keeping the poetree in m.ocean

We're up here in Jemez Springs, New Mexico, our somewhat homeward destination for the Summer. It's been a beautiful, fun, and generally easy going journey up to this point, which we'll keep you up to date with future picture posts. Right now, I want to share what is going on right now.

Today we set off to town, to go to the Zen center here. A trip to town is about 50 minutes by car, because of all the dirt roads. Luckilly we don't have to go to town that often. But today I wanted to go to connect with the Buddhist sangha. We arrived at the center (http://www.bmzc.org/) and a few of the members were going out to dinner, so it wasn't the best time. We were invited to come back Saturday and they are very busy for the Summer. Hopefully still, i will get some practice time in with them.

Here's a picture from our arrival at Gran's house where we met up with Casey en route to the mountains...The raw pizza that was presented to us:

So life up on the land, has been great: lots of time to work on projects, collective and personal. Ishka has been painting daily, a goal of hers that she's been wanting to get back to for so long. Casey has been buzzing around, making food, pick

ing up a friend, brewing tonics, and doing little projects while rotating through his endless list of to-dos. Currently we are about 2/3rds done building a storage shed, from a kit. I recently had a lot of fun, redesigning the labrynth in progress, moving stones. Now the design is complete it just needs a few more stones to fill it in.

Casey, Ishka, and I went down to Albuquerque last weekend. We were only up on casey's land for 3 days before we left for the city. Albuquerque is fun and almost all the stores use neon in their signs. We went to a raw foods gathering, stayed at a friend's beautiful house. This large house, had a full garden going in the front and a full garden growing in the back. It was a very inspiring example of how to use a lot of found objects in a useful and uncluttered way. The house-mates are working on a grey water system for watering the plants.

Now, don't forget to watch those speed limit signs in Albuquerque...They can get you:

(things that make you go hmm?!)

Now this is the moment you've all been waiting for, even if you didn't realize it yet. A picture of the Casey and Gran's house, where you will see lightning several times a week!

and...the Sun room!

Krishna has come yet again, to bless the lands! Hari bol!

ishka out travelling the other realms to complete her current master's piece!

What might come next? A view deeper into the house/fort? Or shall we take you back in time to the hills of dreams? <3

Onward Ho!

Greetings friends, family, loved ones.... galactic emissaries!

I am ENthusiastic about bringing our road travels to the web so that our journeys will not be a mystery to y'all! After two years of planting, rooting, flowering, and fruiting in Mendo, I am happy to be entering a new phase of this special decade of my Training & Traveling Twenties. 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaah.............

Our trip began on June 24th, this 2009, setting out for the warm and beauteous terrain of New Mexico for this year's Rainbow Gathering. We packed our car with what was most important for this summer: clothing, food, art supplies, and instruments. We took our time driving through southern Cali and Arizona, stopping at random rest stops to shut our eyes, or at a park or national forest to camp.

wow. There's so much to catch up on since we first began...

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the National Rainbow Gathering, it is an event that happens every July 4th (with weeks of prep before and after) to celebrate our Interdependence. Rainbow attracts a very diverse group of people, all seeking a place to gather and celebrate our individuality, cOMmunity, and our connection to each other and Mother Earth. The air is filled with music and song, smiles and tears, hope, and a feeling of relief.  Of course, not everything about Rainbow is so wonderful. There is also a lot of tobacco and alcohol use, and anarchist debauchery ripples out from various spheres throughout the grounds. 

The Rainbow experience is what you make of it. You can surround yourself with amazing friends and teachers, and sing and dance and play without much negativity coming your way. Rainbow is DIVERSE, and everyone who goes is representing some form of the Human Experience in some way or another. What is most incredible about being at one of these Gatherings is the overall sense of freedom I feel every time. 

There are kitchens set up throughout the place, all with a specific theme....the one Nigel and I camped with this year was called HonuWay (Honu means Turtle in Hawaiian). HonuWay. A Whole New Way to live at Rainbow. This camp was a conglomeration of Jerusalem Camp (mostly Hebrew tradition, including Shabat dinner on the Sabbath) and a bunch of Kundalini Yoga Raw Foodists who created a kitchen that served YUMMY raw food throughout the day for a week. Anyone can jump in and help out by preparing the food, serving it, cleaning up. You choose!

Anyway, I have so much more to say, but I will sign off with this introduction for now.... and some pics!

I send you my love, and I pray that we are all living our lives in Joy.

Also, we stopped by the Grand Canyon on our way! One word: Majestic.

~*~

ishka

~*~

Welcoming Ceremony

As all new endeavors need to be kicked off with good spirit and a splash of style, this is your mad orchestrator Nigel setting the stage for this new tandem blog! I'm excited to be a part of this collective co-creation and share our journeys with the world (or atleast... your world.) Since we have so many pictures and so much ground to catch you up on, we'll need to backtrack a bit. The journey starts during the beginning of this Summer as two lovers, Ishka and Nigel, launch from their cozy (but not always amicable) spot in Mendocino, CA. Their destination is the Santa Fe mountains of New Mexico, traveling under the inspiration umbrella of art creation, and planning to live with their close friend Casey who offered to host them for the Summer. What surprises may happen along the way! Oh the mystery! Tune in next post for the grand display of color and light via digital camera uploads.