Eat Flowers and Kiss Babies

Just another day at the homestead, chillin' on the deck with Zappa's baby Leo.

Took Ghost Dog with me to the landfill today. She loved it, riding shotgun in the old truck, letting me know who's looking at us while trying to keep her balance on the seat. The cashier had all the normal questions/comments: so big, what breed?, look at the size of her head, wow. So nice to have the soft warm soul devourer stretched across the bench seat.

Rode Joaquin Miller after that. Last week the baby ferns were unfurling everywhere, now it's these small light blue flowers, not to mention the wild orange and cream slime molds. Mother Nature knows how to plan a stunning and dynamic garden. Nostalgia smell corner hadn't lost it's charm; stopped and cleared away a patch of pine needles to partake of some of the luscious earthy smells. Helen Keller writes "Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousand of miles and all the years you have lived." Helen Keller kicks ass. Nana, who I dragged with me, decided to forego huffing big hits of wet undergrowth, but didn't give me too much shit about it. The young trees along the trail grow quickly at this time of year, and I shook their encroaching thigmotropic digits as I sped by. Once you get to know a park well, the more vocal members of the plant community greet you like old friends, cheer you through your loops. I'd been saying hi to this that and the other tree for awhile when we stopped for a minute down by Wedding Meadow, where I noticed what must be the oldest tree in the park just relaxing and staring at me from it's 11-foot diameter core. I felt a little sheepish then, having just greeted so many other younger trees, but neglected this obvious matriarch. I told Nana that I wanted see if I could climb it, but really I just wanted to give it a big hug and let it get to know me for few. Smart move; she invited me back for a full moon meditation only a fool would refuse. Nana & I made it down all three major chutes (Castle Park, Chapparal, and Cinderella) without major injury, and got back to the truck just as the rain started coming down in earnest, my palate still gritty from grinning on the downhills.