Trees: Monitors of Change

This morning as I meditated I looked out on the redwood tree that rises and grounds our yard.  She is my teacher, my guide.  The wind waves her branches as breath moves through me.  Sunlight filters through.

Yesterday I was with friends at The Lumberyard in Mill Valley.  Until recently it was a lumberyard.  Mill Valley had a mill.  Much of the wood came from the neighborhood town of Corte Madera which means cut wood.

One massive tree is still preserved at The Lumberyard which now hosts a restaurant, a bakery, and assorted gift shops.  I’m with impermanence and the beauty in change.

The shifting light this time of year makes sacredness so clear.  

Many of us cut down trees and bring them into our homes to then recycle and transform.  Again, so precious is this life we’re given for a time, a time to breathe and connect as we deal with what for some is horrific, and allows us to see that with time we move toward change.

In his 1994 novel “The Crossing,” Cormac McCarthy creates a character who says that “the wicked know that if the ill they do be of sufficient horror men will not speak against it.” In fact, “men have just enough stomach for small evils and only these will they oppose.”

We are seeing the wicked begin to be held to accountability.  May that continue to be so.

Even in December, fuchsias bloom in a neighbor’s yard
Azaleas offer too!
A gigantic presence at The Lumberyard
I see two tummy buttons in the trunk of this saved tree.

Journeying

We drove to Santa Barbara on 101, a reminder of the work involved in growing our food.  We passed fields lined with people bent over picking and pruning.

On the way back, we took country roads.  In 2012 my sons did the Faultline rally and crisscrossed the California fault line in a vintage Datsun with other pre-1976 cars. They traveled mainly on narrow and challenging roads, not passable in wet weather, which it wasn’t then or now, and discovered uncrowded beautiful landscapes, another example of the variety and complexity of the state in which we live.  Our destination for lunch was the Parkfield Cafe, worth it for the atmosphere, food, and apple dumplings.

I didn’t take pictures inside the restaurant as it opens at 11:30 and immediately fills with hungry people, all a little more weathered than we. It felt intrusive to gawk and take pictures of saddle stools and the giant fireplace. We ate outside as we do when we travel with Ebi and Ginger, two rescue greyhounds who attract attention wherever we go.

I offer a taste of our trip yesterday.

Going one way
And the other

Golden hills
Happy Travelers
Lunch is here!
The treehouse outside the cafe
We missed the big happening!
This is true! We were in grass fed cattle land!
Remembering the native people and who came next
We climb up from Parkfield to overlook the valley below

Summer Gold

China Beach in San Francisco today

Looking across to the Marin Headlands
Looking east to the Golden Gate Bridge
A ship passes by
A jellyfish on the sand
The waves pour in
Ladybugs on kelp
Good luck ladybug on a wishing rock
And a big rock stands marking why so many leave their hearts in San Francisco

Gifts

Yesterday I met my daughter-in-love at Filoli Gardens.  Reservations are needed these days and it was completely uncrowded.  Two fawns greeted me as I turned into the driveway.  What a gift to be with a wonderful human being in a beautiful place.  A temporary exhibit of flowing sculptures was scattered through the gardens.

228 varieties of rose enchant the space
A Secret Door
Celebrate!
Embrace!