walking the line

in life, we balance.
or we fall.
and then we rebalance.
all balance comes from the core.
physical, emotional, mental, spiritual.
we move, think, breathe from the
center, out.
or we fall.
and then we rebalance.

for today

Fear less, hope more;
Whine less, breathe more;
Talk less, say more;
Hate less, love more;
And all good things are yours.

Swedish Proverb

close encounters

i marked the beginning of 2010 while camping in death valley. a better way to begin the new year i could not have asked for. the weather was good, even though we had one chilly, overcast day. didn't matter. much in the way of atv noises, both from a neighboring dune system (where they're allowed), and closer to us (where they're illegal.) didn't matter. i returned feeling drained of any and all tension, with a clarity of purpose and vision befitting starting a new year.
and we had a visitor.

(not my photo-found on the web.)

this one showed up at midnight on new year's eve. guess she was looking for a party to crash. she found one in my food box. there is evidence to support a theft of fudge by friend fox. a rather brazen one, it took the throwing of a rock to finally convince her that the party she was looking for was elsewhere. good fox medicine for the next year.
and for the first time in years, i was awake when the new year rolled in!

then there were these folks.

fortunately, these weren't too near our campsite. we did spot some about a mile away, big ones. not a cat you want to keep in the house-or tent.

and we saw several groups of these..

i am in total accordance with the urge to go barefoot in the sand. but geez, look, ROCKS here-and a lot of them! (there's a rock post coming, by the way.) if we hadn't seen more than one set, i would have thought it a prank.

there were also bird and snake prints galore. i couldn't get a decent shot of either of those. the light was not forgiving of a rookie photographer.

there's more to be said about this trip (rock post!). there are more photos to put up, more thoughts to be shared. for now-
happy new year, all.
set your intentions, and act accordingly!