Wild and Free(dom)

The recent issues posting on this blog are strangely illustrative of Life, and the way I tend to react when things do not make sense.

I observed but did not immediately react. Maybe this is just a strange thing that will go away, I mused. Maybe I am doing something different or wrong, I thought. Maybe everything will just magically get better — I do, after all, believe in Lucky Socks.

When Tincture of Time did not do the trick, I sought input from professionals to try and understand all the strangeness; they were also puzzled. The glitches were so unusual and strange.

And yes — I am talking about this blog and more. Tomorrow is a bit of an anniversary — my mind is in processing mode.

And yesterday I had a lovely drive for all that processing to spin in my mind. Capella and Pozy went with me to Stanley, Idaho — a drive of about four hours each way.

The river was a big hit with these two…

We did that little drive — not simply to provide time and space for all the processing to happen — but to pick up our houseguest.

Yes indeed, I was Driving Miss Daisy. She is visiting with us for the next three weeks or so while her family goes on a vacation.

In addition to Daisy, I was picking up bagels.

Rosebud cannot resist bags! No bagels were harmed.

Galen brought me fresh (and frozen — thanks John!) bagels from Freedom Bagel Bakery

John and his family, which includes Heidi Heidi from the H Moon Litter and Dallas Nova Jr. from the Bright Stars, have been working hard for well over a year to perfect bagels and open this business. I have been privy to this venture for some time and also have sampled test bagels.

O.M.B. (Oh My Bagel).

The bagels alone were worth driving eight hours. They are so amazing, and I am jealous of those of you in the Boise area — or I will be when I eat my way through my bagel stash in the freezer.

That will be a few weeks, however, as Daisy will be returned right about when I need a new supply — how perfect is that?!

Have a wild and free Sunday.

My Favorite: Juxtaposition

The word juxtaposition is so wonderful, reminding us that life is layered and complicated and ironic and conflicted. The sacred and the ordinary — those things occupy the same spaces.

We started at the Bison Range…

This gem of a place is maybe an hour or so from my house.

Did you know that bison were all but extinct, and that their destruction was part of the plan to eliminate/control/hurt Native people in the USA?

Sometimes history is a heavy burden to bear but that doesn’t mean we ignore it.

We should listen and learn from uncomfortable Truths — and be better.

How perfectly wonderful to have one of my Perfect Sisters here. I am so lucky to have TWO of them. This is my Irish Twin — we are 10 months and 26 days apart in age…

A Californian bundled up — because 50 is cold when you come from the Sunshine state!

After driving slowly on a well-traveled track like we were on a ride at Wildlife Disneyland — while contemplating genocide and feeling gratitude and awe for survival — we moved on down the road, literally and metaphorically…

Juxtaposition indeed.

In the middle of western Montana…

The whole place was confounding. What the heck?! In Arlee, Montana?!

Yep.

An angel? With a thousand Buddhas?

That caused me to read up on whether Buddhists believe in angels. The world is filled with opportunities and invitations to learn things, isn’t it?

Including, it turns out, from rocks…

#truth

Those who took the bison from millions to 100 could not have been following the Buddha.

I learned that as the wind blows through prayer flags, messages of peace, compassion, and good will are being spread…

I wonder — does one have to open and ready to receive such messages? To learn the lessons?

And how can we remain open and receptive to messages and lessons that show up in the most unlikely places?

And as we walked back to the van…

Juxtaposition indeed.