artwork on 100 year old cedar shakes

One of my favorites:

It's acrylics and texturing on the cedar shake that came off the roof of my old house.

2019 SANTA FE TRAIL DAY LAS ANIMAS COLORADO

This year's theme was TRAILBLAZERS & STARGAZERS

For 85 years this has been an annual celebration on the last weekend of April in this little town on the Arkansas River in Colorado.

Celebrating the cultures of the area makes for a fun day. Indigenous Folk, Spanish/Mexican, Mestizo, Black, Traders, Homesteaders, Ranchers, Farmers, Town Folk ... and somehow it all just worked.

If you take a drive in this area now, you'll see cattle of all types, goats, sheep, llama, horses, lots of dogs, some cats, hog operations south of town, crops of corn, wheat, oats, sorghum, melons, onions, peppers, alfalfa, beans, and who knows what all else, people who represent all of the above list and some new-comers, plenty of churches, folks who open doors for one another and say "How ya doin'?" to all and sundry ... and watch out for each other. 

The emergency response teams are top of the line. We had a fire east of town recently that started in the river bottom of the Purgatoire River (called the Picketwire locally) and burned its way south to the Arkansas River bottom and then east along it. Took about 600 acres and would have been so much worse had it not been for all the area firefighters coming to help, and the National Guard's helicopters dumping water on it in strategic spots. When push comes to shove True Colorado Folk stick together and get the job done.

Our family's ranch was run by my grandparents; before that our great-grandparents homesteaded down south of town too, east of where Grandma and Grandad ranched. Before that, there were a couple of generations in west Kansas. Our lineage came to America in the 1600s (Quakers) and followed what has come to be known as the Traditional American Westward Trek. We had to stop going west when we got to Alaska and Hawaii.

Las Animas has been 'home' to us for six generations now. Most of us have gone in all the directions of the compass from here - but we know our way home.

Here are a few photos of the parade - there were many many horses and riders, too! 

For a Small Town USA event, it was mighty fine! 

"We have seen His Star and come to worship Him"

A homestead couple

This group later danced in the intersection

Bent's Old Fort was first a trading post

A man and his horse

Just a few of the MANY riders in this parade

Gotta love the Hereford cattle !! 

Saturday, April 20, 2019

On this day my soul is quiet.

It’s maybe a special kind of peace, perhaps a little unexpected. Because this is the day to remember the battle that raged a couple of thousand years ago as the Holy Trinity fought to bring Balance to a world that had need of it.

How to put into words what that means?

I don’t think anyone has ever been able to find those words. It’s more something a person intuits than explains. That makes it real at a depth that goes beyond words, or even feelings. It just IS. It’s affirmation of the power of I AM and you either get that or you don’t. Either way, with or without our being able to understand it, the result is the same.

God is Love really does mean something.

And so, today, the memory of who we are rises unbidden. Today, because of the battle that was fought and won all those long years ago, my soul can be quiet, remembering the meaning of the word Love.

It is not a day to spend in worry or tears. We already know that battle has been won.

What battle, you ask?

Well, yesterday was what we call Good Friday, when the Son finished one sort of battle on our behalf. Today is the day He fought and won an even more significant battle on our behalf. See, the thing is that it’s fairly easy for us to identify with the humanity of the Son, which is why He came in the first place. What’s harder for us to wrap our heads around is that we did not truly lose the Light when the Son of the Trinity left his human body behind on that cross and the world went dark for a time. He wasn’t lost at all. He knew exactly where He was and what He was doing. He was/is as much the Holy Trinity as always, keeping the Balance of our world intact. Physically, in a way that we can intellectually understand – spiritually in a way that our souls recognize.

The Light of the World took on the Darkness and won, keeping the Balance.

And so our own personal trinities (body, mind, spirit) are brought to Balance. That is what this day, the day between death and life, is all about I think. A day to remind us all that our time here is a gift; and the Son came to show us how to make the most of that gift. Birth, a life to live, death, and life again. How we choose to spend the life we have been given to live is up to us.

That there will be battles for each and all of us to face is a given. Body, mind, and spirit … all kinds of battles have to be fought and won. This day, the day between life and death and life, is a day to remember that the Holy Trinity keeps all in Balance. Our battles come and they go, same as we do. Some we will win; some we will lose (because we are not the Son) but in the end the War is Already Won.

Maybe that’s why my soul rests easy today.

In a world seemingly filled with hatred, spite, cruelty, and darkness working overtime, the Light still shines. Bright as bright can be, or in little flickers that mock the darkness and destroy its power, the Light shines on.

Because God is Love, not hate. The Holy Trinity rules all, has no need for aggression, no reason to inflict harm, no desire to diminish any person, place, or thing in a world so carefully and intricately wrought. That is darkness which hates aggressively, inflicts harm, and tries to diminish what has been set into place by the Almighty. That is darkness, and has already been defeated.

Tomorrow will bring again its own battles.

For today, my soul is quiet.

Remembering.

Knowing.