Grapes.
Everywhere grapes. Duh.
With these rows and rows upon intricate rows, envisioning the labors of love in these vineyards morph into a respect for the those bottles and bottles on shelves everywhere.
Hills that roll into more hills that roll into more hills.
An irrigation silo painted beige and then painted with trees on it which actually makes it stand out more than had they just painted it exclusively with treetop foliage. Irrelevant, but bothersome enough to make mention.
Hummingbirds by day, crickets by night.
Open windows, open doors. Light bending its way around every corner and in through every unshielded gap.
Peace. Quiet. Sun. Rainclouds. No wind at all.
No breeze, but the freshest air I've breathed in months.
The most incredible serenity felt. A natural diminishing blood pressure.
No phone service, but an outer world signal just to touch base.
Trevor Hall. Diet Coke. My keyboard.
I can hear my brain think.
I may never leave.
How simple and important is the reminder that we live so crazy & fast-paced? It takes less than 24 hours in a place like this to realize I spend a lot of time on so many time-wasting brain-tiring activities that yield little daily reward. When I'm at home, a place I love and consider to be my sanity-safe-haven, I find myself beebopping from one room to another, constantly busy...doing nothing. So consumed while doing one thing with the next thing I'm going to do, that the tin foil roll ends up in the refrigerator.
Running to-do lists that please only the compulsive compartment of my brainspace. Without conscious recognition, life can read like a shampoo label: Wash. Rinse. Repeat. I get in bed. I get up again. I fill 18 or so hours with whatever before I'm threading a leg back into pajama pants. No misunderstanding, I'm not a waste of space, as this is lending to sound. Just need that bumpcheck once in a while that whether doing nothing or something, result can be the same, if not consciously purposeful.
But then there's this retreat - a serene backdrop filled with cohabitant bugs that for some reason bother me a lot less than they would buzzing through my front foyer at home. Here, I just don't care.
Serenity, shine down on me. Because I yearn to feel it.
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| mjg |
