There are days when the entire world seems to play tricks on you. Days of exquisite beauty begging to seduce and lure you toward skipping work, school, responsibility.

The joke is...shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...I'll tell you.

The joke is you are a responsible adult and the gorgeous day mocks and tortures you with an almost palpable laughter.

Words to live by

Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children. Kahlil Gibran

I find myself resonating with these words. Saying to myself..."ahhhhhhhhhh, yes, someone said how I feel."

Live it?

Read or write about it?

I was visiting my parents this past weekend in sunny southern California. As I drove down with my children in the back seat of the car, teasing each other, arguing about my choice of music; the sun was sparkling on the hills.

It highlighted the golden hues of dry grass that look feather soft from a distance, but with my known experience can be sharp as razors against bare skin. Sky that blue color that invites exploration, beckoning one to get out of the house, away from the tedium of the everyday.

Stopping at a roadstand to enjoy the fresh produce. Avocados buttery smooth, strawberries sweet and tart to the tongue, and blood oranges giving off a fragrance that intoxicates. Taking time to chat with the owners; admiring the tanned spare strength to their hands as they arrange the fruit and smile ready smiles of welcome to each new patron.

Piling back in the car, gravel spitting from my tires as we continue the journey to my parent's home, knowing that soon I will be embraced by mom and dad. Sitting by their pool, my parents and I share the news of the past months as we take stems off of spinach leaves, readying them for a future meal.

Earthy, dusty, staining my fingertips a light green color...I'm assaulted by the wonderful feeling of being ousted from a sterile world of observing and commenting on life, to actually...living it.

Isn't life ever so more satisfying if you live it?

Missing you

Means that I long for your arms to be around me.

Means I want to hear your heart beat for me.

Means I want to give you my fragrance to wear about you.

Means I dream about your voice bringing me closer to you.

Desert Flower

It is during this time of year that I most long for the hills of the high desert where I feel that I spent my childhood growing up. A certain purplish cast to the hills meeting the blue sky and feeling that sense of freedom and aloneness that is not lonely – only just alone.

I long for the crisp air that says spring is on her way no matter what the calendar says. One of my favorite things to do as a young girl was to climb on top of the huge shed that my dad had built and face the east as the sun was coming up over the hills. The roof tiles were cold under me, and I would tuck my nightgown around my bent knees and watch the landscape change colors.

There is perhaps 2 weeks of fragile beauty to the desert in spring. Two weeks where the new growth of fuzzy soft grass combines with the tiniest of purple and yellow flowers. Like a fairy turned upside down so that the underside of her skirt has fallen open over her head, little purple and yellow flowers so delicate. I would plan where I would first I would set my bare feet as I looked over my territory, feeling like a tousle headed princess surveying her domain.

And for once…I would be completely still as I drank in the beauty of my surroundings that made the gamine restless nature inherent in me, pause and balance on the edge of the roof of life; perfectly one with nature’s good morning kiss.

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. Kahlil Gibran

Heart of a Peony

Only encountering peonies a couple years ago, I was stunned to see the complicated beauty of a peony.

The petals crinkled and delicate, the rosey blush of color, these beckon the observer closer and then the seductive fragrance wafts up to entice and lure.

I believe the very heart of a woman, her intricacies, her delicacy, her strength can be compared to this flower. She longs to be understood and yet knows her mystique cannot be abandoned foolishly.

Even as you long to get to the center of her beauty, you will go through layers of petals, 'til you reach the hearth of her heart.