…and I am in the middle of it.  I found out today that I will be an Artist in Residence up in Santa Barbara, California for their annual Summer Solstice Parade (http://www.solsticeparade.com/)….now I can dig that… and the theme is: The Jungle…and I can dig that also.  So this means a busy time…and I may be having a Show up there during the same period and  will have to spend all of June in Santa Barbara…So I shall visit there in mid May for fourish days…return to San Francisco…fly back here (Mexico) at the end of May then turn around and fly back up to Oakland around June 2 and drive to Santa Batbara on June 3…..when I get back from California I will have 4 months to prepare for my show in Pozos…so I am asking all my energies to be present in these next few months…it will be extremely eventful…let it happen!

….are the portal for ideas and Vision.  I found myself amidst a Sea of Dreams last night…odd…not necessarily ominous…just a bit off kilter…or were they?  A train going backwards…a Volvo morphing into a golf cart…an I pod that became a plaster alligator….the female owner of the Volvo scrambling eggs for me…this all reveals…I await in the portal…Now a big yellow cat cleans himself as I type…dogs barking in the outer regions…my skin itching and dry as we segway into February….and that kind of thing…the sun begins to rise outside our large oval window….as the roosters crow, I realize that I must get dressed and embrace what the day has to offer.  I feel fortunate and alive and grateful for this life with Richard and our critters and our life with art and friendship…what gifts…what dreams….fullfilling……

……..are always brewing and blogging takes a back seat.  I have been working hard…not full tilt, but working just the same.  I have completed one in a series of twenty-two pieces that I am going to present in a solo show next September…it seems to be taking on a life and it is my intent to follow the energy.  I do know that I am easily distracted by so many things that I just need to continue returning to the source…returning to that place.  People come out to the house and ask me where these ideas come from….I once asked Tom Robbins when he visited our home where his ideas came from…he told me that his come from the same place as mine and that we are just pickers…So I accept this idea of rummaging and gleaning…I love that idea…These ideas are fruit for the picking…we just keep returning to the tree that is rooted in life…this is a gift that we need to honor…Gracias por todo!

…up at 2;21 am….I have been up and out of bed for two hours…awakened by our dogs whom we have failed to discipline.  They Bark….and I am awake.  I put on a DVD…the film was called "Exit Through the Gift Shop"…by the Street Artist named Banksy…I enjoyed it immensely…but the dogs are still barking and my head is full of ideas for my work, the house, the chapel, what I must do, what I have not done and I just munched on some raisins…I guess I'll ride this out and eventually sleep will come and I will awaken again and get up and follow the ideas and get things done and put raisins in my oatmeal and work in the Studio and go into town and let the dogs run free and……that…In the meantime,I am including a link to some photos taken by Roger Brudno who came out yesterday with some students from Wagner College in New York and a couple of their instructors…I like this series of photos and I get to look at our house and the work from another perspective and that encourages me to post this blog entry and possibly give into one of our barking dogs and let one or two of them (Manchas in particular – see included photo) into this Sleepless Raisin House of the Frogs and maybe I will relax back into sleep…maybe…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rbzfotos/sets/72157625766468764/show/

 

 

…through my connections on Facebook, I learned about an old friend who was dieing of cancer here in Mexico…I had heard this news first hand from an American friend who was passing through here last Summer.  We both know him and are connected through our disciplehood with one of the most honery Sat Gurus to pass through this Life in a long time.  Here in Mexico, it seems, that things are always in flux…there is an air of uncertainty that pervades this vast and quite wonderful land.  My friend with cancer was born here and lived down in Mexico City, I believe.  I have not seen him for twenty years or so…but we had connected through Facebook.  The other night I heard that he had died…I was awakened around one or two in the morning by our barking dogs.  I could not get back to sleep so I went on the computer.  I read that my Mexican friend had passed away as I perused Facebook.  Despite the time in between since our last meeting in India…i still felt the deep connection many of us share that spent time with Osho/Bhagwan (the Sat Guru)…a light rain began to fall outside which is very unusual for this time of year…I felt that my old drumming friend named Rupesh (the Mexican with the cancer) had something to do with it….It felt quite blissful and tender.  The next morning…on Facebook…..I learned that he had not died afterall…this is the Mexican Connection…nothing is as it seems here in this magical country…good and bad mix and mingle with beauty, danger, despair, rapture, godliness and terror….you hear one thing and it may mean something entirely else…I know this may sound confusing…it is…however, what I have learned is:  this continuing mystical Path of Paradox that I find myself on…leading from India to where I find myself today…..in Mexico…Bhagwan told me that I was entering the Tao…the tip top tongue taste of Tao where there was no beginning and no end…just the Tao…as far as i know…my friend is still alive in the hospital…his situation triggered that deep connection that I was exposed to in India one a  humid night back in the seventies when Bhagwan touched me on the forehead and the Universe entered into my consciousness and Existence began to reveal itself in a newly opened heart…my heart.  I bow down to Rupesh, Osho/Bhagwan, Mexico, India and all the other occurances that have touched my heart on this most mysterious Path…Gracias por todo!

….of  the changing Groove.  As the year winds down we count our blessings.  Richard heads back to the States on Saturday for a week and I will be holding down the fort while he is gone.  Work in the Studio and the Chapel site has me busy…not to mention chores around the house.  We are lucky to have this opportunity to create together.  I know for a fact that I will always be grateful for his Love and Support.  I had to wait a long time to finally meet him…it is going on 13 years together.  In the midst of this Union is a humming wonder…we call it the Groove…I would imagine that those of you that I know well must think:  "Can't he think of another word…something less archaic"?  But the Groove is the glove that fits…the hand that pushes the wheel…the gleam in the eye…the flutter in the delicate heart…we find ourselves amidst all this…Fools unto Ourselves…Gracias for this passing year and Gracias to all our friends and acquaitances…May the Year to come provide glimpses of love and light in your beatific lives!