life is a sort of coded message



 on reading Rilke
"the wind turns the pages...."
we live a strange book, wherein we advance, line by line, without having the right to read the next page before the wind has turned it; but we possess the privilege of returning to a passage we have read before, and seeing it reappear before our eyes. and we do this especially when the wind has risen, and a leaf has trembled under our fingers.

hiking in los padres national forest- becoming, constantly becoming

to read him (Rilke) and to love him is not to achieve an act of faith in a dogmatic theory, but is to admit that lyricism and the inner life belong to other necessities than the laws of society and submission to visible phenomena. (from page 25 of Rainer Maria Rilke: His Last Friendship).

close call



the hike

began with so much enthusiasm. i was so ready, as i mentioned in one my previous posts. i had all the right intentions, the right gear, the water, snacks, the right shoes, the right frame of mind. but.......



it got hotter and hotter and hotter

and although the trail was not extraordinarily difficult

by mile 2 i was lagging behind as the temperature rose to 94 degrees, breaking all county records (that's me at the top of the hill in last place)

i'm usually a survivor and very strong, never a quitter, but this time, my life was definitely at risk and i had to call it quits.
it took hours to bring my core temperature down first with a hose, then with ice packs

but it will not discourage me. i will venture out again soon although i am still shakey from the close call heat stroke

ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER

....and sunday.  more clearing out, more going back to basics and the reaffirmation that "the true things in life ARE free".  free as in my friendship with my daughter, tatiana, whom i spent the afternoon with walking on the beach in malibu, exchanging stories on how we each see the world.  in spite of her youth, she is such a sage.  we both love to hike and i hadn't taken a decent walk since my hikes in chile so we made a date after she got off work to DO IT.  how we sometimes take for granted that we live only ten minutes away from the beach.  we should spend at least a day a week there.  apart from the exercise, the beauty of the sounds of the crunching sand underneath, the salty breeze from the pacific, and the spectacle of all those dogs enjoying themselves a plenty.  it was short, too short, but we caught the sunset on the way home and stopped for fish and chips at neptune's net, a dive that has been in malibu forever. the taste of seafood lingered and today i cooked myself some chilean langostinos for lunch, such an under-rated seafood the langostino.  the italians use it well in their seafood canneloni, one my favorites. 

Oh God how I LOVE YOU!

and now back to work on my etsy store which has been replenished.  please stop by to comment or browse, maybe you'll find something you like. no strings attached.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/boubelina2