spark in his eyes, invited us to eat his food once it finally grows, and wished us many blessings for us to have our own Garden again.  Interestingly enough, the synchronicity was strong with Tobe Hemenway, writer of Gaia’s Garden, who today passed to the other side, with the ancestors.  His visions and writings will forever be with us.  Gaia’s Garden is a wonderful book in our collections.  What a blessed time to transition, on the quietest night of the year.  Blessed be his soul.

I love where I live.  I love the cracks in time and space where I can chat with neighbors at great length, unrushed, and with ease.  I love the quietness, solitude, and vastness of our Sit Spot, where really it is just us and the beautiful Nature that opens up naturally.  Today I was able to enjoy some tracks, warm up my head under the bright Sun, and sit comfortably on a rock, as I spoke to the Earth.  A couple of Wrentits got close.  I was able to see their rustle in the chaparral, they were very hard to see, I only got glimpses and peaks.  It was the male calling first, then the female responding, then the movement in the brush, then they each flew one after the other into the neighboring brushes.  I love Wrentits, they are very special creatures, indeed teachers of Wisdom of Place, for they only really move within 1,300 feet from they were born.  If you want to know about your local place, ask the Wrentits!

Here are some of the tracks that I was enjoying to touch and wonder about.  My camera’s lens is out of focus because I dropped it on the sidewalk.  This is the best I could do today.

*Whose tracks are these?  The track is not too deep on the ground, each imprint is about 1 1/2 inches long. I did not measure the stride between them, but by making an animal form out of them, I thought at first it would be a small skunk.  As I sifted through my field guide, my best idea is a Squirrel because of the nails at the top, the longer finger formation, and it also fits the track’s size.  Fun- I think this was a squirrel!  Also it just rained a lot, so the imprint was easier to be made by a lighter weight creature.  At the same time all things considered, the imprint was not as heavy, as for example a doe or a stag.

*Bird Tracks

*Smaller tracks next to Pixie’s.  Whose are they?

It was a very bright, warm day, few chemtrails in the sky, and I was able to take off my jacket.  I reflected on the Avatar movie last night and the teachings from David Icke.  It seems very strongly to me that our Ancestors were as bright as the Natives in the movie, very connected to the magic and sacredness of Life and their planet.  The invaders or “humans” are symbols of the Archons that are sucking the energy of this planet, and our race is losing its ancient capacities to see beyond the curtains or the veils because of the totalitarian systems and controls.  It is all very symbolic.  And it is why it is so important that we awaken, so we can be on the road to freedom, spreading the message, and not complying with a system that does not work for us towards peace and enlightenment.

We enjoyed our walk, and I was very happy to come back home and work on this website.  It is truly an honor to work with other beings through this portal and ideas.  I am very inspired by the ways that these words resonate energy into the Universe, creating ripples, and boomeranging back to me with amazing people and ideas that I encounter on my path.  This site is like an antennae, sending the signal of Love and Activation.