Rocks

Within the circles of our lives

we dance the circles of the years,

the circle of the seasons

within the circles of the years,

the cycles of the moon

within the circles of season,

the circles of our reasons

within the cycles of the moon.

Again, again we come and go,

changed, changing Hands

join, unjoin in love and fear,

grief and joy. The circles turn,

each giving into each, into all

Only music keeps us here.

each by all the others held

In the hold of hands and eyes

we turn in pairs, that joining

joining each to all again.

And then we turn aside, alone,

out of the sunlight gone

into the darker circles of return.

WENDELL BERRY

In the tradition of my mother I collect rocks. These rocks come from places I visit or in the case of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I lived for a short while . . . something like an extended vacation of 4 1/2 years. I have no idea why rocks draw me other than I watched my mother pick up rocks from various places. She took them home with her, often in her suitcase. Her rock pile grew, grew and grew. I often wonder what happened to that huge pile of rocks?

This rock came from Butterfly Beach
in Santa Barbara, California.
A man in Sonoma County 
cut the enneagram symbol.

The pebbles that created the "walkways" in
the backyard of the home Dwight and I
bought in Santa Fe, I raked from the entire
backyard. The bigger rocks lining this 
walkway came from the Santa Fe 
River. The river was without most of the
year so finding just the right rocks was
easy. Bringing them to the backyard
was done by loading them in the car trunk.

Tufted evening primrose in bloom
in front of a water catchment
filled with rocks that were on
the property. 
It grows throughout the West
in sunny, dry, infertile, rocky,
well-drained soils.
Apparently before San Felipe
Circle was built and filled
with Stamm homes, the area
was covered with this lovely plant
that is larva food 
for hawk moths.

This stunning heart shaped rock
came from the Santa River bed.
Dwight carried it home to me
for an anniversary present.

Another water catchment,
beneath a rain spout
in the back of the house,
is filled with rocks
that were on the property.

The rain chain was Christmas gift that Dwight bought me from a nursery in Santa Fe not far from our Stamm home. It now hangs above the green flat bowl that Dwight created. It is pictured below filled with rocks I found in the dirt here in Cotati as I established my native plant garden.

The view of the Santa Fe house from the middle
of the street. Waving around the entire front
and side yards are rocks
that were already on the property.

The rockslide to the West of Mono Lake
is where the below rock was found.
It now sits on my back patio in Cotati.

This is a collection of heart shaped rocks 
from various places visited.
They are on a narrow shelf
beneath the bureau mirror in my bedroom.

I love collecting rocks as you can attest from viewing this blog post. Truly I am my mother's daughter as I follow in her footsteps of her love of rock collecting.

This day is gloomy with intermittent rain. Rain has been falling off and on now for a week with more predicted this upcoming week. The reservoirs state wide are filling which is excellent since many have not been full for some while. May each of us, in spite of whatever kind of weather is happening wherever we are,