breathing again

Adelina is back and so is the Farmer's Market. Loads of smiling people finally able to once again stroll among seedlings, lettuces, herbs, eggs, and breads. Several times I heard comments: I've been waiting so long for this or I missed your lettuces or the eggs are going fast...duck eggs, too, and, oh, the lavender hand creme - I've been waiting all winter, hoping...

sometimes a day shapes itself
I left the house early to walk, browse the market, stop by the post office. A perfect late spring morning, no wind, the air not exactly clear but not filled with wildfire smoke the way it was yesterday when I learned that the Gila Wilderness (many miles southwest of us) was blazing - over 70,000 acres burned and 0% contained. I haven't checked today's fire report so don't know if there's any good news re containment. Dry conditions, strong winds, low humidity, difficult terrain, make it worse. We long for rain - great torrents of it - but the gods aren't listening. Many homes in the wildfire area  have been destroyed and ancient Gila Cliff Dwellings are threatened. In Taos today, the wind is blowing the smoke away from us and the mountains are more visible than yesterday which was an eyes and throat-irritating day with the mountains behind veils of thick smoke. Of course, the wind could turn and then I'll be running around shutting windows and doors and looking for the eye drops again.

It's nearly noon now and I don't have the rest of my day planned. I know it doesn't include appointments or errands; rather it feels like a time to let things unfold as they will. I can't help thinking about the people whose homes have been destroyed. It's a day when, if there were temple bells nearby, they would remind me to come back to my present moment. In lieu of bells, I'll have to remind myself. Besides, the wind is howling so loudly around my tall house that all other sounds are blown away.

Listen, listen.
This wonderful sound brings me back to my true self.
             Thich Nhat Hanh

So does a gorgeous abstract head of wet lettuce picked at dawn this morning. Yum for dinner tonight: basil, mozzarella, insalata, olives, good bread...maybe some parmesan encrusted chicken...