Zenith

Apache Plume (Fallugia paradoxa)
The white flowers, which look very much like small white roses,
are pretty much done having given way to the plumes:
stunning and celebratory.

June 20, 2020, is the Summer Solstice, signaling, in the Northern Hemisphere, the zenith of Summer. It is the longest day of the year with an early dawn and late sunset. 

Universally humans cherish the warmth and light of this time of the year. 

Usually it is a time of great celebration. Today amidst a global pandemic, which has no end in sight, and an unprecedented uprising against police brutality, this Summer Solstice seems like a time of great grief and raging. As Starhawk who is celebrating her 69th birthday this week, says, "Consciousness is shifting now, like I've never seen before in half a century or more activism." 

Street painting on Pine St. in Capitol Hill Occupy Protest, Seattle, WA

And for this we can all celebrate!

"I'm into 'thoughts'.

It's like you channel your thoughts 

in the right direction,

and if you think you channel your thoughts 

in the right direct, 

and if you think it has a chance of happening, 

it has a better chance of happening.

If you don't, it has less a chance of happening,"

Joe Maddon

So we will be experiencing the Summer Solstice, a new moon, a solar eclipse which is not visible here in the United States, Father's Day, plus Starhawk's birthday all this week. As we channel our thoughts at this trying time in the "right" direction, may we all celebrate with a big belly

Prickly

Now this is prickly!
Santa Fe Cholla ( Opuntia viridiflora)
in which the Curved billed Thashers build their nests.

It seems that individuals everywhere in this country are prickly from sheltering in place, from the uncertainty of the future, from the lack of hugs and missing life as it once was. The pandemic has altered our familiar, comfortable way of life. People are unwilling to BE in the present. Some refuse to wear masks and social distance. Even some people are spitting on employees at the stores that have are opened.

Another truly prickly plant!
Prickly Pear (Opuntia phaeacantha)

Humans, at least in our country of the United States, are in general unable to BE still. Perhaps this Ute prayer could offer a path to stillness (and a way to BE in the world as it is now):

"Earth teach me stillness

     as the grasses are stilled with light.

Indian Ricegrass (Achnatherum hymenoides

that the native peoples gathered and ground.

Earth teach me suffering

     as old stones suffer with memory.

Earth teach me humility

     as blossoms are humble with beginning.

Pink Wild Snapdragon (Penstemon  palmeri)

Antelope Horn Milkweed (Asclepias asperula)

Rocky Mountain (Penstemon strictus)

and

Chocolate Daisy (Berlandiera lyrata)

Yes! the Daisies actually have a chocolate fragrance.

Earth teach me caring 

as the mother who secures her young.

Earth teach me courage

     as the tree which stands all alone.

Pinon Pine (Pinus edulis)

Earth teach me limitation

     as the ant which crawls on the ground.

Earth teach me freedom

     as the eagle which soars in the sky.

Earth teach me resignation

     as the leaves which die in the fall.

Earth teach me regeneration

     as the seed which rises in the Spring.

Earth teach me to forget myself

     as melted snow forgets its life.

Earth teach me to remember kindness

     as dry fields weep with rain."

             Ute Prayer

Through stillness I believe we humans can alter our course forward and change how we behave as humans living upon Mother Earth.  I am hopeful we can "forget" our individualistic selves, see the bigger picture and